BUTTERFLY LIFE FRANCHISE DISCUSSION

Read more

CURVES: Robert Lay’s Story

Read more

CUPPY’S COFFEE: A Franchise Owner’s Desperate Plea

The following is two comments from Cuppy’s franchisee RS combined and edited to eliminate redundancy:

________________________________________________-

RS: I am a Cuppy’s Franchise Owner.

I am a Cuppy Franchise Owner.

My wife and I have spent approx. $100,000.00 to get this far.
I have paid Cuppy’s/Elite Manufacturing approx. $170,000.00.
You know what I have for all of this money spent?
A set of blueprints that were grossly inaccurate.
I have some hardwood flooring, 2 ceiling fans and some paint.
Oh yeah I have lots of broken promises from Cuppy’s/Elite.
Promises that I would be open by now.

I have been in the system for over a year.
I have applied for and received an SBA loan.
I have signed a lease with a mall. I have completed my white box.
I have remodeled a store.
I have installed plumbing and an electrical upgrade.

I sat across from the Cuppy’s Coffee owner Dale Nabors.
He looked me squarely in the eye and promised that our store would be open the first week in August.
After that, my phone calls went unanswered.
My emails were ignored.
My store is still unopened.

Earlier this week I recieved an anonymous call from a Cuppy executive.
He informed me the call was “off the record.”
He said they had a cash flow problem and that I might be wise to get an attorney.

Later on I received another call from an executive working for Elite Manufacturing.
He said they also have cash flow problems.
He stated things are in a disarray and that if I was to pursue legal action he would understand.

I was informed that even though I was promised I would be open, I have recieved no equipment, no cabinets, no signs for my store, no sinks, no hot water heater, virtually nothing.

I was informed that they had no money to make my cabinets and that even if they did they do not have plans, templates, dies or anything to make them with.

I feel like I have been left out to hang.
I paid to remodel a store in a mall. I have a lease. I have loan payments, I have an empty store and no promises in the for seeable future to get me open.

A lot of people have been deceived, a lot of families have been forced into bankruptcy or are on the verge.

The things that have been done by Cuppy’s Coffee and Elite manufacturing is criminal, they have shown little regard for those they have sunk.

If you thinking of a coffee franchise, think again, be careful, especially with Cuppy’s Coffee and Elite manufacturing. I may never recover,

I have hired an attorney. I have contacted my SBA funder. I have contacted the mall where my store is located. Yet the sad reality is that my wife and my future is not looking real good.

I know of at least 5 other families in the same boat.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT.

BUTTERFLY LIFE: Linda McBride, Former Franchise Owner

Interview with former Butterfly Life franchise owner Linda McBride

Butterfly Life is a women-only 30-minute workout franchise that claims to be a superior version of Curves (since they use weight-based, not hydraulic, equipment). In December, 2005, experienced business owner Linda McBride purchased an existing Butterfly Life franchise location in Woodland, CA. After struggling to achieve profitability for 20 months, she closed the club in August, 2007. In an interview with UnhappyFranchisee.com in August, 2008, she shared with us the lessons she learned from her experience, and offers her hard-learned due diligence tips for those considering franchise ownership.

UF: Linda, thanks for sharing your story with those who are looking to start their own businesses, and for offering advice based on the hard lessons you’ve learned. Tell me, why did you decide you decide to become a Butterfly Life franchise owner? Describe the process you went through to determine which franchise to buy.
Linda: My husband & I had run the pest company since 1990. I wanted a business that was more “me” . I Belonged to Curves loved the concept. The owner of the one I belonged to had 3 franchises and was doing well at all of them averaging 500 members each. I researched many franchises but liked the concept of classes all day that Butterfly Life offered.

UF: How did you first learn about Butterfly Life?
Linda: I saw a banner ad online. I clicked on it and filled out a form online requesting more information. Janet Lossick contacted me by phone. I have my original notes and one of the first things I wrote is Mark Mastroff as director.

UF: How did you first hear about your specific franchise? What attracted you to the company?
Linda: I researched many franchises but liked the concept of classes all day that Butterfly Life offered. I also liked the fact that they used weight based equipment. The idea of helping women get healthy was what most appealed to me.

UF: Describe the company’s sales process and your interaction prior to becoming a franchisee.
Linda: Janet invited me to meet her at a franchise closest to me. I visited the club

UF: You ended up purchasing an existing club?
Linda: Yes, I purchased a club that had been opened 12 months. I was the second owner of the club – the first claimed bankruptcy after 12 month. However, I thought with the marketing and support that was promised, this could be a successful club.

UF: What marketing and promotional guidance, programs & support were provided? Were they effective?

Linda: No. We were told to pay to have the postcards mailed out each month which cost $1500 to $1800/mo. The best return I ever received from this 8 new members.

I did not receive any of the Branding or advertising I was promised. All advertising was up to me. No other clubs were in my area. Mark Golob said “Don’t quote me on this but you aren’t going to want to miss the wave that is created when BFL is featured regularly on the Oprah timeslot and the rush of women clamoring to join your club. We will be offering the nutritional aspects on the show and your club is the exercise & motivation portion of the concept.”

Virtually nothing that was promised branding wise ever materialized.

UF: Was the ongoing support what you expected? Why or why not?
Linda: At first it seemed helpful but later it was simply the same old thing every time. When I complained about membership being a problem, I was told I was the only one having the problem. They didn’t want the franchisee’s talking to each other but eventually I did start calling other clubs only to find out my problems were their problems my complaints were their complaints.

UF: Were the positive aspects of your experience?
Linda: I had the greatest members on the planet. I had so many ladies getting healthier. It was a great place for the ladies to let their hair down, get exercise and have a good time!

UF: When did things start to go wrong?
Linda: Eventually no one at the corporate office answered the phone when you called. They just left calls go to voice mail. About half the time a call might be returned, the other half, nothing. District managers would tell me I was the only one having these problems

UF: What single factor contributed most to making you an unhappy franchisee?
Linda: Not receiving the support I was promised.
My District Managers (or D.M.) Janet was to spend full 8 hr days with me I was lucky to get her for 3-4 hrs. I got excuses – I had to go to corporate for a couple hrs first, I had to stop at another club first, I was behind an accident, traffic was at a stand still. Then after a visit she’d say I’ll put you together
A game plan and I can honestly say I never got one! The 2nd D.M. assigned to me did spend
more time and give me a game plan but it was too little too late.

UF: Have you tried to resolve your issues with the franchisor?
Linda: I told them I could not afford to stay open and I was told that if I closed I would be sued for monthly franchise fees and my landlord would sue me for the balance of my lease so I should stay open.

UF: What was the outcome?

Linda: As I mentioned, I was the second owner of the club – the first claimed bankruptcy after 12 month. I closed the doors after 20 months to save another person the pain. We’re currently in the process of filing for bankruptcy

UF: What would you like to see happen at this point?
Linda: I think BFL owes all franchisee’s restitution for the lies and misrepresentation.

UF: Do you think that the franchise concept itself is viable?
Linda: Possibly. Under different management at the top of corporate.

UF: What was the biggest mistake did you make?
Linda: Trusting Mark Golob and Tom Gergley was the biggest mistake I made. Looking back, I should have gotten all their “promises” in writing.

UF: How has your franchise investment decision affected your life?
Linda: I’m bankrupt and don’t see how I can ever recover the money before retirement.

UF: What advice would you give to prospective franchise owners?
Linda: Research research research. Call every franchisee you can find a phone number for. What questions should they ask? How far are you from profitability? Are you on on track for the goals you set? Are the people at corporate office helpful and supportive? Do they brand the name or is it up to you?

Visit similar businesses in your area or in a neighboring town ask them questions – offer to take them to lunch to talk.

UF: What warning signs should they look for?
Linda: Big promises in the presentation and meeting at corporate that aren’t in writing.

UF: Thanks very much for sharing your story and advice, Linda.

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Letter from a Failed Franchisee

We received this letter from yet another failed Cuppy’s Coffee franchisee:

I wish I could be the bearer of some good news or encouraging insights, but I do believe we are all in the same boat and on the fast track to failure.

We opened our store in June, 2007, after a 22 month process to get open due to the problems and bad relationships Cuppy’s/Java Jo’z/Elite MFG. had with various third parties (Real Estate firms, Construction management companies, financing firms, etc.). It is the same story that has been replicated so many times.

We did well our first few months being open and I was encouraged that we may end up breaking even, though, we never did. I spent hours and hours and thousands of dollars promoting my store and building local relationships. We had a nice pool of loyal customers who came at least once daily. I had a great well trained staff and an attractive store in a good location.

No matter what we did, we could never achieve enough sales to break even and we eventually closed our doors in April to stop the bleeding. We had used up most of our working capital during the extensive period to get open, also there were tens of thousands of additional costs that were never mentioned (cable, sod, irrigation, fill dirt, parking lot striping, etc.).

We got deeper and deeper into debt, thinking eventually we would turn the corner if we just tried one more thing or held on one more month. This franchise is flawed and the information given to potential franchisees leaves out so many of the expenses that will be incurred that it would be a miracle for anyone to actually spend only what the projections recommend and to actually take in the revenue that is projected based on population or traffic count.

We did our due diligence and did everything right from our end as far as operations goes, but we have been unsuccessful. I have asked many times at corporate for information on how many franchisees are failing, how many are breaking even, and how many are profitable. I have never been given any answers to these questions.

It is my understanding from the internet that Supreme Building Technologies is now in a lawsuit with Elite Manufacturing to the tune of $1.7 million in unpaid invoices and breach of contract. This is most frightening and discouraging news and points to yet another repeat of the pattern of bad relationships that this company leaves in its wake.

I would be curious to hear the stories of some of the other franchisees on this email. Please share your stories with the rest of us.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Was “Successful” Unit a Sham Store?

Related Reading:CUPPY’S COFFEE: “Pay-For-Praise” Franchise Allegations

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Were Franchisees Paid to Act Happy?

More questions and allegations are arising concerning the franchise sales practices and honesty of Morg Morgan and the Cuppy’s Coffee franchise sales team. Franchise owner Mary P has shared allegations of Morgan’s practice of offering pay-for-praise bounties of $330 for positive franchise testimonials; Now she wonders if the “wildly successful” unit they visited was just a sham success story:

I have another questions for everyone involved: How many of you went ot Cassandra Creech’s “wildly successful” Cuppy’s store out in Ocean Springs, MS to visit and speak with her before signing up? Weren’t we told she was selling 500 cups a day? We were there for two hours and maybe saw 3 customers. Did any of you see a busy time at her store when you visited? Is it possible that Cassandra was being paid off to be a “Flagship Model Store” for Cuppy’s to help them sell more franchises? What do you think she received in exchange for having all of us visit? There is now way she sold 500 cups per day. I believe her traffic count was maybe around 30,000 if memory serves me correctly. Our traffic count was 69,000 and we could not even sell 100 cups per day consistently.

The light bulb went off for me today. I believe that Cassandra’s success story was a set up to get all of us to buy in. After all, we thought if she could do it in a place like Ocean Springs, then we certainly could succeed in our market. You know we drove past her store twice without even seeing it and we were looking hard for it because it was our destination. We even had to call her to find out where it was.

Can anyone else share their experiences with us about visiting that store. Can anyone out there investigate this scenario to find out if she really is a successful franchisee or just a front that helped Cuppy’s dupe all of us?

WHO IS CASSANDRA CREECH? DOES ANYONE KNOW THE REAL VOLUME OF THE OCEAN SPRINGS CUPPY’S COFFEE?

CUPPY’S COFFEE: “Pay-For-Praise” Franchise Allegations

Related posts:

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Was “Successful” Unit a Sham Store?

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Were Franchisees Paid to Act Happy?

Cuppy’s Coffee franchise owner Mary affirms that Morg Morgan offered franchisees a financial incentive to provide positive recommendations to prospective franchise owners:

We were desperate for other ways to get revenue into our company and reached out to Morg Morgan several times, offering to be a consultant to some other franchsee going through the construction process, permitting, etc. He didn’t bite on any of those suggestions, but he came back to us with the offer of being a reference for potential franchisees and for us to keep track of how many references we gave.
If any of those potential franchisees signed up we would get a referral fee.
We were uncomfortable with this idea, because we refused to say anything but the truth if we were called for references. We asked Morg to put this plan in writing to us, but of course he never did.

We were called many times for references. I was always brutally honest, but not ugly in any way. I always prefaced my remarks with “I do not know what the current process is like because the company has changed and grown dramatically and has new people and programs in place.” I would tell them of my experiences, particularly that everything costs more than projected and that revenue has been less than expected, and would always state that I did not know what they would experience since the changes occurred.

I’m sure none of the ones that spoke to me actually signed up. We never heard any more about being paid to be a reference after that. At the same time, Morg also offered us the idea of being a “Master Franchisee”, which means if we were able to facilitate the sale of any new franchises in our area that we would be paid $5,000. We of course did not bite on this either, because we were not about to represent buying a Cuppy’s franchise as a good idea to anyone.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Were Franchisees Paid to Act Happy?

Related reading:

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Was “Successful” Unit a Sham Store?

CUPPY’S COFFEE: “Pay-For-Praise” Franchise Allegations

Unhappy Franchisee has received numerous comments from presumed ex-employees who claim that when franchise sales got tough (due to negative blog comments, in part), Morg Morgan implemented a pay-for-praise referral program which rewarded franchisees $330 for encouraging prospective franchisees to invest in a Cuppy’s Coffee franchise:

Anonymous wrote:

…there was a referral program put together that paid the franchisees to be a good reference….The owners kept up with who called and turned it in once a month or something like that and if the person bought they got paid from the company…

The earnest if not articulate Cuppy’s Saleman wrote:

I am sorry for all the people who were coned by this company, you should call the secrect service agent Ron Emit, he knows about Tony Pronto giving phony refrences for 300 dollors each…

Others have written that CS is referring to Troy Ponto, a franchise salesman and owner of a failing Java Jo’z in Pace, FL.

At FranchisePick.com, Guest wrote:

Why isn’t anyone talking about the people (Franchisees) that were paid to be “good” references. These franchisee’s were doing so poorly with the Cuppy’s Franchise, they made more money being “singers” for Cuppy’s Coffee. It didn’t stop when Dale Nabors got there and didn’t when he took over. Cuppy’s had franchisee’s selling franchises their corporate offices on the sales floor and then running out the back door and answering their cell phones as a reference for potential franchisees calling about Cuppys Coffee.

ARE THESE ALLEGATIONS TRUE? DID CUPPY’S COFFEE PAY FRANCHISEES TO LIE TO PROSPECTIVE FRANCHISE OWNERS… FOR $330?

BUTTERFLY LIFE: Carol King, Former Franchise Owner

Interview with former Butterfly Life franchise owner Carol King
August 5, 2008

Carol King is a mother and fitness advocate with a degree in physical education from Cal State Northridge. In 2004, she and childhood friend Linda Canale pursued their dream of helping women live happier, healthier lives by opening what they thought was an innovative new fitness franchise supported by a team of dedicated, experienced, trustworthy industry experts. According to Carol, her dream of business ownership almost immediately became a personal and financial nightmare. She now puts her energies into helping to educate potential franchise owners how to avoid the same mistakes she made, and advocating for more equitable treatment of the franchisees of Butterfly Life and other chains.

Carol opened her Woodland Hills, CA Butterfly Life location in October, 2004 and closed in April, 2005. They’ve has lost $240,000 to date.

UF: When did you decide you wanted to own your own business?
Carol: Once my kids were in college, my best friend and I decided to go into business together, found BFL, and felt it would be a great business opportunity for us given on our backgrounds.

UF: Do you have a fitness background?
Carol: I was a physical education major at Cal State Northridge and graduated with a BS degree.

UF: What were you doing prior to owning your franchise?
Carol: Raising my family and working temporary jobs in marketing and sales. My partner and I who have known each other since elementary school decided to join forces with our shared talents. She was a yoga instructor and we always wanted to be able to help women feel good about themselves and be healthy.

UF: Describe the process you went through to determine which franchise to buy.
Carol: We looked into Curves, but there were none available in our area. A flyer from BFL fell out of my newspaper and we decided to look into it. That was in November, 2004. We attended a seminar in Newport Beach, Ca. that same month. The BFL presentation was very appealing and the health and fitness industry was something we always wanted to do. Mark Golob’s story about his past successes, the “dream team” which consisted of Mark Mastrov of 24HrFitness, Bruce Fabel the marketing expert from Nike and Warner Brothers, and Tom Gergley from Linda Evans and the New York Health Club along with other experts in the fitness areas was all very impressive. The presentation also spoke of the substantial profits we would make our first five-six months with breakeven stated within 3-4 months. We believed them…..they were the experts. Golob explained that running this franchise was so easy “you didn’t even need a high school education”. He also stated that only one person was required to operate it. My partner and I thought this was a good fit and that after a few months, we could trade off work days. Believe me, it took more than one person to run this business, especially with 12 hour work days.

UF: How did you first learn about the general concept?
Carol: In the newspaper. At the seminar we attended in Newport Beach, Ca. Mark Golob, Bruce Fabel, Taylor Golob, Sharon Simon (Mark Mastrov’s sister) Denny Marsico and a few others gave talks on this amazing new concept in women’s health and fitness.

What did you find appealing about this type of business?
We could motivate women to feel good about themselves and be healthy without becoming stick thin. We really knew that working with women and helping them become successful was our goal in life. We knew we had the tools to educate them and truly wanted to make a difference.

UF: What attracted you to the company?
Carol: Beside the “dream team” and the great potential profitability, we were told of a special Life Vision delivery system that was the first of its kind. It was in essence a 65” monitor placed on it’s side so it was higher than it was wide. DVD’s proprietary to BFL covering many areas of health and fitness would play in this format….the result would be as if there were a full sized instructor teaching a class. There was therefore no need to hire trainers and minimal requirements to lead classes. This was a great concept. Unfortunately, it never transpired. This “special” delivery system turned out to be nothing more than a large screen television with standard dimensions set in a standard configuration. According to Golob (and after the initial $10,000 deposit was paid), it was too expensive to put the original concept into place.

Additionally, with regard to finding a facility, BFL claimed that they would provide us with brokers who were experienced and knowledgable in finding and securing proper locations. After four brokers, all located in Northern California, tried and failed to find and secure an appropriate property in the area we had selected in Southern California, they advised us that they lacked experience in Southern California, and had no background regarding zoning and building requirements. We were then directed by BFL to a broker located in Long Beach, Ca., approximately 40 miles from where we wanted to be located. Unfortunately, he secured a location that was not zoned for a health facility but never advised us of this. After we signed the lease, we were told by the Building Department that we could not open. We found an expeditor who said to go ahead and open because once we start paying City taxes they won’t evict us. That’s exactly what we did since we were already tied to a 5 year lease. Mark Golob reviewed the plans for our build-out and thought it was a perfect size. His review was required by the BFL franchise agreement. We were also required to have approx. 1,500 sq.ft., but this building was 3,000 sq. ft. We were very concerned about the amount of our rent, but he assured us that we could bring in more equipment and attract more members based on our size. Therefore, we would make a lot more money. He suggested that we locate near a Curves so we could take their business, since “everyone wants to join the new kid on the block.” As a fluke, it turned out that we were located across the street from Curves. Their side of the street was zoned for health and fitness facilities. The Curves members were very dedicated and became angry at us when we opened so close to them. One of their members joined us, but the rest stayed at Curves. Nobody liked the new kid on the block!

UF: Describe the company’s sales process and your interaction prior to becoming a franchisee.

Carol: Taylor Golob, Mark’s son, called me nearly every other day after the seminar, asking when we were sending the deposit. The sales process was high pressure and featured the dream team, promises of high profitability, Mark Mastrov, life vision, help availlable 24/7, and an assurance that they would supply us with 100 members prior to our opening because of their great branding program.

UF: How was the company’s training
Carol: We spent six days at the “BFL University” in San Ramon, Ca. They bombarded us with overwhelming and confusing computer classes aimed at bringing us up to speed on the operation the new Check Free computer, billing, and accounting system in a day and a half. There were 20 people in our group.

UF: Was it a positive experience?
Carol: Meeting the other people who were interested in helping women was a bonding experience for us. Friendships were formed. We were excited to start our franchise and learn as much as we could so we could be successful. We knew this was our calling. That was the positive experience. Listening to Mark Golob, Tom Gergley and the other trainers was stressful and very high pressure. That was not a positive experience.

UF: What marketing and promotional guidance, programs & support were provided?
Carol: We were advised at the University that they would provide all the local and national advertising necessary to make Butterfly Life a household name. Their advice was centered around programs such as pre-selling memberships before we opened, (but that didn’t work out because no one knew who we were, what the facility would look like, and what the experience would be). In the end, all BFL did was to design flyers and postcards and we were told to use Advo and direct mail to reach our area. Once we opened, we were told that it was solely our responsibility to reach the women in our area, and we should budget AT LEAST $1,500/month for advertising. This was the first time we had heard this. One additional service they provided at the university was to setup and practice dialogues to teach us how to close a contract. That was the most intense part of training. We practiced dialoging most of the days.

UF: Were they effective?
Carol: No. The woman “drill sergeant” who worked with us scared everyone to death. I felt like I was in school always being scolded because I couldn’t get it right. It was definitely not effective. She would dialogue with everyone using different scenarios until she felt you could close a contract. It was very stressful.

UF: How was your grand opening and your first year as a franchisee?
Carol: What grand opening? What first year? We were told that we would have corporate attendance to help organize it and support us (aside from the 100 members at our opening). They were going to place local newspaper articles to promote us and have potential TV coverage. Of course, that never happened!!! I think we had 5 people show up. People couldn’t tell what we did based on the signage that was required by Butterfly Life. For the entire six months that we were opened, the major complaint from everyone who viewed our signage from the street (signage required by BFL) was their confusion as to what Butterfly Life was…,,,.vitamin company, spiritual center, clothing store, etc. Golob and corporate lacked the ability to properly brand BFL which caused so many of the failures.

UF: Was owning this franchise what you expected?
Carol: Are you kidding???? If everything they told us was the truth, it would have been a great experience. We would have made a comfortable living doing what we loved to do, if they followed through with all their “verbal” promises.

UF: Was the initial and ongoing support what you expected?
Carol: There was no support!
The BFL “promised” pre-opening support was non existent. Their Franchise Agreement stated that someone would be with us during our opening. Nobody from corporate was there. Janet Lossick, a sales rep showed up three weeks later!
When we spoke to them and told them what we were experiencing, we were always advised that we were the only ones having problems. They said everyone else was doing very well. We decided to call some of the other franchisees (16 in total) to get their help, and were advised that they were being told the same thing; they were doing poorly and all others were doing fine.

UF: When did things start to go wrong?

Carol: In December of 2004, when we contacted Golob with some problems, he advised us that he was in the business of selling franchises….not running them!

UF: What was it that made you an unhappy franchisee?

Carol: Lack of promised support and Mark Golob!!!!! He refused any suggestions for improvement or change from anyone.

UF: Have you tried to resolve your issues with the franchisor?

Carol: Are you kidding!…..many times!

UF: What was the outcome?
Carol: We had the AAFD try to informally mediate our issues three times between 2005 and 2007. We had a formal mediation in San Ramon in November, 2007, (because Tom Gergley advised Bob Purvin that they were ready to settle and write a check to resolve the issues). After spending thousands of dollars to bring in our attorney, the trustees and Bob Purvin of the AAFD to mediate we were advised that NO checks would be written (deja vous all over again).

UF: What is your current situation?
Carol: We have filed a complaint with the Department of Corporations and are awaiting their decision as to whether they will pursue charges against Butterfly Life. We also filed a counter arbitration and a counter class action arbitration against Butterfly Life in January, 2008.

UF: What were the positive aspects of your experience?
Carol: The people that we met in our class. The support that we have had from the other franchisees has been very positive. We have learned a tremendous amount about franchising. We also learned how the mediation process works……….it doesn’t!!!! The sad part, I have found, is that the franchise legal system in this state and country is completely AWARE of the problems surrounding franchising but ignores pleas for help unless they are publicly challenged………and that doesn’t work most of the time! I have sent long detailed letters to the DOC, the Governor’s office, FTC, Ca. Attorney General, US Attorney General and State Assemblyman Todd Spitzer. In most cases, I’m still waiting for a response.

UF: What would you like to see happen at this point?
Carol: Restitution and recission for all the members who believed in their hyped stories, and either a cessation of or a complete change in the culture and operation of BFL corporate, as well as a plan to help those franchisees now opened and struggling.

UF: Do you think that the franchise concept is a viable?
Carol: We all would agree that the concept is a good one. It will never be viable unless corporate makes drastic changes in personnel, corporate culture, and efforts to follow through with the service and support that they have promised so many franchisees (and area reps).

UF: What mistakes did you make?
Carol: Not looking into the personal backgrounds of the principals of BFL (especially regarding prior lawsuits). Not looking more seriously into established and reputable franchises. (There was no information on BFL since it was a start-up company. Not realizing, that when we were at the BFL university training and were advised that the Life Vision system was going to be a large television and not the system touted as revolutionary was such a huge red flag. And, during the same time period when we were advised that Bruce Fabel was no longer with the company, that this was another huge red flag.

UF: Looking back, what would you have done differently?
Carol: NEVER PURCHASED IT!!!

UF: How has your franchise investment decision affected your life?
Carol: It has thrown my family into financial chaos. I have chosen to dedicate an incredible amount of time to protecting other innocent victims from falling prey to the same thing so many of us have fallen into with BFL. I pulled together other franchisees to form a Chapter under the AAFD to try and exert force against BFL. It has also taken me approx. 3 years, three attorneys, the AAFD and several hundred pages of backup documentation to get the complaint we filed with the Department of Corporations recognized and into their system.

UF: What advice would you give to prospective franchise owners?
Carol: I believe the biggest issue is that franchises are not required to post their profitability statistics, unit failures and/or reasons for unit closures. Without this information, I would advise any potential franchisee to shy away from purchasing ANY franchise.

UF: What questions should they ask?
Carol: Pay the money to have an attorney look over the Franchise Agreement. Ask about the
profitability of existing units, reasons for resales and/or unit failures and closures. They should also ask if there is a franchisee association they can contact.
Extremely important is making phone calls to as many prior (all of them if possible) and current owners as listed in the FDD. Keep in mind the closed franchisees phone numbers are probably not current, so they may have to write to them. The phone numbers listed are for the franchise locations, but their home addresses should be listed. They should make sure that their calls are made to franchisees especially who have been opened at least six months. They should also check ALL blogs on the internet.

UF: What warning signs should they look for?
Carol: Keep in mind that VERBAL presentations have nothing to do with the Franchise Agreement. If what franchisors are telling you is not stated in the agreement, then that is a definite red flag and you have to ask them why.

Next Page »