Archive for December 25th, 2007
Posted by: in Networking
Merry Christmas from FranchisePick.com!
Thanks to all who contributed in 2007. We’re looking forward to a prosperous new year in 2008.
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Posted by: in Networking
 (FranchisePick.Com) In retrospect, DiVecchio said, “It’s like they were selling a dream.”
A story this day published in the Palo Alto Daily News and the San Jose Mercury News provides a dramatic example of how picking the wrong franchise can cost you more than your initial investment of time and money. In addition to bankruptcy, failed Inches-A-Weigh women’s fitness and weight loss franchise owner Connie DiVecchio must now contend with a criminal fraud investigation, an impending civil lawsuit, negative media publicity and the ire of customers who claim that only their wallets have gotten lighter.
Journalist Will Oremus’ article does a great job of covering the unfortunate situation from the viewpoints of franchisee, franchisor and customers. He also reveals a personal talent for tapping the insights of the most sage and powerful voices in franchising this day (FranchisePick.com contributors) as transmitted through me, their humble mouthpiece, their unworthy vessel. In other words, I’m quoted at the end. Check it out:
Source: MercuryNews.Com
Fitness club franchises can leave owners in bad shape
Fraud probe, lawsuits in wake of one closing
By Will Oremus Palo Alto Daily News
Less than a year ago, Connie DiVecchio opened a women’s fitness club on El Camino Real in San Mateo with visions of happy customers and tidy profits.
This day - hounded by creditors, investigated by police, facing bankruptcy - DiVecchio states she wishes she’d never heard of Inches-A-Weigh. Not only did the profits never materialize, but her once-happy former customers are planning to sue her.
What happened? She blames an inhospitable local market; competitors speculate she lacked the necessary experience or charisma; several angry customers allege the business might have been a scam from the start.
Risky franchises
To those familiar with the $46 billion-a-year U.S. weight loss industry, however, DiVecchio’s experience comes as no shock. It’s typical of a get-rich-quick business model that can burn unwary franchisees and customers as surely as it burns calories, they state.
DiVecchio, a Foster City resident whose previous business experience included helping her dad run an auto dealership, says she first heard about Inches-A-Weigh from a family member last year. Like the wildly successful Curves chain, it caters to busy, middle-aged women looking to drop a dress size or two.
For a fee of about $30,000, plus capital expenses, it offered DiVecchio the opportunity to launch her own franchise.
Inches-A-Weigh’s purple-and-gold-trimmed Web site fuels fantasies of simple money, touting a “low initial investment,” “low monthly overhead,” “simple operation” and a opportunity to “build a fortune” in a rapidly growing market.
A question on the Q-and-A page reads, “Do I need prior experience in the health/fitness industry?” The answer: “No!”
In retrospect, DiVecchio said, “It’s like they were selling a dream.”
READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT INCHES-A-WEIGH OR OTHER WEIGHT LOSS FRANCHISES? SHARE AN OPINION. LEAVE A COMMENT.
Also check out:
PURE WEIGHT LOSS CUSTOMERS: SHARE NEWS & OPINIONS HERE
Pure Weight Loss (L.A. Weight Loss) to Close All 400 Locations
ABC’s 20/20 Runs Free LA Weight Loss Franchise Infomercial
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 Visit FRANBEST: Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise and and business opportunities.
Top New Franchise: Who’s hot. Who’s not. And what people are saying about them.
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Posted by: in Networking
I just received this email from Hossein Kasmai, President of the Guard-A-Kid. Guard-A-Kid is a low-investment franchise specializing in personalized child identification and safety products.
I’m happy to announce that Guard-A-Kid shipped the first shipment of our latest product, SmartID Stick™ this week and we immediately got news coverage. The first shipment went to our franchisee in Seattle, Wa. Click on the links below to watch the films. Two channels, NBC and FOX both had coverage on the product last night… Click on the link first to watch the NBC coverage, then click on the picture below to see the Fox coverage.
Click on Video to Play
http://www.king5.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=202969
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Posted by: in Networking
 (FranchisePick.Com) UPDATED: We began hearing rumblings about Pure Weight Loss earlier this year from customers & employees. In fact, Pure Weight Loss employees & customers began leaving comment before the company announced it was closing all 400 locations nationwide. Share news, information & opinions here, and check back often for frequent updates.
PURE WEIGHT LOSS CUSTOMERS, EMPLOYEES & OFFICIALS: LEAVE COMMENTS & UPDATES BELOW.
If you’ve news, tips or recommendations for sharing, please email it to info@ideafarm.net with “Pure Weight Loss” in the subject line. Please include your name and relationship to the company, and whether your identity can be shared or is confidential.
Related Posts:
ABC’s 20/20 Runs Free LA Weight Loss Franchise Infomercial
Pure Weight Loss (L.A. Weight Loss) to Close All 400 Locations
Selected comments:
Ana, customer: Hi, me and my sister used to be a member of la weight loss, now pure weight loss. This saturday we went in for our usual weigh in, only to find that the office was closed, called monday, and nobody answered.went on the web got their 800 # and called they easy said that they shut their California offices. I was so mad they never told us anything. she stated their services were now going to be over ther phone, i think this is very deceitful and wrong. if anyone has any advice on what we can do to get a refund please let us know. Thank you. Dec 12, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Dalya Riley, ex-employee: I recently quit Pure Weight loss and i have worked for many weight loss companies cause i enjoy seeing people get to their goals. but Pure weight loss turned out to be the biggest crock i ever saw with their high obsene prices and bars that constipate people…. Sorry Pure weight loss, but you know a tree by its fruit and your tree states fraud! Dec 15, 2007 at 9:06 am
Martin W, customer: NJ now has the same problem. My wife and I are members of the Clifton NJ office of Pure. Yesterday we found out that the office will be open for 2 more days….We will be consulting with out attorney this day and possibly calling the attorney general’s office to have the assests seized. Dec 18, 2007 at 5:37 am
Emma Karr, customer: We’re being scammed! … This company has damaged many individuals and i hope a class action lawsuit takes place. Dec 18, 2007 at 12:58 pm
m, customer: I joined back in November… these people in Levittown, NY were nasty people from the beginning. They owe me two boxes of bars… they all can go scratch. They deserve that the company went out of business. I feel sorry for the poor souls that invested all this money… Dec 18, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Beth Hughes, customer: I’ve been a client for over 1 year and have had TREMENDOUS success on the plan. However, I’m now owed 38 BOXES of bars and 5 weeks of weight loss, 6 weeks of stabilization, and 52 weeks of maintenance, with completely no guarantee that I will ever see a dime…. Dec 19, 2007 at 8:20 am
mar, customer: …As disappointed as I’m for my personal losses I am more disappointed for the staff of the center, some of which have worked there for years only to find out a couple of weeks before Christmas that they’re out of jobs. Any lawyers out there reading these posts? Dec 19, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Sue, customer: [I] am angry at the way this closing has been handled. I know that my counselors were still being encouraged to sell contracts up until the day THEY learned of the closings (and their own lay-offs) — and at that point the contract was non-refundable. They took thousands of dollars from people who would return the next week to find the centers were closing. OUTRAGEOUS! I’m ready for the class action suit if I am not refunded the money I paid for the program! Dec 19, 2007 at 7:02 pm
mommyjoe, customer: I have been a customer since April and have had GREAT SUCCESS on this program…I can’t afford to lose the money I’ve pre-paid, but it’s much worse to lose the program and the support I’ve been promised…. Dec 19, 2007 at 8:29 pm
her, customer: … i am out of a lot of money… please any lawyer out there reading this maybe you could look into this you wouls have a lot of people out there insterest …one huge scam. Dec 19, 2007 at 10:32 pm
What do you think? Share your opinion on Pure Weight Loss. Email this link to a friend by clicking “Share” below. Check back often for frequent updates.
Visit FRANBEST: Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise opportunities.
Related b5Media blogs: Burning the Scale, by Claire Petty, Health & Men by Scott Wharton
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Posted by: in Networking
 Ex-franchise owners of the Butterfly Life women’s fitness concept reportedly got some good news just in time for the holidays: If and when Butterfly Fitness resells their ex-territory to someone new, BF will split the new franchise fee with the failed owners!
Plus, if the new franchisee wants to purchase the failed franchisee’s equipment, Butterfly Fitness won’t even take a cut.
In a December 11, 2007 letter to former franchisees who have closed their clubs and lost their investments, Butterfly Life Founder & Chairman Thomas Gergley (pictured above) reportedly announced the good news.
“Dear Former Butterfly Life Owner,” Gergley’s letter begins. “I am writing to inform you of a change to The Butterfly Life franchise operating system that’ll have a positive financial impact on you.”
“If a club should close,” Gergley states in the letter. “Butterfly Fitness will attempt to resell the territory and will send the shut franchisee 50% of the new franchise fee… To be eligible we expect that you’ll need to sign and return the agreement about January 4, 2008.”
The letter concludes boldly: “This email isn’t an offer which will be made when we send you the termination and release agreement.”
At the current $29,500 franchise fee, that means that those who lost $150K - $200K+ won’t feel bad when they see someone else’s “Butterfly Life Opening Soon!” banner right there in the town where they couldn’t make the concept work. In fact, they’ll be overjoyed, knowing that a check for $14,750 will soon be sent to their home. Or apartment. Or their sister-in-law’s home. Or to wherever it is they’re staying these days.
Hopefully, the former Butterfly Life franchise owners won’t have to sign their commission checks over to their creditors as part of their bankruptcy requirements. At least not immediately.
YOUR COMMENTS, AS ALWAYS, ARE WELCOME.
Related Posts:
IS BUTTERFLY LIFE A GREAT FITNESS FRANCHISE?
Will the REAL Butterfly Life Franchise Please Wave Its Wings?
Franchise Dreams Becoming Nightmares for Many Fitness Club Owners
Franchise Pick’s Most Volatile Posts of 2007: A Wrap-Up
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Posted by: in Networking
(FranchisePick.Com)
Also read: PURE WEIGHT LOSS CUSTOMERS: SHARE NEWS & OPINIONS HERE
Source: Philadelphia Daily News
…Pure Weight Loss, Inc, formerly LA Weight Loss, announced on Wednesday that it would close all of its more than 400 locations nationwide effective Jan. 4.
A statement released by the company on Wednesday stated, “Fierce competition from the internet, the introduction of Alli, the over-the-counter weight loss pill, and other commercial diet programs, combined with a difficult economic environment, have forced us to take this action.”
A spokesperson for Pure Weight Loss didn’t know if the Horsham-based company was filing for bankruptcy…
* * * * *
The diet pill, Alli, endorsed and sold by Pure Weight Loss, has been the target of criticism since the Food and Drug Administration approved it as an over-the-counter version of the prescription weight loss pill orlistat in February. Alli went on sale in July.
Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of the Public Citizen’s health research group, has spoken out against the drug, both in its prescription and over the counter forms and has testified to the FDA about its harmful effects.
Wolfe stated the drug can cause pre-cancerous lesions of the colon and stated, like many diet drugs, after an inital spike, sales probably went down.
Pure Weight Loss is currently involved in a class action lawsuit in Tennesse over false claims about its weight loss program and costs. In 2002, the company agreed to pay the Say of New York $100,000 plus $10,000 in legal costs in a settlement over falsely advertising the cost of its program.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT PURE WEIGHT LOSS (FORMERLY L.A. WEIGHT LOSS)?
YOUR COMMENTS INVITED.
RELATED POST: ABC’s 20/20 Runs Free LA Weight Loss Franchise Infomercial
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