Is Contours Express a Great Fitness Franchise?
Fitness franchises are the fastest growing segment of franchising. We sent out emails to fitness franchise owners, managers, employees, and customers asking which fitness franchise is best, and why. One of our first responses touted a women’s fitness franchise called “Contours Express.”
Franchise Pick reader Dee Dee said:
Contours Express is the best fitness franchise. Contours Express is the Better Idea in Women’s Gyms because we use Real Weights (not hydraulics) to achieve Real Results. Women will not plateau and continue to reach their goal of either weight loss, tone, gain strength or increase flexibility.
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH CONTOURS EXPRESS? IS IT A GREAT FITNESS FRANCHISE? LEAVE A COMMENT AND TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!
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POSTED IN: Contours Express
557 opinions for Is Contours Express a Great Fitness Franchise?
JohnDoe
May 31, 2007 at 5:23 am
Contours Express is being sued by nearly 80 current and former franchisees for fraud…
sean
May 31, 2007 at 8:14 am
John:
Can you point us to any verification of this? News story, or press release online? Are they (allegedly) suing together or individually? What’s your source?
Thanks.
Jackie K.
Jun 5, 2007 at 6:23 am
I found the same thing. I don’t remember what site I saw it on though. I was researching because I am interested in opening a gym. If I remember correctly I belieave it was filed in the circuit court of st. louis county, missouri. Anyway I live here in Fla and after talking to a few current Conoturs owners I would not open one. Everyone I have talked to is not happy, they all believe that the contours express “system” works wonders for women, better than cureves could ever hope too. However none of the owners I talked to (and not just here in Fla other states too) do not like “Contours Corporate” because they feel they are just out to collect money and are not there for them. Keep in mind this coming from people who have successful franchises. If a franchisor cannot keep their successful franchisees happy, to me that is a big problem…
Sara Doe
Jun 5, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Contours Express corporate does not supports its owners. Don’t buy one unless you intend to make it succeed on your own.
sean
Jun 6, 2007 at 6:27 am
Sara: Can you be more specific? What support do franchisees need that they aren’t getting? Are you a current franchise owner? Have you asked for help?
claudia
Jun 6, 2007 at 8:50 am
First cooperate tauts that you can buy the franchise and run your business on as little as $45,000 and with as few as 175 or so members. That is simply not true. This statement is a small part of the lawsuit. After training you are basically left on your own. You have no cooperate branding like curves does. Everyone knows about curves but not about contours. It’s a great concept and the memberslove it. But if you don’t have at least $150.000 to sustain all the advertising you have to do don’t do it.
Sara Doe
Jun 7, 2007 at 6:20 pm
I am a member of a Contours and the owner is a close friend. The problem is that the company is not branded. It doesn’t seem to matter that the workout is sooo much better than Curves because people don’t recognize the name. She told me that lots of the owners have requested corporate to do more national TV ads. They did ads in Jan for about a month but we didn’t even see them.
Jane Doe
Jun 25, 2007 at 10:40 pm
I managed a Contours Express and let me tell you, Corporate is horrible. There was great support at the training we went to at the Corporate office, but it was almost impossible. E-mails didn’t get replyed to, phone calls didn’t get returned. When we could get someone from corporate on the phone and would inquire for help we were lead to feel like we were the only ones doing poorly because we weren’t carrying the CHICKEN SOUP product (a product we were told was exclusively for us by corporate just to find out that it is a mulit-level marketing product that anyone can sell). Then, there was the CHICKEN SOUP book that released in January…..co-authored by two corporate employees (one who is no longer an employee there….WHAT????).
sean
Jun 26, 2007 at 9:19 am
Chicken Soup for the Soul Supplements?
Seems a bit bizarre. Too many licensing fingers in the chicken pot, seems to me. Seems like Contours Express-branded supplements would be more appealing… without the extra licensing fees.
Link to ad.
Kat
Jun 26, 2007 at 11:06 am
I’ve spoken with very happy owners. No one says Corporate Support is stellar but each one felt they didn’t need any hand holding and are very active in advertising their business. I’m considering a purchase. The concept is too good to fail.
sean
Jun 26, 2007 at 3:00 pm
<p><p>Kat: No offense, but anyone who says “The concept is too good to fail” needs to rethink business ownership, or at least take some time out and do their homework. There’s no such thing as a concept that’s “too good to fail.” Just ask those who are listed on the six pages of store closings in the UFOC. Perhaps they thought the same thing.br />
I’m not dissing CE. But there’s much more to achieving success than a good concept. Many prospective franchisees miss this point, thinking that a great concept assures success. Successful franchisees recognize that the franchise concept and program is a blueprint and a set of tools. The franchisee must do the building. It’s up to YOU to sign up enough customers and keep them coming back month after month. Good franchisors will tell you the same thing. br />
My advice: Understand how many members you must attract to be profitable. Know the average cost of acquiring a customer, what the attrition rate is, and how many members you’ll need to recruit each month. Know how and where they’ll come from. Be realistic about advertising and sales costs, and promote aggressively from the start.br />
In my opinion, fear of failure is one of our greatest motivators. If you don’t fear failure, you shouldn’t own a business.<br />
I wish you the best of luck.<br />
PS: I’ve posted a free <a href=”http://www.franbest.com/?page_id=4″ rel=”nofollow”>article directory</a> on FranBest.com. Check out the one on franchise success statistics, and also the FTC guide. Franchising is a great way to own a business, but only for those who do so with both eyes open.</p></p>
Sara Doe
Jun 26, 2007 at 4:36 pm
The concept is awesome; however, if people don’t recognize the name promoting the concept they are often reluctanct to buy. My friend who owns a Contours wishes she had talked to more owners, even every owner or former owner. The expense is much more than anticipated and in a lot of cases the memberships are not what pay the bills. The retail part of the business is what often pays the bills.
claudia
Jun 27, 2007 at 5:35 am
My club is closing this Friday. I have spent $95.000 to date and would need another $75.000 to get me to 2 year break even point. Be very sure you do your homework and are aware of the true cost of running this business. It is a great concept but not branded and won’t sell its self. There are many things to consider before you do this. Go to the Chamber in your town they have people who will help you do a plan to know just how much it will take to operate and make your club proffitable. It is not the amount the say I can assure you.
Claudia
Knoxville Tn
sean
Jun 27, 2007 at 6:28 am
Claudia: Thanks for your comment. I’m very sorry to hear about your Contours Express store closing. I can tell by the professional tone of your message, your attitude and willingness to share your advice with others that you’ll come back from this setback stronger than ever.
Best of luck,
Sean
Before Buying a Franchise, Don’t Trust But Verify (Part 1)
Jun 27, 2007 at 7:18 am
[…] Two comments on a recent post about a fitness franchise are very instructive to anyone considering franchise […]
Roger
Jun 27, 2007 at 8:02 am
Having conducted many phone surveys with franchisees of Contours Express, Curves, Butterfly Life, FitZone, et al, I can say that there is some commen thread in that many franchisees learn too late that they have just purchased a job for themselves and others. The fitness business is not a casual investment. The business will not just come to you because you are open.
All of the women’s fitness companies teach their franchisees that “beat the streets” social marketing is what is absolutely necessary. However, it seems like the franchisees that are less than happy with their franchise purchase are those who are placing a great deal of expectation on their franchiser to drive business into their gyms via some form of advertising. No matter whether you invest $100,000 or $500,000 the reports from the successful gym owners all focus on the owner’s level of physical activity and not what kind of ad support they get from their corporate office.
As an area developer from Butterfly Life told us (http://gymbuzz.com), “above all, you must have the passion and personal drive to succeed in the fitness business. Success in the fitness business requires much more than your cash investment, it also requires hard work to make a profitable gym.”
Caveat Emptor: If you are looking for a place to invest your money for profits that requitres little of your “sweat equity” then fitness is not the business you should be looking at.
Kat
Jun 27, 2007 at 8:34 am
Sean,
Thanks for the feedback. I totally agree. As mentioned, the successful owners I’ve spoken with are right on top of their customers and working hard to grown their business. They also are watching where they spend their money. In some ways, and I’d love some feedback, doesn’t a lack of branding allow the owner a little more creativity with the business? I do understand that a branded product sells better however.
claudia
Jun 27, 2007 at 8:57 am
When I say branding I mean in your face marketing like curves is they are in joint ventures Avon, TV ads, magazine ads, on milk cartons, everywhere you turn you see curves. Even the $2500 they tell you that needs to be invested in advertising won’t get anything close to that. By the way they don’t tell you up front that yiou need to budget that but after the fact they do. In my experience is is closer to $4000 a mth. I am not telling you not to do it I am just saying go into it with you eyes wide open and have at least $175.000 to get you to break even. You should also know that when the year contract is up you have a proven 37% attrition rate to overcome
Sara Doe
Jun 27, 2007 at 9:17 am
Curves now has a coupon on packages of Splenda, too. Don’t discount brand recognition. It is extremely important to success.
Kat
Jun 27, 2007 at 10:14 am
Thanks Claudia and all. Your input is appreciated. Lots to think about. Claudia: my sincere best to you in light of what you’re facing.
sean
Jun 27, 2007 at 10:45 am
Roger: Good info and advice. Thanks for stopping in from GymBuzz.com. Your site has some good info and marketing tips.
Kat: Glad you’re thinking it through. Lack of brand recognition doesn’t mean more freedom; it means that you have to create (and pay for) something your Curves competitors might already have. (Incidentally, comparing yourself to your competitor the way CT does on their website is a branding no-no) If you need to build your own brand, you might as well start your own club, create your own name & trademark, put what you would have spent on a franchise fee, royalty and ad contribution toward marketing.
At the risk of never being hired by another fitness franchisor again, I pose this question: Do you really need a franchise to open one of these clubs? Besides Chicken Soup supplements, aren’t they just big rooms with some machines and a boombox?
Before Buying a Franchise, Don’t Trust But Verify (Part 1) at PIGASYS
Jun 28, 2007 at 3:11 pm
[…] Two comments on a recent post about a fitness franchise are very instructive to anyone considering franchise […]
Jane Doe
Jun 29, 2007 at 8:16 pm
For those of you that say you have spoken with many successful clubs:
1. Corporate used to claim over 350 open clubs in the United States. In March I went on the corporate website and counted only around 280…..In May that number was down to around 240. Of those 240 or so clubs, about 70 are involved in a lawsuite due to mis-representation among other things.
2. Check the population of the clubs that are doing well…for the most part, they are in low populated areas.
3. “KAT” nobody was asking for corporate to hold their hands…what we were asking for was support. I would ask the marketing manager a question (advice) and all I would get was quotes from a book, and the quotes didn’t even answer the question I was asking.
4. Everything you HAVE to order from a “prefered” vendor is way over priced so that corporate can get a kick-back. You have to buy the equipment from their vendor and use their billing company….both you can find for way cheaper.
5. When we went to training we were told all we needed was 1,200 square feet and all we had to do was “sell the circuit…sell the circuit” but not 6 months later we were introduced with far infra-red sauna’s, ionic foot spas, and chicken soup supplements and were told that not carrying them would be detrimental to our success.
Sara Doe
Jun 30, 2007 at 4:13 am
Jane Doe is right on all points. 1,200 square feet is not enough because owners will have something like massage, tanning, etc to make it.
Mick
Jul 9, 2007 at 8:57 am
Why some of you say that the concept doesn’t sell itself? Realistically, how much advertising and pushing is required? Because I see that ordinary gyms just DO NOT require any!! People just go and exercise, if they like it and/or see some result they keep going back, isn’t it so?
Can’t this work for Contours Express too? The only difference is that women will not have the hassle of being chit chatted by men continuosly… Am I so wrong and making it too easy?
LoLo
Jul 11, 2007 at 3:21 am
Does anyone know or have heard anything about ButterflyLife. I am doing some research and would be interested if anyone has any experience with them.
LoLo
Jul 11, 2007 at 3:23 am
Sorry I just realize this forum was for Contours Express.
Sonni
Aug 6, 2007 at 5:55 am
I am a current Contours Express owner.
Unlike many current and former owners, I am VERY successful.
However, with that said, I would NEVER recomend anyone to buy into Conoturs Express.
First off, the amount of clubs open has remained the same for the last three years, since we opened. Which means, at the very least, they have same amount of clubs opening as closing.
Second, while I went into this knowing that the costs reflected in their UFOC would be low they were three times too low. I am not sure where in the United States you can open a Conoturs express for $45k.
Last, I have NEVER followed anything corporate suggests. They are NOT fitness professionals, I am, and I promote my club the way corporate SHOULD promote themselves but, do not.
sean
Aug 6, 2007 at 9:22 am
Sonni: Thanks for your insight. How do you promote your club? One of the potential flaws of this concept - in my opinion - is the difficulty keeping members from becoming bored with the simple, but limited, nature of the concept. how do you keep members from either quitting, or graduating to a larger, more varied club?
sean
Aug 6, 2007 at 9:31 am
>> I’d also add that I’ve been working with franchisors and franchisees for two decades. Sonni may indeed know more than the franchisor in how to market the concept. However, many franchisees who THINK they know more than their franchisor about marketing don’t, necessarily. If you have a good franchisor, listen to them. I see a lot of franchisees fail because they pay a franchisee fee and royalty for the franchisor’s guidance, and then don’t follow it.
Focus on results, and always exceed what they tell you you should be doing. Make a difference in your member’s lives and they’ll reward you with loyatly and abundant referrals.
sean
Aug 6, 2007 at 9:31 am
>> I’d also add that I’ve been working with franchisors and franchisees for two decades. Sonni may indeed know more than the franchisor in how to market the concept. However, many franchisees who THINK they know more than their franchisor about marketing don’t, necessarily. If you have a good franchisor, listen to them. I see a lot of franchisees fail because they pay a franchisee fee and royalty for the franchisor’s guidance, and then don’t follow it.
Focus on results, and always exceed what they tell you you should be doing. Make a difference in your members’ lives and they’ll reward you with loyalty and abundant referrals.
Sonni
Aug 7, 2007 at 7:18 am
What do I do differently? As I do not know who I am talking to in this forum, I will keep my intellectual properties to myself. However, I will say this; I base my advertising/marketing on my knowledge of health & fitness. Also, as well as being a certified personal trainer I have a BA in marketing and a MBA in finance…
Corporate consistently fails to capitalize on and flaunt their strengths and would rather compare themselves to their competition, i.e. “If you love Curves you will love Contours Express” One of the first things I ever learned in marketing 101 was NEVER mention your competition, unless you are a McDonalds or a Coca-Cola and even then it should be VERY limited. It is this limited thinking and lack of a broader view that will keep them as the mediocre franchising company they are or worse yet the whole system will fail.
Of course your opinion may be different…
matt
Aug 7, 2007 at 9:08 am
Yep, I have to agree with Sonni, I’m a finance graduate but I don’t need a degree to see that mentioning Curves on their website is an absolute no-no. They probably do that to stress their weight-based equipment vs. hydraulic…
This post is interesting: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070130120344AAjcKIm
Only one out of 20 Contours franchisees is earning more than expected? Credible? How so?
Ex Ms Contours
Aug 18, 2007 at 5:44 am
I’m involved in the lawsuit and all I can say is shame on them for taking advantage of us! I went into business June 2006, and was out of business Oct 2006. Great concept. I want to keep the equipment and put it in my garage, (if it will fit) after the bankruptcy goes through. Thanks Contours. I lost everything and now have two jobs that suck!
sean
Aug 18, 2007 at 5:59 am
Ex Ms Contours:
Is there a copy of the lawsuit posted online anywhere? A story even? What’s the status? What are the complaints?
Ex Ms Contours
Aug 18, 2007 at 6:08 am
Sean, Our lawyer just had to update our petition. I always thought that if this was really made public we could stop this franchise from hurting anyone else. I could forward you the new petition, but we are instructed to keep quiet for now. Do you have a private e-mail to contact you?
sean
Aug 18, 2007 at 10:59 am
Ex Ms Contours: info[at]ideafarm.net
Sandra
Sep 5, 2007 at 9:39 am
Are you sure Countours Express and Butterfly Life aren’t ran by that same Corporate office? This all sounds quite familiar. Both companies that rip you of every last cent you have. They are getting rich while we are all filing bankruptcy.
Sandra
Sep 5, 2007 at 9:40 am
Are you sure Contours Express and Butterfly Life aren’t ran by that same Corporate office? This all sounds quite familiar. Both companies that rip you of every last cent you have. They are getting rich while we are all filing bankruptcy.
sean
Sep 19, 2007 at 10:56 am
Does Contours Express and the others offer personal training for an additional fee? This would seem to be a no-brainer as both a way to increase incremental revenue and retention. Seems like retaining members would be a huge challenge after the initial enrollment period, no?
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[…] Is Contours Express a Great Fitness Franchise? […]
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sean
Sep 25, 2007 at 9:58 am
I think you’ll all find this post very interesting:
Franchise Dreams Becoming Nightmares for Many Fitness Club Owners
Nearly 60 Contours Express franchisees are alleging fraud and breach of contract. There’s a link to the Petition for Damages document that has not been circulated publicly until now. They also complain of unrealistic start-up costs and breakeven projections.
Question for those who have opened Contours Express franchises: In your opinion, what is the REAL initial investment number they should be using? What was the actual cost of opening your facility? What was the actual working capital (dollar figure) needed?
Gina Marie
Sep 27, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I agree that personal training could be a much needed source of revenue. However, one of the selling points with the franchise is that the gym can be opened with little or no business or fitness experience. The extent of the fitness training is basically how to use the equipment and what parts of the body it works. Upon completion of the ‘training’ no one is certified as either a personal trainer or even a circuit trainer. There is no certification and employees are reminded not to present themselves as a personal trainer. The emphasis is on just ’selling the circuit’. Apparently it takes much more than that to be successful.
sean
Sep 27, 2007 at 6:04 pm
If anyone had trouble downloading the Contours Express lawsuit document or UFOC, I apologize. The glitch is fixed and working now. Go to the FranBest.com Document Library to access them.
Link: http://www.franbest.com/?page_id=323
TM
Sep 28, 2007 at 7:20 am
I read that document and it looks like a bunch of owners who bit off more than they could chew. Some people want the world handed to them on a silver platter.
sean
Sep 28, 2007 at 8:01 am
I read that document and it looks like a bunch of owners who bit off more than they could chew. Some people want the world handed to them on a silver platter.
TM: Amen! Imagine those slacker franchisees expecting the franchisor would actually visit their club in person. Like they’ve got time for that! After all, nobody forced them to believe the illegal earnings claims or underrepresented costs the salespeople (allegedly) provided. If they didn’t want to figure everything out for themselves, they shouldn’t have bought a franchise! ;-)
Ex Ms Contours
Sep 28, 2007 at 9:13 am
TM- I never have wanted anything handed to me on a silver platter. I’ve worked hard all my life and shouldn’t have trusted these sleazeballs! That’s the mistake I made. And there are people in this lawsuit that have owned successful businesses before, who are intellectual and hard working as well.
Jen
Oct 3, 2007 at 9:33 am
Beware of this franchise called 123 fit. Another one that thought they were going to be bigger than Curves. Ha-Ha Curves is probably laughing at another wanna be!! This is for men and women. About 20 franchises have closed their doors. Corporate people suck. No help. Way to expensive to operate and ever break even. Same people Rick Schaden, Brooksy Smith, that were behind the Quiznos franchising and have since bailed and lawsuits are popping up everywhere are behind this 123 fit franchise. KEEP YOUR MONEY!! They wont last long either.
secret
Oct 4, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I watch with interest as an owner here i Australia with all the same issues, i can see it happening here as well……please email me, and I can discuss with yuo more, i am interested in all this
i wish to remain anonymous on here for obvious reasons but will talk in person/by phone to anyone…..help!
Frank
Oct 11, 2007 at 7:50 am
I am a tough guy. I never cry, but my eyes are tearing up thinking about this subject.
My wife opened up a Contours. I went to training with her in Kentucky because even though I had my own job, there is no way somebody can do the business on there own.
We found a nice place and spent about $15,000 fixing it up. All toghter with the fees, equipment, rents, all that, by the time we opened we had spent about $65,000. We borrowed the money through a second mortgage. Our trainer that corporate sent was good, however she had a gym that was failing and she closed a little while after training us.
Anyway to get back to my wife. She left a good paying job she hated. She has been overweight her whole life and wanted to truly help people and herself. When people would walk in to join they would see her and feel comfortable with her, and they loved her. I can picture my wife coming up with things for people and helping them. I see her know hanging up little cards on the wall that showed how much weight people lost. She loved it. She was in heaven and she was so alive.
However there were many problems. The biggest was branding. Corporate had always talked about national branding. When the finally made commercials they were on at 2 in the morning on the Oxygen Channel. We were then told something big was coming in the summer of 2006 during the annual convention. What was it? Chicken Soup for the Soul supplements and shakes. We tried it and it was a flop. We would spend $3,000-4,000 for big mail drops. One that corporate discouraged us from doing actually landed us the most members we ever had for a mail drop. But are best advertisement was word of mouth from happy members.
We ended up with many members, however the problems we had were other factors beyond our control. Our rent went up unexpectedly. The stores around us closed, so we lost a lot of foot traffic. There was then a string of robberies in the area that made people not want to the area.
Also the contours by us were closing, and when people heard of this the became weary of us. We had never made a profit but were close. However we started getting more in the red till we were losing about $5,000 a month. My wife started to get depressed and our marriage was suffering. We were both having nervous breakdowns. I had always considered myself tough. My family had been wealthy but when I was 15 my father had lost his business through some bad investments and we had to move from a 4,000 square foot house to an apartment, so I had rough times before. But this was different. We both felt like failures.
I am not the ‘blame corporate crowd’. I believe in the end the owner has the ultimate responsibility. However Contours professed of having a great support system, which they didn’t. The training was lack luster. It was four and a half days long. About one whole day was how to use their ABC system, which could have been done in an hour. We then spent half a day about the crappy supplements and junk that we were encouraged to sell. The biggest part you needed to know, how to sell this type of service, was only given the most generic explanations. On the last day they took us to a local country club for a very lack luster dinner.
Corporate in theory is supposed to help you sell your gym. They don’t have to sell it for you, but they are supposed to have the system there. For us the system sucked. Then corporate came up with the policy that if you closed your gym, you couldn’t sell your equipment to another gym just opening. A new gym owner opening up a place from scratch needed to buy their equipment through the corporate approved vendor. Our equipment was well maintained. It was two years old and not a tear, not a scratch, not a mark. We had an inspector look at it before we closed and he said if he didn’t know it was used he would of thought it just came off the production line. We couldn’t find any takers for the equipment. Kind of hard to get rid off a whole gym set. We didn’t have the time to sell piece by piece when we closed. So we gave away $20,000 of new-like equipment to charity. We were willing to sell it for $5,000-7,000 to a new Contours, which would of helped the new owners but not Corporate.
We closed the gym and sold what we could, took home some of what we had left, and junked the rest. The other day my wife gave to Purple Heart the last Contours shirt she owned, she couldn’t stand to look at it. We had to declare bankruptcy; we had over $150,000 in debt. Our IRAs and 401k of almost $100,000 are gone. We wife became severally depressed. We are losing our house of 20 years also. My wife is trying to find work but in her state it is hard. I am working two jobs but it is a losing battle.
In the end I wish my wife didn’t do it. She was making good money before. And while she might have been happy for a short time while doing this she is depressed now. I tear up when I think about it. I know that most of the people in my training class closed their businesses also. And while we take ultimate responsibility Corporate led to a huge part of us failing. I am not in the lawsuit and don’t plan to be. But to say those that are should of known better is wrong. Unless you have been there you have no clue.
The gym industry is hard to make money in. If all the people who needed to join a gym came we would be billionaires. But most people don’t want to work out. People join gyms and never show up. If you want to do this industry and have to franchise I would go with someone better known like Curves. Even thought the weight resistant training is more superior to the hydraulics Curves has, Curves has the name.
But my suggestion would be to open up your own place, buy your equipment on the cheap, find a good location with decent rent, and SIGN UP AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN BEFORE YOU OPEN. That last part is the best piece of advice. You get money to get you going before you open the doors, and you have the best advertisement, word of mouth, before you even open the doors. Also make sure your landlord give you a month or two of free rent and some build-up reimbursement. Build out is when you fix up the place; bring it to code and the like. And advertise. Print out flyer (Staples will make them cheap) and put them on every car you can find. Put them on people’s front door. Do a mail drop before you open. Put up bandit signs. SELL, SELL, SELL.
Number one lesson; never get emotionally tied to your business.
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Oct 11, 2007 at 9:57 am
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Contours Victom
Oct 13, 2007 at 12:49 pm
It is amusing how they are calling thier franchises now and asking them how they are doing. Before the litagation no one ever heard from them.
Another Big Loser
Oct 14, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Frank is exactly right about the Contours Experience. I experienced the exact same things and lost close to $200 K. I am still in debt for another $30,000. No one expected the world handed to us on a silver platter. We all worked it hard and kept at it. Luckily, I kept my job of 30 years (l work 7 on, 7 off), I was at the gym all the time when not at the paying job.
I hope that the people in the lawsuit get their money back at the very least.
ABL
Ex Ms Contours
Oct 14, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Contours Victim- Are you still open?
Contours Victom
Oct 14, 2007 at 8:27 pm
I am still open but it is not pretty
Contours Victom
Oct 14, 2007 at 8:34 pm
If anyone wants to own a gym open up your own. No one knows what Contours Express is, there is no advertising on the part of corporate nor support. Why pay a fee and all the cost when you can do it yourself. I last word of advice give it a name so people actually know what it is. What does Contours Express mean? Nothing when there is no adversting to let people know. At least every one does know what a Curves is.
Contours Victom
Oct 14, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Someone needs to stop not only Contours but the numerous franchises from victomizing and destroying the lives of unknowing people. The reason I bought a franchise to start with is because I thought I was protected by the law and what ever they claimed was true. When they say they have a 90% success rate why shouldn’t you believe them? This is supposed to be a legit business. Below are actual advertising claims by them and every claim can be proven false. Is there any laws protecting any of us from this. People need warned about this and other franchises. Get the word out, tell any and everyone you know. We need national attention.
• We provide you with the best opportunity for success. About 90% of franchises are still in operation after 10 years, while 82% of independent businesses have failed in the same time period.
• It’s affordable. You can open a typical Contours Express franchise for about $50,000. Our initial franchise fee of $14,000 is one of the most affordable in the franchising industry.
• You’re supported every step of the way. Our executive team has more than 50 years of combined experience in the fitness industry. From site selection and lease negotiations to marketing materials and training in exercise techniques, we’ll provide you with all the tools you need to succeed.
• You’ll be joining more than 500 franchisees around the world. In 2004, Small Business Opportunities Magazine ranked Contours Express as the “Number 1 business to start.”
• You’ll be taking control of your future—and helping women get fit! A Contours Express franchise can be profitable with as few as 200 members, in a town with a population of just 7,000! (extracted from http://hb.franchisesolutions.com/franchise/Contours_Express.cfm)
Ex Ms Contours
Oct 14, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Contours victim- what state are you in? When did you open? I know what you are going through..I went through the same thing and know your pain. Are you in the lawsuit? If not, why not?
sean
Oct 15, 2007 at 6:35 am
…About 90% of franchises are still in operation after 10 years, while 82% of independent businesses have failed in the same time period….
This is a widely used but thoroughly bogus statistic that the IFA has instructed its members not to use. Read “Lies, Damned Lies & Franchise Statistics” at Franbest.com:
http://www.franbest.com/?page_id=4
Roger
Oct 15, 2007 at 6:42 am
TM
Sep 28, 2007 at 7:20 am
I read that document and it looks like a bunch of owners who bit off more than they could chew. Some people want the world handed to them on a silver platter.
Sounds like a bunch of sour grapes from people who’s unrealized expectations are now someone else’s fault. The fitness business requires the right person and the right business practices. Does not sound like either here.
Contours Success Stories
Oct 15, 2007 at 7:05 am
I am considering a fitness franchise, including Contours. They sent me these testimonials. Are you saying these aren’t real? Do you know these people?
A Life-Altering Experience
Owning a Contours Express franchise has been a life altering experience for me. Coming from the corporate world, I was looking to be by own boss and control my destiny. I feel much more fulfilled and have gotten great personal satisfaction from helping women achieve their fitness goals. This was also a great financial decision, as I broke even in my first six months and have continued to grow the business since I opened in May of 2003.
Joann Glussich, Owner, Contours Express Lodi New Jersey
Express Workouts Pack a Big Punch
After working out religiously in all the “big” gyms I got discouraged with the limited results I was getting. When I found out about Contours Express I thought “Wow!” A 30 minute workout with weight stackable machines, this is a home run. I opened my club 3 years ago and I’m happy to report that I’m in the best shape of my life now and I also run one of the top five most successful Contours Express Gyms.
Celeste Salka, Contours Express Franchisee. Danbury, CT
We are changing Women’s Lives and Absolutely Love It.
Owning a Contours Express is not a business it’s way of life for us. It’s such a joy going to work every day and having the opportunity to impact women to help them live healthier and better lives. We were so lucky to find Contours Express, their unique concept plus our energy and personalities has been a great combination for success. We also appreciate the help and support from the corporate office, they have been behind us all the way. Adding Chicken Soup for the Soul was a great idea; we love the products and it has helped our business grow tremendously! We are opening our second location next year, which is exciting because our experience with the first gym should make it even better! We are The Better Idea in Women’s’ Gyms, we are changing women’s lives and we absolutely love it! Melisa Soto-Escobar & Shelly Naccarato Hendersonville, NC
sara doe
Oct 15, 2007 at 7:31 am
You have to consider that these comments are coming from only three owners. The gym advertises more clubs open than there actually are. Go on the webiste and count how many clubs are open. It changes frequently. If you proceed, call every former owner. However, you probably won’t be able to reach them because the phone numbers are not current.
Roger
Oct 15, 2007 at 7:46 am
Lots of sad stories here.
Our review of 13 fitness center franhchises revealed that the company name is of no consequence and that failed centers are part of the business for many who choose not to implement exactly what they bought. I know I will get slammed for this statement, but the women’s fitness business runs on word-of-mouth and local community marketing.
We also went out and viewed several centers and walked away wondering why many of these people picked the fitness business. You must be able to understand the business side and not just be able to run the physical gym, and you must personally represent your product well.
Few who we interviewed across the 13 companies really understood how to run a business, and the even fewer were willing to accept that they bought themselves a job.
Fitness is not a casual investment. It requires the right work from the right people.
Everyone wants to blame the other the guy.
Caveat Emptor!
TM
Oct 15, 2007 at 8:45 am
Sean and Roger - thanks for putting a little sense in this.
Wow folks have you ever wondered about why it’s hard? The world weeds out the weak and its not always fair.
And of course they are going to market “best case” scenarios in selling a gym. OF COURSE they are! Wouldn’t you too? Don’t you market the best case scenario to people working out?
The owners out there complaining are just digging their own grave with all of this whining.
C.T. Beagle
Oct 15, 2007 at 9:20 am
sounds like Roger has been riding through the desert on a horse with no name, or was he on a contours express horse which has no name, face the facts they are a dead horse.
Kat
Oct 15, 2007 at 9:31 am
Hi, I haven’t been here for a while, but I’ve been following via e-mail.
We took the Contour Express Franchise agreement to our attorney and he simply told us it wasn’t a good agreement - all else aside.
There are some caveats that could financially ruin you if you’re unable to run the business anymore due to illness etc. You’re still responsible for all the costs plus some..so we backed out.
Lesson learned. First take the contract to a reputeable attorney for review and see if it’s reasonable.
Roger
Oct 15, 2007 at 9:58 am
When we fail at anything, we seldom look in a mirror to find the culprit. It is much easier to locate that other person to blame.
Our research into the fitness business, especially the women’s fitness business found both successes and failures.
If the system is a “dead horse” then nobody can ride it. Truth is that every company we investigated had some winners, with the exception of Butterfly Life. Perhaps because they are so new. An area developer for BL told us over the telephone that the women’s fitness business requires specific knowledge of this business, and not just general business knowledge. She also said that if you do not have the passion for the business and you yourself do not want to get out and work outside the gym, then this may not be the business for you.
Sounds like raw honesty to me.
CON-CON-CONtoured
Oct 15, 2007 at 10:06 am
Roger: Aren’t you contradicting your own points, at least in regard to CE? You imply club owners fail cuz they don’t implement what they bought. But what they bought was a no experience necessary concept driven by branding & broadcast advertising from a company that provided extensive support.
Roger said: “You must be able to understand the business side and not just be able to run the physical gym…”
CE website says: “Absolutely NO previous fitness or business experience is required… Contours Express will… train you on every aspect of owning your own gym.”
Roger said: “…the company name is of no consequence … the women’s fitness business runs on word-of-mouth and local community marketing”
CE website says: “National Television ads and cooperative advertising programs are among the many benefits. A state-of-the-art web development package is now available…”
CE website says: “…we will be there with you for your grand opening and provide ongoing training and support. We will be there to help you with your gym’s success.”
60+ franchise owners say: They never visited my club. Calls are never returned. There was no support. Investment drastically understated. Read here:
http://www.franbest.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/contours_express_second_amended_petition_for_damages_1_.doc
Roger & Out
Oct 15, 2007 at 10:28 am
Roger you try and sound all official and whatnot but you make no sense. you must sell franchises or be a consultant.
You say that the only complete failure is butterfly life, then you quote a butterfly life area rep like their the bloody expert. Are you serious? Why ask the unsucessful for advice on success? You say you must listen to the franchisor, but the franchisors all say you don’t need industry experience. Do you even read what your writing?
you say you did extensive research on all kinds of fitness centers and only BL was a loser. Cuts Fitness had over 200 franchises sold, 180 some open and tanked earlier this year. Read the CUTs articles:
http://www.franchisepick.com/fiscal-fitness-proving-elusive-for-30-minute-workout-franchise-owners/
Question: where did you do your “extensive” research… the Contours Express franchise sales seminar?
“When we fail at anything, we seldom look in a mirror to find the culprit. It is much easier to locate that other person to blame.” You really think these people declaring bankrutcy, losing their homes, etc. haven’t done all they know what to do?
Does your mommy know your using the computer without her permission?
Hoist the Jolly Roger
Oct 15, 2007 at 10:57 am
roger runs one of those phony websites that pretends he’s objective and knowledgeable but is really just trying to collect leads from suckers to con. he says Butterfly Life is a complete failure but his website says nothing about that and he links to them. another wolf in horses clothing
Help me!! I am drowning in the conjecture
Oct 15, 2007 at 11:49 am
It sounds like some of the corporate reps are on this site doing damage control. In fact, just reading one of the comments from TM, he sounds like CE’s marketing director. CRASS, RUDE and NONSENSICAL.
BOTTOM LINE FOLKS:
Contributory Negligence. Meaning that the owners have some degree of responsibility to complete a due diligence phase before investing in a business like this, or any investment for that matter.
HOWEVER, if part of your diligence includes reviewing LEGAL documents, provided by the corporation, such as the UFOC, and the UFOC consists of data that is materially FALSE, then we have a legal problem - REGARDLESS of contributory negligence!
If the documents present data which is MATERIALLY misleading, (meaning there are salient elements that if changed could result in a different outcome) then guess what, the document(s) are fraudulent.
If the documents are fraudulent and in part used to pursuade an investor to invest then guess what, you have FRAUD IN THE INDUCEMENT!
SIMPLE AS THAT - all the rest is is a bunch of blowharding with the intent to make the owners look like cry babies.
SO, my recommendation is: IF you do not know what you are talking about, have no legal experience and you never were on the receiving end of a CE circle jerk, then your opinons are just that, opinions —- baseless and useless conjecture designed to distract everyone from the point. THE LEGAL POINT THAT IS —-
SINCE OF COURSE THE ONLY POINT THAT REALLY MATTERS AT THIS TIME IS THE LEGAL POINT!
CE will be asked to explain themselves to a judge — when that day happens, all the conjecture in the world will not save them. They will still be liers and they still will have fraudulently misrepresented themselves, their product, their results and their financial matters.
CASE AND POINT!!!!!!!
Roger
Oct 15, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Rational thinkers unite!
Before opening any business, franchised or otherwise, do your own homework and do not rely solely on the biased (one way or another) postings on blogs or for that matter anywhere on the Internet blog-o-sphere. You should also not just rely on what some franchisers marketing materials may say. The SBA has a ton of free reading. Enterpreneur.com also has a wealth of resources to help avoid the horror stories that develop on sites such as this one and many others.
Be honest with yourself in rating your own skills
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20060205/ai_n16052010.
And, do quality research (opinion blogs do not quality research make) first on any company…do not use these silly opinion boards (even my own) as anything other than a bit of information, but never the entire story. Only you and your professional advisors can determine that.
It has been said that there are three types of people. Those that can, those that are not sure, and those that cannot. You decide. Guide your own destiny. You will be the one to get all the credit and all the blame in the end. Rely on what you know and learn, not just what others feel or tell you.
Much cleaner.
Ex Ms Contours
Oct 15, 2007 at 4:39 pm
To Help Me- Eddie Leonard is who you are speaking of, the Managing Director of Marketing for CE. On January 23, 2007 a franchisee posted her concerns on the CE forum (which is now debunked for everyone except the insiders). She was saying how disheartened she was when Mike Widener came to training in March of 2005 and told everyone how much they needed to be out in the community getting appointments. She stated that she needed to know that up front before buying the franchise because it was hard getting appointments, that probably she wouldn’t have bought it if she had know that. Eddie writes back, “I hear you, but respectfully speaking do not think it is our responsibility to try and scare you away.” Answered back by another franchisee, “Tis a shame that corporate feels it is “not our job to scare them away. I would call it being honest and upfront.”
Conjecture again
Oct 15, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Rodger -
Please god help me—– you are troubled my dear son. Facts are all that matter…..
Your blundering blathering matters not in the legal world.
Gather your facts — analyze them according to the LAW and then post your LEGAL analysis…
SINCE THAT IS OF COURSE ALL THAT MATTERS.
THE DOCUMENTS WERE FRAUDULENT……
PERIOD………
ALL the other blah blah blah matters not
N/A Norm
Oct 15, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Roger (AKA Eddie Leonard), I suggest you return to writing your motivational speeches and pushing sales for Guerilla Marketing for Franchises on the private Contours Express forum. Your “hearing” is as bad on this forum as it has been on that forum. You do not listen or subtantively address concerns raised — you deflect with smoke and mirrors, and use an assertiveness technique called “broken record,” in which you keep repeating the same answer over and over, an answer which does not address directly the question or concern raised. Eddie, we have listened to your trash for many months on the CE forum. We know your voice and so do the others. It is obvious that it is you speaking. Will the real Eddie Leonard leave us alone — your voice of wisdom is not needed here. And hopefully, on _this_ forum, our input will not be deleted immediately for “truth-telling.”
N/A Norm
Oct 15, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Dear Help me! I’m Drowning in Conjecture!
You nailed it! Your post is a work of art! You are so right on, it couldn’t have been said any better.
N/A Norm
Oct 15, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Sean, you asked these questions earlier of those who have opened Contours Express franchises: In your opinion, what is the REAL initial investment number they should be using? What was the actual cost of opening your facility? What was the actual working capital (dollar figure) needed?
Our answer: Before opening a Contours Express gym, in a moderately priced area/location, you need $200,000 in readily available cash as a conservative minimum. It costs close to $65,000 to open with some initial advertising. The working capital needed should be enough to last at least one year — probably around $10,000 per month, or $120,000 annually, including advertising.
At the end of one year, if you are not breaking even, you should start your exit strategy you should have developed before you opened.
These numbers are projected by someone who has opened 3 Contours Express franchises in the last 14 months. All have failed to reach break-even.
N/A Norm
Oct 15, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Conjecture again . . . Amen, hallelujah and preach on!!
Conjecture again
Oct 16, 2007 at 6:13 am
Norm N/A
It is always amazing to me how a person can live in their shit for so long that they actually begin to belive it smells good.
Sounds like Roger needs a olfactory bulbectomy.
Conjecture again
Oct 16, 2007 at 6:24 am
The day of reckoning has arrived for EVERYONE.
OWNERS WHO CLAIM LOSSES AND FRAUD will have to prove it AND CORPORATE who claims they did nothing wrong will have to prove it PERIOD.
So, it does not really matter what Roger thinks anymore.
HOWEVER!!!!
—– HEAR YE HEAR YE —–
ATTENTION ALL POTENTIAL INVESTORS
LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF REASON!!!
When 80 owners out of 240 current clubs sue the corporation then that is a HUGE RED FLAG . You certainly do not need this website to tell you that there is a problem. Even if corporate tries to brush it off as no big deal the NUMBERS tell you different.
Over 30% of owners are suing for FRAUD. That is a very serious accusation. It is also a VERY significant investment of time, money and energy to bring a suit of this nature — Certainly not something people would do because they have nothing better to do with their time.
Be smart - use this statistic of FACT as a part of your due diligence process.
You would be better off investing your money in CABBAGE PATCH DOLL RETAIL SHOP.
Conjecture again
Oct 16, 2007 at 10:56 am
Roger -
I am curious— since you are a self appointed professional on this matter…
Where is your Club?
How many members do you have?
How long have you been in business?
just curious if you are speaking from experience or just speaking to hear the how the breath vibrates across your vocal cords as you form the words that fall from your face.
Roger
Oct 16, 2007 at 11:52 am
???
Conjecture Conjecture
Oct 16, 2007 at 11:58 am
??? not I have a ?
Is there something difficult about the questions?
Not so sure what you are confused about. It seems fairly straight forward — what is your basis of experience that allows you to speak expertly on the the matter as it related SPECIFICALLY to the CONTOURS EXPRESS LAWSUIT.
The way you speak it is as if you are an expert or some legal master.
We were just wondering why your opinion on any of this should matter more than the LAW!!!
BTW - still looking for your legal analysis!
Ex Ms Contours
Oct 16, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Does the cat have the horses’ tongue?
Li'l (Contours) Missus
Oct 16, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Contours Express: The Better Idea in Bad Ideas
Act I (They say their goose lays golden eggs!)
She: Wow, those Curves franchises seem easy and profitable!
He: Well, honey, I saw a better idea on Fox News. It’s called Contours Express.
She: How much does it cost?
He: About the same as Curves, but you only need only $15,000 cash and $50,000 net worth.
She: Let’s buy one!
He: Let’s buy three! Then we’ll really make some money!
She: I can’t wait till we go to franchise training in KY. They will train us so we can succeed.
Act II (”Grandma, what big teeth you have!” exclaimed Little Red Riding Hood.)
He: Wasn’t President Bill Helton encouraging today in class?!
She: Yeah, he said if we did everything they told us to do we could easily open with 200 members and be breaking even by the end of our Grand Opening.
He: I feel really motivated — wasn’t it great when Mary Schrad, our Training Director, said the same thing?
She: Yeah. We need to develop a marketing plan to make the best use of that $4000 - $5000 she said we should spend every year in advertising.
He: They may be underestimating — let’s spend $10,000 in advertising on each of our Grand Openings just so we can be sure to break-even from the get-go.
She: Let’s get our printing done early — let’s see . . . 10,000 flyers in full color.
He: Let’s do TV, pre-flicks at the theatres, and direct mail — we’ll have to do one year and six months contracts, but this is such a great idea, it will be worth it. We’ll have 600 members in each club at the end of the year. Corporate says there are 800 and 600 member clubs already!
Act III (We begin noticing Pinocchio is starting to grow a nose.)
He: I’m worried . . . we’ve had our Grand Opening and we only have 30 members each in our two Eugene clubs.
She: Well, we had 70 in our Roseburg club after 6 weeks.
He: I’m getting a little worried. We’re spending over $24,000 a month.
She: Did I ever tell you that during our Grand Opening our Corporate Trainer said she sold her second club for $15,000 with 190 members — at a huge loss? And that she spent $25,000 for advertising her Grand Opening?
He: That couldn’t be! Hopefully it will get better in January and February. Didn’t Mary Schrad tell us those were the best months of the year for growth?
Act IV (”This little piggy went to market . . .”)
He: Do you realize that we have now spent all of the $250,000 we had planned to use to get these clubs to profitability?
She: What’s worse is the $450,000 we have now borrowed on top of that!
He: Are we broke yet?
She: Do you have the ad ready for me to take to the newspaper?
He: Yes, here it is. How does this sound?
TWO WOMEN’S GYMS. Contours Express Franchises. Operate as private business or Franchise. Love fitness? Love to work with people? Expanding wellness market. Owner must retire. Includes like-new equipment. Turn key operation. Training available. No experience necessary. $10,000 cash for first Gym, ready to open. $20,000 cash for second gym, operating now with 150 members. This is a “FIRE SALE” and will not last! Would cost $50,000+ EACH to set up again. Call OWNER
Contours Victom
Oct 17, 2007 at 8:24 pm
If Contours Express is such a good, reputable company why have they let a gym located less than two miles from their corporate headquarters close. Any legit franchise would have bought it back and made sure it was a success, being that it is such an easy thing to do (their claims not mine). Their only intentions are to sell, sell, sell, and do just enough by having a website and an enormous amount of statistics to make themselves look good enough to buy to unsuspecting clients. Franchisors that stay in business always make sure their existing franchises are successful. They are based in Kentucky and practically every gym they have or have had in the state is closed, closing, or praying someone will buy them. If you can not take care of your franchisers in your own back yard how are you going to convince a judge that you have supported your franchisees.
Contours Victom
Oct 17, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Anyone that knows of any successful franchises please let us know. I would love to speak to them. That would mean that I need the names and phone numbers of 270 successful gyms that are open, not for sale and making money. It is their own advertising that boast a 90% success rate. I liked to speak to 50. If there are so many successes, why during this lawsuit have they not had all these successful businesses contact the disgruntled owners and help them? That is why I bought a franchise; I thought the support would be tremendous. If I didn’t need any help ROGER I would have just opened a gym myself. I bought help and I want my money back
Contours Victom
Oct 17, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Roger if its so damn easy I’ll give you my gym and you can show me how it is done.
Conjecture again
Oct 18, 2007 at 5:37 am
go get em’ contours victom
Conjecture again
Oct 18, 2007 at 8:02 am
Still awaiting the legal analysis.
It is funny how one becomes very quiet when the are put on the spot.
My guess Roger, is that you have nothing to contribute that makes any legal sense or you are waiting until we all forget that I asked you to generate a FACTUAL and LEGAL basis for your argument.
Then once you think we have all gone away and forgotten, you will start in again with the conjecture.
BUT I WILL NOT FORGET ROGER… NO SIREE ROG!!! IT IS NOT AS EASY TO PUSH AROUND THE OWNERS ONCE THEY ARE NO LONGER OWNERS. One will have to come up with more than…..
blah blah blah…..the owners are crybabies…..
blah blah blah…..the owners are not good business people
blah blah blah…..the owners should have done a better job researching the company
blah blah blah…..the owners don’t follow the “plan”
blah blah blah…..the owners should never have bought a fitness busines if they had no experience…..
blah blah blah…..it is not the system that is a failure….. it is the owners that are failures…..
I could go on and on all day…….
In the mean time Rog,
I am hangin around waiting to hear the mighty expert provide something other than irrelevant and useless opinion.
Just a waiting for two days now……
Nothing……..
Nothing at all………….
Contours Victom
Oct 18, 2007 at 9:07 am
How is it Roger, AKA Eddie Leonard, The Number ONE Contours Club that was bragged about during your usual poor convention this year has never made a profit? This is a fine lady and business proffessional yet she keeps pouring money into a lost cause because she has no good way out of the “Countours Trap”!!!!!!
Shawna
Oct 18, 2007 at 10:48 am
Conjecture- I think you might be waiting for quite awhile. There’s really not much good ol’ Rog can say. You have hit the nail on the head! It was always the franchisees fault–but the Law will be the last word. I can see if one club owner had issues, but 64? The Judge cannot sweep this one under the rug!
Contours Victom- I really don’t think there are 50 clubs making money-only Corporate.
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One More Contours Victim
Oct 18, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Dear Roger, O Great Authority,
Are you aware that a western state Contours Express owner who gave all she had with a maximum effort to survive, lost everything — but then paid even a far greater price for her involvement in this franchise? Her very depressed husband took his own life by suicide over this franchise experience! Do you care to counsel her in the error of her ways? How do you sleep at night, if you are aware of all the bankruptcies, divorces, loss of homes, ill health from stress (might I say even weight gain!!), and depression/despair — worst case, ending in death?
Speak, O Great One!
Conjecture again
Oct 18, 2007 at 6:14 pm
One More —
I am so sorry to hear that -
Talk about perspective. Talk about wrongful death……….
Contours Victom
Oct 18, 2007 at 6:15 pm
One More this is the worse story I have heard thus far. Is she doing OK now? I had not been aware of this. When did all of this happen?
Contours Victom
Oct 18, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Does anyone know how many people actually came to the convention this year?
On a Mission
Oct 18, 2007 at 6:20 pm
I would just like to see all of this end. No more contours express (they are not worth capitalizing)
One More Contours Victim
Oct 18, 2007 at 7:10 pm
We don’t know any more details than we shared. We just heard about it ourselves in the last day or so — from an owner near-by the former owner whose husband committed suicide not many months after they had to close.
N/A Norm
Oct 18, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Hey, Conjecture! I elect you to rebutt any BS from anywhere . . .. you are the best! Duck, Roger!
Conjecture again
Oct 19, 2007 at 6:19 am
Haha - thanks Norm N/A - probably no guess who I am, ya!
STILL NO WORD FROM ROGER —–
MMMMM…… I wonder where he went……
sara doe
Oct 19, 2007 at 6:52 am
That’s terrible about the former owner’s husband. Does anyone have any insight on how an owner can get out of a lease? I would consult a lawyer, but, of course, all of OUR extra money goes to pay for the business since it has not broken even and is nowhere near being breaking even.
Ex Ms Contours
Oct 19, 2007 at 8:32 am
Roger went back to the NEW Contours Express forum where he belongs, offering the poor franchisees minds with how they are “still in the infant stage and no amount of advertising can or will replace the necessity to do face-to-face, grassroots, personal selling.”
Sara Doe- You can ask your landlord to let you out of your lease, maybe they will be nice-mine wasn’t. It cost me $1400 for a bankrucpty lawyer and filing because my landlord sued me for originally $23,000 (I was only in the place for 4 1/2 months). Now, they are going to get $27,000, ($4,000 added for interest and their lawyer fees) out of whatever I might get in the from this lawsuit.
Ex Ms Contours
Oct 19, 2007 at 10:04 am
Also I’d like to add that I’m very sorry to hear about the husband that committed suicide. When will it stop snowballing!
sean
Oct 19, 2007 at 12:10 pm
…very few landlords will let you out of your lease.
…You can ask your landlord to let you out of your lease, maybe they will be nice-mine wasn’t…
I will put up a post and solicit input from some attorneys and commercial real estate professionals others on the best way to try to get out of leases. If you’re an atty or know one willing to share, they can email me a info[at]ideafarm.net.
sean
Oct 19, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I would also like to express condolences and support to the franchisee who lost her husband, and to her family.
As bad as things can get with a business failure… losing houses, cars, reputations… they are temporary problems and don’t require permanent solutions. Home foreclosures are at an all-time high (even for those who didn’t have a failed businesses). The credit card companies are allowed to barrage consumers with offers and credit lines, and then jack the rates to 30% when they’ve sucked them in. As bad as it gets, there are others who’ve been there and gotten through it. You all will, too… and be able to share with others the hard lessons you learned.
Li'l (Contours) Missus
Oct 19, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Sean,
I’m deeply appreciative of your kind and supportive words for one of our franchise peers in her loss –and for your words of perspective and encouragement for the rest of us. Thank you also for offering to try to help us find solutions for escaping what feels like such a trap to most of us — the huge expense of seemingly inviolate commercial leases that we had to commit to for years in the future in order to open our gyms — weighed against low membership numbers and thus less than break-even income despite our best efforts and investing all we have to put into the business
While being “angry,” entering a lawsuit, etc. is not my preferred state of being or path of action personally — despair and depression are even “lower” states of being and potentially even more destructive, although certainly in the long run, we will all have to make peace with our experiences and come to some acceptance, having learned those hard lessons you mentioned. My own hope and prayer is that our lessons are not ones of bitterness and cynicism, but rather learning how to have more wisdom in discernment, how to “question authority” more effectively and more quickly.
It is an interesting process watching our peers struggle with denial and isolation (”This is not really happening to me!”) and the ensuing stages of the “death and dying” process as they deal with the realities of the Contours Express franchise. At the least, besides the death of financial well-being and good credit, some of our marriages, the death of home ownership for others — we have certainly had to face the death of the innocence and the dreams with which we entered the franchise system. Some are still “bargaining” like crazy, convinced that if they just work harder, spend more, hang in there, they will not have to “die.” Others have moved on to “depression,” and others of us yet, are suing CE in our grief stage of “anger.”
We have to hang on to the hope in it all, the understanding that at the end of it all, life goes on, we pick ourselves up, we accept what has happened, and we move on. We have to trust that our well-being is inevitable.
Of course, a good dose of justice from winning the lawsuit against Corporate would go a long way towards expediting our process, I am sure!
sean
Oct 19, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I’ve been through the process. To me, the key was to refuse to think like a victim, even though I’d been deceived and screwed over. Being a victim means giving someone else power over you and your life. I found it empowering to remember that nobody made me leave my secure job to start my own business, just like no one forced you all to buy a franchise. By accepting that I was ultimately responsible for what went wrong meant that I also had the power to set things right, to turn things around. I gained a greater resolve to succeed, and to do it in an honest and ethical way… without giving in to cynicism (or wasting entire days in revenge fantasies).
Taking ultimate responsibility doesn’t mean letting people off the hook for failing to uphold their end of an agreement, or for defrauding you. But if you can say “I should have known better,” you’ll also be able to say “I’ll never let happen again.”
Ex Ms Contours
Oct 19, 2007 at 2:15 pm
When it was inevitable that my club would close, I knew I had made a big mistake and blamed myself for making the mistake. And then started hearing how other people were struggling and closing their doors also. It helped me to realize maybe it wasn’t ALL my fault (like Corporate wanted me to believe). Being in the lawsuit only hopelfully will make them accountable for their part in all this mess. After that, I’m ready to move on with my life.
On a Mission
Oct 20, 2007 at 5:47 am
They have just ended the Chicken Soup for the Soul. They will discontinue the partnership. This is after I again was swindled out of over $1000 because it was so good and a wonderful brand partner.
Just Stupid
Oct 20, 2007 at 6:30 am
After reading this blog, there is a common theme. Contours Express is a huge mistake. The founders knew how to sell, sell, sell. However had no clue of how to execute, execute, execute.
Ex Ms Contours
Oct 20, 2007 at 11:15 am
Right on, Just Stupid! It will be interestesing to see who gets the last laugh.
Where 2
Oct 20, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Why did they end the Chicken Soup for the Soul partnership? Weren’t they doing a book or something? Have they announced it publicly or just internally?
Ex Ms Contours
Oct 20, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Yeah, Angela Bellini helped co-author the book with Mary Schrad. (Don’t know iif I spelled that right). On the original forum I remember the zees complaining that it had alot of errors in it. Angela was let go (or fired) right after the lawsuit came out. She thought she was all high and mighty. It doesn’t surprise me that they ended the chicken soup crap. I lost money on it to. Too expensive and no one wanted to buy it. Humm…why would you let go a co-author of a Chicken Soup book?
Li'l (Contours) Missus
Oct 20, 2007 at 5:51 pm
We were never able to _give away_ most of our Chicken Soup for the Soul supplements, much less sell them . . . and we NEVER tried to sell them for what Corporate suggested. We priced them to be competitive with the shakes that Curves carries. One more example of very poor behavior on the part of Corporate in terms of our vendors.
Conjecture again
Oct 21, 2007 at 6:18 pm
errrr….
Not surprising about the Chicken Soup Supplements. It was another money making opportunity for the company. I once talked with Mike Weidner and asked why, when the company had a limited amount of money to invest in building the brand, did they choose to start with one of the last items on the list….. instead of investing the money in marketing……
It is like they are sitting around the conference table talking….
One employee says to the group…… “Hey, we have $3,000,000 to invest, thanks to the Pilot Group.”
Another employee then chirps in with…… “mmm, what do you think we should spend it on….?”
Then Bill Helton says….. “Well, I have this list of 50 things we could do with the top five being
1) Marketing
2) Marketing
3) Marketing
4) Marketing
5) Marketing
…. then Mary Schrad pipes in with…. “Hey Billy, what are the last 5 things on the list”?
Bill replys with:
50) Supplements
49) Partnerships with Cancer Organizations
48) Partnerships Clothing Companies
47) Build a Stronger Relationship with ABC
46) Ionic Foot Baths
…..thought…..ponder…..more thought
….. then a giant wind….. carrying with it the epiphany of all epiphanies…… Mary SHouts out…
I know, let’s put all of our money in Chicken Soup for the SOul SUpplements….. that will really help they grow their businesses. APPLAUSE AND CHEER FROM THE ROOM….
Chanting….. Hail Mary…. Hail Mary….Hail Mary…
…. Then Bill Helton with his wisdom says, “now hold on a minute, we cannot put all of our money in something that is only bound to make us money…. that would be way too obvious…..
so they ponder….. and they ponder…..
Then finally, they come up with the answer…..
Let’s put 5% of the money in advertising so it looks like we are doing something…. then we will put another 25% in a Breast Cancer Partnership….. that will give us lots of brownie points and the remainint 70%, we can author or own book…….
And that is how the little chicken soup for the soul was born…..
:-)
Ex Ms Contours
Oct 21, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Conjecture- so true, so true, that I laughed out loud! I’m realizing how much we were TAKEN, or at least the ones that were SO needy to do something to save their dying businesses!
Ex Ms Contours
Oct 21, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Oh Sean, by the way, concerning getting an attorney’s advice on the leases–I hired an attorney to try and at least negotiate some type of payment to them so I wouldn’t be sued-he said they were not being unreasonable or out of line per the agreement I signed. I offered $100.00 a month and $2000.00 up front so I wouldn’t get sued, but they said it wasn’t enough. I paid that LAWYER $400.00 for nothing!!! So it is up to the landlord to be nice or not. I don’t know what any other attorney can tell us on getting out of a lease.
C.T. Beagle
Oct 21, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Conjecture, tell all of us why corporate never told any of us about seasac,ascap, and BMI. Why didn’t they tell us to buy the unlicesed CDs so we wouldn’t have to pay those fees, and the BS from all of the phone calls. At first I thought it was a scam and I told them they were to late if you don’t get us within the first four months of business most of are already broke. But that was the truth,something corporte doesn’t practice.
Conjecture again
Oct 22, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Well C.T. Beagle, I can only come up with three possible answers to your questions?
1) They are frauds who know that if they tell you about all the expenses that you will never pay the franchisee fee.
2) They have a co