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VANGUARD CLEANING SYSTEMS Franchise Scam Complaints

Vanguard Cleaning Systems is ranked by Entrepreneur magazine as the #7 franchise in the nation.  (Seriously?  Vanguard beat out Subway?  Dunkin’ Donuts? Hilton hotels?)

Entrepreneur magazine also named Vanguard Cleaning Systems its #1 Low-Cost Franchises and #1 Home-Based Franchises.

Wow! Vanguard Cleaning Systems franchise ranking gave us a serious WTF? (Why This Franchise?) moment.  Could it be that Vanguard was an actual legitimate commercial cleaning franchise?

UnhappyFranchisee.com decided to scour the web to find out what was so special about this particular janitorial franchise to receive such high praise when their janitorial franchise competitors were being branded as scams and ripoffs.

Vanguard CleaningOur optimism was short-lived. On a site called Webanswers.com,  we quickly discovered that Vanguard Cleaning Systems franchise owners have the same complaints as other janitorial franchises:  underbid contracts, hidden fees, lack of support, overpriced equipment, and a franchisor that will fraudulently take away your accounts to give them to other franchisees.

If you’ve had any experience with Vanguard Cleaning Systems – good or bad – please share a comment below.

On Webanswers.com, bmorrison wrote:

Yes, they do receive alot of fees. With Vanguard Cleaning System/Services, Besides the high cost of buying the contract through them, they get 15% a month from each contract you get from them, and they don’t even protect you or care for you when there’s a complaint even though it’s not your fault. They’ll pick the client over you any given time. They are even the first one to accuse you of doing something wrong. They seem motivated and/or more interested in you losing the contract maybe it’s because not only they get to keep your money that you use to buy the contract but they can sell the contract again to another franchisee for the same amount you bought the contract for if not more. And they continue to get their 15% cut a month. Sweet huh?! Please do an extensive research first especially the janitorial company. One important advice, DON’T GO AND SIGN UP WITH VANGUARD CLEANING SYSTEM !

rusty22 wrote:

Yes 10,000 they give you contracts you have to buy.+ they get 15% off the top on each one.They start you off ok ,then they swamp you with work.And you can’t do a proper job. You can only turn down two. After a time they go around and ask your customer if everything is ok,but they are trying to get them to change to a differant vanguard franchise so they can keep the money rolling in. You will never own the contract. And the mistery deductions never will they itemize.

cleaninglady wrote:

If you can turn away from this company- Do so! Not only the staff are very rude and unprofessional.. their only concern is getting their money. The Vanguard staff are nice in the beginning, until you buy their franchise and they’ll just don’t give a %&^8 anymore. My advice- buy mine! because, I want to get away from their @ss3S! lolz.

MiSTaHTeeZaH wrote:

I’ve been with vangaurd(TAMPA FL AREA) for about 4 years…They arent worth a Sh*t….They’re never on your side…takes them forever to get you to the volume you paid for…They deduct from you even if you dont have your full volume…They sale you CHEAP useless equipment for the most part…And they dont care if you get paid a fair amount on the buildings they bid on…(THEY BID EXTRA LOW)…so if you plan on hiring people on,dont deal with them because you wont be able to afford it…Also after they get your money that you needed to start up the franchise,its hard to catch up with them…i wish i would have stayed on my nine to five and kept my money where it was…I know there other things to invest in..

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE VANGUARD CLEANING SYSTEM FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY?  PLEASE SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Contact UnhappyFranchisee.com


86 thoughts on “VANGUARD CLEANING SYSTEMS Franchise Scam Complaints

  • Vanguard Franchise

    VANGUARD CLEANING INDUSTRY IS LIKE PLAYING BLACK JACK 21 AT A CASINO THE HOUSE WILL WIN AND YOU WILL LOSE EVERY HAND EVERY TIME

  • Vanguard Franchise

    VANGUARD, JAN-PRO, COVERALL, JANIKING AND EVERY SINGLE FRANCHISE CLEANING COMPANY THAT TELLS YOU THAT YOU NEED TO PAY IN ORDER TO JOIN THE CLEANING INDUSTRY IS SIMILAR TO A BOILEROOM, CASINO AND LIKE BUYING A LOTTERY TICKET… WHICH MEANS YOU WILL BE FUCKED OUT OF YOUR CASH… A GAME OF CHANCE… THEY WILL FUCK YOU FOR JOINING AND FUCK YOU WITH ROYALTY FEES OF 18 to 23 PERCENT AND FUCK YOU AGAIN WITH BUYING THEIR SUPPLIES AND FUCK YOU AGAIN WITH FINANCE CHARGES… AND THAT IS THEIR GAME FUCK AND SHAFT THE FRANCHISE AT EVERY FUCK’IN COST… SO IT IS THE FUCK YOU HARD FRANCHISE CLEANING INDUSTRY AND YOU WILL BE FUCKED YOUR HOLE WILL BE RIPPED OPEN LIKE A HORSE FUCKING THE SHIT OUT OF YOU WITH HIS 22 INCH COCK IN YOUR ASSHOLE… STAY AWAY FIND THE ACCOUNT YOURSELF

  • Vanguard Franchise

    STAY THE FUCK AWAY… FROM FRANCHISE CLEANING ALL TO LOSE NOTHING TO GAIN

  • CHANGE FOR THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

    The franchise cleaning industry uses illicit business and quasi criminal fraudulent means to get customers.

    All of them are unlisted companies which means they have no vested interest in making money for their franchisees who join the business. Their own vested interest is to see that they make as much money as possible at the expense of the franchisees who will come out with significant losses. The losses of joining a cleaning franchise is that you will pay through the nose for the cleaning accounts CLIENTS. And you will be overworked and in some cases you will work so hard that you exhaust yourself and will in some cases have a physical breakdown and it will takes months to rehabilitate yourself from all the work you have done and receive little or no compensation meaning you will not see the money that you are to be paid for your hard work put into working and servicing your accounts. The losses are exponential and compound and you will get the royal shaft from the company you join be it STRATUS, JAN PRO, JANI KING, VANGUARD all the CLEANING FRANCHISE COMPANIES HAVE ONE VESTED INTEREST THAT IS TO BE VULTURES, WOLVES, PARASITES AND LEACHES – which means to suck the blood out of you to enrich themselves which means they are EMBEZZLERS AND KLEPTOCRATS and they have to be shut down by means of legislation being passed in the ONTARIO LEGISLATURE QUEEN’S PARK by having backbenchers, MPPs, MPs introduce a bill be it at the FEDERAL, PROVINCIAL or MUNICPAL LEVEL to protect the Franchisees a.k.a. the cleaners and to make sure that the cleaners are protected by unscrupulous illicit business tactics.

    Since in the United States in the state of Massachussetts the State Assembly introduced bills and laws to protect cleaners from being abused by their franchise company. The state of Massachussetts also sued THE FRANCHISE CLEANING COMPANIES in STATE COURT AND THE VERDICT WAS THAT THE FRANCHISE CLEANING COMPANIES ABUSED THEIR FRANCHISEES AND WERE FOUND GUILTY AND HAD TO PAY MONETARY COMPENSATION FOR THEIR SENTENCE AND PENALTY AND THE SAME THING SHOULD HAPPEN HERE IN ONTARIO. I HAVE CALLED THE MINISTER OF LABOUR AND THE DEPUTY MINIISTER AND HAVE ADDRESSED THIS ISSUE TO BE A MAJOR ISSUE FOR THE ELECTION OF JUNE 12, 2014. I HAVE LEFT MESSAGES WITH THE ONTARIO GOVERNMENT AND HAVE TOLD MANY MAJOR PLAYERS IN GOVERNMENT AND LEFT MESSAGES WITH KATHLEEN WYNNE, TIM HUDAK, AND ANDREA HORWATH ABOUT THIS SEVERE PROBLEM.

    I WILL ALSO BE GOING TO SEE MY MPP FOR MY RIDING STEVEN DEL DUCA THIS WEEK TO HAVE LEGISLATION INTRODUCED BY HIM IN THE ONTARIO GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT THE FRANCHISEES FROM BEING FUCKED BY THE CLEANING FRANCHISE COMPANIES. THE TIME OF FUCKING AND ROYALLY SHAFT CLEANERS WHO WORK HARD AND ARE UNDERPAID IS OVER. THE STATE OF MASSACHUSSETTS WAS THE FIRST TO PROTECT CLEANERS VESTED INTEREST IN THE UNITED STATES AND IN CANADA THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO WILL BE THE FIRST TO PASS LEGISLATION TO PROTECT THE INTERESTS OF HARDWORKING CLEANERS. JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED AND JUSTICE YOU BET MY WORDS ON IT WILL PREVAIL FOR ALL THE CLEANERS THROUGHOUT THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO.

  • I was a vanguard franchisee I didn’t have alot of success but don’t blame vanguard
    totaly there was a lot things that I could have did different I think that when things dont
    go the way you would have liked it to people are quick to blame others you might need to a good look at some of your own practices I plan on investing with them again.
    the way some of you people talk on this blog no wonder you had a bad experience with them you just like them they say you are what you see in others.

  • Tameka Perdue

    In my experience as a franchisee with vanguard ( Birmingham, AL ) I have learned that this is not what you want to depend on to pay your bills this company belongs to the devil himself & will break you financially and physically that goes for all of the janitorial franchises you are not your own boss and you will definitely spend & lose more than you put in if you want to have a janitorial service its best that you get out and get it on your own.

  • Ajordan

    I have experienced very poor customer service with this company.
    They have brought in 2 different companies to clean our facilities with the same poor results.
    I have been made to stick to a 30 day notice (continue to have the virtually nonexsitant cleaning done or pay them the money just to be done with them) policy. They never had the cleaning company come back to finish the cleaning that they were supposed to do (like cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, dusting… what else is there to do in a business?) and did not even offer to come in and inspect or address the complaint.
    They continue to avoid the responsibility of overseeing that the contracted cleaning companies to make sure that they are providing a good service under the VanGuard name.

  • Vanguard cleaning system of Minnesota is the worst one. The owner name is Cindy. She is very dangerous . Cindy have cheats a lot of franchisee money. A lot of people very upset. Please stay out of her.

  • You Mad Bro?

  • Johnny

    Vanguard is a joke, money, money, money, is all they want. They’re not in the cleaning business, there in the screw you business. They rip you off start to finish. You can’t even hire employees at the prices they bid at. They bid so low you end up barely making $ 10 to $12 an hour after paying all that for the franchise then all the fees. Then they pull your customers and re-sell them to another franchisee for a nice profit. Hello Burger King, I hope your hiring.

  • I have been a Vanguard Cleaning Systems franchisee for over 16 months.The experience for me overall has been very positive compared to where I used to work. True, they deduct a lot of money from your check, insurance, finance charges, etc. but in my case I make up those losses through lots of work cleaning commercial carpets and stripping and waxing floors.. If it wasn’t for that, it would not be very profitable for me. I do not recommend buying a franchise by having the majority of the balance financed, if all your going to do is clean buildings. They will kill you on the finance charges. In my business I’ve had virtually no complaints and won honorable mention franchisee nationally for 2014. I’ve never lost a contract of my own fault, and i’ve done well because of my passion, determination, and willingness to put out the sweat equity. If you don’t have these qualities, don’t buy a cleaning franchise. You will surely fail.

  • If all these companies are bad why they still in business

  • Tyrone:

    One of the lies that franchisors tell is that they can’t be successful unless their franchisees are successful. Unfortunately, that’s not true. There are many franchises where the franchisees pay fees up front, finance the entire business, and when they fail the franchisor simply resells the franchise for new fees.

    The most common complaints in commercial cleaning are that Master Franchisees sell franchises to unit level franchisees, then either never deliver the contracted jobs or deliver jobs so underbid the unit franchisee works at a loss. The Master gets paid for the jobs upfront by the unit franchisees, then simply keeps selling new franchisees as the previous ones go away broke and dejected.

  • Wow, I can’t believe the amount of bitter people commenting. Well, the webpage is called unhappy franchisee!

    To my point, if you are researching a particular cleaning service and you want to see the good, bad & the ugly, don’t let these bitter failures discourage you. From what I see, a bunch of angry people who didn’t put the work in, who FAILED! Now they don’t want anyone else to take their hand at a new business opportunity because they couldn’t get the job done!

    Just because you put your little money up for a franchise (and 9 times out of 10 the minimum down payment, financed the rest), doesn’t make you a good services provider or business owner! 90% of you people have terrible grammar and cannot spell!

    If you buy into a business, you have to have a plan, you don’t always get a return on your investment immediately and you have to actually WORK HARD! I am disgusted by most of these comments, so I felt compelled to comment for the HARD WORKING, BUSINESS MEN/WOMEN looking to invest in a new future. You have people who were ready to close the deal as a MASTER FRANCHISE but took too long obviously and now they post on every other comment because they didn’t close the deal so they don’t want anyone else to buy into the opportunity that they wanted so badly.

    I’ll never read anymore of these depressing posts about these bitter people who couldn’t make it work! I had to make this post so people, like myself, who are/were looking to buy into a franchise at least have ONE positive comment to read! The rest of you bitter people go get a 9 to 5, that is your calling! *exhale*

  • So, why is Alex D so upset that people are dissing janitorial franchises?

    My guess is that he is either a franchise sales broker or (more likely) a MASTER FRANCHISEE of Vanguard or some other janitorial franchise scheme. Master Franchises paid a bunch of money for the right to sell others their losing franchise opportunities. They can only get back their investment in a loser franchise by selling enough others down the river. They hate it when the unit franchisees expose their sleazy schemes for what they are… I bet they hear the name of this site mentioned and they see their commission check being flushed away.

    It’s hilarious when franchise sales people like Alex D. criticize failed franchisees as illiterate, lazy, wanting something for nothing. If they were so bad, why did these great companies sell them a franchise in the first place? If they’ll sell to anyone, what does that say about the janitorial company and those who sell the dream to anyone whose check will clear?

  • I just want to know how much to invest ? And how much do you make (profit wise)

  • Successful

    I have been a Franchisee in San Antonio, for a number of years. At first things were good. Vanguard takes 15% off the top and another 5% for General Liability and Bonding. After they have fulfilled you basic volume, for the purchase of you franchisee, they will sell you additional volume, at 3 or 4 times the monthly contract price. That leaves about 60%, of which you pay the people cleaning the account about 50%. That leaves 10% for you. If you finance the additional volume purchase, it can take anywhere from 1 to 3 years to pay off the note. You can actually start making OK money, when you pay off the note. But, what I have seen and experienced, is that the account managers, for the Master Franchisor, find tiny issues, and get the client to request a change of Franchisees. That way the account can be resold to another Franchisee. Very unethical, if not criminal. I have since stopped purchasing new volume, and have expanded my monthly volume, without Vanguard, just from picking up my own accounts. I would not recommend buying a Franchisee through Vanguard Cleaning Systems of San Antonio. I have lost all trust in them.

  • Franchisee GTA WEST

    I had a number of accounts with Vanguard but by breach of contract Ken Kopke the General Manager of GTA WEST took back 4 of my contracts… Right now I have proceeded with both legal action of fraud against him and have talked to Criminal lawyers about pursuing legal action in both Criminal and Civil Court. I had a valid reason since there was a death of a family member I was unable to clean. This will be taken care of by a migistrate judge in both criminal and civil court. I am looking to get back monies owed to me through the courts.

  • Franchisee TORONTO GTA WEST

    I am taking Ken Kopke General Manager of GTA WEST to criminal court for fraud over 5000 dollars and in civil court for punitive damages resulting from 4 contracts taken from him without a valid reason.

  • Franchisee TORONTO GTA WEST

    Talking to Federal Government of Canada lawyers and Legal Scholars about suing Vanguard Cleaning Systems of Toronto GTA in both Criminal and Civil court.

  • Franchisee TORONTO GTA WEST

    I working on a major lawsuit against Vanguard Head Office in San Mateo, California too.

  • Tim a friend of Tom Franchisee 5

    VANGUARD CLEANING SYSTEMS IS RUN BY KEN KOPKE GENERAL MANAGER A CROOK A THIEF AND A LIAR… WHO DOES NOT KEEP HIS WORD

  • Tim a friend of Tom Franchisee 5

    VANGUARD CLEANING SYSTEMS OF TORONTO RUN BY KEN KOPKE GENERAL MANAGER OF TORONTO RENEGED ON 4 CLEANING CONTRACTS OF A FRANCHISE THAT I HAVE BEEN RETAINED TO REPRESENT IN BOTH CIVIL AND CRIMINAL COURT.

  • Tim a friend of Tom Franchisee 5

    KEN KOPKE GENERAL MANAGER OF VANGUARD CLEANING SYSTEMS OF TORONTO IS BEING SUED FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT

  • tyrone ingram

    why are all you people so bitter this my second time doing commercial cleaning I just brought my vanguard out of Atlanta and im growing I was doing good the first time I just had a car wreck my master francshise even brought my business back from me that was 1996 so what is you people problem I got a buddy in south Carolina doing 65,000 a month

  • Cheated franchisee

    We were cheated by vanguard cleaning system gta west toronto Ken Kopkeis a Crook they took away our without an explanation and sell it to someone else. This is the business he is in cheating one person to fill the others do not join this company at no cost

  • Cheated franchisee

    Gta west franchise I have some vital info plz contact me I am also suing ken kopke the crook

  • Victoria

    I open a franchise with Vanguard few months ago, started cleaning couple months ago but sad to say I have the exact same experience of being over work, exhausted and way under pay. As much as I want to keep the account because I already spend money to start the business but I’m afraid I’m gonna get sick..Can someone please help me how to get out of Vanguard, the procedure and if I can still get some of my money back..Please Help!!!

  • Successful

    I am also in San Antonio and would like to ask you some questions about your experience becoming a Franchisee.

  • Anonymous tonymous

    Vanguard snatches away your contacts with no explanation lack support hard to reach them hit you with hidden fee give you customers with a high turnover rate they find pay me for 2months & then exspect you not to take legal action & when I did they paid they have truly made me bitter threatened me to take my franchise so I would have to take them to court clearly this company sells false hope & is alway giving back credit to customers overall this is a bad fraudulent company will to put you under by all means necessary stay away from them crooks

  • Sorry I purchased

    Crooks

    Vanguard was charging me for accounts that was off of my books and when I caught them they started finding complaints from my buildings I know didn’t have any problem with me. They tried selling my accounts under my nose these guys are crooks do not join.

  • Jamara Hill

    Vanguard in Huntsville AL ran by Brad Green is a rip off, they swap accounts around to please new Franchisee.. Also if you lose an account do to change of vendors they will Not give you that volume back.. They make up complaints just so they can get a crew change. This is a waste of money and time.. Listen to me Please Please Don’t invest your money into this scam.. It’s All about them making their money when everything said and done.. Trust me they will make this investment sound so good but don’t all scams sound good.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks everyone for helping me do not get involved with Vanguard! It is an embarrassment for a business to be lead by scammers! I will invest my money in something else.

  • Karl Adams

    I purchased a franchise about six years ago and it start off good at first then I started getting accounts and gaining employees but the accounts were not enough to pay employees and make a profit.

    Now I find myself juggling a business and a family and then I couldn’t get employees or find people to do the work but vanguard didn’t care they kept offering me more accounts until I had to bring my wife and young children in to work to maintain the 15 percent owed to them and see enough to live on until findly I couldn’t have my disabled wife and young children help anymore

    I found myself working 19 to 20 hours a day with no relief they had me to the point where if I lost a accounts of 1000 they replace it with a two or three hundred a month accounts I can’t keep taking losses like that with small mouth to feed but told me and my wife we need have other preorder we look at each other and like what have we got are selves onto to

    my divorce me took the children I try to run the business alone for 2 years until exhaustan and 19 to 20 hour nights findly took there toll. vanguard released me from my accounts and sold them to another franchise owner where has that left me well my home has been foreclosed on I have lost my family I sleep in my van I barely have enough to eat some days after all the work and hundreds of thousands of dollars I made for this company the day I left out of this company

    tell karl with a sarcastic sound so if you don’t want your life ruined steer clear of this company I also will be reporting this the BBB thank anyone for listening

  • Joanne crabtree

    I had a franchise with them
    They lie They are rude. They under bid
    They cuss at you. They are the worst if anyone wants to hear about my experience with them feel free to email me

  • Mary Louise Holland

    Here’s the thing. I had a franchise with Jani-King and Coverall in Cleveland. All these franchise models are the same. Read the contracts…..have a lawyer read your contract. They are going to take 30% of your pay for franchise fees and insurance, so the last thing you need is to finance your franchise thru them and have another monthly payment. But if you have to finance your franchise thru them you are going to need to work another job until that is paid off(that’s what I did, it took me a year). But you don’t have to get the insurance thru them…..you don’t have to buy your supplies thru them….you don’t have to buy their equipment….do your research…you’ll get it cheaper elsewhere. I had to close my first franchise thru Jani-king because I bought all the equipment they told me to buy and had so many monthly payments that I was only making $6.00 an hour, and I didn’t even need half that stuff. When I bought my Coverall franchise, I was so much smarter. I bought a sweeper and some mops and buckets…..probably spent $500.00, that was all I needed. Any floor machines I needed, I rented from the local machine rental store. I did very well with that franchise….but I didn’t wait for them to find me accounts…..I went out and got them myself! You can do that! I also never let my accounts call into the office when there was a problem….they called me directly, and I was there within 2 hours to fix the problem and sit down and talk to them. Good luck everyone!

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