EXPERIMAC FranchiseFranchise Disclosure Documents (FDD)Ray TitusRetail franchiseSPOTLIGHT 1UNITED FRANCHISE GROUP (UFG) Franchise

EXPERIMAC Income Plummeted 52% in 2018: Franchise Disclosure Document

The Experimac Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) indicates that United Franchise Group’s used computer repair franchise system may be heading for a crash.  Will Experimac be the next UFG franchise to have been hyped, promoted, and then quietly disappear?

(UnhappyFranchisee.ComThis post has been made possible by contributions made to the Experimac Franchise Report campaign on GoFundMe.  Please help support our investigative research and reporting.

The 2019 Experimac Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) has been submitted to state agencies, and the picture it paints isn’t pretty.

According to our original research and disclosures from United Franchise Group (UFG) disclosure documents:

  • Experimac franchise stores have closed in as many as 22 states.
  • Franchisor income declined 52% from 2017 to 2018.
  • Median franchise store sales are less than $300,000
  • Experimac Franchising LLC has been hit with its first franchise lawsuit
  • The franchisor must change its trade name to Experimax as a result of a trademark dispute with Apple, Inc.

We outline key points below.  You can read the entire 2019 Experimac Franchise Disclosure Document (PDF) here.

Experimac Franchising LLC Income Declined 52% From 2017 to 2018.

Experimac income

According to the Experimac Franchising LLC audited financial statement:

  • Franchise fee revenue declined 53% from $4,012,093 in 2017 to $1,883,962 in 2018.
  • The franchisor’s revenue from product sales declined 68%, from $7,007,413 in 2017 to $2,248,251.
  • The franchisor’s overall revenue declined 52% from $12,449,439 in 2017 to just $6,022,962 in 2018.

Experimac Franchise Store Median Gross Sales: $281,747

Experimax Franchise Disclosure DocumentExperimac Franchising LLC discloses that the median gross sales for 34 Experimac franchise outlets that had been open for at least two years (average: 2.7 years) is reportedly $281,747.

That’s a 13% decline from the median 2017 sales for franchise stores listed in the 2018 FDD ($324,773) and 85% less than the gross sales of $1,834,861 prospective franchisees were told Jim Muir’s original store generated in his third year in business.

The median number is significant as the average appears to be skewed upward by a few high volume stores (the highest being $822,375).

While the average gross sales for the 34 franchise stores is $410,639, nearly 60% of the franchise stores generated less than $281,747 with the lowest generating $144,297 ($12K per month).

Excluded from the Item 19 Franchise Performance Representation are the 18 franchise stores that closed in 2018.  States the FDD:  “Of the 18 franchise outlets excluded, 3 closed in 2018 after being open for less than 12 months.”

Experimac Stores Closed in 22 States Since January 2018

Experimac Franchising LLC reports that 18 franchise stores closed in 2018, leaving just 100 open at year end (We counted 85 listed as open on the company website 3/13/19).

The 2019 Experimac FDD indicates that franchise stores ceased operations in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, & Texas.

Additionally, we suspect that since January 1, 2018, Experimac franchise locations have also ceased operation in Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.

In the last 16 months, it appears that Experimac franchise investments have been lost in at least 22 states.

See our Experimac Franchise Closed Store List for updated franchise failure data and comments.

Experimac Franchise Lawsuit Filed

The 2019 Experimac Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) contains the first Experimac franchise lawsuit the company has disclosed.

Experimac franchisee Glenn Trommer has filed an arbitration claim alleges Experimac Franchising LLC made fraudulent misrepresentations, breached the franchise agreement, engaged in unfair or deceptive trade practices and more.

According to the Experimac FDD:

ITEM 3 LITIGATION

A. Pending Litigation: Avivah Digital Commerce, LLC, and Glenn Trommer v. Experimac Franchising, LLC, (AAA Case No. 01-18-0001-7801, Palm Beach County, Florida) Filed on May 3, 2018.
A franchisee of the Company, Glenn Trommer, filed an arbitration claim against the Company alleging the Company breached the franchise agreement, imposed unreasonable performance standards, made fraudulent misrepresentations, engaged in unfair or deceptive trade practices and fraudulent inducement, and seeking damages, rescission, declaratory relief and attorney’s fees and costs.

The matter is in the discovery phase.


B. Litigation Against Franchisees Commenced in the Past Fiscal Year:
Suit for Declaratory Relief: Experimac Franchising, LLC v. Glenn Trommer, (Case No. 502018CA013392XXXXMB, Circuit Court, Palm Beach County, FL) Filed October 22, 2018.

Experimac Franchisees Who Left The System

The Experimac Franchise Disclosure Document includes contact information for current Experimac franchise owners, as well as these owners who had their franchises closed, terminated, reacquired or transferred:

 

Franchisee Location Franchisee Location
Taylor Rash Gilbert AZ Tim Holder Joplin MO
Chris Thomas Chico CA Daniel Boisse Fayetteville NC
Janice Lee

James Wang

Santa Ana CA Gustav Bone Greenville NC
Andrew King Temecula CA Lisa Piatt Huntersville NC
Ricardo Salinas

Zachary Salinas

Arvada CO, Fort Collins CO Okechukwu Nwanna West Hempstead NY
Patrick Wentland Colorado Springs CO Eliza Mallue

Jeffrey Mallue

Dayton OH
George Leonis Highlands Ranch CO Chris Knight North Charleston SC
Matthew Rusconi Manchester CT, Rocky Hill CT Hemanth Sehgal Dallas TX
David McCollister Gainesville FL Travis Weaver

Ling Weaver

Seattle WA
Travis Howe

Rebecca Howe

Cumming GA Laetitia Rohfritsch Strasbourg, France
Mark Simmons Smyrna GA Julian Nieuwoudt

William Nieuwoudt

Cape Town, South Africa
Donald Dixon Jr Lexington KY Reynart De Beer Sandton, South Africa
Timothy Larkins

Stephen Hyde

Alexandria, Bossier City, Shreveport N,

Shreveport S, Longview TX, Tyler TX

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH EXPERIMAC OR OTHER UNITED FRANCHISE GROUP FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES?  SHARE YOUR OPINIONS BELOW OR EMAIL US IN CONFIDENCE.

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TAGS: Experimac, Experimac franchise, Experimac Franchise Disclosure Document, Experimac FDD, Experimax franchise, Experimax FDD, Experimac Failure Rate, Ray Titus, Jim Muir,  Experimax franchise opportunity, Experimac franchise complaints, United Franchise Group, United Franchise Group franchise, United Franchise Group UFG, SBA loan defaults, unhappy franchisee

9 thoughts on “EXPERIMAC Income Plummeted 52% in 2018: Franchise Disclosure Document

  • Burned As Well

    “Wow” is all I can say. This franchise has burned a lot of people. It’s sad.

  • Former franchisee

    It’s clear that these guys weren’t in this for the long run. They obviously knew they had a window to grab as much as they could.

  • It is amazing just how little Titus and Muir care about anyone. For people that are constantly reminding you how christian they are, they are two of the most untrustworthy people I have ever met. I’m really happy that they are finally being taken to court. I hope one day to have my chance.

  • TaTa Dehavo

    Titus father always use to say when you here “I am a Christian ” hold on to your wallet cause they are after it. Reverand Ray and his band of miscreates are on the loose again looks like the FTC needs to unretire the three pumpkin head attorneys that took the Tituses down in the mid-90s .
    Because Roy was able to rally RVPS and franchise owners to testify and go toe to toe with the government’s witnesses they ended up only paying all in about 10 million in attorneys fees and fines to the government. With the scripted academy award performance of the RVPs and pure innocent loyal franchise owners that spoke from the heart testifying it took judge Hurley all most 2 years to decide to fine Titus but allow the companies to continue to operate. He felt the Titus family was redeemable. Sadly they did not learn.

    On the horizon, Tommy Boy Titus is catching holy hell from the from a group of owners in Australia caught up in the governments crack down on predatory franchisors selling indiscriminately. MMP has two left a path of destruction and broken people.

    The group is rallying support from all franchisees to confront Tommy Boy Titus at his
    2019 World Expo at Ceasers Palace July 31-August 3. He is a pussy so it will be interesting to see what goes down I will be watching!

  • The Government should make Titus and Muir pay back all those Government loans and give relief to all the franchisees that they conned out of their life savings by presenting them with lies and a fake business model, UFG is nothing but a bunch of con artist! Ray Titus and Jim Muir should be held accountable for the destruction they have caused all these honest hardworking people. May justice prevail!

  • Today @ the water cooler …. I heard that UFG [U F***ing Guys] is losing $1.2 Mil/monthly… and this is pretty well hydrated information… this is after knowing they don’t pay bills unless collections calls… and has a travel ban for all OA/Field Techs for {July&September}. Pending updates on selling another EXM/branded store. *chokes on water*

    Did you know turn over rate has been increasely your high? Damn near 70\75% [on one brand specific.]

    Another fun fact. An internal email went around from [another family member] who’s outside the blood but still a [Ba]stard begging employees to find cheaper labor or vendors. –
    ….
    Did you know [each time] you sold a CPS warranty, UFG got a kick back for that?

  • fraudsters

    all they know is how to fraud honest hardworking people who invest their lifelong saving in to the business. they sell the franchise and leave them on the edge to fall. they just want royalty and franchise fee. everything they sell has a percentage on it where there is no margin left for franchise. business model what they show is ridiculous. all i can advise is never come in titus and muir false promises.they are two fraudulent and untrustworthy ah.

  • As a franchisee I can say this “turn key operation” was anything but…. Cost of start up was well over what was quoted.. there “help” finding a good location was more so just find a place asap so they sign the documents and WE (ufg) gets paid.

    When they switched from Experimac to Experimax no relief was given to change signage, cards, brochure’s, basically any piece of marketing… unless you signed a document basically saying you can never sue us or file any litigation against us for any reason.. if you signed that they would give you $700 which maybe covered 20% of costs.. not only that but restarted your organic google seo.. which also happened when they changed our website! By the time we were a year in about 70% of the support staff quit, and I remeined friends with the guy who helped us set up the store… and he told me some very scary things but because of how aggressive this company is to make them look good while not caring about there literal customers is I cannot disclose the guys name. SCAM period

  • I was planning to buy this franchise after hearing the podcast. During the research i talked to a current franchisee which i picked up randomly. He sounded morbidly depressed and after talking to him i refused to proceed and the sales rep was like you are making a mistake blah blah blah. Long story short someone else opened the franchise in my city soon after and was did not last 6 months.

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