[heritagecleaning]

I can't discuss my case because, when we parted company, we signed a kind of severance contract. A clause of this was that I am only allowed to state that the matter was concluded to the satisfaction of both parties.

But, DON'T, PLEASE DON'T


Owen

[Liahona]

Ok, now we have the relevant info I would advise not to invest your monies.  As has been said you could do much better with the 20k.  I have never put monies into advertising but if I put 20k in I would hope to see a better return than what you have been told you will get.  I pay a lad who knows nothing about this business more than 25k a year and he's 19.  I must add though he is brilliant and has learned well.  So I am not disrespecting him by my comments.  Best, Dave.

 Where are you based?  If you are daft enough to give out 10k to get a measley 30k a year in return I ll take your money.  Actually no I wont, wouldnt be fair.  Even I dont get 10k a week so I am not going to take it off of you.......

[Indoor]

I can't discuss my case because, when we parted company, we signed a kind of severance contract. A clause of this was that I am only allowed to state that the matter was concluded to the satisfaction of both parties.

But, DON'T, PLEASE DON'T


Owen

Sorry. But still ..you dont have any argument against them." Please dont " - is not a argument ..anyway if something goes wrong 20 K is not that big investment. So I think in my case ( English not good enough to sell ) Franchisee is a best Idea

[richyvezy]

anyway if something goes wrong 20 K is not that big investment.

What ?? You must have money to burn then, that's all I can say !!

Richy

[Atlantic Cleaning]

 Believe me you will loose much more than your investment. I have been down the franchise root and the only ones that make money is the franchisor. My advice is DONT you will regret it, you may as well go up to a stranger in the street and give them 20k

Duncan

[heritagecleaning]

Indoor

Look, you've asked the question and plemty of people have told you not to do it. Both myself and Atlantic Cleaning have ACTUALLY OWNED cleaning franchises and we say don't do it....what more of a qualified answer could you hope for?

Plus, if 20K isn't that much to you then why not invest it down the bookies? I hear the returns are fantastic.


Owen

[martin19842]

hi there

i have also seen the inside of the franchise industry.

i am now running my own non franchise business and ding well enough.

£8k franchisee fee, wow,

there is absolutely loads of potential business in your area

regards

martin

[Indoor]

Indoor

Look, you've asked the question and plemty of people have told you not to do it. Both myself and Atlantic Cleaning have ACTUALLY OWNED cleaning franchises and we say don't do it....what more of a qualified answer could you hope for?

Plus, if 20K isn't that much to you then why not invest it down the bookies? I hear the returns are fantastic.


Owen

I Owned Coverall Cleaning Concept in USA ..I was very happy with them. Sorry but it depends on experience. mine was very good.

[Cleaning Resource]

there are alot of cleaning contracts worth that, surely you could manage to get one contract worth 30k without spending 20K, when you think the ave contract say for 2hrs a day 5 days per week is worth min 5k a year you only have to get 5 to match the 25k they "guarantee you"  :

Do you help me ?? ...heheheh..I will pay you 10 K cash  if you find 30 K work for me

all the work I bring in stays with me i`m affraid......................

[Ian Rochester]

Indoor,

It sounds to me that you have already made up your mind, or more likely already made your investment!

You asked and hoped for people to say that it was a wise decision, they haven't, that's obviously upset you and now you're getting on the defensive!

I looked into franchaises when I first started out and the investment and running costs did not meet up with what I wanted from my business.  I also asked the questions from people who had done franchaising and took there advice.

Remember you will have no say in how you run your business.

I have looked at their website and it appears that you need to buy a licence for every individual area of cleaning that you want to do, carpets, ovens, etc.

If you are paying them £5K for every £14K of business, where is your profit going to be?  35.7% of that £14K is going to them, even a very good business will struggle to make an operating profit of 40%, I can't see where your profit will come from.

You will hear many more sad stories than happy stories when if comes to franchaises.

If you have already invested, then best of luck, if not then look very carefully at what you are doing.

[The Great One]

HI

I have to agree with Ian.

I had people begging me not to Franchise about 7 years ago. I didn't listen to them and got pig headed about it and went ahead anyway.

When I needed their backup they hung me out to dry.

I was based in a shopping centre/mall and the management of the centre kept moving me about and customers were finding it hard to keep finding me, thought i'd packed in and left, no help from franchisor.

Couldn't open for 1 day, centre put me in breach of contract and put me out of business, to save the site franchisor asked me to sell up cheap so he could put someone else in (unknown to me at the time) Guess what i am trying to say is that the Franchisor is in business to look after themselves not always you.

They all say in their marketing they only succeed if you succeed etc, etc

But that is exactly what it is, Marketing, the Franchise agreement is ALWAYS in their favour.

If you have already done it then really the best of luck, if it goes bad don't be embarassed to say so, other people may learn from your experiences.

Regards

Martin

[heritagecleaning]

Martin

Who were you with?


Owen

[Indoor]

HI

I have to agree with Ian.

I had people begging me not to Franchise about 7 years ago. I didn't listen to them and got pig headed about it and went ahead anyway.

When I needed their backup they hung me out to dry.

I was based in a shopping centre/mall and the management of the centre kept moving me about and customers were finding it hard to keep finding me, thought i'd packed in and left, no help from franchisor.

Couldn't open for 1 day, centre put me in breach of contract and put me out of business, to save the site franchisor asked me to sell up cheap so he could put someone else in (unknown to me at the time) Guess what i am trying to say is that the Franchisor is in business to look after themselves not always you.

They all say in their marketing they only succeed if you succeed etc, etc

But that is exactly what it is, Marketing, the Franchise agreement is ALWAYS in their favour.

If you have already done it then really the best of luck, if it goes bad don't be embarassed to say so, other people may learn from your experiences.

Regards

Martin

If something goes wrong I wll notify you immediately.

[Indoor]

If you are paying them £5K for every £14K of business, where is your profit going to be?  35.7% of that £14K is going to them, even a very good business will struggle to make an operating profit of 40%, I can't see where your profit will come from.



Yes its true ..but if you keep contract for another year you have 100 % - (12.5 % franchisee fee). So its not that bad ....The problem is to keep customers happy for long long time

[Len Gribble]

Martin

A fool and it money are soon parted  , join the gang  . What a learning curve.

INDOOR

I have a list in the region 500 happy franchises  ; I only know of one who was very ecstatic got a DTI loan.

Len

[The Great One]

HI

Hey Len!

Not spoken for ages, hope you are well?

Yep, a vertical learning curve, amazing when you Franchise you think you will be well looked after, ah well.

But, in retrospect I am kind of happy I ended up -£72,000 in debt. Not because of the amazing pressure it put on me & my family but of the financial education that I cannot get anywhere else, no business school can give the education losing a business can.

This is why I had to start my cleaning business with £50, always tough starting a business with nothing. Although I have only turned over about £72,000 in 3 years I am quite proud of myself for that acheivement, it is a great ROI.

Now I analyze everything business wise, is it worth it? what return can I expect?
How soon til I get my money back? Can I really afford it?

About 3 weeks after I lost my business I read a book that changed my life, it's called ' RICH DAD, POOR DAD by Robert Kiyosaki.

I cannot recommend this book enough, 4 months after reading it I was back in business and still in it.

Regards

Martin

[Len Gribble]

Hi Martin

Very well thanks, hope you and family are well.


Ps hwe is the way to go!

Len

[Happyeater]

Looks like indoor is either a 'fisherman' or has made his mind up already to get a franchise.

As an ex-employee of a Franchisor, I'd say don't do it. Do a search on franchises and see for yourself. Ask to speak to all of their franchisees, dont accept the brush off or the 'you have to respect their privacy' line to keep you away from the unhappy ones (which is most of them).

If you really want one, go get one but dont ever say you weren't warned.

[excelcrewe]

i too say no dont do it. ihad afranchise fees paid monthly even if you had no work . istarted with little money and dont have the worry of finding the fees .its a great feeling being in a bisiness i have built up.

[niceandclean]

Hi Indoor.
I tell you what, ill get you a website up and running, design your company ident, market and sell your business for you for £12000! Then ill take a percentage of the contracts i/you get as well from then on! How does that sound?