18/8 Eighteen Eight Fine Men’s Salons Franchise Warning

311 thoughts on “18/8 Eighteen Eight Fine Men’s Salons Franchise Warning”

• Are these the same people or competitors of the Hair Saloon out of St. Louis.

• Different people. Seems like Hair Saloon is more legitimate.

• What I find most striking is that the closed locations are almost universally well reviewed on Yelp, so it seems the individual operators are competent business owners. Why would such a high percentage of salons close in such a short amount of time. Over 50 percent failure rate within 4 years is incredibly high for this type of business.

• GRIFT def. 1. (noun) an act of obtaining money from someone by fraud 2. (verb, transitive) to swindle someone out of money

  May I suggest that “Grift’s Shave Bar” would be a better name, perhaps with the slogan “Get Fleeced in Style”?

  So while 18/8 and its franchise owners are left struggling for survival with little support from the franchisor, CEO Scott Griffiths has spun up a new competing brand in which to invest his energy, resources and publicity efforts.

  Griff’s Shave Bar can best be described as ‘vaporware’, with no operating locations and no basis for predictable unit economics.

  – Here is an article from November 2017 that claims that there is an corporate owned location in Irvine – https://www.ocregister.com/2017/11/01/duo-behind-188-mens-salon-launches-griffs-ace-barbers-shave-bar/ . There is no operating barbershop at the address in the article. The address provided is actually for the 18/8 corporate office/training center.

  – Here is a more recent article announcing ‘plans’ to open 10 locations in Atlanta in the next 3 years, but really appears to just be fishing for investors – https://whatnowatlanta.com/griffs-shave-bar-10-atlanta-barbershops/

  – Here is another article announcing that a poor naive fellow has finally agreed to open the first Griff’s in the Dallas area, which also happens to have the highest concentration of current and former 18/8 locations – https://apacnewswire.com/2018/04/03/griffs-ace-grooming-and-shave-bar-to-open-flagship-location-in-dallas-fort-worth/

  Why is W. Scott Grifter launching another brand instead of addressing and fixing the problems with 18/8 and helping those who believed in the dream and invested in it? Is he abandoning 18/8 in order to collect fees without the likely outcome being quite so clear?

• I was one of the unfortunate early investors in 18/8 with a multi unit development agreement. I recall a meeting with Brigitte Love and Scott Griffiths where they told me about the idea of mobile units, telling me that instead of developing another 18/8 location, I could build one of these new Griff’s trailers. This was in 2016. I was already bleeding money on my first salon with no chance of recovery in sight, and they were trying to talk me into something brand new that they haven’t even tried themselves yet. Heck, they could not even replicate profitability reliably on a model they have been working on for over a decade. Needless to say, I was not interested, but told them I may be if they could implement the concept themselves and actually be successful at it. It’s 2018 (two years later) and nobody has even opened a single Griff’s location or mobile unit – including Ultimate Franchises themselves. The pictures of the mobile trailers on the Griff’s website are badly stitched together photoshop! I can’t comprehend why anyone would want to invest in this.

• I was between jobs and 18|8’s agent convinced me this concept was a cash cow, so I invested. How wrong I was to listen. $700k later, I have no hope of recouping any of my investment and I am left with a worthless asset. Too bad, because I love my team and I enjoy interacting with clients. I continue to be under the brand, so I can attest to everything the writer of this article has stated. The FDD was so misleading, it hid the fact that 18|8 is essentially owned by Mana Concepts. They did this because Mana has been sued multiple times in the past (losing $219k in one case) and inclusion of this important fact would have meant Griffiths and Co. wouldn’t be able to grift anyone as easily.

  Investing with these criminals is by far the dumbest thing I have ever done. Stay away!!!

• It is true what was stated in the article and comments left.

  The investment was totally misrepresented. This franchise model takes too much of your time for little to no return. It will prevent you from doing other things that can actually give you income. No one in their right mind would invest in 18|8 from the franchiser. It costs much more to build out and operate than the franchiser stated. If the true numbers were given no one would have invested in this franchise.

  With so many failures and re-branded salons, the results speak for themselves. After all how could all those people whose franchises failed be stupid; especially since the vast majority of them had great online reviews. The failure rate is just too high. Even the franchisees that are at break-even in monthly operating expenses (no one has recouped all the money they invested) or higher don’t make anything like what was promised in the FDD.

  The lies told by the franchiser have to be criminal in nature. FTC and state level district attorney’s need to get involved and prosecute these people. I am speaking out because I don’t want anyone else to suffer like 18|8 franchisees have. Investing in 18|8 is like taking a match and burning $500K and higher. Don’t do it.

  If you want to blow that kind of money go to Vegas; at least there you will have some fun and not be a drain on your time.

• This article could not be any more truthful!

  These thieves at 18|8 Corporate must be stopped!

  We cannot allow anyone else to invest in this disgusting, false, misrepresented lie of a “guarantee” to supplement future income!

  We are all business people that invested in 18|8, how can the majority of these salons close or rebrand? There is something very very wrong with the franchise owners!

  The California Attorney General, FTC, FBI must investigate these thieves!

  DO not invest with Ultimate Franchises, 18|8 Eighteen Eight, Griff’s Shave Bar or ANYTHING to do with Scott Griffiths, Ron Love, Brigitte Love Thewes, Loretta Griffiths and anyone else.

  Due Diligence is what this article is about.

• Eighteen Eight Fitchburg WI has also closed since this article was published
  https://eighteeneight.com/fitchburg-wi/

  Again, local reviews could not have been any better.
  https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-fitchburg-fitchburgh

  The outward portrayal of success with complete disregard to individuals and families losing their life savings to this franchise is nauseating.

• Is Ron Love even still involved with Ultimate Franchises or Griff’s Ace Barbers & Shave Bar? I heard that he and Scott Griffiths had a falling out over all the legal actions against 18/8 and Mana Concepts. Griffiths did drive something that was potentially great into the ground at Ron’s expense.

• The comments above barely scratch the surface of how deeply misrepresented this concept was / is and how destructive Griffiths’ behaviors (and frankly those of his herd of toadies) are. Whether or not the Love family was complicit remains a matter for arbitrators and the courts to decide.

  I have a service business background and freely admit I was scammed. The concept is admirable, but the business model is built on misrepresentation and doesn’t have a chance of working. Many of those who pulled the plug have lost $700k+, and those who remain or have rebranded in an attempt to not incur further losses in the form of personal guarantees are unlikely to ever recover their initial losses, much less get close to market return on their money.

  Instead of trying to improve the shambles that’s left, team Griffiths pursues petty vendettas against the people who simply tried to climb out from the pit of despair, and actively uses threats to “keep” those who didn’t have the resources to escape.

  If the public information on Mana (and his / his toadies’ continued use of the now defunct Mana name on CA business licenses and registrations as late as 2017) is any indication, this isn’t isolated or accidental behavior. I just can’t understand how the State of CA lets these people get away with this sort of stuff!

• I evaluated 18/8 and Griff’s Ace Barbers & Shave Bar as a potential investor. I decided to pass after meeting Scott Griffiths. How do i say this nicely? He seemed like he was full of hot air. This article seems to confirm my gut reaction. Relieved after reading this that I didn’t go into business with him. I am sorry to everyone who did and suffered financial losses as a result.

• I agree with Duped Franchisee. Anyone looking to go into business with Scott Griffiths should search legal cases involving Mana Concepts. I guess a quick switch of legal entities allowed them to leave this critical information out of the 18/8 FDD. Seems like the same legal slight of hand is happening with Griff’s Ace Barbers to obscure the failures of Eighteen Eight.

• The Internet disclosed that “pyramid schemes — also referred to as franchise fraud or chain referral schemes — are marketing and investment frauds in which an individual is offered a distributorship or franchise to market a particular product/service. The real profit is earned, not by the sale of the product/service, but by the sale of new distributorships. Emphasis on selling franchises rather than the product/service eventually leads to a point where the supply of potential investors is exhausted and the pyramid collapses.”

  You better believe it, that is what we have here!!!! The entire concept is nothing more then a fraudulent scheme designed to fleece franchisees of their hard earned money. The masterminds behind the scheme include Scott Griffiths, Ron Love, Brigitte Love, and more (aka “scam artists”), Etc. The scheme involved hiring a seller/broker agency in Saint Gregory Group (”SG”) that represented false material facts and failed to provide adequate disclosures on behalf of 18|8 (“franchisor”) to the franchisees. Prospective franchisees were identified through a network of different brokers that maintained relationships with SG. At one point with over 90 franchisees in the system, the scam artists through SG raised over 10,000,000 from sales involving development agreements utilizing illegal high-pressure sales techniques. 18|8, the collective group of brokers and the SG group touted the franchisor with false guarantees through their respective monthly dog and pony shows. Additionally, SG provided franchisees with a FDD that was completely fabricated by the scam artists with false financials amongst other material relevant facts not disclosed to the educated sophisticated investor. SG owned by Lance Freeman was heavily compensated in acting as a finder for finding 18|8 franchisees through its use of a network of brokers in communicating material misrepresentations.

  Over $10,000,000 in capital raised coupled with the monthly franchisee/marketing fees collected by 18|8 all would eventually disappear with none of the capital put back into the business to help the franchisees succeed as initially promised. One has to ask, where has all the capital gone? As the rebrands and the closing in the above posts indicate, clearly not into the system but rather into their own respective greedy pockets. The scam artists have misappropriated the money to purchase million dollar homes, new cars, and boats, etc… You have to ask, what else?? How about taking the money offshore to destinations for purpose of asset protection from lawsuits. A well thought out fraud engineered with the help of savvy attorneys!!!!

  In short, the business model here had one initiative- raising capital utilizing a business concept that was not setup to succeed which was fraudulently misrepresented to the franchisee community. It should be noted that this is not their first rodeo in operating such a scheme. Prior lawsuits and judgments filed against these individuals disclosed similar fraudulent acts. However, conveniently these disclosures were not made in the FDD as many invested on not only false promises but with individuals that had a prior history of theft.

  Currently, 18|8 faces numerous lawsuits of which several are eventually settled where material facts are not disclosed due to gag orders. Given the ongoing lawsuits coupled with many failing 18|8 salons a bankruptcy filing is imminent in the near future. The scam artists are planning an exit strategy which will enable them to further the fraud under what appears at the moment to plan a move certain assets to Griffs Ace Barbers and Shave Bar which would enable these scam artists to continue the fraud once they file bankruptcy. So how do we stop and bring justice!!!!

  Not easy!!!! Moreover, given the lack of regulation in the industry providing justice is best done through the help of this website and other social media to bring awareness to these scam artists. More so, because the scam artists pressure franchisees leaving the franchise system to sign a non-disclosure agreement, confidentiality agreement or a gag order. The gag order has allowed continued franchise misrepresentation by preventing prospective new franchisees learning important details about the churning franchise.

  We can only hope justice is brought to all involved in what is nothing than FRAUD.

• The Internet disclosed that “pyramid schemes — also referred to as franchise fraud or chain referral schemes — are marketing and investment frauds in which an individual is offered a distributorship or franchise to market a particular product/service. The real profit is earned, not by the sale of the product/service, but by the sale of new distributorships. Emphasis on selling franchises rather than the product/service eventually leads to a point where the supply of potential investors is exhausted and the pyramid collapses.”

  You better believe it, that is what we have here!!!! The entire concept is nothing more then a Ponzi scheme designed to fleece franchisees of their hard earned money. The masterminds behind the scheme include Scott Griffiths, Ron Love, Brigitte Love, and more (aka “scam artists”), Etc. The scheme involved hiring a seller/broker agency in Saint Gregory Group (”SG”) that represented false material facts and failed to provide adequate disclosures on behalf of 18|8 (“franchisor”) to the franchisees. Prospective franchisees were identified through a network of different brokers that maintained relationships with SG. At one point with over 90 franchisees in the system, the scam artists through SG raised over 10,000,000 from sales involving development agreements utilizing illegal high-pressure sales techniques. 18|8, the collective group of brokers and the SG group touted the franchisor with false guarantees through their respective monthly dog and pony shows. Additionally, SG provided franchisees with a FDD that was completely fabricated by the scam artists with false financials amongst other material relevant facts not disclosed to the educated sophisticated investor. SG owned by Lance Freeman was heavily compensated in acting as a finder for finding 18|8 franchisees through its use of a network of brokers in communicating material misrepresentations.

  Over $10,000,000 in capital raised coupled with the monthly franchisee/marketing fees collected by 18|8 all would eventually disappear with none of the capital put back into the business to help the franchisees succeed as initially promised. One has to ask, where has all the capital gone? As the rebrands and the closing in the above posts indicate, clearly not into the system but rather into their own respective greedy pockets. The scam artists have misappropriated the money to purchase million dollar homes, new cars, and boats, etc… You have to ask, what else?? How about taking the money offshore to destinations for purpose of asset protection from lawsuits. A well thought out fraud engineered with the help of savvy attorneys!!!!

  In short, the business model here had one initiative- raising capital utilizing a business concept that was not setup to succeed which was fraudulently misrepresented to the franchisee community. It should be noted that this is not their first rodeo in operating such a scheme. Prior lawsuits and judgments filed against these individuals disclosed similar fraudulent acts. However, conveniently these disclosures were not made in the FDD as many invested on not only false promises but with individuals that had a prior history of theft.

  Currently, 18|8 faces numerous lawsuits of which several are eventually settled where material facts are not disclosed due to gag orders. Given the ongoing lawsuits coupled with many failing 18|8 salons a bankruptcy filing is imminent in the near future. The scam artists are planning an exit strategy which will enable them to further the fraud under what appears at the moment to plan a move certain assets to Griffs Ace Barbers and Shave Bar which would enable these scam artists to continue the fraud once they file bankruptcy. So how do we stop and bring justice!!!!

  Not easy!!!! Moreover, given the lack of regulation in the industry providing justice is best done through the help of this website and other social media to bring awareness to these scam artists. More so, because the scam artists pressure franchisees leaving the franchise system to sign a non-disclosure agreement, confidentiality agreement or a gag order. The gag order has allowed continued franchise misrepresentation by preventing prospective new franchisees learning important details about the churning franchise.

  We can only hope justice is brought to all involved in what is nothing than FRAUD.

  Keith

• It’s interesting that in the FDD, they only list the .eighteeneight emails for existing franchisees. I know that those emails are actively monitored by the franchisor. Seems like they are trying very hard to control information going to those in the sales pipeline. Hopefully they find this site and the truth.

• Commenters:

  Thanks for your participation in this important discussion.

  You don’t need to use your real name, but please just use one posting name/identity & your real email address (not publicly visible).

  I’ve changed a few screen names that were posted from the same IP address to keep from exaggerating the number of commenters.

  Once again, those who dispute or disagree with the post or the opinions stated here are invited to provide corrections, clarifications and rebuttals either here or via email to UnhappyFranchisee[at]gmail.com.

  The company and its principals have been invited to comment, but we have received no response.

• Scott and Loretta Griffiths (husband and wife) and Ron and Brigitte (Thewes) Love (father and daughter) have all actively participated in all of the above “allegations.” The Loves were not hoodwinked by Scott Griffiths. Ron was a co-founder of Mana Concepts, Inc. and went right along with Scott Griffiths when it came time to forming another entity. All four parties are also still involved with the current entity, and are equal opportunity assholes doing what they can to ruin current and former franchisees’ lives.

  It would not be surprising if one or more disgruntled franchisees with a chip on their shoulder goes POSTAL on one or all four of these grifters. If or when it happens it will be well deserved. All four should be sleeping with one eye open.

• Looks like Ron Love still has an unpaid balance on his Discover Card;

  https://unicourt.com/case/urc-gAAAAABaTaictADlbi8FtH1kCAw0tzDiPVZKI853urFpgqI5W83QxEZkusvJz2eW0IGVftS3nnGGH78Pu52t6GfLUqoDxqItUw==#/dockets

  I’m not surprised.

• Another interesting tidbit. The 18/8 Franchise registration was cancelled in August 2017 –
  https://www.cards.commerce.state.mn.us/CARDS/security/search.do?documentId=%7BD3008D8F-18E7-4410-9326-D04A6286064E%7D

• Griff’s Ace Bandages & Shave Bar is truly hilarious marketing by a truly incompetent marketer.

  You put the most famous name brand of bandages in the name of a barbershop/shave bar. I’m sure your dad would be proud, Griffiths. You knucklehead.

• Ezekiel 25:17. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.” I been sayin’ that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherfucker before you popped a cap in his ass.

• It’s really heartbreaking to read some of these comments. Whether your a franchisee or building your business on your own our marketing strategies ( storefronttraffic.com ) may help you turn things around. Man, these stories are just terrible.

• Really heartbreaking that someone purchased a ten pack of Griff’s after the scam was already exposed. Hope he can find a way to recover some of that investment. This company doesn’t even have a valid FDD filed for 2018 after all the fraud cases, and they are still advertising to sell franchises.

  Seems like this is about to happen again
  http://www.dbo.ca.gov/ENF/pdf/2012/18-8_DR.pdf

• So what issues do all the principals of 18/8 have with counting?

  In this interview (https://www.zenoti.com/blog/qa-chris-brown-188/) Chris Brown states “18|8 is a franchise concept with about 80 locations across the country”

  Go to your own site and count open locations – https://eighteeneight.com/book-online/

  In case you’re having trouble, there are 60 (with one more set to close next week). That’s not ‘about 80’, you clown. Keep overstating to make yourself feel better about the terrible life decisions you have made. At least he contradicted Scott’s 100. He does love telling people how wrong Scott is about things when you speak to him in private.

• Chris Brown is a complete tool! He is also an appeaser when it comes to Scott Griffith’s bad acts. Brown repeatedly states and writes that he was not involved with, or did not know of, UF’s bad acts, yet he continues to look the other way time after time and has enriched himself at other franchisees’ expense. Mr. Brown’s Columbus 18|8 acquisition resulted from the original Columbus 18|8 franchisee failing due to Ultimate Franchises’ fraud. Way to go, Chris! The only way you are making a go of it is by having your royalty fees waived in exchange for your Scott Griffith’s like marketing know how and through the theft of another franchisee’s investment. Obviously, you are not drawing a check. There isn’t enough cash left over after Scott Griffiths diverts franchisees’ royalty and marketing payments to cover litigation costs. Payback will be a bitch you weasel!

• As a prospective franchisee or other interested party looking through all publicly available information (including visible lawsuits, countersuits etc), does it not strike you as interesting that Griffiths-Love and toadies make no attempt to even begin to deny or spin the facts presented so far?

  They just keep the pedal to the metal going down the road of diversion, gaslighting, and making threats to their victims to keep them in line and paying up.

• Scott, Loretta, Ron and Brigitte can run, but they can’t hide. Litigation only last so long. I bet that Scott Griffiths cries when I introduce him to my little friend.

• I looked into 18 8 as a potential Franchise. We were invited to their Discovery day (1 and half day event), where they agreed to pay for airline flight and accommodations. Based on feedback from my attorney, she advised us to be careful with this Franchise and we did not move forward. After multiple emails and calls – they simply ignored reimbursing us for Discovery day expenses. So I can’t even imagine what previous and current Franchisees; went and are going through. I pray God lifts the heavy emotional and financial burdens incurred due to 18 8’s breach of its fiduciary duties. I also pray that where legally feasible – they “cease and desist” this unprofitable and unsustainable Franchise model from injuring more decent hardworking investors. God will have the last Word!

• I used to be an 18|8 franchisee. I had no idea how to run a small business, much less a salon. They helped me pick out the right location, gave me intellectual property and branding assets along with a playbook on how to execute, and sent training teams to open and training teams after that for continuing education. They gave me a business coach but I was way smarter than that person based on all my experience in consulting. I did build my salon to be one of the top 10 in the system, but eventually I just decided to stop paying royalties and take the intellectual property and knowledge I gained and go open a new salon under a “new brand”. How easy was that! All I had to do was take down the “18|8 F” and replace it with an “R” and this logo designed with PowerPoint. And Viola! A new brand. Problem is I’m still really struggling and maybe even worse these days with all the legal fees. I’m really starting to doubt if I was cut out to be an entrepreneur. Franchising and starting a small business is not for everyone.

• The mj.patsie-son reads, in-part, like a passive-aggressive post by someone from Ultimate Franchises. MJ’s struggles were not his fault, there were the fault of the 18|8 scammers and the system that does not work. Unfortunately, the number of closed locations will continue to increase. After all, the average SBA loan defaults in year 5 of operations. Hey, maybe the HIMS partnership will save the day…

• Great, now that we know Scott Griffiths is reading this thread (see his drunk-post as ‘mj.patsie-son’), maybe he can address to existing franchisees why there is currently no valid franchise registration for 18/8 in any state? To translate what this means to existing franchisees, we are no longer able to resell our 18/8 franchises, even if we are fortunate enough to find a buyer.

• Wow, Scott Griffiths (aka mj.patsie-son), why aren’t you brave enough to post under your real name. The problem with your post is that with or without the “guidance” of the franchiser people are struggling and going out of business that is why you haven’t published a current FDD and 18|8 is not registered as a franchise in any state. Franchising may not be for everyone, but you have less than 60 stores open today with the vast majority of them struggling and not making a dime. It looks like half the franchisees that started with you have either gone out of business or re-branded to get away from you. So blame the franchisee all you want, but no sane person is going to believe that many people are inept with the common factor for failure being you. You overstated and misrepresented the financials of this endeavor which is illegal and you selected the people to become franchisees. You met every last one of us, so the fault lies with you!! Here’s hoping you end up in jail for manipulating the financials. You have ruined a lot of lives and jail is where you belong.

• If you had the misfortune of taking out an SBA loan to finance your 18|8 Fine Men’s Salon, er excuse me, 18|8 Fine Men’s Salons franchise, and you believe that you were defrauded, please consider contacting Sandra Mazzoni. Sandra is an Assistant Special Agent with the Office of the Inspector General at the SBA. Per Sandra, once 18|8 franchisees’ cumulative claimed damages hit the $1 million mark the SBA’s investigation of Ultimate Franchises and its principals can be turned over the the U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution. Sandra’s contact information is as follows:

  Sandra Mazzoni
  Assistant Special Agent in Charge
  Office of Inspector General
  U.S. Small Business Administration
  W: (562) 868-3193
  sandra.mazzoni@sba.gov

  With any luck Scott Griffiths and his mail order bride will be in prison soon.

• The franchisee Griffiths is referring to was one of the more successful franchisees, so I’m not sure what he is going on about. This is not a matter of succes or failure at the individual operator level. Everyone in the franchise is suffering due to the underperformance of the system as a whole. Even corporate owned locations in Irvine and Pasadena have closed this year. They also tried, (unsuccessfuly) to sell Costa Mesa this year. So tell me now, who doesn’t know how to run a salon?

• There is not much I can add to this, except ditto…ditto…ditto.

  I had to close my salon after losing over $800k plus the opportunity cost of not working for 4 years. Now I have been out of the corporate world and can’t get an interview with this gap of employment. Sold my home and downsized. Not much funds left. Burn in hell Scott, Bridgett, Lance, Ron and Loretta.

• My wife and I lost our entire (and substantial) life savings in this franchise-scam. We finally ran out of operating capital and were forced to close our salon. The cruelty of the principals in this crooked venture is almost beyond comprehension. We did everything by the book with our salon, and we were right on plan . . . but like so many others . . . no matter how many guests flood your salon, profitability is a mirage that, by design, will never materialize. We have tried to work with Wells Fargo to work out an offer in compromise for our SBA loan, but they have ignored our appeals and are now foreclosing on our home of 24 years.

  I think about suicide every day. All day.

• If Griffiths tries to come after me, then I can share my audio/video recordings from my Discovery Day. Checkmate.

• Thank you, Current Franchisee!

  18|8 Franchisees . . . please copy the following and paste it into an email and send it to every franchisee you know! Be sure to use their personal email addresses, since all eighteeneight addresses are screened and objectionable material likely laundered…….
  ………………………………………………

  If you had the misfortune of taking out an SBA loan to finance your 18|8 Fine Men’s Salon, er excuse me, 18|8 Fine Men’s Salons franchise, and you believe that you were defrauded, please consider contacting Sandra Mazzoni. Sandra is an Assistant Special Agent with the Office of the Inspector General at the SBA. Per Sandra, once 18|8 franchisees’ cumulative claimed damages hit the $1 million mark the SBA’s investigation of Ultimate Franchises and its principals can be turned over the the U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution. Sandra’s contact information is as follows:

  Sandra Mazzoni
  Assistant Special Agent in Charge
  Office of Inspector General
  U.S. Small Business Administration
  W: (562) 868-3193
  sandra.mazzoni@sba.gov

  With any luck Scott Griffiths and his mail order bride will be in prison soon.

• I heard Mark Elson quit due to all the pending legal actions. Is this true?

• Mark Elson is definitely gone. I spoke with him last week and in a roundabout way, he indicated he wasn’t being paid.

  Not paying staff caused the corporate salons to fall apart and is also one of the reasons corporate claimed a profit in the FDD. What goes around comes around, however. Corporate quit paying some stylists completely so they up and left. One of them told me this directly.

• Funny that mj.patsie-son a/k/a W. Scott Griffiths referenced “all the legal fees” in his drunk post above. Good ole Scottie boy is not paying his share of fees in an attempt to delay the process. What a putz!

  Ron Lovett’s post above references a claimed profit in the FDD. Does anyone know of a current FDD on file in any state? Scottie boy lied about the existence of a current FDD during the first Flock group call organized by VP of Marketing and co-conspirator Chris Brown (there was not an FDD on file in any state on that date). Just curious to check the reported litigation in Item 3 and the financials in any current FDD.

  Seems like a good time for all Zees to stop paying royalties to UF. They are near the end of the road. Likely to be a U.S. Attorney investigation and charges, future statewide prohibitions on any new FDD registration for any franchise as well as revocations of current franchise agreements in most states , etc. It’s also only a matter of time before Scottie boy and his toadies finally file for bankruptcy. Enjoy your homes and other fleeting assets while you still can Scottie boy, Loretta, Brigitte, and Ron. You will soon be held accountable for your sinful behavior while still breathing. Hell is in your futures sooner than you think.

• This recording of the Big Hug Call where they claim to have a current FDD filing might come in handy some day.

• Here’s the page to search for California franchise registrations if care to double check if Scott and Chris Brown lied to you:
  https://docqnet.dbo.ca.gov/search/

• Here is the lawsuit where the landlord of the former corporate Westpark location in Irvine is suing Scott Griffiths, Ron Love, Loretta, and others.
  https://unicourt.com/case/ca-ora-ticad-retail-properties-holdings-llc-vs-mana-concepts-inc-857317

  All I want to say to anyone else is; save yourselves now! This is only getting uglier. At this point, all your royalties are being used to defend cases brought on by landlords, creditors, ex-employees and franchisees. Once judgements are made on those cases (hard to defend not paying rent or employees), the Griffiths and Loves will be filing for personal bankruptcy.

  When my store was struggling, Griffiths advised me to stop paying rent and stop paying my SBA loan, but to keep paying royalties! No joke, he actually said this – I have it saved in emails and texts. (which I look forward to sharing in court one day – if Scott ever actually decides to show up to court) I was so fortunate to not have listened to the idiot’s advice, otherwise we would have lost our home too. I did hold on much longer than I should have, since I did have so much hope for the brand. In hindsight, it would have been much better to have exited sooner.

  I am so deeply saddened by all the stories here and hope for the recovery for the individuals and families that have been harmed by this scam. The one positive is that the support I have received from current and former franchisees in the same situation has been tremendous. Please reach out to your peers if you are feeling helpless.

• please contact me by email

• Does anyone know what’s going on in Pittsburgh? Are these franchisee or corporate?https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/spa/d/salon-manager-for-upscale/6691506274.html

• From the Acknowledgments section of “Beyond Genius,” ghost written for W. Scott Griffiths by Eric Elfman:

  “[To] Alexa Espinoza – A Renaissance woman in training – my bright, talented, and delightful teaching, research, design assistant.”

  WTF?

  Well, word from two well connected sources at “Headquarters” is that sweet and innocent Alex and Professor Griffiths have been “bumping uglies,” “doing the nasty,” “shagging,” or whatever the kids are calling it these days for years. Word is also that Loretta knows all and is content looking the other way. Hope Professor Griffiths paid for all of those Central America vacations out of his own pocket. Go figure.

• Gizmo: This is a current franchisee who on the Chris Brown “positive comments only, this place is great” email group recently lamented the loss of a key individual which as he put it, puts him back at square one. I feel for him since this happened to me early on, and it took me a few months to recover.

  Such as it is in this business model. Somehow, this business risk wasn’t covered in the FDD (when they had one) or during 18|8 University.

  On another topic – – – we all know 18|8 was treating their salon staff as 1099’s and not W2 employees as we were instructed to do, which contributed to the fraudulent FDD numbers (when they had one). Earlier this year, the CA high court affirmed a law prohibiting treatment of staff as 1099 if their primary function was to perform work similar to the primary function of the business. The ruling is now causing major problems for small businesses, and some are seeing their employees quit en masse because businesses can’t make a profit if they classify 1099’s as W2.

  See article below – it’s beyond parody. Had this law been in place prior to 2014, there would be no 18|8.

  My favorite quote: “We can’t afford to have a bunch of employees. What are you going to pay them you know, minimum wage?”

  https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2018/09/07/sacramento-barbershop-california-supreme-court/

• Current Pissed Off Franchisee,

  1. Gross
  2. Loretta doesn’t care as long she’s collecting a paycheck from Ultimate Franchises

  Your royalty and marketing fund dollars hard at work.