LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints
UnhappyFranchisee.com asked: Are LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Owners Happy? If you’re familiar
with the Liberty Tax franchise, please share a comment below.
Entrepreneur magazine has ranked the Liberty Tax Service franchise #3 behind McDonald’s & Subway. However, some commenters who claimed to be former Liberty Tax franchisees left stern warnings on the Franchise-chat forum.
This post was originally published
BostonTax wrote:
I’m a former Liberty Tax Franchisee
I hope you are ready for a little enlightenment! I held a successful Liberty Tax Franchise for 5 years until I decided to let the franchise agreement lapse. I did this for a few reasons:
1. The royalty fees were outrageous! 14% went to normal royalty while and ADDITIONAL 5% went for so called advertising royalties. The ad royalties were supposed to be put back into your local market to build the brand name. This was never done! All advertising in addition to the ad royalty I had to pay for because it did not fit into Liberty’s concept of advertising. I don’t know exactly what the concept was because our AD could not give an answer and the approved methods changed by the week.
2. Corporate was totally unresponsive to the needs of the franchisees. The AD system is designed to recruit anyone who can write a check for 100K. No other skills or ability required.
3. The minute you are behind in a royalty payment, they send you a notice to cure. After that, if you don’tpay, they try to terminate your franchise agreement.
4. Upon termination, Liberty enforces through legal proceeding a 2 year, 25 mile radis non compete clause that is in the franchise agreement. This is enforceable in the Eastern Division of the Federal District court, where, at least 2 Liberty friendly judges preside.
5. Liberty does not recognize chargebacks for bad debts as an adjustment for your royalty fees. All royalties are based on your gross, not your net collectable. This was an ongoing issue with them and the accounting department did not have the ability or the inclination to resolve!
My best advice is do not go with these guys, they are bad news. If you like to have people collect royalties and provide no support, then this is the franchise for you! It is very expensive to get into, the initial fee is around $32K just to buy the territory plus those pesky royalties. You can’t make money on this concept.Most of the surviving franchisees I’ve talked to in the last 2 years have experienced great difficulty not only in making a profit, but in the corporate support or lack thereof.Remember, 19% of your gross is getting kicked back to Liberty, which is excessive by any standards. Please do yourself a favor and call former franchisees ,those that are currently getting sued (they are very likely to talk, as I found out), and current ones to try to get the straight poop.
Barbara Green wrote:
I too was a Liberty Tax Franchisee and I agree with everything you said.
The only reason for purchasing any franchise is because the business model is a proven marketing success as evidenced by the profitable franchisees. That is why you pay a license fee of $25,000. Being profitable is not in the cards for a Liberty Tax franchisee. Liberty Tax’s market/ business model is aimed at individuals who have very simple tax returns, i.e one W-2 and standard deduction which is why they were very successful in Norfolk, Va. That market is full of military people with one w-2.
Liberty will sell anyone a franchise at any location, in any georgraphic area, even if there is not a chance in hell of the franchisee being successful.
At one time, I too owned a Liberty Tax Franchise for one tax season. It was only one season because of the behavior of the Regional Manager who called me on January 15th demanding and screaming “Why had I not generated 200 tax returns and that maybe this business was not for me. I was stunned and confused since employers are given until January 31st. to give w-2’s to employees. Apparently, he thought that I was in Norfolk, Va. where that is possible.
It only goes downhill from there. The bottom line is I lost all of my investment in this businees (approx. $80,000) because I closed it rather than becoming a victim of this unethical company. NOthing would make me happier than to be a part of a class action lawsuit.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? DO YOU OR HAVE YOU OWNED A LIBERTY TAX SERVICE FRANCHISE? ARE LIBERTY TAX SERVICE FRANCHISEES HAPPY? WHY OR WHY NOT?
.
I have not read through all 1700 of these posts, but I will tell you this: I have NEVER seen a company so money hungry and incredibly relentless toward their franchisees and ex-franchisees to throw them under the bus. Yes, current franchisees! You are paying them money and they are rude, money hungry grubbers. Their software is rigged (trust me, I know this for a fact), their AD’s are clueless except when it comes to their money……..I can go on and on but JTH will probably go after me as he has so many others. That’s why I can’t be too specific.
If LT managed to sign on over 200 new franchisees, then we are not doing our job getting the word out what a crook he is.
PEOPLE: If you are thinking of signing on to a Liberty Tax franchise….DON’T!!!!! They are disgusting scum of the earth and you will part with your money and get NOTHING but headaches in return! I hope I can help to deter ANYONE from signing on to this so called company. It’s a ripoff, and they will eat you alive. Whatever money you put into this co. you will lose. They will make sure of that.
I was not provided with a franchise disclosure document (FDD) within the required 14 calendar days stipulated in the federal franchise law, which does not contemplate any exceptions to this requirement. From the franchisor’s corporate office arrived an envelope with a FDD signature page, a hand written note asking me to sign and back date the document, as well as a return envelope. Thankfully, I stood to my instinct and never signed and returned what they’d sent me. A complaint with the FTC has been initiated. According to the law the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can not only fine a franchisor for violating this law, but it can also demand that any franchise fees paid by the franchisee, funds invested into the franchise business, plus multiple damages be refunded to the affected. Has anybody been a victim of this type of franchisor’s unfair and deceptive business practice?
No Name, thanks for posting. So glad you didn’t get into this company. San Fran Dan, is absolutely right, run from this SOB!! I believe their days are numbered, they are slowly running out of new franchisees money and in 2017 the have a MASSIVE debt call and will have to refinance at higher rates, John’s wet dream of being the number one tax company in 2020 will NEVER be realized. TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS GROUP!!
I want to thank everyone who is talking about his or her experiences. I was seriously considering a franchise. I was looking into the three major players. But thanks to people like you, I am doing it on my own. Based on what people have gone through, I am sure that I would have lost everything that I own by now, if I would bought a franchise.
Dear THANK YOU:
You just made my day. What a wise decision on your part! YES! I am so proud to be part of the process of turning people away from this franchise. You will be just fine on your own. You do not need this franchise at all. You are paying all this money to them, for what??? They don’t even HELP!!! My biggest regret in life is the day I signed on with these bastards. It is soooo comforting to know that I can help anyone else in the decision process to NOT join this franchise. YEA, I’m so proud of you, a total stranger, but a smart one! :)
GOOD LUCK to you on your own. You can do it and will be just fine! You just saved yourself a ton of grief and a ton of money. Good for you!!!
Franchising is a SCAM Industry! American taxpayers are once again funding the desires of crooks and crooks who hide behind corporate names. Our government should be ashamed at what it has come too. Accepting money from a coalition of criminals rather than defending the needs of honest Americans who are being sacrificed so corporations can continue to deliver fraud and deception into the business world.
Glad to hear THANK YOU was deterred from this group of hoodlums.I hope more and more people visit this site and learn from our mistakes, especially with how we were robbed by Liberty Tax. Maybe the franchisees who are censored by Liberty Tax should use this site to air what is really happening inside this crooked company.
It should be an interesting year for Liberty Tax Service. I’m wondering what the impact on fee intercept will be now that Rals are done. On the books Liberty is showing operating loans through Oct. of $20,855,000. These operating loans are usually paid back through fee intercept. The less bank products the less fees to intercept. Of course in the end it will be the franchisee not Liberty who feels the pain.
Bill, excellant post as usual, I know some zees that used form 8888 to get around the fee intercept with good clients, keeps them from having to borrow money from the Screwitts during the slower times..
Scammed1: Glad you didn’t join this group!! Please help us spread the word to “ANYONE, EVERYWHERE” we can’t tell enough people the truth about this company!
Use of Form 8888 by a tax preparer is against IRS rules. IRS webinar includes a warning that tax preparer’s will be subject to penalties, etc. You might want to find another way to deal with fee issues. Save your breath, I’m not a ‘plant;.
Use of form 8888 to collect fees.
Liberty Tax Service
1716 Corporate Landing Parkway
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
(757) 493-8855
(757) 493-0169 (fax)
rufe.vanderpool@libtax.com (e-mail)
To All Franchisees
Re: Bank Product Application Fees
Dear Franchisees:
We have been advising now for two tax seasons not to charge bank product application fees. We reached an agreement with ACORN for an end to their protests in exchange for this.
The industry, including Liberty Tax, is being investigated by the States of California, Maryland and Oklahoma. One of the claims is that charging an application fee or receiving a rebate on a loan product makes the franchisee a loan broker or Credit Services Organization under state law and that either the franchisee must register under those laws or can not legally charge these fees or receive rebates. Oklahoma law, for example, defines a Credit Services Organization as one who obtains credit for a consumer “in return for the payment of money or other valuable consideration from any source.”
Nonetheless, we see a minority of franchisees continuing to charge application fees.
This is to place everyone on formal notice that, per an update to our Operations Manual, we confirm that bank product application fees are not allowed and any continued charging of such fees could result in a Notice to Cure and termination. And, in the event of legal charges, anyone who continues to charge an application fee against our long standing advice, we will not assure that we will assume any legal defense or settlement of claims on your behalf.
We trust that you will consider your own best interests in avoiding a costly and disruptive legal entanglement and immediately discontinue application fees to loan customers.
Thank you very much and best wishes.
Yours truly,
LIBERTY TAX SERVICE
Rufe Vanderpool, VP of Operations
WHAT I DONT UNDERSTAND IS WHY THEY SEND THIS OUT WHEN THEY ARE THE ONES THAT CHARGE THE BANK TRANSMITTING FEE AND THEN DONT GIVE YOU BACK $10.00 PER ERC OR RAL IF YOU DONT DO 100 FREE RETURNS AND MEET SOME OTHER BULLSHIT CRITERIA. THEY ARE NOTHING BUT RIPPOFF ARTISTS. UNFORTUNATELY STILL A ZEE AND TRYING TO GET OUT
Well, Well,Well, Liberty has finally figured out that the bank fees associated with the so called free returns are a scam, or maybe the Federal Gov’t figured it out for them. Liberty has always had hidden bank fees to all of the Zees that were supposed rebates due to the Zee’s themselves but kept by Liberty. The reason these rebates were retained by Liberty was because some states felt that this was a bank like activity and Liberty was doing US a favor by keeping our rebates so we don’t get into trouble with our home states. Hmmmm, glad they are watching my back while squeezing yet more secret kick backs. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
Also remember when Liberty was using Taxwise for their software, they had an arrangement with them to also get rebates based on volume. The Zee’s didn’t see any of that until everyone complained and Liberty granted one year’s portion back and immediately went to their own software. No previous year’s rebates were returned to the Zee’s.
Why don’t all the Zee’s organize and exit all at once? Yes, you’ll get sued by Liberty, but maybe thats the statement that has to be made.
I am soooo thrilled I was able to help “THANK YOU” decide NOT to join a LT franchise, woohoo!!! :):) THANK YOU……..you made a wise, wise decision.
PLEASE if there is anyone else out there that this thread has deterred from joining this awful franchise, please post here to let us know!!
The tides are turning slowly and progress is being made to get the word out that this company is a SHAM.
Nothing but greedy people who will stop at nothing to throw you under the bus and to blame anyone but themselves. I’m sure there must be decent franchises out there. THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT ONE OF THEM!!!
Greedy bastards they all are. Don’t believe their hype. They stink, royally. Now we’re on “the other side” we see much clearer how we were duped. This thread has many people who have lost thousands to these bastards.
I cannot wait for justice to be done. Believe me, it’ll happen.
Having been in the tax business for over 20 years, just listening to John and his promises, I know he is full of BS. One of the things on his resent investors call was that Liberty will have RALs in 26 states. I can’t find any info on this and no one seems to know which states. Is this just more BS to sucker franchises?
RALS is the least of problems. Just came back from an event that took me through the City. These stores are all over the place with many other tax stores in the mix. Overkill and the IRS is cracking down. Trouble is coming.
You guys are doing a great societal service. Based on your comments, I researched the situation more deeply. (So, for those who do not believe the comments that are on this website, do yourselves a favor, and do some research before you invest in a franchise.) Based on my research here are a few of my conclusions.
1. The royalty fees are high. (A good chunk of your gross earnings will go to the franchise.)
2. You have to pay a good sum of money upfront. (And you need money for the equipment.)
3. I physically observed a few stores. I did not see enough business to keep the business afloat. (You have to pay bills throughout the whole year.)
4. While tax preparation is not cheap, some of the fees are too high for some customers. (Sure, you can close the sale and charge $300 for a simple return. But that customer might not come back the next year.) You need repeat business and referrals to survive.
5. The mascots are amusing but probably not too effective.
6. Numerous sources contain customer complaints about the franchises. People feel cheated. They feel that they overpaid. They complain about the inattention to service. (You are going to have to pay a decent wage to attract quality employees.)
7. I can do the donut deliveries and networking on my own.
8. I have seen a few franchisees shut down completely.
So based on the aforementioned conclusions, it is pretty hard for the franchisee to turn a profit. This means that you are probably going to lose everything you have and go bankrupt. And to the people who say that they are wildly successful with the franchise, that is pretty hard to believe. But it is possible (not probable). Additionally, based on the obstacles, it is not a matter of having good business skills and a desire to succeed. And thank you again. This is an area where the government should do more to protect the investors.
I’m glad that some people are recognizing the fact that there needs to be some governmental oversight. the problem is that Liberty, at least, has made their bed in with the government in order to protect their gravy train. Look at all the franchisees that the IRS investigates. Is this coincidence?
I am curious about something. Why does Liberty Tax always show up as one of the best franchises on sites like Forbes, etc? Do all these people recommending Liberty have some motive other than an objective review?
Good question Steve.
I guarantee without a shadow of a doubt that money was somehow involved in their decision to put LT at the top of these lists.
LT is extremely well oiled when it comes to all the glitz for people to THINK they are getting involved in a top company. After all the man at the top has been doing this for 42 years and has learned every trick in the book to rip people off.
He is beyond slick. He is wrapped in snake oil. My greatest joy will be the day to see all of this come crashing down and for that man to get the same treatment he has given to normal average people for so long.
Steve: If you are even remotely thinking of getting involved in LT, PLEASE DON’T!!! This has been a life changing event in our household, but not in a good way at all. We sincerely hope you back away and have a wonderful life without LT.
Steve,
As I understand it, the ratings for franchises are quite subjective. If your franchise is a paid advertiser for a publication, it makes sense for the publication not to dis the franchise. Money talks .
As we saw in the last election, the press does not have a very objective view. Keep that in mind since they are in the business of selling magazines or publications that the public reads with their associated advertisers.
You can fool some of the people all of the time…..LTS tries to fool all of the Zee’s all of the time. Ratings are based on what the writer thinks or is instructed to think.
I owned and closed two LTS locations. The franchise did not work for me in N.J. or NY. The overhead, combined with lack of advertising dollars and poor LTS
leadership resulted in a poor return on investment. It’s a money making scheme for the franchisor. LTS franchisor will not help you if you are failing.again, lack of integrity and poor ethics. Shut the LTS scam down today.
Don R
Don R:
I agree with your post. I just skimmed a few of the 1700+ posts and I am disgusted with ANYONE who has said that this is a legitimate or decent franchise. It is so ridiculous how this man is getting away with this crap. Most of these 1700+ posts are negative. He is ripping people off left & right from his 42 years of snake oil experience.
Where is Trish? We need you back!
There has to be SOME WAY of gathering all these posts and somehow finding a way to get this man to stop. He has destroyed thousands of lives already. No lawyer in Virginia wants to take him on. It needs to be stopped at the federal level, not the state.
He has destroyed our lives and I for one will not be satisfied until his life is destroyed too. Of course he has millions since he ripped everyone off. Rumor has it he bought an offshore bank. All I can say is he better be stopped. SOON.
San Fran,
You are so right, many savings have been wiped out, I know one couple filed bankruptcy and ended up getting divorced. They hated Liberty the first season when their Area Developer was useless! IF ANYONE IS CONSIDERING THIS COMPANY RUN FROM LIBERTY IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING BUY A FRANCHISE!!
Has anyone of you actually tried to talk to an attoney? Or have you just assumed that you were “had” . If you did talk to an attorney, was it in your state or did you assume that you had to conduct your dealings in Virginia? From reading the posts, it seems that many get into this with no money and can’t fantom the idea of paying for legal help and just take what ever they are dealt…an after reading these post, I think John will deal you a lot in his favor. Please respond
Just sayin:
You’ve got to be kidding. I would never post anything unless I personally have experienced it. “Talk” to an attorney????? We have had to hire no less than 4 attorneys and are out over $100k JUST in attorney’s fees, let alone anything else.
My experience is not at all what you are describing……coming into this with no money. I cannot say much more because big eyes are watching, however at this point I have been through a financial, emotional and unbelievably stressful experience.
My story needs to be told, and it will be eventually at the right time and the right venue. And by the way………I don’t “assume” the dealing has to be done by a lawyer and judge in Virgina………..it IS the way, so that the LT friendly judges will find for LT 100% of the time.
I HOPE THAT I CAN CONTINUE TO DETER PEOPLE LOOKING INTO THIS FRANCHISE TO UNDERSTAND THAT THIS FRANCHISE IS THE WORST, WORST, WORST. YOU WILL BE SO MUCH HAPPIER ON YOUR OWN OR WITH A DIFFERENT COMPANY. PLEASE TRUST ME ON THIS.
Just to be clear: any post that I write on this website is absolutely the truth and from my own personal experience. I have no reason to lie, especially if it helps to deter people from signing on to this awful, awful franchise.
SanFranDan’s story is just like many others who have posted on this website.
There is no satisfaction in telling people you made a mistake getting involved with this company. You only hope that potential franchisees will see that this company offers franchisees nothing.
In South Jersey there are maybe only two or three franchisees that are still involved from when I started back in 2005. One would gladly leave but is contractually obligated by the no compete clause. The other one has hooked her wagon to Liberty and now has taken over several of the other territories that where marginally successful. This seems to be part of the business model let individuals buy a territory, exhauste their financies trying to build the business, than the company if viable wll take back the territory and sell it to one of the more established franchisees. If not viable will take it back and hope to see the territory again.
If the company really believes they have such a great business model whydo they set minimum royalties?
Just a week away !! are we ready???….to throw it out the door and run, maybe?
I just had a conversation with another zee on the west coast. AD’s, royalties, GM money….. oh my!!
Serious note – my wife and I are entering our 5th tax season. Things have not always been koshier with myself and our multiple AD’s over the past seasons. Seems like the corporate AD’s are a little easier to manage. There have been some heated rhetoric between myself and our current AD. She and her spouse are new and are zees, themselves. I have been concerned about the 5 year plan. What are the grounds for dismissal? Can they legally do this? One would presume that should Liberty cancel the contract with you, then you have ALL rights to go seek employment in order to survive this rat race, even if it means opening your own private tax office.
This question is for anyone who has experienced the loss of a contract after 5 years – what happened? Do you get a notice to cure? Do they come change the locks as Trisha described in one of her posts? Do they take your equipment? Did you retain counsel? What did you do? Step-by-step would be appreciated. My wife says we may need to start lining our ducks in a row for this battle. We are ready to battle!
Certainly would not enjoying having to endure such a traumatic experience after all we have given to this business, but certainly will not allow anyone to walk all over us, either.
We, her more than I, anxiously await some of your responses.
Illinois, what are you referring to?
We are referring to the 5-year contract we signed upon opening an office and the rumor that Liberty cancels their contract (does not renew your franchisee agreement) after the 5th year if they have a gripe against you. If they do this, what are our recourses? Should we be seeing an attorney NOW in the event that occurs? As I mentioned, our AD is a piece of work. She has already questioned us about our plans for the future, even questioning us if selling them had been thought of. That set off the radar for my wife. Please refer to the questions we posed in the previous post regarding a 5th year franchisee NOT having their contract renewed. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Illinois Guest:
After having to hire a multitude of attorneys, I hate to advise you to do so now, but that is exactly what I’m advising you to do. Your contract’s exit strategy is 1000% favorable to Liberty. They force you to go to their court in VA, waive jury trial, and deny any arbitration. Try to get your case heard in Illinois.
Check into local laws regarding the business contract and if it is valid in your state. Prepare yourself for a possible chapt 13 bankruptcy. Liberty will try to claim damages of over a certain level to force your suit into THEIR federal court in VA.
You will get a notice of Cure. They will send you a letter reminding you of the rights you signed away such as non-compete, non-disparage and etc. Liberty will send out the AD to spy on you. They want to sell your developed territory to some other person to fleece for a greater amount of money.
Luckily, you have the benefits of people on this forum to help and advise you. I wish you good luck and make sure you are ready for this fight. If enough people fight these crooks, maybe their foul business practices can be stopped.
Thank you for the information, TexasTee. If our contract is non-renegotiable, can we not sell the office?
How can Liberty claim damages against a franchisee if they cancel the contract? If they continue to refuse or approve the sale of an office, how can they justify this? Also, last I read, no judge has ever enforced a no-compete clause with regards to working and bettering one’s life to pay their bills.
I do know of another zee that was booted from the system after this past season and is opening his own office this upcoming season. His points are valid with regards to the fact that taxes are all he has done and all he will ever know to do. I hope he is successful and Liberty leaves him alone. Good luck proving it’s him, too!!
Illinois,
Nobody will buy your office, and Liberty will do nothing to help you sell it. If it was profitable, I guess you would stay with them?
I think you need to walk away from Liberty and open up on your own. Maybe you can get Liberty to send you a mutual termination agreement and be done with them.
Best wishes whatever you decide.
^^Illinois guest:
I’m not sure where to begin. Your friend who is opening his own office this coming season will most definitely be sued. NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER. He will then have to go to Virginia, hire a Virginia lawyer who will go up against JTH, good luck with that, not gonna find any lawyer to do that. Then your friend will lose, naturally since all the judges in the Eastern District Court always find in favor of LT. Then he will appeal and lose that too. Then he will go somewhere over 25 miles away for a non-compete and LT will then sue to extend the two years to a longer term. Then they will call a private investigator to follow you. Then they will have the local AD check in and plant their customers at your location…..and have those customers say that they were serviced in the old territory and then you get sued again.
And that’s just the beginning, the tip of the iceberg of lovely things to come after that! LT will under no circumstances leave him alone and will not let up until your friend is out of the tax business for good. Let’s just say a little birdie told me that things have a way of happening that way. By the way, it gets much much worse after that.
The judges will absolutely force the non-compete, no exceptions. AND you are pretty much giving up all your customers, the customers that YOU marketed to and serviced and developed a relationship with.
There is NO way of any type of “win” situation for the franchisee.
I would think planting customers and hiring PI’s to follow someone is on the verge of terroristic threatening. Not to mention, narcissistic and complete paranoia! Does Hewitt take meds for those problems?
Worse they can do is make you file bankruptcy. There is no debtor’s prison.
Unfortunately, i had similar miserable experiences as did SanFran Dan. The AD would constantly call my new office and make fake appointments. I knew this simply because I had caller ID on my phone and noticed these calls coming from the same group of 4 telephone numbers. Give me a break-what a moron! As for PI’s following me they had at least one come to my office because one of my employees knew him from when she was arrested (another story). Bankruptcy could be a help, but your lawyer has to convince your local judge that this case falls into her jurisdiction- a difficult proposition since federal judges are reluctant to step on each others toes. One of my regular customers was approached by Liberty to go to my store and record our conversations. The customer laughed at this and told me about it. This is how low these gangsters will stoop. As for the other customers, SanFranDan is correct in that Liberty will not hesitate to claim them and will go to any length to lie to them by saying you are out of the country or out of business. This is exactly what they did to me. Its amazing to me that the shareholders of this company would allow Hewitt and company to expend resources in order to run their own private vendetta. Maybe Hewitt is with the Mob? Hmmmmm…..
Been there done that with Bankruptcy. Did not make one bit of difference. The amount of harrassment I endured is phenominal. I can only hope people reading this thread will go elsewhere and not sign up with these bastards.
Have you ever looked at justiadocs website? Google JTH, inc plaintiff and the amount of lawsuits is unbelievable. There was quite an incredible amount just this year alone. They got their ass whipped by one lady who sold her franchise to them, then they sold it to an individual. They tried to defraud her out of 100,00’s of thousands of dollars and she won. Won on appeal, too. Then they sent small payments, so the interest kept accruing. It made them mad, but since they didn’t pay in full, they got it socked to them.
We also read where, yes, they did place customers as plants to spy on an old franchisee.
We also read that he claims he spends over 12 million a year on advertising. I suppose that is the cost to keep that high-dollar web-site going to sell those territories.
San Fran Dan and Scammed 1- did you have multiple stores and approximately how many customers?
Why does that matter? This is a public forum and I have no way of knowing who is a LT plant or not. I’ve said enough. But please be reminded from what I said…it gets MUCH worse after what I’ve described.
Illinois: Did both you and your wife sign the contract? In my situation I wasn’t on the contract so the non-compete didn’t apply to me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the financial position to continue operating the store under my name. However, I did have a nice number of clients’ follow me to the firm I work at now.
Best of luck!
I’ve had similar experiences as everyone here. If I were you, I’d start documenting everything they do that could, in any way, be a violation of your franchise agreement. As the franchiser, they have certain obligations they have to perform as well and if they are not (AD support, tax support, etc.) it MAY help you in any legal matters against them.
Bottom line, DO NOT get involved with LTS. Best wishes to everyone and happy New Year!
I had multiple stores.
MY NEW YEAR’S WISH LIST:
1) THAT THE US DEPT OF JUSTICE AND/OR THE IRS CLOSE DOWN ALL LT LOCATIONS AND TO CEASE OPERATIONS IMMEDIATELY. NO MORE 19+% ROYALTY FEES, NO MORE NON-ADVERTISING, NO MORE NON-SUPPORT, NO MORE MONEY GRUBBING AD’S.
2) THAT THEY TAKE ALL OF JTH’S MILLIONS THAT HE STOLE FROM FRANCHISEES ALL ACROSS THIS COUNTRY & CANADA AND REDESTRIBUTE THEM BACK TO ALL WHO LOST $$ BY SIGNING UP FOR THIS YAHOO FRANCHISE.
3) THAT THEY LOCK JTH UP IN JAIL FOREVER WITH A CELLMATE NAMED “BUBBA BUTTERCUP” BUT NOT BEFORE TORTURING HIM WITH NOTICES TO CURE AND PARADING HIM AROUND IN AN LT LADY LIBERTY COSTUME AND BE FORCED TO BRING FREE BOWLS OF CANDY TO EVERY CELL MATE FOR MILES & MILES AROUND.
4) THAT A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT REALLY IS POSSIBLE.
THIS IS MY HUMBLE REQUEST. I HAVE NEVER WANTED HARM TO ANYONE IN MY LIFE E-X-C-E-P-T THIS INDIVIDUAL. HOPE HE SUFFERS IN A MAJOR WAY. SOON.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
SanFranDan – now that brings a smile to our faces.
Happy New Year to you.
The South NJ area will not last for too much longer. More offices closed this year and more will close next year. The IRS is delaying refunds this year and that will impact the early filers. The $50 cash helped, but customers started to question it and realized they were being billed for the $50, nothing wrong with that, but they didnt like it when they found out prices dropped after the $50 promo ended. More and more customers started to do their own returns and realized it was a lot cheaper and it made no difference in the time it took to get their refunds.