MATCO TOOLS Franchise Complaints

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• Matco is your #1 Franchise!

  http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/smallbusiness/1004/gallery.Franchise_failure_rates/10.html

  This link tells you so! So you MUST believe it! RIGHT?

  Is this failure rate of 36% over a year?

• Well I threw myself at an opportunity with matco because the previous franchisee died but what I failed t realize was he went through the good times of the 2000s and he had paid for his truck and inventory then. (and after talking with his customers, realized he was selling other tools from other sources)

  I have sent 50k trying to make this happen, spent 65 hours a week working my ass off and I have netted less than 300 dollars a week for my effort. What I have learned over the past year is that Danher owns gear wrench and they market it plus numerous other tool companies and they charge franchisees much more than they can buy the same tools from amazon from other distributors by at AT LEAST 30%.

  If you dont mind customers getting on your truck and showing you how they can buy the SAME tool off of amazon, over and over for 50% less, than I guess you can go ahead and sink your life savings and a year of your life into a MATCO franchise. I would suggest not getting into the business.

  My 10% skip rate and loss of 12k in skips may be excessive to the rest of the country rate, however, please do not be fooled by your district manager telling you you need to work harder or make more of an effort because you are not alone. I spend 55 hour a week WORKING not pulling up to a stop and blowing the horn, but running to each customer and bringing them flyers and asking them to buy tools, bringing their broken tools to my truck without them EVER stepping foot on my truck, kissing butt, EATING MY LUNCH BETWEEN STOPS, begging for the payment they dont want to make, and giving out 3 to 4k of give aways that dont seem to make much of a difference THIS YEAR.

  This business is dead because of easy internet access and their is nothing that can be done about it. If you didnt spend the first 7 years in the 2000s in this business before smart phones and amazon, you are almost doomed to fail because of the 3000 dollars it will cost you per month paying your tool bill and your truck payment and insurance, you have to sell over 7k in tools a WEEK to make a basic living otherwise you will fall behind and MATCO doesnt give a DAMN about the rest of your bills.

  SO if you dont mind getting your butt reamed, go for it.

• facebook.com/matcotoolssuck

• I would NEVER do business again with Matco tools. Apart was ordered for a welder but the man who ordered this part selected the wrong part. I was out $41 dollars. Never again.

• Matco tools is now firing District Managers for not showing enough growth (churn) in their districts...

  Yes it's true

  Growth=Churn

• More stories need to be told. More churn rates need to be revealed! Where is the new F.D.D. for 2013? Is this site still loyal to victim's? Or is it where the truth can be revealed and then stomped out!

• octamnorom wrote: "Is this site still loyal to victim’s? Or is it where the truth can be revealed and then stomped out!"

  Nobody here is doing any stomping and yes, we're still committed to supporting victims and informing prospective franchisees of the serious issues they should know about.

  But we're dependent on you and other insiders to jump-start and invigorate this conversation.

  The reason that this discussion slowed abruptly is that the most active participants received a settlement from Matco that apparently prohibits their public discussion of the challenges facing Matco franchisees. However, their views and experiences are recorded in the 4700 previous comments on this thread.

  We need some new voices here, so please, by all means, speak up and spread the word!

  Thanks,

  ADMIN

• How about a link to the NEW F.D.D. which should be public information since it is the ONLY thing that a victim can view before they are subjected to the fraud which is imposed by the franchisor. F.D.D.'s hold vital statistics which may or may not support the franchisees decision to become a franchisee but is required by the Federal Trade Commission so that franchisees can make an informed decision on whether to purchase the franchise. The Federal Trade Commission also claims they have no idea if the information they are requiring the franchisor to release to the franchisee is true and correct.

  I guess it is okay to scam good, honest and hard working people out of their money in the name of Corporate greed. Just look at our government they do it every day.

• Is there anyway to obtain F.D.D.'s. There seems to be a split of F.D.D.'s for the same opportunity with certain states receiving one F.D.D. and other states receiving a different F.D.D. Why are they not all the same and why? Why is the success of this franchise opportunity such a secret?

  • Email me in confidence at unhappyfranchisee[at]gmail.com and I'll see if I can get you the FDD you are looking for.

    Different states have different requirements for some of the info that's required in the FDD submission to their state. That's usually covered in state-specific addendums, however. The other thing that can cause variations is that they are sometimes on different schedules for when they must file for different states.

    Occasionally, we've seen a particular state object to some of the BS a franchisor puts in their FDD and require them to change it. We've seen instances where the franchisor continues to submit the uncorrected version to the states that haven't objected.

    For the most part, the FDDs are not being highly scrutinized by the registration state examiners, or even compared to the prior version to make sure it is consistent with what's already been filed.

    Buyer beware. Question everything. Be especially aware that franchise failures are often hidden as transfers or reaquisition by the franchisor (popular tactic with SnapOn Tools).

    Thanks, ADMIN

• On January 23, 2004 a report was created for a UFOC offered by Matco Tools. In this report it lists 277 franchisees who were terminated from Matco and 36 who had a ZERO 6 week purchase average from Matco. That is a total of 313 franchisees out of 1406 that failed or are failing as franchisees.

  For some reason the UFOC does not list all the active franchisees for each state. Only Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisianna, Mississippi and Tennessee are listed.

  Arkansas Active Franchisees in January of 2004:

  Gary Duncan
  Richard Jones
  Ernie Christmas
  Brian Sloan
  Ken Rathburn
  William Rampley
  Gary Hagar
  Randy Ware
  Walton Johnson
  Riley Cook
  Kevin McDonald
  David Bryant
  Jerred Dean
  Billy Clark

  14 total

  In January 2012 the FDD (UFOC) states that Matco has 1423 active franchisees, 205 who were terminated and 18 with a ZERO 6 week purchase average. Out of 1423 there are 223 franchisees terminated or looking at termination.

  Arkansas active franchisees in 2012:

  Joshua Russenberger
  Jamey Tate
  John Davis
  Jason Casey
  Allan Gall
  Timothy Grunst
  Robert Demers
  John Bales
  Randall Rutledge
  Bryan Tegethoff
  Eugene Norton
  Richard Jones
  Ernie Christmas
  Walton Johnson
  Riley Cook
  David Bryant
  Billy Clark

  17 total

  So how many are still in business in Arkansas after 8 years?

  Ernie Christmas (Distributor for 20+years)
  Richard Jones (MDAC representative for many years) (Distributor for 20+years)
  Riley Cook (Distributor for 10+years)
  Walton Johnson (Distributor for 10+years)
  Billy Clark (Distributor for 10+years) Billy made the ZERO 6 week purchase average list in 2004 too.
  David Bryant (Less than 10 years)

  Is this a pyramid scam? Are these 6 franchisees doing something different? Or are they set up different? Do they work harder than the new franchisees who have a List Of Calls? Or do they benefit from territorial agreements created before Danaher bought MTC in 1993 and started selling franchises instead of Charters (Territories)? Is Danaher profiting from a Ponzi Scheme selling blue sky to unsuspecting franchisees who just want to work hard and benefit from the fruits of their labors?

  Here is a list of franchisees from Arkansas who lost their franchise from 2004 to 2012:

  Gary Duncan
  Ken Rathburn
  William Rampley
  Gary Hagar
  Randy Ware
  Kevin McDonald
  Jerred Dean
  Brian Sloan
  Kevin Hodges
  Gerald Hodges
  Randy Renkein
  Brad French
  Michael Johnson
  Joe Duran
  James Bunch
  Richard Richardson
  Andrew Cole
  Steve Chun
  Charles Roberts
  Tim Hodge
  Todd Peterson

  This is all I can recall without an FDD for each year between 2004 and 2012. But I know for certain there are more.

  21-17= more than 150% Churn over a 8 year period in Arkansas.

  6 franchisees are still in business after 8 years.

  Matco as a Corporation has Churned 76%+ of its franchisees over a five year period. But is the number of franchisees churned who have a List Of Calls compared to Territorial Agreements significantly higher over a five year period? I'll wager that better than 95% of franchisees with an LOC over a five year period are churned out of their franchise in this Ponzi/ Pyramid/ Churn and Burn Scam.

  These are not made up statistics! They come straight off the FDD that Matco uses to bait franchisees. The 200-300 franchisees churned every year doesn't seem like much to a franchisee prospect until the franchisee has been in three years and seen three or four get kicked to the curb. Don't be a statistic stay away from Matco. WARNING!!!!! THIS FRANCHISE IS A SCAM!!!!