CURVES AUSTRALIA Franchise Complaints
Are you familiar with the Curves franchise program in Australia?
Please share what you know with a comment below.
In the past, UnhappyFranchisee.com has focused its reporting on the troubles of U.S. Curves franchisees.
(Read CURVES: Robert Lay’s Story – 1000+ comments – Or CURVES: Curves Posts on Unhappy Franchisee for a complete list of posts)
Frankly, we don’t know how exactly the Curves franchise operates in Australia.
We have heard that more than 52 Curves franchises have closed since 2010.
We do know that more than 60 Curves in Australia are for sale on the BuyCurves.com resale website.
And we know one more thing: We get lots of emails from Curves franchisees in Australia that mirror the complaints of Curves everywhere else:
- Complete lack of support.
- Corporate indifference to the plight of franchisees struggling to survive.
- Cold calculated legal demands forcing clubs to close and pay damages and future royalties, even from franchisees who have lost everything.
Aussie Z wrote:
I wish I never heard of Curves and Gary Heavin… Things were going great for the first 18 months then things started going down hill, repeatedly emailed CI for some sort of help got nothing. Then Curves Smart came and I borrowed more money as Curves said this would really make my club profitable. What a crock. Just meant I am in more debt.
Cornered Gary at Convention and he promised that when he got back to America he would get in touch with me to see what he could do to help. LIAR he never did. I am now on the verge of having to bankrupt myself so I hope Gary and CI are proud of themselves. So much for the god fearing person he portrays himself to be. Made me sick to see him on “Secret Millionaire” giving away thousands of dollars to strangers and wont do anything to help the people who made him rich in the first place.
When I started my curves up there was over 400 in Australia now there are 273 clubs left. One regional club couldn’t even give her club away for $1 so she just closed down as well. Very very sad.
Dont get sucked in by the hype. Certainly don’t help Gary get any richer.
A rural Australian Curves owner complains of the lack of support and threat of termination:
I bought a Curves resale in rural Australia. it wasn’t doing well mainly due to the owner at the time, she did a lot of damage and I’ve been trying to rebuild it. I have continually asked Curves for support during this time but NOTHING. So my issue is mainly with the royalty / ad fee repayments. Some months go through others don’t from lack of members (financials). So they now issued me with a pay $8000 you owe us on 10 days or your agreement will be terminated.
Another Australian Curves owner emailed us:
… I am in the same situation as everyone else who has purchased Curves, and has encountered their unprofessionalism…
I live in Australia, and I have been forced to terminate my franchisees, and havebeen sent a letter from a Law Firm in Melbourne, Australia.
Last year we were forced to be closed for some time due to a natural disaster, and since then we have fallen behind in royalty fees etc….
I have just received a letterlast Friday (27th August) from a Law firm in Melbourne, Victoria, stating that I need to close my clubs ASAP, and also pay then a huge amount of money, including future royalty fees.
I cannot offer any money as I am broke..
“A Desperate Aussie” wrote:
I am from Australia and things are not good here.
Tried to get assistance from CI to consolidate 2 clubs into a single club that may have a chance of surviving. 2 clubs will certainly both fail and very soon, so we are closing one immediately.
We have paid royalties for 3 years from the closing club and 2 years for the one that may survive BUT CI (Jim J and Gary H have both said that population is large enough to support 2 clubs and will not allow us to consolidate. They just say sell one and concentrate on the other. If the closed club were to be resold then the 2 clubs would fail quickly.
We need support and asked for their help and had the door slammed in our face. The population figures they use to justify a viable club is so out of date and does not in any way reflect the environment clubs operate in these days.
We are frightened that CI will access all our funds and force us into Bankruptsy.
I know of several other clubs that are in big trouble also and will have to close sooner that later. CI just does not care. When you no longer supply funds to them they just want you to sell your franchise. It is all about keeping the cash rolling in and to hell with the damaged lives that lay in the wake of the failed businesses.
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE CURVES FRANCHISE IN AUSTRALIA? PLEASE SHARE YOUR INSIGHTS, OPINIONS OR INFORMATION BELOW.
