CAREPATROL Franchise Complaint – Updated

21 thoughts on “CAREPATROL Franchise Complaint – Updated”

• As the CEO of this company I can honestly say that this was written by an anonymous writer and we welcome this website to be ethical and honest to verify their facts. We are overseen by the FTC and if any of these slanderous comments were true, we would have been shut down immediately.

  Anyone (even competitors) can write an anonymous compliant against anyone in efforts to demean and destroy a national brand.

  I challenge the integrity of this website to verify all information that they publish and are legally responsible for.

  The publisher graveyard is also filled with website owners and publishers who publish false and slanderous comments. I welcome the publisher of this website to call me and find out the true facts of CarePatrol.

• Moderation? Did you give moderation to the anonymous person who wrote this? Also did you get written permission from RipOff Report to publish these licensed reports?

• CarePatrol has NEVER had a class action lawsuit filed against us. It is a shame that a website could publish absolute falsehoods against a company and create damage to the brand.

  My Franchisees are happy or we wouldn’t be growing. Potential Franchisees do call current Franchisees to see how they are doing.

• Mr. Bongiovanni:

  Welcome to UnhappyFranchisee.com. We are a discussion-based site intended to give those on both sides of a franchise issue the opportunity to fully present their views so that the readers (especially prospective franchisees) may decide for themselves, or at least identify issues for further inquiry.

  We often present franchisee complaints and, as stated, “Company responses, clarifications or rebuttals welcome.” We are not making these complaints. We do not state that the complaints are valid or true. We do believe they help identify claims worth investigating (if only to refute).

  You are free to use this forum to refute any or all elements of the complaint posted on ROR, such as:

  1) At least one franchisee has “lost well over $30,000″ through the CarePatrol franchise”
  2) “They [CarePatrol] promise to provide a steady stream of leads for free but what they send are useless saturated leads and come in very infrequently.”
  3) “There is no support given and the only time they heard from the corporate office was when they requested their ‘licensing fee’.”
  4) “this company knowingly and aggressively sold franchises while involved in a class action law suit…” [Which you’ve denied. What does this refer to?]
  5) “most of the franchises this company has sold have failed, are failing or have been abandoned.”

  You did not address the issue of closures in your response. Please do. You are free to invite current franchisees, associates, customers, etc. to post and refute Anonymous’ claims as well. If you would like us to post your response as its own post, send us an email.

  Friendly advice: Just tell the truth. We have a pretty savvy readership. Claims that the FTC immediately shuts down bad franchisors, or that only franchisors with happy franchisees sell franchises don’t fly here. If you really believe that, read through the site a bit.

  Thanks again for joining the conversation. We look forward to getting to the truth of the matter.

• I will be happy to get to the truth of the matter, assuming that the truth was ever written in the first place from this anonymous person.

  1) At least one franchisee has “lost well over $30,000″ through the CarePatrol franchise”

  I do not know of any franchisee who has lost $30,000 due to the CarePatrol Franchise System. Everyone of my franchisees who are following the system are doing well and are right at their goals. Anyone who purchases a franchise and does not follow a system will fail in any franchise system whether CarePatrol, McDonalds or any other franchise system. Every franchise system has those franchisees who for whatever reason fail. Their failure is not due to the system, but due to the indivdual who fails or refuses to follow a system. People who are looking into a franchise must ask themselves, are they willing to follow a system? Someone who purchases a McDonald’s franchise and wants to serve tofu burgers will probably fail. As any good franchisor, I am committed and obligated to all my franchisees to uphold our franchise culture, values and brand. If someone is not following these cultures, values or brand standards, they will be coached make changes. However, there are cases where if they are hurting the brand, they will be terminated. Every franchisor faces this fact, which is a hard one to face. CarePatrol offers all of our franchisees many opportunities to succeed, it is their choice to take personal responsibility to take full advantage of those opportunities.

  With that said, NO CarePatrol franchisee has mentioned, stated or alerted us of ever losing over $30,000 due to the CarePatrol system.

  2) “They [CarePatrol] promise to provide a steady stream of leads for free but what they send are useless saturated leads and come in very infrequently.”

  CarePatrol never promises to provide a steady stream of leads to anyone, however there are times when we have to stop advertising because our lead flow is overwhelming for the franchisees.

  The way our franchise royalty works is that we only get paid for leads that we provide that are serviced by our franchisees. If we do not provide leads for our franchisees, we do not get paid.

  Our goal is that after one year, the franchisee will provide 50% of their leads themselves for their business. Leads that the franchisees get on their own provide 100% revenue for them, we get paid no royality what-so-ever for these leads.

  It is not in our best interest to provide poorly qualified leads to our franchisees. Again, would a McDonald’s franchisee be happy if they did not have to pay their corporate office any royalty for walk-in clients that purchase burgers from them?

  What if they only had to pay royalties on customers that were referred by the national television commercials? Our royalty structure is the most honest of any franchise in the nation, if we do not provide or supprt you, the franchisee does not pay ANY ROYALTY to us.

  3) “There is no support given and the only time they heard from the corporate office was when they requested their ‘licensing fee’.”

  This shocking to hear to be honest. Our support is outstanding. We are available 24/7 for our franchisees and I am positive that they all will attune to this. Again, this goes back to one’s individual thoughts and perceptions of what a franchise is. It is not a business opportunity where you get trained and then can do whatever you want. Our on-going support program begins immediately after training with a 9 week follow up by our senior management team with emails, phone calls, webinars and franchise-wide conference calls.

  After the nine weeks we are always available and send out support emails daily. I have no idea of what the anonymous writer who claims that he does not own a franchise means here. How would the writer know of our support system if he or she never owned a CarePatrol Franchise?

  4) “this company knowingly and aggressively sold franchises while involved in a class action law suit…” [Which you’ve denied. What does this refer to?]

  CarePatrol has NEVER been involved in a Class Action Lawsuit ever. What the writer is referring to was a frivious lawsuit from a competitor. This frivilous lawsuit was fully disclosed according to the FTC rules, laws and regulations.

  It was settled out of court shortly after a judge denied a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) that the plaintiff was requesting. It was denied because the judge found NO MERIT in their request.

  We would never sell a franchise if we were involved in a Class Action Lawsuit. Again, this just shows how the writer was never involved in our franchise system and has a lack of knowledge of the details of which he or she speaks of. CarePatrol has NEVER been sued by any of our past or current franchisees. Nor have we ever requested a “gag” order from any franchisee who has left the system which many franchisors do.

  Franchisors requet these “gag” orders so any past franchisees cannot say anything negative about their experiece to new potential franchisees. We fully support potential franchisees to call any of our current or past franchisees to inquire about income potential and their experience with us. That is why we NEVER have requested a “gag” order, we have nothing to hide from anyone.

  5) “most of the franchises this company has sold have failed, are failing or have been abandoned.”

  Again, this is absolutely false. None of our franchisees have EVER failed. We have a strategic plan in place if any franchisee is considered “not developing” to their ability or goals. We have a special franchise support program for any franchisee who needs more help in developing their skills. To my knowledge, none of our franchises are failing. We had one franchisee abandon his franchise after he moved out of the continental United States to be close to his daughter. Any good father would move if his daughter was taken from him and moved thousands of miles away. We chose not to transfer his franchise to his new location due to strategic issues with running a franchise outside of the continental United States.

  In Conclusion:

  I am sure that the savvy readership of this website will read between the lines of this anonymous writer and see that he or she talks about “his friends” who were involved in CarePatrol. That proves in itself that he or she NEVER owned a CarePatrol Franchise and would have NO FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE of anything that he or she states in his or her complaint.

  We are the leaders in the Senior Placement Franchise Industry and I am sure that our competitors will do whatever they can to devalue our brand including writing false accusations and complaints about us.

  However, why didn’t this anonymous reveal who he or she was? Since he or she was a “friend” of a franchisee, We would have no idea who they were.

  Can you put much crediability in someone who will not put his or her name to his or her thoughts, feels and complaints?

  And again, why would a website like this one publish a complaint from an anonymous person? Do we live in an age where honor and credibility means nothing?

  It is ironic that the publisher of this website states that he looks forward to “getting to the truth of the matter” when the original article was based on an anonymous slaughter of the truth to begin with.

  I stand behind CarePatrol as my franchisees do also.

• I purchased two CarePatrol franchises and ended up purchasing another a few months later. All three are profitable and growing every day. There are many negative people in the world who do more complaining then working. The anonymous posting lacks creditability. I have nothing but great things to say about CarePatrol…Well let me say 100’s of my clients have nothing but great things to say about CarePatrol.

• To Whom it May Concern,

  My husband and I currently own three franchises of this company. We purchased the first two in April of 2009 and then, because things were going so well and we were so pleased with our experience, we purchased the third franchise in June. I was amazed by the letter your Web site received from an anonymous coward. I personally take strong exception to anyone who doesn’t take responsibility for their own words, but that is only the first issue I have with this person.

  My second issue is my franchises are not failing; we have made a steady income and rather than feelings of stress and sleepless nights, I go to sleep every night knowing that I have helped people. I have countless letters from families we have worked with thanking us for the blessing of finding our services.

  As to a steady stream of free leads, we do receive a steady stream of leads. We don’t pay any fees until a placement is made and then the costs of those fees is minimal in comparison to other franchise opportunities. Apparently, the author of the letter has never worked with our corporate office; it has always gone above and beyond to answer my questions and offer support.

  It is most disturbing to me that this Web site would post anonymous letters from a person committing libel. It is truly sad that a company that has helped countless seniors and their families is being attacked by a nameless coward who knowingly and aggressively lies.

  Sandy Messer, CSA
  Certified Senior Advisor

• As being one of the first franchisees with CarePatrol I totally disagree with the comments made by the anonymous submission posted on Sunday, August 1, 2010.

  This franchise model is proven, works and is extremely successful. CarePatrol is based upon many years of hard work, experience, honesty and above all ethical practices when servicing our senior population. There is extensive support and training offered and required for each franchise owner. CarePatrol promotes success and is always available to assist with any issues we may have.

  I am very satisfied with the growth and anticipated growth of my franchise. My greatest reward is the heartfelt thanks that I receive from my many clients when I have helped them solved their eldercare need.

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  CAREPATROL: Franchisees Praise the CarePatrol Franchise

• Anonymous Slanderer,

  I am an employee of a franchise of this company. I am continually following up with clients we have helped to make sure they or their loved ones are happy in their new home. As a result, I am continually told things such as “I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t there to help me,” and “I am so glad you toured with me,” and “thank you so much for caring.”

  I don’t understand how a lead can be “useless” or “saturated” when the sender submits his or her request online and a minute later it is sent to us. Saturated how? The client who needs the help with their loved one doesn’t find our service useless. They are grateful to us at a difficult and stressful time in their lives. It is very satisfying to help them.

  Obviously, you are not endowed with “an ounce of intelligence” or you would be working your own “much more successful method” and not have time to slander another company. In the year I have been working with this company, I have found the corporate office to be extremely supportive. I am welcome in their office at any time and encouraged to ask as many questions as I need to if my employer is unavailable.

  With society’s attitude of “I’ll do whatever it takes to get ahead,” I am happy my employer is not that way. They are extremely ethical and genuinely care about our clients. I believe that attitude comes from the top down.

• Hi I just stumbled across this website and this posting. I thought would mention some information about the the Care Patrol franchises in Houston. My mother is a discharge manager at a large nursing home in the Houston area. I know that she’s mentioned to me that she’s seen at least 3 Care Patrol franchisees come and go over the last 2 years and didn’t have high regards for their services because of the fallout/failure rate of the franchisees. Just thought I’d mention this because the owner of the company mentioned that no franchisee had ever failed. An obvoius inaccuracy in his comment.

  Thanks

• This is strange. Why would a daughter have a conversation with her mother about a franchise in Houston? How many daughters start the day with “Hi Mom, let’s talk about a franchise that you work with”. Very strange and interesting to why “someone” would post this out of the blue. Does this sound real?

  I will respond to explain her “false perceptions”, one franchisee moved outside of the continental United States to be close to his daughter after her mother moved, read the above blog.

  The other 2 franchises did not fail. The owners moved out of Texas due to their spouses being transferred from their jobs. It was sad, but both of these franchisees left on their biggest revenue month that they ever had.

  This is an economy that sometimes dictates that families move out of state after job transfers, promotions and advancements. I stand behind the courage and dedication it must have took to walk away from such a good business to support their loved ones. That is truly the character of this company’s value system. Is the writer suggesting that a spouse stay in Texas and separate a family to continue to run a franchise?

  This is the assumptions that happen when someone does not know the truth about situations and feel it is their duty to “correct” those who know the truth and have lived it day to day.

  To show of our character of our company, we released these franchisees without any fees or lawsuits for lost future revenues. Most franchisors would have filed suit if a franchisee didn’t follow the terms of the franchise agreement.
  We have since transferred all Texas franchise activities to our home office, which I can report is doing well in that market.

  To further show the inaccuracies of the above blogger, There has never been 3 franchisees in one territory in Houston, therefore, the “story” of the 3 “failed” franchisees visiting and marketing this woman’s mother in a large nursing home is completely false.

  Anyone who understands franchising and territories knows that franchisees cannot market in each other’s territories. It is a direct violation of their franchise agreement. Therefore, this woman’s mother could have NEVER been marketed by these 3 individuals.

  This is most likely someone if not the same “anonymous” person who wrote the original blog. If not, I welcome this blogger to give me a call so I can assist her mother in overcoming any bad feelings she has towards my company. I don’t think I will get a call, but I absolutely welcome it. She obviously knows my website and can find my number.

  Personally, our management team feels that this “person” anonymous in name or a factious in name is obviously trying to spread a smear campaign against an up and coming franchise system. There are competitors out there who would stop at nothing to gain traction on us.

  As the founder and protector of our brand, I have a legal fiduciary responsibility to stop any libel or slander that can hurt or brand and my franchisees’ investment.

  Therefore, we currently are working on and will be filing suit in the near future in the states of Arizona and Ohio to obtain the identity of any person or persons who is participating in such a negative campaign against us and will have to prosecute them to fullest extent of the law.

  My suggestion would to this person or persons is to simply give me a call and we can discuss any issue that you have between us, assuming that there is a real person with a real issue and not a competitor causing problems.

  I welcome your call.

• I have been a franchise owner for a littile over a year in the Milwaukee area. I find that Chuck and his organization professional and are available 24/7 for the franchisee. I have been introduced to key people and organizations that I would have never known about if it was not for Chuck and his networking skills and fine reputation in the industry. It disurbs me that one person can start such a farce and try to damage a reputation when so many hardworking individuals in this organization are just wanting to help a senior and their family.

• Chuck,

  I am currently researching the franchise market and found this CarePatrol thread. Personally, I think Anonymous did you a favor because not only have you addressed all of the false points mentioned, but a number of your franchisees have also stood up & supported your company. So while I am sure this whole thing has been very frustrating for you, I believe Anonymous’ strategy backfired.

  My only hope is that with my limited funds I can become a franchisee myself because so far this looks like a great business opportunity with a big heart!

• I think it’s very likely the original comments by the anonymous individual are untrue, based on certain clues. The writer sounds as though he/she is completely unfamiliar with Franchise Disclosure Documents and how franchising works. Additionally, the tone doesn’t ring true; more like a competitor or disgruntled employee, erc. It’s a shame.

  However, I would encourage the franchisor to take a little more time when composing your responses. While basically on your side, I was thrown by poorly written sentences and poor grammar from a CEO (or whatever his title may be). Please consider that you might make a much stronger case for yourself – and better represent your entire organization – if you come across as professional and composed rather than as though you on the same level as the anonymous poster.

• Can someone explain this to me? http://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cases/2012/12/121207carepatrolcmpt.pdf

• Would like more info on starting my own franchise

• As someone once interested in carepatrol, I can tell you that the statement Chuck made about “everyone of [his] franchisees who are following the system are doing well and are right at their goals” is a flat out lie. Unless the goal is not make $0 while trying to better their family. Maybe the success of the franchise depends on the geographic areas. Who knows? But I’d love to hear some accurate figures about how many have sold their franchises or moved on and I hope that those who are not making money despite their best and honest efforts do not end up being worse off financially than before they bought in. And I SURE hope that after following the ‘system’ to a ‘t’ that they are not called lazy.

• I have a friend who bought into this franchise and I slowly watched their excitement turn into utter disappointment. As the previous person said, unless the goal is to make $0 while trying to better their family, the owner’s statements are a flat out lie. I feel terribly for them and I am one of those right or wrong people – and they are just wrong! My heart breaks for this family. Hopefully their kids can have a decent Christmas and they can figure out a way to pay back the tens of thousands of dollars. Shame on Carepatrol.

• Like all business purchase transactions one undertakes they should put into effect their due diligence before giving an offer or signing an agreement. Get a list of at least 3 franchisees and speak to them all getting their input on the company. Ask for a few customers they have gotten placed (with permission) and ask how they were treated. Speak with the care homes/facilities to get their feedback. If you get no “red flags” then proceed with the purchase after seeing all the financials and disclosures and you get a lawyer/CPA to check thoroughly there are no hidden surprises.