I recently noticed a Trade Me advertisement for an Auckland based Provender Franchise, espousing the benefits of joining a Nationwide, professionally run company. Yeah, right!
In 2006 we joined this Franchise, handing over a “non-refundable deposit”, purportedly to cover the costs associated with producing a Franchise Agreement, the standard legal document which, I was informed, was identical to that signed by all Franchisees.
The first suspicion all was not well was when, at my own expense, I spent two or three days in Auckland being “trained”. Training was abysmally poor, to be kind to those involved.
At one stage I was taken aside by the then Sales Manager and told Provender had managed to secure a total of 132 odd customers for me……….. I need not go to find my own customers. The availability was still subject to Provender "taking over" that particular customer base, I was told. This announcement somewhat surprised me as I had paid Provender a significant amount of money to start off with a portfolio of at least 100 customers. From that point on, things went totally downhill, especially once the “take-over” formalities had been completed. The “customer base” consisted of some 130 odd customers serviced under a different banner by an operator outside the main Franchise System. Soon, I found there were some 10 customers serviced by both another Provender Franchisee and myself, operating initially under the “old banner”.
It took nearly 10 months to sort out this mess – with Provender Franchise Management ultimately ruling I had to immediately abandon the “shared sites” in favour of the “long-standing Provender Franchisee”.
I received no compensation for this, except a vague promise some other sites would be given to me at a later date. The impact on my business was quite significant. The stage was set for a show-down…..
Next time: some examples of the Professional Management Support.
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