Franchise Pick

Contours Express President Addresses Franchise Lawsuit in Year-End Message

by Sean Kelly on December 29th, 2007

 (FranchisePick.com)  A Franchise Pick reader posted this in the comment section of a post on the embattled Contours Express fitness franchise chain.  It’s allegedly the Year-end message sent by Contours Express CEO Jose Perez to Contours Express franchise owners.

Dear Contours Express Franchisees:

Re: Year-End Message

As I have said in the past, we are totally focused on taking the Contours Express system, our franchisees, and our members to the next level. That commitment is evidenced by the introduction of the Advisory Council and our Performance Coaches program. We are also “re-launching” the C.O.R.E. program and continuing our efforts to implement programs which will provide ancillary revenue opportunities for you.

An important factor in taking the system to the next level is to improve the communication flow between the corporate office and our franchisees. I know many of you have been attending our weekly calls and I have spoken with several of you over the past few weeks in addition to corresponding with you through our monthly newsletters and many e-mails exchanged. We will continue to find better and more efficient ways to communicate.

In some of my recent calls, a few franchisees have asked about the status of the pending lawsuit. I want to take this opportunity to give you a brief update on that litigation and assure you that we are leaving it to the lawyers and spending our time here in Kentucky working on the business of our franchisees.

The lawsuit was initiated last March by a group of mostly former franchisees in Missouri state court. The case is not a class action. Contours Express has filed counterclaims against many of the former franchisees seeking damages, in excess of $1 million, for future royalty fees owed for the remainder of their franchise terms which were prematurely terminated. In addition, our recent motion to deny the plaintiffs a jury trial was successful, so the case will be decided by a judge. At present no trial date has been set and we do not believe that the case will go to trial before year-end 2008. From the beginning, we have felt the plaintiffs’ allegations were unfounded and without merit. We intend to continue our vigorous defense of the lawsuit and fully prosecute our counterclaims.

We are committed to your success and will not allow this action or anything else to distract us from our goals. We truly hope that you will also continue to stay focused on all the positive things that have happened this year. If we stay the course, follow the Contours Express system, and stay positive, 2008 promises to be a great year for all of us!

Have a wonderful holiday season and get ready to bring in plenty of members. As you all know, the first few months of the year is the best time to recruit new members…. let’s take advantage of this and start off on a good note!

Sincerely,

Jose Perez

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POSTED IN: CONTOURS EXPRESS, xBuyer Beware