Real Franchise Horror Stories From the Owners Living Them

by sean on May 2nd, 2008

[Pictured: Corey & Robyn Rivera in happier times]

(FranchisePick.Com) Imagine that you and your significant other dream of owning a gourmet coffee shop. You find a great company called Java Jo’z that helps people start and run their own Java Jo’z coffee shops. The Java Jo’z people are extremely nice, and just require a $30,000 deposit to make your dream a reality. If you have any trouble finding a location or getting financing, they say, we’ll give you your deposit back.

So you sell your house to get the $30,000 deposit. But when your location doesn’t work out, they refuse to return your deposit.

“Sorry, but we’re not Java Jo’z anymore,” they say. “We’re Cuppy’s Coffee now! And we don’t owe you jack.” Then they hang up.

That’s a familiar true story that’s been recounted many times over on this blog in the last year. And it’s a basic synopsis of Corey & Robyn Rivera’s story on a new site called UnhappyFranchisee.com. On UnhappyFranchisee.Com, frustrated, disappointed and/or angry franchisees share their experiences in the hope of warning others not to fall into the trap they did.

In addition to “avoid Cuppy’s Coffee, its affiliate Elite Manufacturing or parent company Median Enterprises,” Robyn Rivera provides these tips for franchise seekers:

- Dig deep… read all correspondence about a company and the people in it; listen to what is being said….
- Do extensive research (BBB, Complaint websites, FranchisePick.com, Attorney General, FTC etc.) and see if there are complaints being filed.
- No matter how nice they are, make sure any monies being handed over are set up in a 3rd party escrow account.
- Pay an experienced franchise lawyer to review the contract CLOSELY, and know what recourse you have if they don’t live up to their side of the bargain….
Remember, you can’t afford to be trusting when you are risking your retirement or your children’s future.

VISIT UNHAPPYFRANCHISEE.COM

READ ROBYN & COREY’S INTERVIEW

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