The Coverall franchise website states: “Since 1985, Coverall® has assisted nearly 9,000 entrepreneurs in becoming successful business owners and commercial cleaning professionals…
“Coverall provides its Franchise Owners with comprehensive training, an initial customer base, billing and collection services, financing, a global network of 90 Support Centers, plus the unique benefits of the Health-Based Cleaning System program, for measurably cleaner, safer customer facilities…. Coverall offers you the support you need to grow and develop your business.”
However, unhappy franchisee commenters have posted complaints about the Coverall franchise opportunity, with some claiming the Coverall franchise is a scam. In 2008, commenter “ntoi” on the Complaints Board website wrote:
I’m a franchise owner for Coverall for almost two years now in San Mateo, CA and I really regret it joining and starting my business with them because all they did is SCAM me. Coverall Cleaning Concept aka Coverall-Based Cleaning System is where you can start your janitorial business by buying a franchise. You basically starting your cleaning business by using their name and you pay them yet they automatically deducted 15% each month plus insurance other charges. They suppose to guarantee you an account so that way you can start making money right away. They only guarantee you with account just enough that they can take and make money out of you each month and you left nothing. Which what is happening to me. All this time which all I get is headache because I always have to call the office to give me more account but no result. Now their holding my check and their not paying me. I called so may time what happened to my check and they just pass me around and no on knows. I’m ready so sue Coverall all for all my lost. I’m ready take them to court.
Anyone who want to start a janitorial cleaning business do your research. As I tell DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH COVERALL CLEANING CONCEPT aka COVERALL HEALTH-BASED CLEANING SYSTEM because is a SCAM.
More recently (on the same board) “Coverall Franchise owner/until expires” wrote:
I totally agree with the complains. I am a franchise owner myself. they are totally liers. I made a contract for $20k, I gave $14.000 downpayment and we agree that I was going to pay the rest each month /deducted from my paycheck. I though I was going to get my acconts (offices to clean) in one month. But, they made me wait about a year, plus I was making $9 dollars per hour (fast and hard work) and I did not had any money to hired an employee to help me. How much I was supposed to pay if I hire one? 1 dollar? THEY ARE SCAMMERS. Yes, they are in the forbes magazine, of course because they make money but franchises dont. they will take you money and make you work like crazy. they also charge for administration but you are the one who has to comfront the office owners if something is wrong or if you want them to increase your payment because you are working extra hours. DONT MAKE ANY CONTRACT WITH THEM, They are not good, this business is not worth it at all. I am totally dissapointed :(
THEPUNISHER wrote that all janitorial franchises, not just Coverall, are scams:
JANITORIAL FRANCHISES ARE A SCAM! It might work for some but I guarantee it doesn’t work for the majority. This is how they work:
_You pay them a package, for example you pay about $16K for a $4k monthly income
_They’ll get you the accounts.
_Although they say you can choose to accept or not a specific account, it’ not true. They will turn around and say they satisfied the agreement of providing your accounts and if you didn’t take, they won’t give you more accounts.
_They underbid contracts to compete with everyone else, since they are NOT the ones doing the work..they don’t care. They get the accounts due the low price and you’re stuck working hard for few hundred dollars a month. You would be better off working for McDonalds getting $8 an hr. DO THE MATH!
_NOW This is the worst of ALL…once they have too many franchisees and can’t find enough accounts, they will find anything wrong in some buildings as a missed trash can and ask the company if they want another person to clean…since it doesn’t make a difference for them, they will say yes. Then the Franchise call you and say your customer requested to get another contractor because he’s not happy with your job. Now they sale that account to the newer franchisees so they honor the agreement to get accounts. THAT’S STEALING!
WITH A CLEANING FRANCHISE, IN REALITY YOU NEVER OWN YOUR OWN BUSINESS! If you owned the accounts you should be able to walk away with them after a period of time..right? NO..YOU CAN’T BECAUSE THE CONTRACT IS ON THE FRANCHISE NAMER…NOT YOURS!
I just hope that a Federal Court one of these days force all cleaning franchises to get the accounts on the franchisees’ names…not theirs. Create a money back guarantee and protect the little guys..the franchisees…I can’t believe in this age Cleaning Franchises are able to get away with this scam.
kbill, who claims to be a former Coverall franchise owner in Ohio, wrote:
I was also a Franchise owner through coverall in cincinnati OH. They are complete scam artists. I wasted 6 years with them, trying to get something started and they did not hold up to their end of the bargain. I agree with what you guys are saying. Buyer beware!!!
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE COVERALL COMMERCIAL CLEANING FRANCHISE?
IS COVERALL A SCAM OR LEGITIMATE FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY?
SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
Also read:
JANI-KING Franchise Complaints
JAN-PRO: Janitorial Franchise Warning
FTC Guide to Buying a Janitorial Services Franchise
FTC’s Janitorial Franchise Buyer’s Guide
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View Comments
"To jerry who is working for the cleaning franchisors and getting paid alot of money $$$"
1st Amendment:
There's no way these companies are paying Jerr-Bear for publicly embarrassing them and keeping this conversation going.
If they are going to part with their scam-dollars, they're going to get someone with some PR skills. This guy's a clown who's huffed a little too much solvent over the years.
Second, they don't really care what's said about them. They've got enough recent immigrants, non-English speakers, non-computer users and other trusting souls to hoodwink.
If anybody's paying Jerry it's the anti-janitorial scam people, paying Jerr-bear to make their adversaries look stupid. And boy are they are getting their money's worth!
Guest: Oh you are so Special, so Witty, so Funny. I've stated all along, not getting paid, stated all along don't have "skin" in this game. But again, you and 1st amendment don't read. You just "blather on" making false statements, trying to state them as "facts"
I thought you'd want the conversation to continue. Per you, they hate me, you hate me, the illegal immigrants hate me, what do you care about what I say so much?
Funny, I've posted my thoughts here, been honest with who I am, where I came from, what positions I've held in this industry, you can't even be honest with "who you are".
"I’ve posted my thoughts here, been honest with who I am"
Really? Your name is really Jerry? What's your last name? What's the name of your employer? Again, you contradict yourself so openly. Give your real, verifiable name or stop pretending you've disclosed your identity.
"Per you, they hate me, you hate me, the illegal immigrants hate me"
Never said anyone hates you. Again, blatant falsehood.
"I thought you’d want the conversation to continue"
I love your comments! I'm trying to warn people about the risks of scam janitorial franchises and the lies and deceptions of the people who promote and/or defend them. Your continual contradictions and distortions provide great examples! And for that, I thank you!
I can tell you're getting tired and frustrated. The reason is that you are arguing contradictions and trying to justify the years you spent contributing to a corrupt company and segment of the industry. Since you're lying to yourself, it's easy to argue rings around you.
Guest: Really, I'll come completely clean when you do the same. At least my first name is "Jerry" is yours "guest"?
No lies, No deception. Simple FACTS. Also stated so many times, don't believe Me, certainly don't believe YOU, certainly don't believe 1st Amendment. VERIFY for yourselves. TAKE your time. LOOK closely at what you"re buying and WHO you are investing with.
"Corrupt" here we go again, making false and implying that criminal actions have taken place. WHAT a PILE of smoking MONKEY DUNG that is. Don't make false accusations like that, if there were criminal acts, people would be in jail especially with all the publicity that owner/operator systems have been getting. That's just pure garbage and another reason that people don't TRUST you and 1st amendment as much as you think they do.
If you notice the lawsuits seem to all have some very common facts. It's no longer a question of no company is perfect but a crime that keeps being commited over and over, year after year.
To me they are also in violation of the Rico and Racketeering Acts.
Yared Bevene. et al v. Coverall of [sic] North America. Inc,,, Pacific Commercial Services. LLC. Coverall Cleaning Concepts and Coverall of Nashville. Inc. (Davidson County, Tennessee, Case No. 06-1202), filed May 12, 2006. There were five named plaintiffs who purported to be franchisees of Coverall or Coverall''s Service Franchisee, Pacific Commercial Services, LLC ("PCS")- The plaintiffs alleged violations of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, fraud in the inducement, and negligent misrepresentation. The case was removed to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on June 22, 2006 and assigned Case No. 3:06-0628. Plaintiffs filed an Amended Complaint on October 17, 2006 adding two additional plaintiffs. Mediation was held on September 13, 2007, and the case was settled. Coverall paid the seven Plaintiffs, five putative plaintiffs, and their attorney $37,500.
"if there were criminal acts, people would be in jail"
More delightful logical fallacy from Jerry. People cannot be creating crimes or they would be in jail!
Bernard Madoff started his ponzi scheme in the early 80s. For 28 years, Jerry could have said "if there were criminal acts, Madoff would be in jail!" Unfortunately, in 2009, people realized that billions can be swindled before anyone goes to jail.
Keep'm coming, Jerr-bear.
PS my name actually is "guest" Just like yours is Jerry.
Guest: How funny you are, did you get "burnt" by Bernie, is that why you are so bitter, someone got your money and now you feel like you need "revenge". Here's the problem, the very same people you supposidly "respect" the 46.5 million Hispanic-Americans (by the way, there really isn't 46.5 million "hispanic-americans", common sense dictates that not all of them are "Legal" therefore they can't be "americans" in any sense) how many of them do you think are part of the current Thirty Thousand plus owner/operators currently cleaning facilities each and every night across this GREAT COUNTRY of ours?
What about them, what's your plan for them, how are you going to "justify to them" if you'd actually win? Here's the TRUTH, YOU don't care, YOU haven't thought that "far ahead", In your mind they are no different than "aiwah" was to Liz (TEST CASE) So don't go all "biblical" on me, don't call me names, don't try and label me and here you can't even give straight answers to a simple question: WHAT ABOUT THEM????
Answer the question, get off your "high horse" and label "racists, racists" and not everyone who simply disagrees with you and has a little bit of actual and true AMERICAN PRIDE and DIGNITY. You want to come to this GREAT COUNTRY, then do it the right way, go through the process like millions of others already have.
1st amendment: Lawsuits have a "common theme" because attorneys all come from the same "band wagon" if it worked before, it will work again. Only difference this time vs. the past, the Franchising companies are tired of the "nonsense" and instead of "settling" which got them no where, which actually hurt them and brought on more lawsuits. This time, they are growing a "pair" and fighting back.
1st amendment, you're going to lose just like "aiwah" did. It's going to cost you and your "merry band of disgruntled owner/operators", after a few more "nose bleeds" maybe then Liz and her "crack pot team" of Progressive lovin, Marxist swearin, Obama kissin attorneys will quit putting up "TEST CASES".
You are right about one thing though, JUDGEMENT DAY is coming, problem is, it's coming for you.
Why do cleaning franchisors hurt people like Mr. Padilha and Mr. Martins. Please read part of the following article that came out in the New York Times.
What was hapening in 2005 is still hapening today in 2010.
To read the whole article you can go to the following link.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/13/national/13franchising.html
Lawsuits Charge Fraud in Cleaning Business
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: July 13, 2005
João Padilha had been saving money from his work as a restaurant deliveryman outside Boston when he heard a tantalizing offer to buy a cleaning franchise.
Marcos Martins, a Brazilian immigrant like Mr. Padilha, was looking to go into business.
Tri Duc Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant in Portland, Ore., needed a way to make money after Fujitsu closed the factory where he worked.
All three men put thousands of dollars into cleaning franchises and say they were shortchanged.
As Mr. Padilha retells it, the top Boston representative of Coverall Cleaning Concepts said he could make $3,000 a month cleaning buildings if he paid $12,880 for a franchise. What is more, Mr. Padilha says he was told he could easily parlay his investment into a large cleaning business.
So Mr. Padilha paid the money and was assigned two women's health clinics, in Haverhill and Newburyport, Mass.
He was told it would take two and a half hours a day to clean the clinics, but it took six hours, he said. Coverall also gave him two dialysis clinics, and soon he was cleaning and shuttling among clinics from 5:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weekdays, with six more hours on weekends.
He estimated that he worked 65 hours a week and 280 hours a month. But his receipts show that Coverall, which handled payments, paid him $1,262 a month, less than half what he says he had been promised.
"I was doing all this work, but the check was for very little money," Mr. Padilha said.
So he went to the director of Coverall's Boston office to complain.
"When I came in, they said I had no more work," Mr. Padilha said. "He said the supervisor of one clinic no longer wanted me. They took all my work away in one fell swoop. I asked for my franchise money back, but they said no."
"It's sad for a man to cry, but I left that room crying," he added.
Mr. Padilha said he recouped none of his investment and soon learned that Mr. Martins had obtained the franchise to clean the dialysis clinics.
Mr. Martins said: "I asked why the person who was doing it before had discontinued the work. The field consultant told me the person had gone back to Brazil."
Mr. Martins put $5,000 down and promised to pay $306 a month for two years to obtain a franchise that he was told would generate $2,000 a month for him. He said he cleaned clinics 72 hours a week, about 300 hours a month, but received just $1,366.
He, too, was, abruptly terminated at the clinics for reasons he says he never understood.
A dozen franchisees, including Mr. Padilha and Mr. Martins, are suing Coverall, charging it with fraud, breach of contract and failing to pay the minimum wage. They assert that the company took out improperly large commissions and did not have enough customers to supply franchisees.
1st amendment: Well I hope to GOD that these people are suing the crap out of Coverall, IF what they say is true! You don't know it's True, I don't know it's True, But if it is, They should SUE and I HOPE THEY WIN!!!!!!! If its true.