Franchise Compliance. It took repeated emails, complaints to the Better Business Bureau, etc. to finally get them to pay me. By the way, their Utah Business License expired a year ago for lack of paying the renewal fee!

My next step would have been to contact the US Postal Inspectors. The Postal Inspectors frown upon mail fraud. Because everything was sent to me by Franchise Compliance via the US Post Office, they (in my opinion) were guilty of mail fraud. In my last email to FC before getting paid, I told them that my next step was the Postal Inspector. That apparently scared FC because the Postal Inspectors will generally block all mail delivery and prevent them from sending mail. Has anyone tried that route?

I am willing to put up with Hilli Dunlap and Goodwin because eventually they do pay, they just need reminding. That should not be the case, but the work I do for them is sporadic and I take the slow payment into account before accepting work from either of them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2012 04:02AM by myst4au.

i wonder what would happen if about 10-100 shoppers simultaneously accepted shops from franchise compliance, and then all simultaneously flaked on the last day of the month? no money lost, because the shops weren't actually performed. maybe they would delete those shoppers from their active shoppers registry? there are so many shoppers aggravated with them, that someone could potentially start a successful flake movement against them or something like that, lolol. shoppers would just be accepting every shop that they have. what would happen, i wonder?

Do you think they read these forums?

destiny1234 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do you think they read these forums?

corporate managers may not have the same time to invest in these forums as shoppers do. and even if they did, the posters here use fictional screen names that aren't registered with any particular mystery shopping company. they don't know who's who. the posters here are virtually immune.

vince Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lainerz Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > BEWARE of this SCAM.
> >
> > After several e-mails to the scheduler "Julie
> > Bishop" for payment of $125 for a shop
> completed
> > in late Sept., I phone the local franchisor and
> > got the phone number of their Corporate
> > Office/California Division. The phone number
> is
> > 1-800-chemdry ext 1106. I left a message today
> at
> > this extension.
> >
> > Chem-Dry is owned by Harris Research and there
> are
> > a number of complaints on
> www.ripoffcomplaints.com
> > stemming from as far back as 2000.
> >
> > A response was written by one Keith Gerson
> > (Keith@chemdry.com) I will do a follow -up
> e-mail
> > to this Keith. I encourage any person with a
> > complaint about this business do the same.
> >
> > Check out: www.ripoffreport.com
> >
> >
> >
> > I fully intend to submit a claim to Small
> Claims
> > Court. The Better Business Bureau in UT has
> > numerous complaints, also.
>
> i wrote the following email to julie bishop,
> threatening her with legal action last summer, and
> i got paid within a few days for a $20 job:
>
> "Julie Bishop -
>
> Please be aware that I am initiating legal
> confrontation with your -------- client to receive
> direct payment for this shop. This is due to the
> negligence of Franchise Compliance to pay the fee
> for the shop in a timely manner. The 'payment
> pending' status is now 3 1/2 months delayed, and
> your accounting department has not been responsive
> to my requests. As a representative of Franchise
> Compliance, you are being directly accused in a
> court of law regarding your accounting
> department's inaccessibility in the context of
> your corporate affiliation. Franchise Compliance
> will be summoned into a court of law with it's
> Bathfitter client in the context of
> misrepresentation of payment for services. Several
> mystery shoppers who have also been employed by
> your corporation are also involved in this legal
> confrontation against your Bathfitter client, and
> their written testimonies are currently being
> gathered for identical non-payment occurences.
>
> Regards,
> - ---- ----"
Vince,
Let me know where to send my written testimony. I will gladly supply it to get paid.

Thanks,

The following is the only address I have for Harris Research, the parent company of CHEM-DRY:

1530 North 1000 West, Logan, UT 84321
Phone is: (435) 755-0099 Ask to speak w/Camille. I plan to call DAILY.

Lainerz

myst4au Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Franchise Compliance. It took repeated emails,
> complaints to the Better Business Bureau, etc. to
> finally get them to pay me. By the way, their Utah
> Business License expired a year ago for lack of
> paying the renewal fee!
>
> My next step would have been to contact the US
> Postal Inspectors. The Postal Inspectors frown
> upon mail fraud. Because everything was sent to me
> by Franchise Compliance via the US Post Office,
> they (in my opinion) were guilty of mail fraud. In
> my last email to FC before getting paid, I told
> them that my next step was the Postal Inspector.
> That apparently scared FC because the Postal
> Inspectors will generally block all mail delivery
> and prevent them from sending mail. Has anyone
> tried that route?
>
> I am willing to put up with Hilli Dunlap and
> Goodwin because eventually they do pay, they just
> need reminding. That should not be the case, but
> the work I do for them is sporadic and I take the
> slow payment into account before accepting work
> from either of them.


So they don't pay anyone do they! Hahaha

vince Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i wonder what would happen if about 10-100
> shoppers simultaneously accepted shops from
> franchise compliance, and then all simultaneously
> flaked on the last day of the month? no money
> lost, because the shops weren't actually
> performed. maybe they would delete those shoppers
> from their active shoppers registry? there are so
> many shoppers aggravated with them, that someone
> could potentially start a successful flake
> movement against them or something like that,
> lolol. shoppers would just be accepting every
> shop that they have. what would happen, i wonder?

I actually kinda like this notion, Vince. All of FC's scheduling appears to be done by outside schedulers. And yes, I know they are "just trying to make a living", but they are doing it off of the backs of shoppers who are not getting paid. Perhaps a couple of months of 'flake outs' would convince them that this was not a client they wanted to keep and without schedulers, FC could crawl back into their rat hole.

Okay Group -

I just got a call from 'Adam Valdez' the owner of "Franchise Compliance"...his direct line (and I might suggest you keep this on hand) is 435-563-0163. All this is in quotes as I'm just not certain it's true.

Here's why I haven't been paid: "We didn't have the correct spelling of your name." AMAZING - however, because I have worked directly for a MSC, that is incorrect information. SASSIE issues a report every month on shops completed, client names, their (SASSIE) fee. I don't know about Prophet or and others, but I do know SASSIE (out of Boston, MA).

Adam's response: "I'll check w/the Controller and see what I can do. When I find out, I'll call you"...

As I said, Those SOB's had NO IDEA who they were dealing with.

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR FURTHER DETAILS

Lainerz

Lainerz I just called that number,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,no one picked up and it went into fax mode!

destiny1234 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do you think they read these forums?

I know they read these forums. I see their posts when you get to them.

I occasionally offer thoughts to think about. Like this one;

When you give a desperate person $4 to do a shop, how much of that person's effort is real and how much is made up. Does the $4 effort differ from the $10 effort or the $25 effort? Is it true that, "You get what you pay for"?


The desperate person might take the $4 because it is better than starving. If you add enough $4 shops you can buy beans but you would rather have steak. Then there are those who take $4 like they were popcorn. If you take enough of them in a route you may make a reasonable amount for your time and effort., but you work your butt off.

Fortunately I do not need $4 shops and do not take shops unless I feel like it.
I wonder if "They" feel good offering lower fees without thinking about quality.

I feel like the Ghost of Andy Rooney inhabited me.

Cirrus and Freeman take FOREVER to pay. Waiting 3 months for Cirrus so far and a little over 2 for Freeman. I won't work for either anymore. Although their people were friendly enough, I'm not willing to wait that long to get paid or for reimbursement.

Sounds like FC has been monitoring this thread. Anyone have payment issues with A Top Shop? My payment from them is later than stated.

I just checked out, and their business license in Utah has been expired for over a year now. [secure.utah.gov]

Home Depot carries several major brand names, such as Thomasville Cabinetry, Behr Paint, Martha Stewart Living, and Chem-Dry Carpet Cleaning etc. Services.

I googled and found no indication that Harris Research owns Home Depot.

Home Depot is a publically traded company, stock symbol HD. 73% of the stock is held by mutual funds or institutional investors. Why anyone would think that Harris Research (which is also a publically traded company, Harris Interactive, HPOL) owns them is beyond me. HPOL has a market capitalization of $37 million. HD has a market capitalization of $69 BILLION. To be clear, Home Depot is worth 2,000 times what Harris Interactive is worth. [ ... and no, Home Depot does not own Harris Interactive! ]

Regardless of what FC is doing or not doing, it really doesn't justify anyone tying the client to them publicly and bashing the client in the process. Any shoppers who are out money from the FC jobs know darn good and well the names of those clients already so the information is unnecessary. Wrongly associating the name of another company with them is irresponsible. I've never said anything about what people do in order to recoup money owed to them, but it's gotten out of hand.

I feel sorry for the employees and the company that has contracted with FC. My concern is for the hours spent calling me in an attempt to secure a job of I think I was quoted about $4000 for one bathroom.

The employee performing the sales pitch was excellent. I felt if I really was in the market for an update, she would have gotten my business. She was on time, gave an excellent presentation, was extremely friendly and also made some additional suggestions concerning other arenas that were possible to enhance my home.

So bashing the employee and/or the company hiring FC was not my intention at all and I hope 'I' did not come acrss that way. BF the company and representatives did an excellent job. Even two days ago, I received another call from the salesperson. I wish there was some way to tell her so she would not be wasting her time. In the future, when I am in the market for an update, I will definitely consider this company. But they have a very shoddy company working behind the scene for them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2012 01:47PM by destiny1234.

Actually I wasn't referring to you at all.

My suggestion would be to simply tell the employee calling you that circumstances have changed for you and any plans to remodel/redecorate have been put on indefinite hold.

urrk1234 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Vince,
> Let me know where to send my written testimony. I
> will gladly supply it to get paid.
>
> Thanks,

technically, i was just referring to the posts within this forum, lolol. i only sent them an email.

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> vince Wrote:
> I actually kinda like this notion, Vince. All of
> FC's scheduling appears to be done by outside
> schedulers. And yes, I know they are "just trying
> to make a living", but they are doing it off of
> the backs of shoppers who are not getting paid.
> Perhaps a couple of months of 'flake outs' would
> convince them that this was not a client they
> wanted to keep and without schedulers, FC could
> crawl back into their rat hole.

not to be harsh, but anyone who works as a scheduler for franchise compliance deserves to get burned. guilt by affiliation.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2012 03:47PM by vince.

Not sure what myst4au is driving at - I've been contacted by a franchise coordinator (DeAnn) at CHEM-DRY and there was no rebuttal to my statement "...CHEM-DRY, as well as Home Depot, are subsidiaries of Harris Research..."


@ LisaSTL You can kvetch all you want about the 'integrity' of stating the client's name, my experience is to hit the company, in this case FC, where it hurts the most - credibility and financially. As I'm not the only MS that has incurred this problem, my axiom continues to be 'drastic time calls for drastic measures..."

The bottom line is this - only talk to the person who is AUTHORIZED to give you the right answer. As I was not getting information from the Scheduler and/or a response to my letter mailed to 'The Owner', I dug deeper.

Time will tell (after [a] I received my $125 and/or my attorney files suit against both HR and FC. When either occurs, I will advise this Forum. Until then, I'm signing off. If your method of compliance (silence) works for you, GREAT. Doesn't work for me and I've yet to be reimbursed for $125 (did I mention the shop actually cost $138?).

Lainerz

Lainerz
10 Year Veteran Shopper

Lainerz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Okay Group -
>
> I just got a call from 'Adam Valdez' the owner of
> "Franchise Compliance"...his direct line (and I
> might suggest you keep this on hand) is
> 435-563-0163. All this is in quotes as I'm just
> not certain it's true.
>

when i call this number, it is a fax line that makes funny noises.

I never recommended silence. How you find it appropriate or wise to connect companies that don't even appear to be related in any way is beyond me. A shopper who has been burned should check the laws in their state to find out the client's responsibility and liability regarding FC's failure to pay their contractors. If the client has no liability then there is no reason on God's green earth to drag them into the fray.

After a bit of Googling it appears someone is trying to play Kevin Bacon six degrees of separation game and rather unsuccessfully. Harris research (founded by a guy named Black BTW) did some polling for Home Depot and a guy named Harris founded the carpet cleaning company. By your logic anyone named Harris is associated with the carpet cleaners.

Lainerz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The bottom line is this - only talk to the person
> who is AUTHORIZED to give you the right answer.
> As I was not getting information from the
> Scheduler and/or a response to my letter mailed to
> 'The Owner', I dug deeper.
>

i threatened the scheduler (representative) with legal action (misrepresentation) along with the company when i emailed her, and therefore got my 6-month late payment a few days afterward. i only had contact with the scheduler. no one else. the scheduler is the representative for the company, and is therefore guilty of misrepresentation by affiliation. when i turned the fire up on the scheduler, she likely fussed to the top management. the difficulty is that those who are 'authorized' will avoid you, and merely speak through their representatives.

if one keeps waiting for 'the president of the united states' to directly return their phone calls, it may not ever happen. but a legal letter sent to the scheduler will be seen. one that threatens the scheduler herself/himself with misrepresentation (of assignment fees) and guilt by affiliation with the company. the representative will alert the management. in effect, you hold them all guilty, and not just the management.

i'm sure that your method will work too, but that's just how i did it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2012 03:59PM by vince.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> After a bit of Googling it appears someone is
> trying to play Kevin Bacon six degrees of
> separation game and rather unsuccessfully.

i recently prepared some bacon for breakfast but didn't like it too much, so now i'm going to write a letter to kevin bacon to correct the issue. i demand results. by the way, i know someone who directly met the president of the united states before he got elected, so that should expedite the process.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2012 04:07PM by vince.

I almost spit out my coffee!

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I almost spit out my coffee!


I just did!.....well stated, vince.

Why would anyone so resourceful not Google the brand of bacon prior to the purchase to see what others had to say about it?

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I almost spit out my coffee!

then i would ask somebody for a refund.

SteveSoCal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why would anyone so resourceful not Google the
> brand of bacon prior to the purchase to see what
> others had to say about it?

i got it directly from the farm.