FISH WINDOW CLEANING Franchise Complaints
Fish Window Cleaning franchise company contends that “The demand for professional window cleaning companies has never been higher and FISH Window Cleaning fills that niche.”
Are you familiar with the Fish Window Cleaning franchise opportunity? Please share a comment below.
“FISH now has over 200 franchise owners and is actively seeking quality franchisees coast to coast.”
Also read: FISH WINDOW CLEANING Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) & Comments
According to Fish Window Cleaning’s franchise marketing:
“FISH owners experience a business that gives them a great lifestyle immediately (no work on nights, weekends, or holidays) and the ability to go out every day and grow their business in a market with fragmented competition.
“Most importantly, the owner is not the window cleaner, but the business professional who is dedicated to following the complete franchise system.”
Fish Window Cleaning claims:
FISH is a smart business decision because:
- Residual Income
- Low Overhead
- Fast Break-even
- Niche Market
- Strong Corporate Support
- Low Investment
- Huge Growth Potential
- Owner is not the window cleaner
- Monday – Friday daytime hours
- Minimal number of employees
- High customer retention
- Over 30 years of experience
FISH WINDOW CLEANING Franchise Complaints
On FranchisePundit.com, March, 2012, That Guy wrote:
I am a former Fish employee, and a current Fish competitor.
Fish operates as a franchise with virtually no “support” from the home office.
They charge high fees to their franchisees, and push the philosophy of “undercutting” their competition.
Problem is, even with all the cheap, inexperienced labor in the world, if you are not charging enough for your services, you will not break even… especially with all the fees adding up.
As an employee… Fish pays their employees as contractors, which enables them to pay far less than minimum wage. I was making roughly $6 an hour with them in 2004, using my own car, and paying for my own gas.
Here’s the kicker… The franchises rarely last more than a year or 2. When they finally close down, the Fish corporate complex already has that particular franchise “established”. The address is kept, the phone number is kept, and the next sucker who comes along is told that the business is established in the area, while never asking where the current business comes from and what happened to the last guy.
Fish Window Cleaning is a classic pyramid / MLM scheme.
But, its not my money to spend, so do what you will.
On FranchisePundit.com, FuwaFuwaUsagi wrote
Fish is one of the few “zors” that makes an earnings claim, and frankly it is among the most entertaining I have ever read (in a good way). Did you examine it?
How do you feel about a franchisor that does not actually operate the business they franchise?
Do you think that 13-16k is a lot to pay for invoices, estimate sheets, brochures and a computer system. Come to think of it what type of computer system is needed for a window cleaning service anyways?
The royalty is 6-8%…The success of this business is tied to the idea of hiring temp sales reps to generate accounts using the FISH system (which basically amounts to cold calling, leaving brochures and business cards); given that does the 6-8% seem reasonable?
Note the brand building fee is 1%…then look at geographic dispersement; I suspect you are not going to get much brand building done. Then again this is corp to corp in a commodity market so branding may be a moot point so then it begs the question why the 1% fee. Then again they reserve the right to jack it to 2%.
What do you think of the punitive minimum performance standard?
How do you feel about the weekly “technology fee”…apparently this loosely worded fee can be used for everything for brand building to supporting you for the snazzy window cleaning software that the technology intensive window washing business demands.
How do you feel about letting the “zor” have carte blanche electronic access to your bank account?
How do you feel about having to have an office outside your home for this type of business? Last I knew ServPro, Service Master and others did not require this.
How do you feel about the compulsory nature of whom you buy your supplies from?
Does it bother you that 80-90% of your start up materials are purchased from the “zor”?
What is the USP for this concept?
At any rate, these are just a few questions for you to mull over and get you started.
A commenter on Ripoff Report, Friday, November 11, 2011, wrote:
I am not happy at all at how many fish franchise have failed. I am not happy most weeks and I am usually fed up by midweek.
You need strong $$ accounts (not $12-$20 jobs), the majority of the your accounts need to be above $40 and only great employees on your staff in order to make this venture work. That is a red flag.
You should be able to make this business work with good employees at the middle of the bell curve. Not every window cleaner can be a rock star. You maybe able find one rock star per year if you are lucky.
if you buy a franchise from fish make sure you don’t have a lot of industrial or all older homes with triple track windows in your territory. You need homes across all income ranges if you even want a chance at making it in this franchise. You need someone out selling everyday to get new accounts. Most of all, you need strong business communities in your territory.
… prayer is the only thing keeping me going has a fish franchise while I push myself to the limit everyday. I go home and ask God sometimes, who did I get myself involved with. The profit margin are way under what I was told it would be.
On ripoffreport, Thursday, January 19, 2012, WindowGuy wrote:
As a former operations manager at a Fish location I read the posts about employee compensation and do agree with the people saying it is by far inadequate…
Yes they do $10-$20 dollar jobs which to get those jobs a lot hire a salesman who gets paid nothing unless he sells and even then it isnt worth anything so they quit. So that causes the well underpaid Operations manager to have to do all the sales or spend his time interviewing more sales man….
I would not recommend franchising or working for this company to my worst enemy!!
ARE YOU A FISH WINDOW CLEANING FRANCHISE OWNER OR FRANCHISEE? ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE FISH WINDOW CLEANING FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
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More on the Fish Window Cleaning franchise:
FISH WINDOW CLEANING Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) & Comments
There is no support you are on you own . Work for yourself an you will make much more $.
I’ve been employed under Fish window cleaning for 5 years.
I am Operations Manager for a franchise in Houston Texas that, on our worst week, clears 12-15 thousand dollars.
I can attest to the legitimacy and profitability of this company IF YOU RUN YOUR BUSINESS RIGHT.
Anyone can buy in to a franchise. A proper business require talent, skill, and a solid team.
We provide a means for roughly 20 people including techs and office staff, and very recently actually we had a meeting with a corporate rep from home office, Clayton, who was on trip to Houston to help a falling franchise owner repair and rebuild after th passing of her husband.
Corporate support is very much there, the 5 other franchise owners in Houston ate very much there for support, and the company as a whole is a spectacular model for how small business should be run.
Don’t criticize a company because you didn’t have a good experience.
If I’ve learned anything at Fish, it’s you get out what you put in…try harder.