BUDGET BLINDS Franchise Complaints

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• I am a former Budget Blinds franchisee. I purchased my franchise in November, 2003 and was terminated in May, 2006. I lost the $65,000 investment in my franchise and tens of thousands of additional money I invested in the business just to keep it going. In early 2005 a franchisee in the same city ran into financial problems and was not able to fulfill customer orders. However, he continued to accept deposits on new orders of up to 75% of the total sale and would use that money to fulfill orders for customers who ordered blinds several months earlier. He ended up on a COD basis from almost all his suppliers because he was not paying them on time. This situation went on for months and got worse. Finally, a large number of irate customers, probably 40 or 50, contacted the local television stations and they began running stories every week on their prime time newscasts. At that time, my phone literally stopped ringing, except for the other franchisee's customers calling me demanding that I fulfill their orders. In the meantime the other franchisee filed for bankruptcy protection and as a result, Budget Blinds was not able to terminate his contract. I asked Budget Blinds corporate for help and all they would do is waive my royalty fees for a three month period. The value of that was a few thousand dollars, a drop in the bucket considering the financial losses I was now dealing with. The TV stations called the Budget Blinds corporate office and they would not even respond to their inquiries. They also refused to assist in fulfilling customer orders, saying that they were not responsible for the actions of franchisees. In the meantime, my business suffered huge losses and even after the bad publicity was over (about a year later), the damage was done and I was unable to recover financially. I asked the corporate office of Budget Blinds for assistance, asking for a representative to come to my city and help me rebuild, but the answer was no. I reached the point where I was several months behind in royalty payments and was given a deadline of Friday to get caught up on royalties or else I would be terminated. I made arrangements to borrow money from a relative in another state, so I sent a $10,000 check to pay the royalties by the deadline of Friday. However, I did not receive the funds in my bank account until the following Monday. Budget Blinds corporate called my bank on Friday to see if the funds were available, and of course they were not, so they terminated me. On Monday, however they deposited my check and it was paid, but they still refused to cancel the termination. While all this was going on, another new franchisee purchased the territory that the other franchisee owned after he was terminated. I had a verbal agreement to sell one of my territories to the new franchisee the same week that I was terminated and the corporate office was aware of this. I can't prove it, but I believe that Budget Blinds corporate told the new franchisee not to buy my territory because they were about to terminate me. This way, Budget Blinds could sell the territory themselves.

  The bottom line after all of this is Budget Blinds will not support their franchisees when they run into difficulty even when it is not the franchisee's fault. Their support is nonexistent and they are only interested in selling franchises, not supporting them to ensure their success. Everything that has been written on this post previously is true. Budget Blinds' failure rate according to the SBA is 37%, but if you consider the failed franchises that did not borrow on a SBA loan (like me) the failure rate is much higher.

  If you are considering buying a Budget Blinds franchise, my advice is to run away as fast as you can.

• I have owned a Budget Blinds franchise for over seven years and think this attack of the franchise system is ridiculous. Have you lived in the same country I lived in for the past five years? How many businesses of any type are no longer here? How many people had their homes foreclosed? How many people have been unemployed? Is that all Budget Blinds fault too? How many 3 Day Blinds stores have closed in comparison? We took a hit when the economy tanked of about 10% in sales. The next year we bounced right back. When we went down 10% many of my competitors closed their doors. Corporate has always supported me and my business has grown steadily each year ever since. Owning a business is hard work and all I can say is you harvest what you sow. Maybe a better statistical study would be how Budget Blinds compares to similar companies or industries? In my past experience many of the franchises I've seen come and go also were not taking care of their customers and calling them back. I've had customers beg me to take care of them because the franchise that services their area won't call them back. It's kind of hard to stay in business if you don't answer your phone and deal with people. I imagine that is corporates fault too? There are also plenty of examples out there of these "dog" territories that get no support as you claim getting new owners and thriving. Maybe that statistic should be investigated as well?

• We are former franchise owners and terminated our franchise
  After we got no support from corporate. We had another franchise owner
  Selling in our territory once we confronted corporate they took no corrective
  Action. Absolutely worst business decision we made.

• As a former franchise owner I can't stress this enough: go directly to the vendors. The reps will be more than happy to get you trained and established. You won't be paying royalties, advertising fees, etc. If you contact the Budget Blinds franchisor ask if it is only there to sell franchises. 'November 11, 2012' is the anecdotal story, not the rule. He/she also makes numerous assumptions as all territories are not the same demographic or makeup. This franchise was to be part of our overall business portfolio which included two other businesses with combined revenues of about $2.5 million. Unfortunately, I allowed someone else to do the "due dilligence" (my fault). Once I saw what the monthly payout in fees was compared to the actual sales potential, given that there were already 11 other franchises overlapping each other in the same area (and we were smack dab in the middle of someone elses) alarm bells starting going off like crazy. I gave it some time but what a disaster. People selling in the territory and the franchisor lawyer more interested in covering his rearend. I was told on the phone that I needed to see it from the franchisor owners point of view...not mine who was the person being stolen from. I immediately had my lawyer warming up in the bullpen while I scoured the contract sentence by sentence. After 6 months of back and forth with one of the franchise owners (who wanted $98 grand to buy out the contract) I found the achiles heal and bought it out for around $5 grand. My attorney crossed out half of the wording the franchisor tried to submit with the buyout contract. Of course, we never heard from then again once they cashed the check. Word to the wise be very very careful and the anecdotal stories are nice but far from the norm. Oh, and of the 11 franchises in my area...there are 2 left today.

• I owned 2 Budget Blinds franchises. Purchased them in 2004. I sold them in 2006. The reason I sold was that the business had grown to a point where I needed to hire and having come from a retail background of employing 30 or so I knew employees were not all that much fun.
  The business today is doing over 1 million in sales and the franchisee is happy.
  I think the world of the founders of Budget Blinds. They provided training and support. They warned against the low hanging fruit of New Construction and that it would end some day. They knew me better than I knew my self and had an existing long time franchisee from California call me to share his one man operation and how it was profitable. I wish I had listened to him.
  I went independent in a different market for about six months after I sold my franchise. Yes you get some support from reps but not like you get as a BB franchisee. I soon realized just what an advantage the franchisee had over an independent. I also learned that if you pay money for "the system" you are a real fool not to follow the system to the letter.
  Crossing territory lines is a tough one. It should be a matter of integrity if you get a lead, unless it is a referral, from another territory you should transfer it to them and vise versa. If neighboring operators worked together the marketing possibilities are endless.
  I am not doubting that there are some cases out there where the franchisor could have been more supportive but I also know people and our propensity to blame others for our short comings and failures.

• Totally amazed at all the negative comments and misleading statics and the credibilty "stretches" of 37% of 75 SBA loans failed. OK, so? Anyone who needed an SBA loan probably didn't know enought to be successful in the first place. That's what those stats say to me.

  Either my expertise is exceptional or I'm just one lucky dude but we are, and continue to do really well in the Budget Blinds' System which is what we paid for and know we purchased back ten years ago in 2003. We figured out that following the System we bought was the smart thing to do. If you do so, this is less work than having a license from the government to print your own money!

  Geez, I dunno about all those bad experiences -- just amazed to hear people say those things. I say, interview at random the same number of all other franchisees and see if they say the same bad things --- I'll bet a significant sum of money (made by selling Budget Blinds-generared leads for me) that many, many more would be significantly more positive about the decision to join this franchise family. Maybe those of us who are doing so well are too busy to spend time complaining, and just get the damn job done! We're very happy with the support and loyalty to all our colleagues and fellow franchisees given by the Five Founders for the entire decade we've know them. I say, don't walk to the bank to get your money to buy a franchise, RUN!!

• Vini:

  Please clarify which "misleading statistics" you are referring to. The 37% failure rate is from the Coleman Report which is compiled from data provided by the SBA. If Budget Blinds thinks that the Coleman Report or SBA data is in error (it's possible) please let us know the correct numbers and we will be happy to post them.

  According to the Budget Blinds 2014 Franchise Disclosure Document, there were a total of 939 Budget Blinds franchises in existence between 2010 - 2014.

  A total of 163 (17%) were terminated, weren't renewed, were reacquired by the franchisor, or ceased operation.

  There were a total of 105 transfers of franchises to different owners during that period. (939 + 105 = 1044 total franchise agreements in that time).

  So it appears that about 268 franchisees (26%) exited the system in those 4 years either by being terminated, ceasing operations or transferring to new owners. According to Budget Blinds statistics.

  "Anyone who needed an SBA loan probably didn’t know enought to be successful in the first place."

  I don't understand why an SBA loan would indicate less experience. It actually adds another level of financial qualification.

  If you think that Budget Blinds is selling to unqualified, inexperienced franchise prospects, that's definitely an issue worth raising with them. It's important for franchisors to qualify franchisees and only accept those with a high likelihood of success.

  Thanks for your comments.

• My husband is iin his second year of owning 2 budget blind franchises. We are barely making ends meet! The first year wasn't bad because we were not charged the franchise fees. Once the franchise fees hit they hit us hard. The first couple months the fee was 1500 per territory, Now It is more like 2000 per territory. On a good month my husband profits 7,000 ( after paying the vendors their fees) which is great if we did not have to pay 4,000 in fanchise fees. I am not sure what these fees cover because we still have to advertise on our own... which is another 1500 a month. Basically each month we are either under or just broke even. Not to mention other business fees like the phone bill, van, gas, storage unit. With these added expenses we have now racked up 18,000 in credit card debt, which we NEVER had credit card debt before. My husband contacted Budget blinds and they pretty much told him that he has to sell more blinds. They will not budge on the fees even if you are not making any money. The summer months are VERY slow and my husband only made 4500 ( after paying the vendor) then he had to pay 4000 for fees plus his other expenses so we were definitely in the red and it is hard to recover.
  I am looking for insight. How can we get out of this business? Do we have to file bankruptcy or is there another way since we signed a contract.

  Please Help!!!

• To Melissa L:

  Take a look at my comment of December 30, 2013. Get a lawyer and start going thur your contract. The last thing you want to do is run up more credit card debt. In the short run, see if you can give back at least one of the territories. Better to take the hit now than later and you may avoid bankruptcy that way. Don't look to the franchisor for help as it is just there to sell franchises, nothing more. You'll get the anectdotal stories like Vini's but believe me, those are the exceptions not the rule. It will always be "your fault", etc. etc. etc.

• We bought our Budget Blinds franchise in 2002. It was a rough beginning because no one was familiar with the name. We worked our fannies off, canvased, joined networking groups, mailed postcards, etc. We started with one territory and later added a second. Working two areas is overwhelming if you do not chose to expand and add employees. So we let our second franchise territory go. Corporate Budget Blinds has always worked well with us and supported our business wherever they could. We make a very comfortable living...not going to get rich...but are very happy with our choice to run this business. I agree, not everyone should own a small business. It takes dedication, long hours, and a desire to work with the public.