CORNWELL TOOLS Franchise Scam or No Scam?

View Comments

• Good advice!

• hi, i have been a cornwell dealer for over two years, im # 2 in my district and 80th in the country, i buy 2 k above the nat.franchise every week. and i am happy in my bussiness, but i will tell you this, DONT OWE THEM MONEY!!!! never... for any reason, i payed off my bussiness as fast as i can, reason why is that they never what to help you see the real money from the money you think your making, take your yearly sales, subract 16-19% thats about what you can make in this franchise,thats it, i sell 8 k a week on avg, per a year just over 400k, 70k a year is mine, not bad... but i also work 60 hours a week, always lossing money, proffit margin is lower then 40.. thats just a complete lie. try 25-33 1/3 %, maybe. then take 1 % a year and throw that away.. ppl do run away. then sell a bunch of tech credits 0% recorse.. yea if they feel like they cant find a way to blame you. tust me they will find some way to charge this to you. i had one that ran away. not 5... not 2... 1! in 2 years. they tried everything. didnt work though. i also pay my tool bill one week ahead every week in full! only way to work with them. you dont owe them money, no problems. work like a dog, the buss will never be worth a penny. truck is worth more than the tools and the money on the steet together. also, back to that 70 k a year, remeber that if you get hurt, truck blows up, get sick... hell just break a foot and your done, if i take one day off i have lost that weeks paycheck. take a week, forget it for a month. its a thankless, hard working low profit job. i love my buss and i hope to never give it up. but this is a dieing buss, even at 8 k a week. almost 4 k above nat avg... not alot of money for the stress.. by the way if you sold 5 k a week, avg tool guy YOU WOULD MAKE ABOUT 30k if your lucky and bills are low! real low,just an fyi

• Thank You for your truthful comments! This is the reality of franchising in the tool industry. I find your story to be very similar to mine but my franchisor stole from me, threatened to take my franchise, lied (non-stop) and falsely terminated me. It's one thing to understand you are in the top 50 of 1500 franchisees and made very little money and another to realize that there are 1450 other franchisees below you and wonder how the hell are they staying in business? How are you able to out perform so many others who have been in so much longer than you have.

• wow John you hit it on the head. Please checkout a web site http://www.mobiletooldealersassociation.com.. Please leave the same comment.. Keep up the hard work and congrats for figuring out the real truth..

• There is an attorney handling a Cornwell lawsuit, contact Tim Shimko & Associates
  Clevland, Ohio

• I am also a Cornwell dealer now for two years and love it! I was with snap on for 7 years and also did very well with them also.but they are the mafia!! I love Cornwell I pay them and they dont screw with me.i sell all tech credit toolboxes on ach with the customer ,I get paid,I do not collect the money, and customer does not get behind,I dont get harra ssing phone calls like I did with snappy,life is good! All tool trucks are a lot of work and not for lazy people.in ten years I have seen a lot of people come and go. No company is gonna look out for u,you must do that, after all it is your business not theirs u must take ownership of it .in order to be successful u must talk to a successful dealer and do what he tells you not what the company tells you too!! It can be done, I have and am still successful!! The other guys numbers are off. He said he buys 8k per week he did not say how much he collects!purchases do not necessarily equate profit!! I collected &320,000 last year and kept $90,000 thats 28percent net profit that's with me buying only $4400 per week versus his buying $8000 per week so I spent half of him on tools but made $20,000 more salary than him!! So u see it's not about how much u buy but how much u keep! Cornwell top 50 are their top 50 purchasers! Not top 50 most profitable!! I will never be in the top 50 and don't really care to be! I must say I also have my Cornwell loan and truck paid for. We live on &50,000 a year and save the other $40,000 per year !what other job are u gonna do that at??? I pay for everything and my wife works part time and we save her &15k per year also, we are also raising 2 kids so go for it!! And get a partner who is experienced

• By the way, I forgot to mention that I only collect between six and seven thousand per week.

• CORNWELL-
  I was a Cornwell Dealer in Joliet Illinois for a short time. I'm here just to offer my personal experience regarding the tool business, but Cornwell specifically. I knew nothing about the tool business going into it.

  All of Cornwell's hard line tools are made in Ohio. Bit sockets are from Taiwan. They sell all the major manufacturers (Lisle, OTC, ADT etc.)

  I found that a lot of techs preferred Snap On or Matco because of the big name. Eventually I realized providing better service and selling other things, instead of hard line tools, was the way to go. Guys started trusting me and got used to seeing me every week and business was growing. My tool bill was paid in full every week.

  It will take long hours, just like others said. And if you take vacation, get hurt, whatever.....you miss out.

  I began losing control of my tool business because I decided to get involved in a 2nd business and started dividing my time between the two. The bottom fell out of both.
  I said to myself that the only thing that will keep me from being successful in the tool business would be me. And it was.

  But let me tell you how Cornwell responded.
  They accepted all of my tools back and credited me appropriately. I had a $4,000 OTC scanner that was opened and demoed. Cornwell gave me full credit for it. I paid off Cornwell in 3 weeks of giving up the business; that shows I was profitable. My DM was named Dwayne C. He called me and asked me what I was going to do with my truck. He called me. I didn't call him. He found a buyer for it who gave me my asking price no questions asked because my DM vouched for it being a great truck.

  I appreciated the time with Cornwell and how they treated me.

• I've had really good luck with cornwell. If u fail it is ur own fault. before I started I researched my area and possible competition, but also I have a mechanical back ground. and I don't mind telling a customer no.

• I have been Cornwell franchise for 2 years now. If you can manage your money you can manage a business then being a tool distributer is no problem. I wish I had done it 20 years ago. Cornwell in my mind is the best fit for me. Remember just because you own your own business does not mean you don't have to work. Success comes with working and working smarter. As well as managing your money and Business.