LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints

5,730 thoughts on “LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints”

• Guess 2, My attorney can answer that.

• Bottom line is they TAKE millions from you. Stand up to them even if they took your shoes. Liberty Tax is a letdown and always will be. Their budget is high for prospecting and legal resources, low for support to clients or franchisees. They send mockingbirds hiding their guns for you, then a pigeon delivers dispute paper that took it 5 years to get to your house, which was in line for a courier the day they shook your hand.

• Liberty Tax can do this:

  Tell you to work hard to build clients in your backyard and be the star tax company of the community. The same backyard you will land up in when you visit the local food stamp office sitting next to your Bank Product clients. No warning, no warrant required.

• MR REFUND just focuses on the REFUND.

  no liberty from tax?

• Plenty of Liberty doing that to. The a written guarantee is ” we will get you the highest possible retund…..”.

• And they will give you your money back if you are not satisfied for any reason was a guarantee.

  And we will assist with audit protection…

  but instead pay interest and penalties (then charge it to the franchisee automatically)
  on errors because 98 percent of offices are just not qualified to have an employee help on IRS audits except give them copies. Audits have bookeeping, running tapes and more. Liberty discourages offices to learn that because they sell software for a monthly fee for customers to use a website, so why should anyone learn when their focus is on return count and getting more low income clients for high fees?

• Liberty demanded to give away 100 free returns per store (thats 400 for me) or the franchisees would not get their incentive bonus on selling high end RALS for Republic Bank. I wonder if they reported the average net fee to Republic Bank in factoring in that discounted off returns plus paid and free returns average net fee gave RBOK no flags of excessive fees? Any other year we were able to get the kickback with no stipulations.

• For all Liberty Tax franchisees, go ahead and increase your return count to build equity in your store for your big payoff day when you sell. When he Right of First Refusal rules stop them from blocking you closing a decent deal after what 5 years? Then what do you think they do? That payday does not come. Even quoted from a speech from John Hewitt…” you franchisees will never get rich in this business…”

  Not many break even but the Corporate office so carefully will analyze it for you when they push loans to purchase new stores and say the math works out as the AD’s have to look over your submitted budget, change numbers when needed and make sure it goes through financing in-house. Sometimes, you don’t even get to see your final budget after it left your email. NOW, they put it on issue tracker so old and changed versions are clearly seen as attachments to view from the franchisee. But Liberty Tax Corporate also hides many of the in-house comments from the franchisee. So we can make phone calls to the Area Developer asking advise but get no support or real direction but one thing is important, “get so many a day, focus on return count even if you have to give it away”.

• Everyone is sure to know what Rule 701 is? You are expert enough to know what you lost when Liberty Tax takes away from you, whether it is from lack of support especially during peak, terminating your contract, having bad math on the financial reports, getting bad instructions, being sold into bad locations or others territories opening in or too close to your location….and the list goes on. Just do the math on it all. Your stores value is not 1.30 to 1.70? Check out where I would be seeing that in court documents. Corp may value it at 1.30 of your net fees, but what is your expertise in the equity and value you built?

  You know when I first started reading this forum, there were angry franchisees or ex franchisees of Liberty Tax. Tell the stories of what it is like owning this franchise. Speak out the fact of the stories. Post media clips. Put the real image out there for people. You are not going to get assassinated. Their lawyer is David Nunley, he will make sure you are safe.

• http://www.wave3.com/story/17212255/customer-overcharged-by-tax-service-common-problem-at-tax-time

• November in Chicago Now:
  Thanks to a settlement between the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Republic Bank Corp., the bank no longer will provide such products.

  It might sound preposterous to take out a loan with an interest rate of 500 percent, but it is a common practice during tax filing time. Tax preparers nationwide have offered refund anticipation loans, meaning they will advance filers the money they expect to collect later from the U.S. government. These sketchy loans, which historically have targeted low-income communities, are finally on their way out, according to Karen Harris at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. Thanks to a settlement between the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Republic Bank Corp., the bank no longer will provide such products. After the U.S. agency sent a cease-and-desist order to Republic in 2011, other large banks also decided to stop issuing the loans. According to a 2011 study by the Urban Institute, receiving “instant” cash can cost as much 12 percent of a filer’s refund. The price of tax preparation is usually no more than $187 to $350, the study found. Additional fees can vary from $57 to $117 — or more for an instant refund. The most worrisome part of the anticipation loans was how they targeted poor neighborhoods. According to a Treasury Department report, nearly half were issued in just 10 percent of the country’s ZIP codes. Most of those who received them were the working poor — those earning a median adjusted gross income lower than $20,000. Additionally, minorities were much more likely to use these services — 13 percent of the people who received these loans were African Americans, 9 percent were Latinos, and only 6 percent were white, the Urban Institute found.

  Liberty Tax was happy to be of the few who had RAL products for 2012 one last round. John Hewitt encouraged zees that it was such a great advantage over the competition and we need to take full advantage, as he repeatedly announced on all early season conference calls.

• http://www.theinvestigativefund.org/investigations/economiccrisis/1634/good_riddance_to_the_tax_refund_loan/

• http://www.wthr.com/video?clipId=7054149&topVideoCatNo=103348&autoStart=true

  This is a Liberty Tax “whistleblower” using Liberty Software. Did you know that Liberty Tax trains offices to become “Hispanic Certified” so that we can stick a GOLD SEAL in the window and market to the Hispanic Community as it is such a huge financial opportunity?

• http://www.wthr.com/video?clipId=7054149&topVideoCatNo=103348&autoStart=true

  This Liberty Tax person spoke out. I don’t suppose getting Liberty Tax Hispanic Gold Seal on his window made him feel good about the huge marketing opportunity to market to Hispanic clients. There are offices that can only handle Hispanic clients as they keep stores so busy that you would have to open another store for other clientelle in the same territory to have enough space and desks to cash in on your market growth.

• http://www.ripoffreport.com/income-tax-service/liberty-tax-service/liberty-tax-service-this-fly-b0c96.htm

• Trisha,

  You are ROCKIN girl. Keep it up, Also, post on yahoo’s message board under H&R Block, I know there are a lot of Liberty “supporters’ there, You can give your phone number to me via ADMIN. We all can’t wait to see Liberty go bankrupt! Tell all current zees about this website!

• Not to say the Republic Bank would ever have something shady going on with Liberty Tax Service. But just exactly why are all those 2008-2009-2010 refund checks that were not cashed never been turned in to the State Treasury Department as required?? Why does Liberty say to hold on to them on go through issue tracker to get a new check issued if the EVER show up at the office again?

  Just asking. I mean people should be able to go to unclaimedmoney by state and see RBOK has turned in alot of checks with last known addresses don’t you guys think?

• LIBERTY TAX Pulls Deceptive Franchise Ads2 years agoby Sean Kelly | 5 Comments | Share a Tip
  Last Thursday I published a post regarding 433 franchisee recruitmant ads placed on the employment website CareerBuilder.com. (Read LIBERTY TAX: Deceptive Franchise Ads?)

  Within 48 hours (or so), all of the ads were either pulled or revised to be legitimate job ads.

  It’s nice to know someone’s reading FranchisePick.com.

  There were two major issues with the ads, and I questioned the ethics and even legality of some of Liberty Tax Services franchisee recruitment advertising.

  The first issue is that the FTC prohibits running franchise ads masquerading as job ads

  On January 30, 2006, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued Informal Staff Advisory Opinion 06-1, which addressed whether a franchisor “may seek leads by posting an offer for employment on an employment website, such as Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com.” The advisory prohibits running employment ads that are truly franchise ads.

  The ads were clearly designed to pitch the Liberty Tax Service franchise opportunity to jobseekers.

  The second objection may be more serious: the use of illegal earning’s claims. I pointed out it seems inconceivable that a large and experienced franchisor (#3 in the nation?) with a cadre of lawyers somehow missed the section of Franchise Marketing 101 regarding the prohibition against earnings claims outside of the required format of Item 19 of the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).

  Yet the ads promised financial performance not once, but 433 times:

  Job type: Full-Time / Pay: $56K – $69,900/year

  The Liberty Tax Service Franchise Disclosure Document does, in fact, include Item 19 Financial Performance Representations, but it does not even vaguely resemble the promise of a “$56K – $69,900/year” franchise owner profit contained in the CareerBuilder ads. In fact, it contains no profit information whatsoever, just the average number of tax returns prepared by 1st, 2nd and 3rd year and older storefront office locations, and an average price per return of $164.20.

  It’s nice to feel important, but…

  It’s gratifying to see the immediate effect of my post and to play a role in cleaning up deceptive franchise advertising. It wasn’t that hard to spot nor to call attention to.

  Perhaps the FTC should hire a franchise blogger to police the Internet and drive the bad guys out of town.

• @Mike, hey I am not sure about the yahoo site, but I have to say I am impressed with the participation of this site and the fact that it pops to the top of google search engines and is managed well.

  I requested the Admin of this site to give you my phone number if that is what you meant for me to do.

  Thanks for continuing to contribute to the conversation and promote awareness to others that they are not alone about the hardships they have had with Liberty Tax Service. I would like to see more people participate and keep speaking up. I have my name out here because I have nothing to hide and nothing to fear of being straight forward about my experience. Wish more would or could do the same.

• An invoice obtained by the WAVE 3 Troubleshooter Department reveals Coffey paid more than $806 to have Liberty do his 2010 tax return, which was a no frills, 1040. According to his return, Coffey’s taxable income that year was a little more than $8,000.

  Coffey said he was in and out in about 10 minutes.

  “I think it’s like $100 per minute,” Coffey said of the rate he was charged.

  The fees were taken right out of Corey’s refund check so he said he didn’t realize how much he was being charged until after the fact.

  Coffey said he complained to Liberty’s corporate office, but said he never got a response and chalked it up to a costly lesson learned.

  Then this year he saw a Facebook friend singing Liberty’s praises.

  “And she says ‘Hey come to Liberty Tax Service, well do great on your taxes,'” Coffey said of the post. “And I put on there no, no, no. Liberty Tax Service took a lot of money from me.”

  And not just from Coffey. A report from the National Consumer Law Center released in February 2012 revealed a mystery shopper was charged $540 to prepare a tax return at an unnamed Liberty Tax Service, which has locations nationwide.

  “It’s not fair in some situations,” said Rob Koons, owner of the Liberty Tax Service Coffey used. “And when I hire managers, they have to make the right judgement calls.”

  Koons acknowledged tax preparers can charge different customers different amounts, adding that he runs an honest business and didn’t know Coffey had been overcharged until his Facebook post. Koons said he immediately agreed to refund Coffey’s money.

  But Coffey said he didn’t actually get that refund, until the WAVE 3 Troubleshooter Department launched its own investigation.

  Koons now admits a $400 charge on Coffey’s invoice, listed as “other tax preparation fees should not have been included in Coffey’s bill.

  “It shouldn’t be there,” Koons said. “It just flat out shouldn’t be there.”

  Koons told WAVE 3 Troubleshooter Eric Flack, Coffey should have been charged about $400 to do his 2010 1040, but that also seems excessive according to that report from the National Consumer Law Center.

  Koons said even tax returns that seem simple can require a lot of work, especially when preparers maximize deductions and refunds. He also said the average fee at his locations are down $50 in the past three years, to around $238 a return, adding more than fifty percent of his businesses is repeat customers.

  “You can’t retain clients by being dishonest,” Koons said. “Mistakes happen, and in this situation a mistake happened.”

• tO ROBERT KOONS THE LIBERTY SUCK UP
  An invoice obtained by the WAVE 3 Troubleshooter Department reveals Coffey paid more than $806 to have Liberty do his 2010 tax return, which was a no frills, 1040. According to his return, Coffey’s taxable income that year was a little more than $8,000.

  Coffey said he was in and out in about 10 minutes.

  “I think it’s like $100 per minute,” Coffey said of the rate he was charged.

  The fees were taken right out of Corey’s refund check so he said he didn’t realize how much he was being charged until after the fact.

  Coffey said he complained to Liberty’s corporate office, but said he never got a response and chalked it up to a costly lesson learned.

  Then this year he saw a Facebook friend singing Liberty’s praises.

  “And she says ‘Hey come to Liberty Tax Service, well do great on your taxes,'” Coffey said of the post. “And I put on there no, no, no. Liberty Tax Service took a lot of money from me.”

  And not just from Coffey. A report from the National Consumer Law Center released in February 2012 revealed a mystery shopper was charged $540 to prepare a tax return at an unnamed Liberty Tax Service, which has locations nationwide.

  “It’s not fair in some situations,” said Rob Koons, owner of the Liberty Tax Service Coffey used. “And when I hire managers, they have to make the right judgement calls.”

  Koons acknowledged tax preparers can charge different customers different amounts, adding that he runs an honest business and didn’t know Coffey had been overcharged until his Facebook post. Koons said he immediately agreed to refund Coffey’s money.

  But Coffey said he didn’t actually get that refund, until the WAVE 3 Troubleshooter Department launched its own investigation.

  Koons now admits a $400 charge on Coffey’s invoice, listed as “other tax preparation fees should not have been included in Coffey’s bill.

  “It shouldn’t be there,” Koons said. “It just flat out shouldn’t be there.”

  Koons told WAVE 3 Troubleshooter Eric Flack, Coffey should have been charged about $400 to do his 2010 1040, but that also seems excessive according to that report from the National Consumer Law Center.

  Koons said even tax returns that seem simple can require a lot of work, especially when preparers maximize deductions and refunds. He also said the average fee at his locations are down $50 in the past three years, to around $238 a return, adding more than fifty percent of his businesses is repeat customers.

  “You can’t retain clients by being dishonest,” Koons said. “Mistakes happen, and in this situation a mistake happened.”

• @Trisha Grabert… I am a first year liberty franchisee and already am having problems with them. Is it possible to talk to you? I am so lost as to what I can do.

  Thanks,

  Amy

• Hi Amy, of course I will speak with you. I will submit a request for contact info to be shared, but would also like to keep the topics posted on this forum for the facts to remain disclosed for everyone. You do not have to give your full name here as I did. I am easy to find on facebook for private messages but will also get my contact info to you today. Then you can decide if you would like to freely contribute to commenting on this board. I do believe this website is making it more possible for not only people in the company to become aware of what is going on with others, but also that there are truths that need to come out and good advice to be taken for direction for everyone who has been harmed, everyone thinking about investing and for a better understanding to how franchisees are treated differently as well as the clients. That is only possible by communicating and keeping good focus on facts. Everyone has an individual story, I am hoping that we all share as much as we can without being threatened or attacked for being truthful as the AD, RD, Financial Dept and technical support from Corporate was misleading, causing harm to so many for a purposeful setup of failure within a common average 5 year tenure of franchisee loyalty, even to the Top Gun franchisees. My first advice to you is to print every email you get from Corporate, even projections or emails that seem simple or informative in nature from anyone. Those emails will not be available to you if they ever decide to turn your znet off. Also, ALL reports available on znet should be printed daily from performance reports, to managements and accounting reports etc. Yes it is an extra cost of toner, but a common made mistake in hindsight for those who did not do so over the years. Every communication made to you is important, dismiss nothing as casual. Welcome to the discussion Amy and please subscribe to get updated emails on this topic to stay informed as well. Thanks for reaching out and coming forward with concerns.

• Trisha I find your comments interesting and informative- i am a franchaise with s few years remaining on my agreement- looking to exit- there really doesn’t seem to be a market out there even is I sell below the fee i initally paid- Giving it back seems the only way to get out-

• Steve:

  I’m not a franchisee anymore but I keep close tabs on the South Jersey area where I was a franchisee and I know of no one in my area who ever sold their territory. Corporate took over the Mays Landing store and it took two years but they where able to sell that store. The rest of them are taken back by corporate and then sold to either a new fool or somehow given/sold to an established franchisee to run.

• Steve,

  Which state are you in (part of the country if you don’t feel comfortable giving your state)? I’m just curious, as I’ve contemplated selling as well. I have not explored it seriously yet, and I’m just curious if I’ll experience the same non-existent market. My sense is obviously yes.

• My experience is that the territories are worthless, no matter how well the store(s) are doing, likely they are bleeding money anyway. Corporate will steer new franchisees to undeveloped territories before they would try to help you sell, especially if you are looking to leave. You may very well be better off walking away than trying to sell. There are no real buyers for territories, and corporate will not help you at all. Your senses are correct Steve, cut your losses….

• They do not want us selling our own stores and will find any reason to block your sale when you find a buyer. They will sell your existing stores to zees especially fully financed prospects (like your own employees) when your store has a customer or net fee base growth for attraction to their special picked buyers. There are court cases where Liberty refused all negotiated prices offered to Corp for a buyback and from a franchisee’s buyers then shortly after TERMINATED him for a breach of contract.

  Right of first refusal (ROFR or RFR) is a contractual right that gives its holder the option to enter a business transaction with the owner of something, according to specified terms, before the owner is entitled to enter into that transaction with a third party. In brief, the right of first refusal is similar in concept to a call option.
  An ROFR can cover almost any sort of asset, including real estate, personal property, a patent license, a screenplay, or an interest in a business. It might also cover business transactions that are not strictly assets, such as the right to enter a joint venture or distribution arrangement. In entertainment, a right of first refusal on a concept or a screenplay would give the holder the right to make that movie first. Only if the holder turns it down may the owner then shop it around to other parties.

  Because an ROFR is a contract right, the holder’s remedies for breach are typically limited to recovery of damages. In other words, if the owner sells the asset to a third party without offering the holder the opportunity to purchase it first, the holder can then sue the owner for damages but may have a difficult time obtaining a court order to stop or reverse the sale. However, in some cases the option becomes a property right that may be used to invalidate an improper sale.

  An ROFR differs from a Right of First Offer (ROFO, also known as a Right of First Negotiation) in that the ROFO merely obliges the owner to undergo exclusive good faith negotiations with the rights holder before negotiating with other parties. A ROFR is an option to enter a transaction on exact or approximate transaction terms. A ROFO is merely an agreement to negotiate.
  ROFR: Abe owns a house that he plans to sell to Bo for $1 million. However, Carl holds a right of first refusal to purchase the house. Therefore, before Abe can sell the house to Bo, he must first offer it to Carl for $1 million. If Carl accepts, he buys the house instead of Bo. If Carl declines, Bo may now buy the house at the proposed $1 million price.
  ROFO: Carl holds a ROFO instead of an ROFR. Before Abe may negotiate a deal with Bo, he must first try to sell the house to Carl. Abe and Carl attempt to reach a deal. If they reach an agreement, Abe sells the house to Carl. However, if they fail, then Abe is free to start fresh negotiations with Bo without any restriction as to price or terms.

  VariationsThe following are all variations on the basic ROFR.

  Duration. The ROFR is limited in time. E.g. Abe must only make the offer to Carl for any proposed sale in the first five years. After that the right expires and Abe has no further obligation to Carl.
  Exceptions. Certain transactions are exempt. E.g. Abe may sell or transfer the property to a holding company, a trust, family members, etc., without first offering it to Carl. However, the new owners remain subject to the right.
  Transferability. Carl may assign his ROFR to Bo. Abe must now offer Bo an option to purchase the property instead of Carl. Not every ROFR is transferable; some are personal to the original holder.
  Extinguished on first sale. If Abe sells the property to Bo because Carl declines the right, the property is no longer subject to the right. Bo may re-sell it free of the ROFR.
  Extinguished on declined / failed exercise. If Abe proposes to sell the property to Bo and Carl declines, or if Carl accepts but is unable to complete the transaction, the right is extinguished whether or not Abe ultimately sells the property.
  Persistent. In contrast to the above two, in this case the right runs with the property and binds the new purchaser. E.g. Abe sells the property to Bo. Now Bo must offer the property to Carl first, just as Abe did, if Bo wishes to re-sell it.
  Offer and acceptance terms. Specific deadlines, procedures, and forms may be required. For example, Abe must give Carl a “notice of sale.” Carl has thirty days to accept or reject, with failure to respond counting as rejection. Carl must then close the transaction within thirty days or else that counts as a failed attempt to exercise.
  Limited time period to close transaction. Abe offers the property to Carl under the ROFR and Carl declines. Abe now has 60 days to close the transaction with Bo. If it cannot close within 60 days Abe must offer it again to Carl before proceeding further with Bo.
  Substitute purchaser allowed. Abe offers the property to Carl, who declines. Abe is then free to sell it to Bo but that transaction fails. Abe may sell the property under the same terms to Erin instead without re-offering it to Carl.
  No pending transaction required. Abe wishes to sell the house for $1 million but has not yet identified a purchaser. He prepares proposed sales terms and offers it to Carl on those terms. If Carl declines, he may then shop around for a purchaser.
  Slight variations allowed in exercise. Abe enters an agreement with Bo calling for Bo to put down a 30% down payment, conduct certain inspections, and close the transaction in 20 days. He offers it to Carl at those terms. Carl accepts but is entitled to insist on a 20% down payment and a 30 day closing period.
  Slight variations allowed in sale. Abe offers the house for $1 million to Carl. Carl declines. Abe then enters a transaction with Bo but during the escrow Bo discovers a flaw in title and several defects. Abe is entitled to discount the price by $20,000 to close the sale with Bo without having to re-offer the house to Carl at $980,000.
  Many other variations are possible. A fully drafted ROFR addresses all of these types of issues and more, and in the case of valuable or complex transactions is subject to negotiation and review by business transaction attorneys. However, many ROFR are not completely specified. Even the best drafted ROFR agreements suffer a high risk of dispute and litigation because they are anticipating future transactions and contingencies that are unknowable at the time the ROFR originates.

  So just long does the Liberty Tax ROFR duration last and is there a direct relationship to why good zees are terminated without good cause before or just before this contractural right expires?

• For anyone looking to sell and trying to establish a value call a business broker. I’m betting that most will find the broker doesn’t think there is a enough value to sell it.

• Guest i am in the mid-Atlantic area

• bill,

  Where do you come up with that speculation? Are you saying my stores had no buyback value as stated on the renewals of 200 percent of gross fees disregarding free returns and discounts if Corporate wanted the right to buy back on May 1st thru August?

  As an ex appraiser, not a business broker, how do you think a business broker would come up with how to know what to evaluate? Are you considering a cost analysis value or market analysis value that can be based on comparables get an actual cash value along with other methods. Now days on market for any property can affect value and that is another issue along with other methods of evaluation of value all which are reflected in the entire analysis.

• Trisha What is your horror story sound similar to mine i think . Would like to contact you . I am not on facebook .

• I will send my contact info to you. My story is above. I got a term out of nowhere with no valid reason and demands that were not legal with lies made from Corp to my landlords and they broke into my prepaid leased buildings (changed locks when the landlords left the building telling them they cannot enter) to take from me to simplify. This all took place after second peak as if I and my employees were their work horses and knowing I am financed they will not pay their payroll or bonuses as promised every year. I did no fee release requests and emailed saying I will only ask for end of season payroll and bonuses instead of payroll intermittantly as before in order to pay off my debtt faster than usual and lowered my debt to net ratio as planned from the beginning. They did several things to set it all up and then turned on me on April 22 and my stores performed well and improved every year unlike many who saw a deep decline in revenue this season.

• Will your employees be paid by the company? It’s now almost a month past April 22nd.

• Did you lose your business because you had too much debt on the books and couldn’t pay off your loan?

• What John Hewitt loves about franchisees:

  Zees do ALL the work
  Put in much of their own money
  Market, market , market
  Build the brand
  Borrow lots of money for intangible territories
  He says he loves franchisees, of course why not?
  He gets ALL their money, ALL their clients, and ALL their offices in five short years!

  DON’T BECOME A FRANCHISEE!

• @guest 2- Corporate promised to finance their final payroll and bonuses. They told them it is on me since this bill is now after the termination. The bonuses are an ongoing bill accrued from the time the first invoice was calculated per preparer.

  @ guest5
  No, the reasons they gave for termination are not valid. Debt was not an issue and never has been. As you may well know in their S-1 filing for JTH inc, their revenue is derived from making loans and extending loans that cannot be paid off in the short terms for additional means of income. There would be no just reason to demand fees, even $5000 from a performing franchisee and as a result give a termination.

  @mike,

  You are correct that they want you to think they can take your everything and have fooled so many into that. They cannot, they can take their name and license and stop you from using the brand.

• Hahahah,

  I just saw John Hewitts face on this website advertising for Liberty. Hilarious!!

• Why would the admin do that? Liberty now paying unhappy franchisee to solicit even though they are number 2 in most complaints?

  [NOTE: UnhappyFranchisee.com does not have a direct business relationship, advertising or otherwise, with Liberty Tax Services. We have no control over which ads appear on our site, Google does. They are constantly changing and not everyone necessarily sees the same ads. ADMIN]

• Admin:

  Can you explain to us why you posted protest of Liberty understating the startup cost and suspect rankings in Forbes for franchises for the buck in March and now have them advertised on your website? What type of objective strategy is that? Has your site been acquired now by Liberty Tax? Who is now the Admin?

  Thanks,
  Trisha Grabert

  [Trisha: I have emailed you an exhaustive explanation of how Google Adwords, contextual and Pay-Per-Click advertising works. In short, not everyone even sees the same ads and Google, not UF, decides which ads to show you. Google tries to show you ads it thinks you will be interested in, based in part on your browsing history and part on the subject matter on the page.

  If anyone else has conspiracy theories about the site and our insidious motives, please contact us at UnhappyFranchisee[at]gmail.com before posting them. Better yet, please contribute to the site via this link:

  Please contribute if you can. Then, if John Hewitt offers us $1,000,000 for the site, we’ll be able to tell him to buzz off. ;) ADMIN]

• Tricia:

  I wasn’t speaking about your business. I was simply suggesting that if someone wanted an idea of what their store was worth they could call a business broker. Since most on this site say their not doing well then that would translate into a business that has no value.

• Bill
  I would contend that there is value, sometimes even when a business is operating at a loss.

  Most of today’s valuations seem to be based on net revenue times some factor.

  That explains why so many purchasers of existing businesses go broke quickly.

  Mike:

  Hahahaha!

• My personal apologies to Admin Dept and members sincerely for my recent comment/allegation. I recall those statements to Admin.

  It is not so bad to have John Hewitt’s ad up there, he just looks like something the toilet paper left behind. Some contributors here are working hard towards their action plans and we will all get to use the plunger together when he is flushed out.

  John Hewitt is an ego maniac with some serious rage from what others have done to him in the past in his big 40 years of experience and failures; expect nothing less of him really.

  Keep the facts flowing and the truths
  about this terrible franchise revealed.

  Trisha

  [Apology accepted – ADMIN]

• Comments say ‘Do Not Sign the Termination Agreement’, what are my alternatives if I want to cancel my lease. Also, if they come to my office to close it, do they take my equipment (computers etc)? Thanks for your comments and insight.

• Willie,

  If they (are you meaning Liberty?) come to take your office? The Mutual Termination is not very “Mutual.” Are they kicking you out and taking your office? Get all of YOUR equipment out ASAP before they change the locks and confiscate your office, take everything out!! Keep your phone line as well or sell it to them, it is very important. TAKE EVERYTHING!

• Willie,

  DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING, get our lawyers. Join us.
  Mike is CORRECT!! They won’t even buy your phone numbers from you, they will rush and demand everything before you get a chance to talk to a lawyer. They will lie about what terms they will put on paper and unless you give them what they want, they will not show you a paper about mutual termination which has nothing in it for you at all. Having a unilateral termination at least keeps your rights not to surrender and to get legal help. Occupy your building, talk to lawyer, explain to your landlords to watch for them as they will flash a business card pretending they work for you. Do not just get any lawyer, but the ones that are dealing with this franchisor for the franchisees and I am working with 6 lawyers. They WILL come in illegally and change your locks even if your rent is paid, which is illegal (forcible entry), so if you have done nothing already, you have no choice but to get a lawyer now and get one on contingency who is involved in other cases with franchisees.

  You can cancel your lease if you wish and reopen in another location if that is your original question and a termination fear is all you are speculating. Will they want a say in it yes, but that is your choice. Notify them you are looking or have another building in mind for location. What year are you in on your contract? close to 5th??

• Note: None of us are lawyers. Most of us are being represented. Speak to legal counsel right away and DO NOT FEAR Liberty Tax lies or threats.

• Thanks for the feedback. Are there any lawyers recommended who are familiar with this company? I just finished my 1st season. Can’t see the future with this company. Just looking to minimize the damage and move on. All the best. You may contact me directly if possible. Thanks again

• OK Willie, yes there is a way to contact us with permissions. However, it is unclear what your true complaint is and why you want to stop the bleeding. Can you give us some details of why you see no future after only one year with what one store? Are you financed or not? How many returns did you do? We cannot disclose our legal advocates here as Big Corporate is watching and will dig up anything on those lawyers they can early to compete with them in court. And some people on here are kites for Liberty Tax. So it is truly and contribution site. We can give information and not get any on this blog. The purpose of this site is to expose what complaints against Liberty so the public can make informed decisions in their research as well as help those entrapped in the system already. If you can give us more information we will know where this leads to from there and what attorney works with those particular issue or if you are entitled to class action with some of us. Stay active on this board, it is the most popular and most informative. You don’t have to give your real name (as I do) especially since you are still “in it”.
  Please reply and we will get info to you via email upon completion of recognizing your true complaint or concern. You ARE correct that you should be highly concerned you are a newer victim and there will be more after you to come forward. So we encourage the stories posted so that real facts are shown that the business model, practices, ethics, steering and misrespresetations that Liberty Tax uses to recruit franchisees and the high turnover due to failed operations are out in the open for all to see.

  Thank you very much for joining our conversation!!

  -Trisha

• OK OCDs out there, I know the grammatical errors on that last post was excessive. Rewind or lets just chuckle because I am a little under the weather. Liberty Tax has my immune system down, not my determination. I will always be here to answer as quickly as possible when others cannot.

  -Trisha