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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My partner and I lost roughly $ 100,000 from investing with these thieves. All of what was described by anonymous in GA. Is all too real. This includes the names of L.Dignan, Jack Ray, Dan Sparby and many others whose names I can't remember. They were soaking for $900.00 a few week for advertising as well as franchise fees. Their little secret s for success were to line their administrative pockets leaving franchisees struggling to make ends meet. I also ended up filing bankruptcy in the long run. A class action suit should force them to repay all franchisees they have ripped off.
Some more goodies about ATL. The advertising wonder prior to Lisa Dignan was named Susan Warner and along with another one of their con artists named John whose last name i don't recall set up all of their equipment and parts whse programs from which they got kickbacks. We payed for that equipment 50 times over. Bottom line is that these jerks are no good deceptive crooked and DO NOT have franchisees interests at heart.
I am on NYC, they almost got me. After i gave them a check for 10K, the guy i was working started to change some of the narrative. I was luck the check was not cleared by that time. I called the bank and stopped the check. They are not in business to help entrepreneurs, they are in it to help themselves. It is a business they create to help customers and their own pocket. The franchisees will always lose.
I am in AZ, I am looking into opening an auto shop. I was almost one of their victims as well. I was getting ready to sign the agreement but i decided to do a little research and thanks to all the comments above I have a clear understanding of what this is all about.
To the people that have been scammed:
I know its hard to get back up after you have invested most of your lifetime savings. If you guys had to do this all over again, how would you start up your new auto shop?
thanks,
Francisco
There is NO benefit to one of these franchises. If you want an auto repair business purchase an independent shop. You can buy your own ads for less than a third of what they charge.
The weekly franchise fees, the work orders, and book keeping forms they MAKE you purchase from them are nothing more another monkey on your back. DON'T DO IT!
You will be far better off by yourself and will have a better chance of success without a franchise!
My extended family had three franchise locations in Baltimore MD from 1987 till 1992 - one of which was mine. Lost our collective ass. Reading this is like living a bad dream all over again. My do over is an independent shop named "Joe's Garage". Don't tell anyone I am the owner - just the manager. Take referrals only for customers and make my own reputation. I would love to share more stories but would be sued for my effort. I would love to be able to say publicly what was said to me in private. Save the "Franchise Fees" and "Advertising" premium for the lean times - I would still be in business.
The longer you are on the hook the longer you will bleed.
I made the mistake of signing up with ATL. I too was fed the line about how they had a team on the ground and would help me find a location in the area I was interested in. I actually lived out of state from where we wanted to start our shop. After months of ATl sending me pictures of dumps in the wrong cities. I told them this was not going to work. I asked for some of my money back and got a call from Dan the top guy in the company saying hang on a little longer they had new realtors working on it. Dan lied to me and said if they did not find something soon he would work something out with me. After a few more months they had not found anything good that was reasonably priced and most places presented to me were not in the area I asked for. I actually came down and stayed over a week twice and looked at the locations they found. One of the places presented to me you had to buy another franchise close it down and reopen with 10k a month rent.
I contacted Dan and everyone at ATL I had previously spoken too. They just quit returning my calls and emails and kept all the money they took from me. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt if they were honest and returned a reasonable part of my funds. Run from this group of thieves as fast as you can. I am glad they did not find a location and I got to see their true colors before I ended up like most of the others who have been franchisees. There is a special place for dishonest people and I am not the judge but see this whole team being their together some day.
Stay away there are good business opportunities out there but not this one.
Keep your money. These guys are the biggest scam artists I have ever seen. The all tune people are crooks.
I almost got screwed , the president said he wanted me to help me, by lowering the fee from 25,000.00 to 7,500.00 to get started something didn,t seemed right, I started checking out forbes list of franchises, they stated the alt was one of the worst.. I thank the lord I start checking on them, they need to be stoped and taken to jail asap, punch of dirt bags son of bitches, they will get what did to others, that I read about, they will reap their wrong doing in due time, what goes around,comes around, please keep away from these magnets, if you want to go into the automotive business like myself, do it on your own be independent, so you wouldn,t have to answer to nobody, or give them anything.
Carl,
We am sorry to hear you feel bad since the only thing that happened was to help you begin setting up the franchise. We spent weeks with you going over the program and never once did you make any comments about our information or processes that gave you concern.
You were treated with great respect and given as much time as you needed to make your decision.
A deposit stated in the contract is $7500.00. The franchise fee is stated also in the franchise agreement. While the franchise fee wasn't lowered, it doesn't have to be paid in full to begin the process.
Also, remember ATL is a Vetfran member giving you a discount (in honor of your military commitment) off of the license which you said you were very happy to be able to use.
I am sorry if you feel there were misunderstandings but, you are welcome to call and discuss them to your satisfaction with the President or your sales consultant. Nothing was done to hurt you and we would be ready to discuss any of your issues. We have Veterans who are extremely happy to be given the discount along with the help to get started in business that may be worth your time to speak to about the franchise.
Please contact the office to discuss.
ATL Corporate