ATL ALL TUNE & LUBE Franchise Complaints: Are you familiar with the ATL All Tune & Lube franchise program?
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The All Tune and Lube franchise is one of the most despicable… franchises on the face of the earth. I am wondering after reading about all of the people that they have ripped off how they can stay in business and continue to deceive the public. I have only heard of one person who has been able to recoup monies from them and that is a lady called Karen from some part of Texas. Somehow she got the State’s Attorney General involved and they settled with her….
All Tune and Lube deceived me and took my business to the cleaners by overcharging me for advertisement fees, passing me around to their buddies and being totally deceitful about helping me out with my business once it started up. The only thing that they did well was to milk my checking account on a weekly basis and always on schedule.
They sent down an operation manager, Jack Ray, who spent all of his time turning members of my staff against one another by planting discourse between everyone including me. By the time that I noticed what he was doing me and my staff were at odds with one another. Each time that he came it was always a volcanic reaction during or shortly after he left. He spent most of his time smoking cigarettes and arguing with his wife…
I am disgusted by the practice of these people. I am an honest business person. I had a dream that they turned into a nightmare. They totally deceived me and in return they took all of my hard earned retirement money and almost bankrupted me. I am still recovering from the mess that they put me in.
They tell you that $6000 per month is the model for the rent that you need to be successful. They tell you that they are with you 100%. They tell you that their coupons and the way that they advertise is the key to financial freedom but I know now that $6K per month and $685 per week for their coupons campaign is the beginning of the end for any serious business person. They repeatedly sent the same coupons to the same households on a weekly basis. I asked for a $10.90 oil change special to kick off my business and when I got things sort of rolling I asked them to stop but a lady named Lisa Dignan in their advertising department wouldn’t hear of it because in her words, ‘changing your price will dry up your car count.’
I tried to stop the coupons and finally after months of arguing, I finally threatened to close my account so that they couldn’t see it and then they stopped. By that time it was too little too late. I was paying more for oil than I was taking in. They also had these inspections called 30/60/90 preventive maintenance inspections starting at $159. Most of the services in these inspections cost more than the entire package. An inspection like this included a tune-up, radiator service, transmission service, air filter, oil change, tire rotation and brake inspection.
A radiator service and transmission service could run in the upper $150 by themselves. They built these coupons and they put them out. The intent was that you could up-charge for other things. Once a person got through with these services what else was really needed. Eventually, I learned my lesson and stopped these practices but again…..I followed the franchise business model to my own detriment for too long before making the adjustment.
I know that some of you are saying, ‘cry me a river’. My intent is not to cry but to warn others about this predatory franchise. They are bogus and dangerous to people who want to buy a part of the American Dream. These people are what I like to call ‘The American Nightmare’. They are only interested in their own pockets. They make their money up front and then you are on your own.
Most of the All Tune franchises in the greater Atlanta area have failed and all of them tell the same story. I have a good friend who’s marriage is being ruined by the All Tune practices. I know of others who lost everything that they owned and haven’t been heard from since. I pray that they are alright. I left my job of 26 years to build what I thought was a solid business that had a success ratio of over 85%. Believe me, 90% is probably the fail ratio. These people must be stopped. They don’t tell the truth about their role nor all of the hidden costs involved in running one of their businesses. One thing that I do know is that they know that their business model is a fake and a phony but they continue to push it for that up front $32K franchise fee.
Anonymous
Forsyth, Georgia
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All tune and lube is a huge rip off. I would not encourage anyone to go to any shops for service. I live in Cleveland Ohio, and I had service done on my truck and car and the work is very sub par and I was over charged. I was told that I would receive a coupon on line for the long delay of service at one time..that was 3 months ago..no coupon. A HUGE RIP OFF..DO NOT GO TO ALL TUNE AND LUBE FOR ANY WORK ON YOUR VEHICLES. We know that a lot of business are not very honest, but I think that the auto world is one of the most dishonest..and all tune just proves me right. No wonder our country is in this sluggish, dog eat dog condition, don't trust any mechanics unless you hear good word of mouth recommendations.
Walt.
There is no locaition in Cleveland, Ohio. Also, you can't blame the franchise, blame the owner. He owns it, not All Tune. Are your sure you don't mean EconoLube and Tune....they really suck.
DIDO. I can't say more but agree 100%. Ever work exacvtly the same from me. I tried to go on 1.5 years and ended up broke and owing about $100K on top of my massive loses I'm still in litigation with suppliers on 2 years later. BTW Jay Wright, do you work for ATL?
A break rotor job for ( about 100.00 dollars, quote) turned into 702.00. That's just to replace two front rotors of a 2005 F-150. Rotor cost ..about 256.00 each! And 80.00 labor. I will never learn! Online Brembos cost 160.00, cheaper brands 80.00. I still don't believe the rotors were not turnable. I will have to get my micrometers on them! They looked like maybe .020 inches less thanf the original unworn part of the rotor.These rotors come with bearings installed and apparently sealed. They are pressed in, to be sure.
I am a jet engine mechanic... next time buy the parts and have the Econo-Lube-N-tune guys just do the labor if you can't do it at your place. They really fuck you and me on the parts. Same with the Dealers...Live and learn. Marc
Condo living kinda sucks if you are a mechanic! Unhappy in Oceanside, CA
I am so pissed off at the ALL TUNE and LUBE I went to here in Campbell, CA. I Paid $600 to have them put my Clutch, water pump, and some Seals in my car. Less than a month after the work my engine was making noises which I thought to be my motor mounts. I went back to the shop to have them fix the problem and found that they had packed up shop and left within days of my work being completed. How dare they take my money when they knew they were closing up shop. Now my seals are leaking and I'm Filing a complaint with my Credit Card who can research and track the Manager, Dan Alvarez down for my refund. I have to have most of my work redone because of shabby workmanship. Don't every go to any of the ALL TUNE and LUBE Shops.
Next I call the Mother Company.
I was also taken in by the ATL franchise people. They really are exactly as described by Anonymous in Georgia. Once they have fleeced you and you go bankrupt. The only positive thing you feel that you can do afterwards is warn others from making the same mistakes.
Believe me, you are paying all the money for a few boxes of pre-printed forms and a binder obvious information. If you are a capable enough business person to make it as a francisee, you have several time the chance to make it without them. You have to ask yourself, what are you buying?
The "experts" in the advertising group don't have any magic ads.
The advertising costs through ATL are more than you pay dealing direct.
There is no name brand recognition. If anything it would be negative.
The business model completely relies on the upsell. Bring them in on a $12 oil change and try to sell them $300 brake jobs, $100 serpentine belts, $60 air filters and my favorite the brake or power steering fluid flush for $100. You need to work the oil changes up from a $12 oil change order to a $100 on average. That means every order. The mechanics are supposed to get paid only of the upsell work they "find" and the manager "sells" to the customer.
The parts that are installed are the cheapest parts that can be found anywhere and "sold" to the customer at the highest list price they can find among the suppliers. For example an after market brake rotor might cost $13 to the shop but a list price at a different supplier is $159. The manager tries to charge the "victim customer" $159 or maybe they bundle it up and offer a 20% discount to make the customer close the deal.
Believe me if you have the fortitude to win at that all the time, you definitely don't need the ATL franchisers back in the home office. They want 7% of the gross sales right off the top.
They are crooks. Please due your due diligence before buying their BS franchise. They are selling you a dream. Believe it or not somehow they get $50,000 out of you easier than you can get $100 out of a customer with a $12.90 oil change coupon in their hand.
THE ATL HAS BEEN VERY VERY FAIR , BARRY IS A NICE GUY AND SEEMS HONEST TO ME
I was taken in by ATL also. They are nothing more than very good scammers. They sell you a dream and assure you they are going to work with you to make you successful. What you get is a whole lot of broken promises and an empty pocketbook.
Everything said already about the franchise is true. The only advise I can give is to stay away from them if you are looking to invest your money in your future. If you have already begun the process of opening of a business STOP NOW! No matter how much you have currently invested it will be less than what you loose when you go broke.
I was a franchisee for ATL for 10 months and I had close down. Not only they gave me false promises they did nothing to develop my business. A shop which should have rented out for $1500 they bargained for $4500 and thought that was great. They promptly took out royalties and advertising fees every week whether I had any business or not. Their marketing people were horrible.They had no clue what they were doing.
Here is a request to all the people who have been screwed. Please contact me. I would like to file a class action suit and try to bring some closure.
I will NEVER go back to ATL. They are absolutely positively the WORST franchise. Unfortunately, I found out after I had the horrible work done to my car which by the way I AM STILL WORKING ON GETTING IT FIXED!!!
I had my right and left axle replaced and guess what? several weeks later they are leaking and the ATL I went to has gone out of business. Now, it's been several MONTHS!! I have contacted home office hoping someone would be able to help me. Spoke to Dan who said he would get back to me and guess what? HAVEN'T HEARD FROM HIM. I just left ANOTHER message.
There sign should read "ATL-we take your money and run"