Vanguard Cleaning Systems is ranked by Entrepreneur magazine as the #7 franchise in the nation. (Seriously? Vanguard beat out Subway? Dunkin’ Donuts? Hilton hotels?)
Entrepreneur magazine also named Vanguard Cleaning Systems its #1 Low-Cost Franchises and #1 Home-Based Franchises.
Wow! Vanguard Cleaning Systems franchise ranking gave us a serious WTF? (Why This Franchise?) moment. Could it be that Vanguard was an actual legitimate commercial cleaning franchise?
UnhappyFranchisee.com decided to scour the web to find out what was so special about this particular janitorial franchise to receive such high praise when their janitorial franchise competitors were being branded as scams and ripoffs.
If you’ve had any experience with Vanguard Cleaning Systems – good or bad – please share a comment below.
On Webanswers.com, bmorrison wrote:
Yes, they do receive alot of fees. With Vanguard Cleaning System/Services, Besides the high cost of buying the contract through them, they get 15% a month from each contract you get from them, and they don’t even protect you or care for you when there’s a complaint even though it’s not your fault. They’ll pick the client over you any given time. They are even the first one to accuse you of doing something wrong. They seem motivated and/or more interested in you losing the contract maybe it’s because not only they get to keep your money that you use to buy the contract but they can sell the contract again to another franchisee for the same amount you bought the contract for if not more. And they continue to get their 15% cut a month. Sweet huh?! Please do an extensive research first especially the janitorial company. One important advice, DON’T GO AND SIGN UP WITH VANGUARD CLEANING SYSTEM !
rusty22 wrote:
Yes 10,000 they give you contracts you have to buy.+ they get 15% off the top on each one.They start you off ok ,then they swamp you with work.And you can’t do a proper job. You can only turn down two. After a time they go around and ask your customer if everything is ok,but they are trying to get them to change to a differant vanguard franchise so they can keep the money rolling in. You will never own the contract. And the mistery deductions never will they itemize.
cleaninglady wrote:
If you can turn away from this company- Do so! Not only the staff are very rude and unprofessional.. their only concern is getting their money. The Vanguard staff are nice in the beginning, until you buy their franchise and they’ll just don’t give a %&^8 anymore. My advice- buy mine! because, I want to get away from their @ss3S! lolz.
MiSTaHTeeZaH wrote:
I’ve been with vangaurd(TAMPA FL AREA) for about 4 years…They arent worth a Sh*t….They’re never on your side…takes them forever to get you to the volume you paid for…They deduct from you even if you dont have your full volume…They sale you CHEAP useless equipment for the most part…And they dont care if you get paid a fair amount on the buildings they bid on…(THEY BID EXTRA LOW)…so if you plan on hiring people on,dont deal with them because you wont be able to afford it…Also after they get your money that you needed to start up the franchise,its hard to catch up with them…i wish i would have stayed on my nine to five and kept my money where it was…I know there other things to invest in..
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View Comments
BEWARE OF VANGUARD! See comments from January 2012 posts! Seriously....BEWARE!
Hey Mitzi - move on with your life you loser!!
Mark,
I appreciate your concern, however, none is needed. With the experience my husband and I had with Vanguard we want to warn people of our experience. Had we been so forwarned when we were in the process of becoming a Master Franchise e for Vanguard we could have saved months of research and planning as well as saved us thousands of dollars! My comments are made to be helpful to those seeking information and answers. You should be thrilled to know that my husband and I moved on from Vanguard immediately and once again spent several months researching other franchise options and are now very successful and happy in our new business! Hopefully, you will post more positive, helpful and professional comments in the future. Best wishes to you. Mitzi
What people need to know is, they can get these accounts without Jan Pro helping them. This is the whole reason people walk into this nightmare. They use the fact that you don’t have any know how against you, then take full advantage of you. There is plenty of courses on the market that give the what and how to do this thing without selling your soul to a franchise! One that I came across once I finally got the franchisers claws out of me was the your clean future cleaning course. Gives you what they don’t and teaches you how to really bid accounts and market. Cleaning franchises are soul-less and need to do a real heart check period. How do they sleep at night?, you got me. You guys will survive this and move on to be better business men and women than you otherwise would have been, I believe that!
Well said Todd. "Thank you," for saying that.
Why would Mark Miller, who is an Account Manager at Vanguard Cleaning Solutions of the greater Chicago Area, calling people losers who voice their own opinions and experiences about their franchise experience so that others might not make the same mistake. Does Mr. Miller lose profit when people voice their opinions and experiences?
Wow! I am really surprised to hear so many negative comments about Vanguard. I've been researching them now for a couple of months and I was 99.99% sold on purchasing this franchise.
Truthfully I still believe that the area that I am contemplating buying is in good standing and can be trusted. It's unfortunate that a few bad apples can spoiled the entire corporate name "Vanguard Cleaning Systems".
Going forward for the people who are experiencing negativity with Vanguard - they should mention the specific geographic areas. I don't believe all of their cities operate the same, I have had a great experience with the Garden City, New York location.
Future Franchise Owner,
I bet all their F.D.D.'s are the same. Read one and then tell me how excited you are about opening any franchise. Chances are they are members of the IFA International Franchise Association. The organization responsible for safeguarding the franchisors against court lawsuits and soon to come responses from franchisees on social media websites. Please tell me you went to the IFA Legal Symposium so you could learn how to handle yourself when your franchisor has you sign over your rights to speak on social media as part of your contract. I don't know if this is how the new F.D.D.'s will read of franchisors who are members of the IFA but I bet it is coming!
I actually love the company, it's been the greatest business I've EVER invested in (what other biz can you think of that will guarantee what your paycheck is going to be and has overhead so low)??? I came into this having just lost $250k in another business and was very skeptical. It took me about a year to decide to make the jump.
I've been a "unit owner" (Vanguard really sells only "Master Franchises" which are regional. Anyway for almost 3 years. The franchise I'm under "Inland NW" is the #1 Vanguard region in the country. It shouldn't be given it's markets within this region, but it is extremely well run from sales staff to everyone in the office they are top notch.
I started at the lowest investment (at the time was $3500 for $1000 a month in volume) just to try it out. My first account came in 2 weeks and a month into it I was above my volume actually. I basically got my own equipment off craigslist for next to nothing!
I will say this... Janitorial is an awesome business. If you can sell and consistently get accounts on your own, you like accounting and billing, than that's the way to go. If you are like me, and just want to clean and get a paycheck that is 3 times more than the guy working for a company and can control your own schedule, than Vanguard is actually better than anything out there. I researched for a YEAR! Talk to other unit owners first before signing on and do your diligence to make sure the master organization you are under is solid and has everyone's best interest. Message me if you have any questions.
To Scott A.. Your total cost was $3,500.00 and that was for $1,000.00 in volume? You made out better than I did. I bought into it 2 1/2 years ago in South/Centeral New Jersey. It was $9,000.00 for $600.00 (yea that was Six Hundred) in volume. The Sales Reps & Office workers for the Southern/Central New Jersey office are the WORST, MOST UN-PROFESSIONAL, RUDE AND IGNORANT MONEY SUCKING PEOPLE I have ever meet. Some states may have good MF owners and office personel, but the southern New Jersey Vanguard isnt one of them. BEWARE if New Jersey Vanguard.