COLLEGE PRO PAINTERS: Great Opportunity or Franchise Scam?

111 thoughts on “COLLEGE PRO PAINTERS: Great Opportunity or Franchise Scam?”

• Great f-ing post, Kevin!

  Kevin remembers the days when his Dad used to tell him: “Look, Kevin! There goes Mr. Madoff! He built that company and, by golly, he became a BILLIONAIRE, Kevin. When other people might have hesitated screwing other people and ruining their lives, Mr. Madoff just kept working hard, preying on people’s hopes and dreams, and filling his bank accounts with their life savings!”

  “Yes, Kevin, there were days when Mr. Madoff’s face got tired of smiling while he lied to people, and his arms got sore from carrying the loot he stole from them or stabbing them in the back, but he had perseverence, Kevin.”

  “Do you see those disgusting poor people in the gutter, Kevin? Those are called College Pro painters franchisees. They were stupid enough to actually fall for the sales pitch.” said Kevin’s Dad. “They got what they deserve, Kevin.”

  “Promise me, Kevin,” said Kevin’s Dad before he f-ing went to the F-ing country club in the sky. “Promise me that you will never feel bad about f-ing those poor losers, that you will sell them down the river, and that you will blame them and say it’s all their f-ing fault, the f-ing losers. ”

  “Yes, Kevin, then go on the f-ing Internet and pretend you’re just a hardworking franchisee who made good, and not that you’re a f-ing scumbag like your dear old dad!”

  Then Kevin’s Dad went to prison where he was shanked by an ex-franchisee. So the story has a happy ending after all!

• I am currently interviewing for the franchisee position. So far, I have had 2 phone interviews and one that was face to face. I have been on numerous interviews where I ended up turning down the job offer due to the lack of professionalism as far as questions and conversations went while sitting down with these hiring managers. Up until now I must say that the way College Pro gets to know you before potentially hiring you is an excellent reflection, on what I feel, the company stands for.

  I feel by posting this I would be considered bias due to no experience with the company, yet. It seems to me that most these posts are due to failure. As far as that goes it really is true, it’s nobody’s fault but your own. The reason our world is the way it is is due to people always blaming their mistakes on everyone else. What ever happened to working hard for what you have? I think many people seem to forget that many internships aren’t even paid. The point of an internship is to gain experience and skills that you can carry with you for the rest of your life, not to become a millionaire in 6 months. For all the athletes in the world, you know the importance of hard work and dedication. An internship like this, or any other commission based internship shows you the meaning of those two words. I feel that any bashing of any company like this is out of line and most likely the words of people who have never put in the extra time to be great at something. Remember you pave you’re own path. Unfortunately, money doesn’t grow on trees or else we’d all be able to complain about working for something.

• This whole CP thing is just a scam. It’s just like Norpac. I was offered a job by Norpac just like that, but I decided to quit before I even started because there was no “guaranteed profit” by working for Norpac. It’s the same with CP, there is no guarantee that you will make any money, in fact, you are likely to lose money. I simply told them to shove it and blocked all contact with them.

• Ah College Pro, brings back so many memories. Sure, it WAS a great idea/job/concept in its day (late 70s, early 80s) pretty revolutionary at the time and a great introduction to the business world for the tail end of the baby boom generation.
  Those of us involved at the time made great money, controlled our own destiny and were the envy of our friends

  Problem is, in ’89 everything changed,… Greg Clark the visionary founder sold out for peanuts and ownership moved to a public corp, heavily in debt and full of thuggish management. It was at this moment that the vision for the company changed into a conveyor belt of naive student types paying ever more unreasonable rates of royalty and failing in larger and larger numbers. Territories were carved up, fees for every item under the sun were introduced and smoke and mirror ways of convincing a 19 year old kid that he actually “made 10,000 last summer” were rolled out (gee, how come i have nothing in the bank and owe you guys $4000?)

  Funny to see summer sales numbers in this forum for CPP managers like “$75k” or “$50k” thrown around which equates to something like 1500 to 2000 billed hours, when 6000 to 7000 billed hours was the norm in early ’80s. No wonder the managers cant make a buck any more.

  Summary:CPP used to be good, now it doesnt work anymore

• Hi,

  So, after two years I’m watching my credit score simulate with how much it would improve if only, only i could pay off my damn credit card.

  You see my experience with these dirt-bags is the skyrocketing royalty charges that the executive manages were quite geniuses at justifying. I totally, and absolutely love saying that I pulled 55K in revenue that summer, but also remember how much of that 55K was spent just on royalty. I was reminded again about the fact that I’m still 6K in the hole with my one and only credit card. Before college pro, other than school debt, I have not been a big credit card user. I used my card, thinking that I would actually make money at the end of the summer to pay for expenses such as gas, food, and/or paint that quickly ballooned into spending more than a little grand.

  Also, I found an old paper inquiry of my credit score that was dated back to that summer… and it was 546!! Which was horrible! I made some mistakes that summer that I don’t make. And yes I really do blame college pro for my falling a slave toward their marketing tactics. Which in part is silly, but everyone who knows me and who suffered through this scam with me says that I actually have every right to blame them. (Even if a small part of me still blames myself).

  Well, on a side note, and to shed light on such as terrible situation. I have been smart enough to get myself out of this pickle. If anyone who has suffered the same damages reads this, then I hope you can see this as hope as well as a little advice.

  That summer, I went delinquent on two of my small accounts, Macy’s and Maurices, neither a major credit card. Just last month I tackled Maurices by writing a letter to this company requesting that they remove the negative information to the credit bureau. I had already accomplished this with Macy’s before the school year started last fall, 2011. Both companies removed the derogatory information from my account!

  Having the negative information removed was rather simple. I will note, however, that by this time I had a more improved score of 703 which gave me better bargaining advantage). Because of my letters, my score is now a pretty 717…. so far, so good as long as I don’t fall for the same trap twice. (haha) For those of you who have your credit score tarnished because of college pro, it is definitely not something that is irreparable. If you are interested in a copy of these letters and finding out how I did this, you can email me at [redacted]. Maybe one day I’ll be able to bring college pro down, but I definitely have a lot of research to do before i do.

  Case in point, college pro may have came close to destroying me, but it’s possible after you get those dirt bags off your back to come out of a situation like mine stronger than when I was thick enough to fall for the lies of college pro.
  Whenever I am able to pay off my credit card, my score will spike to 746, that is if the $5 website (scoresense.com) tracking feature is accurate. The website has been accurate so far, why not with my simulating my prospective score?

  However, I did not mean to write a book, but I guess when talking about this particular subject. I have a lot to say.

• ps. even though macy’s and maurices are two “credit cards” I don’t consider them the same as my visa. So, to be fully accurate in my statement. I actually have 3 credit cards.

• Last thing, I promise… only because some people here are saying that people have failed because they were lazy, there wasn’t a day that i didn’t work from sun-up to sundown. This company charges you like you’re a fish drinking booze. Some who failed may have given up, they may have chosen to play video games, but I didn’t. I played it all by the rules until the very end. I began paying my workers under the table etc., etc., etc. My workers wouldn’t get what they were worth unless I started hiding a few funds from cp… If I hadn’t busted my ass, I would be in a lot more trouble than I was, I’ll grant you that, but in no way did I fail because I didn’t work hard. You can even ask any of my customers.

  And If I had done cp again, sure I might’ve ended up with a positive cash flow… but ….

  for the people who did actually make 12K and had that sitting in their bank account… (which amounts to any other job between 8.50 to 10.50 an hour 40 hr/wk job and had the “entrepreneurial” experience, you will really accept the fact that you probably pulled a hell of a lot more in revenue with 30 % going to royalty? In other words, you are okay with paying for your one hell of an experience?

• College Pro Painters is an awful company. They nearly forced me to drop out of college. Think about this. You get off for summer break, work your butt off all summer long, and I actually lose money that summer as a manager. Then I had to go back to school broke, and continue studying. It was an awful experience, and it still pisses me off that CPP took advantage of me. I know other people that ended up dropping out of school as a direct result of CPP. The only thing I learned was not to trust anyone from this company. My GM Blake McLemore was a complete ass, I remember he kept talking about his Harley Davidson, all I could think about is a mack truck taking him out on the freeway!

• you know unhappy franchise should stop complaining….you guys know what you signed up for..they CLEARLY STATE EVERYTHING IT IN THE CONTRACT…and if u didn’t agree with it you shouldn’t have signed in in the first place….! if you are too lazy and you like to whine college pro is not for you!! life does not come easy….you need to work hard to be successful…..i think this program is awesome it gives an opportunity to run your OWN business …if you are not mature enough to deal with the repercussions then don’t bother singing up for it….running your own business is not easy……its my bf is first year in college pro and because he’s so driven everything is working smoothly ..and i didn’t hear him complain once..except liking the experience so i don believe any one who says they “worked hard” and didn’t get results…cuz thats not true…then maybe u should try harder. so stop whining people…..this is life!!! its tough!!!

• i workd for collage pro painters for two days hardest work ive ever done so i quit and i never got paid, pretty wack. i hate collage pro painters

• belle,

  How many pages are in your contract?

  How long did your franchise salesman spend talking about all the positive aspects of owning YOUR franchise?

  My District Manager who helped to sell me my franchise ranted about being my own boss, succeeding off of the hard work that I performed, working for myself not by myself and many other perks that come with being a franchise owner. What he didn’t tell me is that he would get fired and then I would be confronted by new management who would FORCE me to surrender up MY established customers so the company could profit from a NEW start-up. It’s called CHURNING!

  If people take the time to come here and voice their opinion let their opinion be heard without ridicule. I am a Veteran of the U.S. Army which the IFA holds in great esteem and says that we as Veterans are the prime candidates for franchising.

  I am here to tell Veterans “Look at what they did to me”.

  See my complete story on the Matco Tools thread!

• Does anyone realize why it is hard to fight these franchisors?

  It is because everyone is bought off. From franchisors to attorneys to politicians to the media franchising is protected. The IFA was, originally, an organization to protect franchising which included FRANCHISEES. But it is now an organization which has BANDED together all the people who are PROFITING off of franchising into a force that can not be reckoned with.

  The ONLY way we as SCREWED franchisees can get change to happen in franchising is to BAND together!

  A good start at change would be the IFA Legal Symposium May 20-22 in Washington D,C.

  If all of us unhappy franchisees were to show up and voice our opinion at this convention people would take notice. But the facts are we are doing what our government trained us to do. Be a WORKING America. It is hard for any of us to represent ourselves at ANY of these meetings where people are grouping together to decide how to screw the next round of franchisees USING our legal system to do it. That, my friends, is exactly what will be taking place on May 20-22 in Washington D.C.

  Want to educate yourself further go to this 16 page brochure that is found on the IFA’s web site.

  http://www.franchise.org/uploadedFiles/LegalSymposium2012_web%204-16-12.pdf

  Learn that on May 21, 2012 these attendees of the Legal Symposium will be learning all about how to deal with us pesky franchisees.

  It says franchisees are even invited. All you have to do is come up with $1475 to cover your non-membership of the IFA. A room rate of $306 a night (Standard) and a $50.00 registration fee. I see a lot of franchisees going to this convention DON’T YOU?

• Another way to fight the IFA and make them hold franchisors responsible is support of my petition. Please read the petition and if you support my cause for holding the IFA responsible for its franchisor members actions please sign and share. The link is here:

  http://www.change.org/petitions/veterans-deserve-success-not-matco-tools-franchise-failure

• I was considering College Pro painters for the summer. It’s odd that there are very few positive comments on here. Is it that bad? Why would you sign a contract you don’t agree with? It will be interesting to see what people have to say about this organization at the end of summer time.

• College “Pro” Painters…

  First of all, this company is not filled with pros of any kind. In fact, the kids who run these franchises are mostly new to the whole painting aspect in general. College Pro has basically manipulated these kids into signing a contract with them and making open ended promises they can’t even keep.

  The franchisees for these companies are college students who are trying very hard to pay for their education and help their parents out as much as they can. Instead of earning some extra cash, some of these kids work their butts off all summer (working 70+ hour weeks) and have no effort to show for at the end of the summer. However, the overpaid “executives” of college pro are guaranteed their money while they play golf and sit at an office to make their sorry lives feel important.

  Now you may wonder if I know what I’m actually talking about. I was a passed franchisee and I had to live this nightmare. I will answer any questions for anyone that is even thinking about joining this company. At first they make you feel like the job is hard to get, they also make you go through an interview on the phone and two in person. This is just a pyramid scheme. They make the job seem hard to get, but in reality, they need you so much more then you need them. Once they make you sign a contract, you can not quit because they will charge you $2000 right away for all of the money they “invested” in you.

  I worked from May until September and ran a $50,000 business and actually barely broke even. In fact, I probably lost money in the end. How would you feel if you booked and produced $50,000 and never saw a penny go into your bank account? Instead, I paid College Pro $35,000, my painters $7,000, and my paint cost me $8000. They only reason my employee cost was only $7,000 is because I painted all summer with them for free! I never saw my friends, had my phone ringing non stop because customers were unhappy, and college pro always got their money from me at the end of every week.

  One time, I had a customer look me in the eye and say, “College Pro? You guys should be called College Amateurs.” At first this upset me, until I realized, Amateurs is exactly what we were. I was trained for 7 hours on how to paint a house and was expected to find kids who wanted to paint for me and I was the one who needed to teach them how to do this. I myself had no clue what I was doing, yet College pro expected me to paint homes worth $500,000 or more.. If you are a home owner reading this, how would you feel if you paid College Pro 3 or 4 thousand dollars to paint your house and the kids who were slapping the paint on to your beautiful home had no idea what they were doing?

  College Pro tells you to act like you know what you’re doing in front of the homeowner. They teach you to LIE! They also expected me to find anyone to help me paint when one of my painters quits. So this shows that they do not care who is actually painting their customers’ houses and quality does not mean a thing to them as long as they still get paid. My painters were actually making more money then I was, and I was the one putting in 70 hour weeks and making no money. This origination is the biggest pyramid scheme on this planet. And the sick part, is that it technically is legal.

  You will have a select few franchisees that make money, but they hate their life. And if they made serious money, then they either don’t go to school or have lost everyone who was ever close to them. My dad told me this was a scam from day one, but I said no dad! I’m going to make some serious cash! I should have listened to him, because he is never wrong.

  To this day, I do everything in my power to talk to and meet with people who have an interest in working for this company. Take this as a lifesaving warning. DO NOT EVER AFFILIATE YOUSELF WITH COLLEGE PRO PAINTERS!!!!!!!

• My boyfriend worked for College Pro for maybe a month or two. The pay was horrible! Even if you manage to get a lead, you only get paid if the customer says yes to allowing College Pro to paint their house. Even then, you can’t be sure if the customer says yes because you aren’t the one to call them, your boss does. So there is NO way of telling if you are being scammed. In all the time he was working there he only got one paycheck of a mere 45$ for several hours of work. Also every time he was supposed to get paid, his boss would push it off ’til later and then he’d stop answering his phone calls. Eventually, he stopped staying in contact with my boyfriend all together and we haven’t heard from him since although we’ve tried several times to contact him. DO NOT work with College Pro. They are horrible scammers.

• Thank Goodness for these comments from the public! My dad got a flyer from Colledge Pro and he read this site Unhappy Franchisee-gained much wisdom! The former customers tell the truth. The flyer mentions the Better Business Bureau and shows a contractor license number but that apparrantly doesn’t mean much anymore. I read somewhere that a person can just pay for an endorsement from the BBB! So, I will deffenetly inform people. Thank You for the heads-up.

• College Pro Painters is a SCAM. Do NOT get your house painted by this company. There is absolutely NOTHING professional about it. The business is run by franchisees. Most of which haven’t had any franchisee experience whatsoever. Some of the painters start painting their first house without ever having picked up a paintbrush in their lives. Speed trumps quality with these guys. They fly through jobs under budget so that they make a few extra bucks. Most of them don’t stick around for more than a year or two and don’t plan on building a reputation as a good painter. So most of the painters don’t really care about the quality of work. I could go on and on and on about how horrible this company is, but I think you get the idea.
  DO NOT HIRE COLLEGE PRO PAINTERS!

• PLEASE READ
  I was a FM in 2012 and it was awful. I went in as a FRESHMEN in college and those fat cats at the big office convinced me that I was better than everyone else and I should work for them.

  So I did. And it was THE biggest mistake of my life.

  First of all, I was always struggling with money to make ends meet. I was from out of state with no place to live and no transportation. I had to buy my own car and rent out an apartment. Every month paying rent was a challenge because CPP never taught me how to deal with money AT ALL. Even though that is at the core of any business, the only part that was emphasized was the part where THEY make money off of MY hard work.

  And let me tell you, it was a lot of hard work.

  I went through all the weird cultish training and parties where all they do is reinforce how much better I am than non-FMs and no time was spent explaining anything of real value to any of us.

  CPP LIED TO ME. They let me hire high school kids even though they knew I didn’t have the permit to do so. I’m hit with $500 fine and 3 counts against my record from L&I so thanks College Pro, ya did good to me on that one.

  CPP CALLED ME A LIAR. My GM was really nice at first but I noticed that he was a real slave driver. There were so many sketchy things going on but I was 18 how was I supposed to know, I was counting on CPP to teach me what I should and shouldn’t do (that’s how they marketed it to me! more lies!).

  CPP STOLE MY MONEY. I was $7k in debt by the end of the summer even though I produced good work, all because of the bullshit “royalty” fees. AND CPP failed to mention that I had an additional overhead fee with Sherwin Williams for supplies that came to about $1k which I was expected to pay even though I stopped making money in SEPTEMBER. They told me at the end of December.

  All in all, CPP screws over all of its workers. It’s a typical top-down structure where the more the little guy loses out, the more the fat cat executives make out of it.

• Pingback: COLLEGE PRO PAINTERS Franchise Complaints - Unhappy Franchisee : Unhappy Franchisee

• I was College Pro Franchisee for three years in the 90’s.

  I have recently spoken to a few 2012 franchisees and have read a few comments on the websites.

  It appears somethings never change.

  When College Pro presents information to prospective students about their potential profits, they assume that everything will go perfect and the franchisee will make a 25% profit on each painting job, unfortunately this is not the case.

  The reality is:

  1.Most managers do not have any painting experience and receive a few hours of classroom training on painting and estimating. In many cases the GM who is delivering the training only has a few years of manager experience and very little painting experience. With minimal training, often in the snow managers are estimating jobs and signing up customers for the summer. Unfortunately the training provided is not adequate and many jobs are not estimated properly, the problems with the estimate is not discovered until the painting starts.

  2. Hiring painters is the other difficult part, College Pro offers minimal wages, attracting top quality people and painters is difficult. The training the painters receive is minimal, things often go wrong on the job, the cost of producing the job is higher than expected.

  Who pays the price for the above the Manager or Franchisee, by law the painters need to be paid, the paint store needs to be paid and College Pro Collect their royalty first. It is very common for Franchisee’s to lose money on jobs. This a reality of business, however it is not something College Pro factors into the franchisee’s business plan.

  In my time I witnessed many franchisees produce $50 000 – $75 000 in work in the summer, lose money. Of course College Pro blames the manager, in many cases it the manager contributed to their demise, in many cases the manager was not prepared or had the skills to run a business.

  The College Pro GM needs to recruit managers to fill all the vacant positions, in the perfect world they would have their choice of top people, however in many cases they are desperate and recruit people who clearly do not have the skills or the abilities to run a franchise. The franchisee may produce $40 000 in work, suffer an anxiety break down etc, but College Pro takes their money off the top, the GM looks good because the manager produced $40 000, the franchisee is broke, the painters were under paid and the customers are unhappy. The GM looks good because a substantial part of their performance is evaluated on the $$ generated. Not the managers success.

  A successful summer requires managers to work hard during the winter, attending weekends, doing estimates, hiring painters etc. If a manager waits until after exams end in April to start work, they have no chance at turning a profit. I have known many managers to allow their studies to suffer as a result.

  Did I earn money with College Pro, Yes, a lot, no. I worked hard and I earned more than the average manager, in my time the average guy was lucky to earn $2000 for the summer. Many lost money. Unfortunately speaking to a few recent managers nothing has changed.

  How does College Pro survive? People hate to admit failure, the ones that don’t make any money are often silent, the manages who make a little often embellish to make it sound like they earned more money. The GM encourages them to embellish, it makes them look good as well.

  Would I recommend College Pro to paint my house? No

  Would I recommend somebody to be a College Pro Manager? No

  If you are considering becoming a College Pro Franchise manager, speak to every Franchise Manager from the previous year in your GM’s area. The GM is unlikely to provide this information.

• I am assembling the best lawyers in Seattle for a class action lawsuit against college pro painters. As a past Senior Franchise Manager, I have seen and witnessed everything and am now ready to take it to court. Anyone who have suffered from this scam, please send me an email ([redacted]) and I will pass it off to the lawyers.

  Thanks,
  DK

• How can I do this please help me; how to send an email (redacted). Thanks i will really appreciate it

• I worked for College Pro Painters as a franchisee some years ago. I made what I considered to be good money at the time and felt it was a positive experience. I left on good terms with the company but have since realized that some of their tactics are not ethical and feel now that I may have been under the spell of a ruthless, intense, cultlike organization with no other goal than to maximize profits for its owners.

  Is College Pro Painters a Scam?

  Strictly speaking, it is not accurate to call CPP a “scam”. As their representatives will bleat out to you repeatedly. all the royalties/fees/charges/incidentals etc. are accurately spelled out in their voluminous “contract” and potential franchisees are “encouraged” to read this document before signing. However, the ethics of placing a detailed contract in front of an 18 year old kid, badgering him to sign up and then using the same document to beat him over the head with threats when he tries to get out of the deal are questionable at best. I have seen kids as young as 17 induced to sign a CPP franchise contract and wind up at summer’s end in heavy debt, virtually bankrupt and being harassed by “head office” for unpaid bills. I have also seen attempts made by CPP to enforce their franchise contracts in a court of law, many of which failed miserably, often resulting in a paper “settlement” that is many times greater than any cash that might have changed hands. This unpaid paper settlement is then waved ad nauseum in front of anyone that dares threaten to quit next.

  Is College Pro Painters a Cult?

  The company may be, in my opinion, a rather well organized corporate cult. I base this conclusion on my suspicion that the company may use advanced brainwashing techniques to create motivation and retention to ensure that the “manager” hangs in for the full 4 months of production to generate royalties/fees/charges of 25% or more on gross sales for the company. Their techniques seem disturbingly similar and may be as equally effective as those used by Scientology, Hare Krishna and EST http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhard_Seminars_Training) to name a few. (Don’t believe me? Read this: http://www.listology.com/content_show.cfm/content_id.31551/Storage )

  Ivy League Mind Control

  In the mid 1980’s CPP (at the time owned solely by a Toronto based businessman named Greig Clark, the company’s founder, and now fully owned by a Canadian based public company called “FirstService corporation”) hired a team of Harvard based psychologists to develop comprehensive training, development and motivational tools that would be used to establish what appears to be a very effective cult like atmosphere throughout the company. The sophisticated techniques developed over 20 years ago have proven extremely adept and have allowed the company to expand its reach throughout North America in every major urban center.

  Everything revolves around creating commitment and cementing the retention of franchise managers, particularly for the critical 4 to 5 month “production period” when painters are hired and jobs are churned out at all cost. Spring training sessions have involved learning estimating skills and commitment building activities that including crying, chanting, pledging allegiance to the company, and alcohol fueled commitment ceremonies in which participants promise to deliver the company specific sales results. Of course everyone is free to leave at any time, but I can tell you that the peer pressure that these sessions generate is enormous and effective.

  Safety and the Customer Come Last

  In my experience actual training of painters, operating a safe worksite and producing quality work for clients was WAY down the list in terms of priorities. The goal appeared to be to get warm bodies on ladders slapping paint on houses at all costs. The hope seemed to be that money would change hands at some point of which CPP could grab its share first. The company then seems to use the “franchise” system to insulate itself from the eventual property damage, workplace injuries and even deaths that occur regularly in the field.

  I feel that the morality of the company is particularly reprehensible, with their system placing untrained young men and women on ladders/rigging provided by more untrained young men and women. This policy of the “blind leading the blind” has lead to several horrible accidents over the years.

  Keep Paying Us For Life!

  For the thoroughly brainwashed, more “opportunities” are then made available to graduating franchise managers not satisfied with spending a mere 4 months of paying 25% of their gross to this company. These include upper management levels in the organization and other franchises available that are also controlled by “FirstService corporation”. The intent seems to be to keep the most heavily committed franchisees locked in and paying royalties to the system for the rest of their business lives.

  Steven S. Rogers

  Many of College Pro’s hardball, money first policies have emanated from upper management and possibly from an individual named Steven Rogers who served in a leadership role in the organization for many years. After a rumored bankruptcy stemming from a failed construction business in Vancouver in the mid 1980’s, Rogers was hired by “FirstService corporation” to squeeze maximum profits from the newly purchased CPP brand at all costs. Rogers, now in his late 50’s, is almost 4 decades older than some of the current CPP franchisees.

  Rogers claims in his corporate biography to have been “a pioneer of the College Pro Painters franchise system” in the mid 1970’s. The reality is that the company existed successfully for a number of years before he had any involvement. Elsewhere in his biography Rogers also conveniently avoids the glaring fact that as a CPP franchisee in the 1970’s he paid approximately 5% of his gross sales in royalties/fees to the company while in 2009 CPP franchisees are blessed with the opportunity to “run their own business” and often pay 25% or more of their gross sales in royalties/fees/charges.

  Rogers operated College Pro under the umbrella of an organization named “The Franchise Company” or “TFC”.
  He was named in a California based lawsuit in 2005 for, among other things “common law fraud” against a TFC franchisee. (see http://www.franchoice.com/franchise/certa_propainters/fdd/item_3)

  On balance, I can say that the company has strayed far from it’s original roots as an “association of student contractors”. It may now be considered by some to be an abusive corporate cult.

• Hey everyone,

  Thank you for all the heads-up about CPP. I almost just wasted my time speaking with someone about persueing this oppourtunity, I have expierence, and I will be looknig for a long-term career, not a summer position with a terrible company like this. If all this place is good for is expierence runnig your own business, then no thank-you, I already have 3 years expierence under my belt , as well as top in my business program. I think I will pass on the “oppourtunity”

  thanks again everyone,

• I hired College Pros two summers ago to SCRAPE and paint the house – it was peeling all over the house last year. When they knock on my door this year promoting their Company, I will tell them exactly what I think of their Company. Any other time we have had our house painted it lasted for at least 5 years – it is all in the preparation and they did a TERRIBLE job at that.

  Never again !!!

• “Blah, blah, blah. I didn’t make my business work so I come online to whine about it.” Hey people who think the world is out to get them- I knew nothing about painting, zero; I had little real experience with business; I had no experience with sales- but guess what?! I worked as hard as I could and I didn’t make any excuses for myself. I did over 100k in my first year and was very happy with my profit. 36 out of 36 clients from my first year said (in the 3rd party rating call) that they would recommend me to family or friends. My quality ratings were fantastic and my painters made thousands. Talk trash on a website for angry people if you want, but I’m just here to say that I made it work, I pleased a lot of clients, and I’m happy I didn’t give up on myself. And if that’s a SCAM, then ya, scam me every year.

• “Ken says:
  March 7, 2013 at 12:26 am
  “Blah, blah, blah. I didn’t make my business work so I come online to whine about it etc etc etc”

  Yes “ken” but you seem compelled to come on here and defend them,…why is that?

• THIS TAKES THE CAKE!!!!!!

  I interviewed early summer (very late to succeed but not told that) for a CPP franchisee position back in 2000 when i was 19. Few interviews in, the manager offered me the job and i accepted. My parents both passed away a week later and I informed CCP that I would have to travel to Europe for a week for the funerals. The manager advised that would not be GOOD FOR BUSINESS as I was starting late already!!!!! I obviously told them I was rejecting the offer and the manager took me for a coffee to convince me not to attend my parent’s funeral!!! I was disgusted and he advised if i “quit”, they would have to charge me for the time spent on my interviewing since I had signed the contract. $350!!! I refused and he threatened a lawsuit. I asked if I could pay once I returned from the funerals so I could borrow the money from family and he said they would file the lawsuit if I didn’t pay before I left!!!

  CPP can go to hell.

• Although pitched as a legitimate multi-level marketing (MLM) business model, College Pro Painters is actually a “Ponzi Scam.” The difference is that all legit MLMs are people oriented and Ponzi Scams are top level money hungry. Take for example AVON, Tupperware, Kirby vaccuum clearners, and insurance companies, these are all MLMs. However, they all market quality products with highly trained workers, and with the exception of a few insurance companies, excellent customer service that is very personalized. Ponzi scams on the other hand, like Bernie Madoff, collect money with no concern for the customer or the low level workers. Those types of things are just a means to an end.

  MLMs usually charge more for services but customers have no problem paying that extra because they are getting personalized customer service rather than a 1-800 number. College Pro has no essence of this type of customer service nor any concern for their low level workers. Perhaps at one time College Pro had higher level managers that actually knew a little about the painting business, but those days are long gone. Case in chief, just look at the above posts. The conversation is about business management and how to recruit and train new franchisees in business. What is never discussed in a conversation regarding College Pro is the product they market PAINTING.

  A lot of business people and no actual painters. I grew up working weekends and summers with my uncle who has been a professional painter for decades. Now I would not expect anyone to have his level of experience and knowledge, but when I went to work for College Pro as a student painter I was totally astounded at the lack of knowledge and experience about the painting business that even regional representatives did not have. We were given tools, what my uncle would call home-owner specials, the type you buy in a $5.00 kit at Wal-mart for a one-time paint job and then discard. Were informed these cheap plastic tools would have to last the entire season and if they broke had to be replaced at our own expense. The franchise manager showed up with one gallon of paint and one step ladder for three painters and himself to work. (Painting starts top down). By the time each painter filled their bucket the first gallon was gone, then we had to stand around and wait for one person to finish an area of the house to use the ladder, then stand around while the manager went to get another gallon of paint. (only one). A house that should have taken two 8 hour days to paint with the right equipment and proper amount of paint on site took four 10 hour days to finish.

  Our next job was cancelled when the manager repeated called the homeowner (at least a dozen times) to let them know we were coming. These types of things went on for a week then I had the pleasure of meeting the state rep and fully understood why the franchise manager was so poorly trained, no one at College Pro knows the paint busness. They are trained in MLM business modeling marketing a service they know nothing about.

  To the homeowner: Go to Wal-Mart and get a house painting kit and some paint, go to the homeless shelter and pick-up a half dozen able bodies, rent, borrow, or buy a ladder. Your house will look the same either way and you will have saved a lot of money (and annoying phone calls).

  Good luck from Ohio

• I also worked for CollegePro as a painter. That only lasted for two days. My second day working, with minimum training, I was made to work 13.5 hours with only one 30 minute lunch break. My body had never been so sore as it had been in those two days. I am a fit college student who lifts weights on a daily basis, but at the end of the day I could barely move after painting for CollegePro. During the interview I was told that we can take breaks if needed, but during my time working I was told numerous times that we were “overbudged” ( because the franchise manager had underestimated the time it would take to paint the house) and was unable to barely take a breath during my entire shift. I was also told that all the painters work on the same side of the house to finish it quickly and it would also help with some socialization throughout the long day. Well, that statement was completely untrue, we all worked at separate parts of the house, given little time to paint the area we were told to paint, and criticized throughout the entire day for not working fast enough, which I would like to add would be impossible because my body -along with the other students-could not move any faster than we already were. So to clarify, CollegePro overworks their painters to extreme and dangerous measures, criticizes the painters thinking they should work as fast a robots, and provides hardly any training. For those of you thinking of joining CollegePro for a “fun” and “active” summer job…think again! This message, along with the many above me, is a warning. DO NOT WORK FOR COLLEGEPRO!

• I currently work as a Job Site Manage for College Pro Painting.
  I also live with my Franchise Manager.
  The summer is almost over. We have worked the entire summer except for 2 weeks. I have only received 2 paychecks. Totaling just under $250 for 39 hours of work. Last week one check from the previous week was delivered to my boss. But it was only one check for ONE of our painters.

  I am still waiting on my other 3 checks that I worked my butt off for. Does anybody have any advice for what I should do to get my checks? Of course I am a college student and I have bills to pay.

  One of our workers quit already and there is only me the JSM and one other painter left. What should I do? Who should I call? Is it legal for them to hold our checks just because the FM owes royalties?

  I believe what CPP is advocating would be called “slave labor” seeing as how I haven’t been paid in the past month. Any advice would be helpful.

  Beware of College Pro.

• A co-worker’s son worked a few weeks for a local franchise…then was told there was no more work and was never given the last paycheck he earned. This was the young man’s first job and he learned an awful lesson. The company is based out of Quebec Canada and from the sound of it, it isn’t a company anyone should work for.

• Hi there, I was/am a franchise for College Pro Painters.
  I got into from a friend who did it. She ran over 100k and made less than 15k.
  That should have been my first warning sign.

  I support myself and my education, so I was attracted to the idea of making thousands of dollars in a summer all while gaining real life leadership experiences.

  The program College Pro has is an incredible one. They really want all of us to strive to be the best of the best. Training is extensive and mandatory.
  I went to three full weekend training sessions to learn about time management, people management and quite a lot more.
  When it came time for production I had an entire weeks worth of training on an actual home. My learning curve was incredible, i had never painted anything in my life, and they left me in a position where I was not only able to paint but to teach others how to do so as well.

  I met some of the greatest people through my college pro experience, although I was the target of some racist remarks, i didn’t let that jade my experience with the entire company.

  I hit my rock bottom when I realized how much money I was giving to college pro. 25% of every job goes to them. 33% goes to labour 15% goes to paint/ soft supplies. That leaves you with about 27%, which is a lot but that doesnt go into your pocket. 10% of that goes to marketing, and another 10% goes to gas, and supplies you buy from them.

  I made about $1.89/hour this summer, when my previous job i was making average $30/hour.
  And I think the saddest part is they dont care.
  Some previous owners have had to take out 5k-10k loans to pay off cp debt.
  Some owners have had to take a year off from university to work so they can pay off their debt and make some money to go to school.

  I have had to put my education on hold for a semester to try and bounce back from this financial deficit that college pro has put me in.

  If I could turn back time I would have never signed up for College Pro, I would have gone on sites like this to see the other side of it, and not just hear the positive of the company.

  College Pro isnt a scam, but it does put students in debt.
  All student franchise companies are the same.

  My best advice would be, DONT OWN YOURE OWN BUSINESS WHILE IN SCHOOL.

  Work for someone, make consistent, GUARANTEED money.

• None of you are entrepreneurs…that is clear. I am currently a Franchisee running a 107k business. Most of these posts are from past zee’s that have failed miserably. Yeah, there is some risk involved concerning the amount of money you may make. But, as the owner of a business you get paid LAST. If you are not an aspiring entrepreneur or at least a business student at your university, CPP is not for you. But if you are looking for an experience that will turn you from a boy into a MAN or a girl into a WOMAN, CPP is the place to do it. To be a successful franchise owner (successful entrepreneur) you must have courage and an insane drive. That is what you should base your decision off of.

  One last note, the feeling of setting a goal and then hitting it 8 MONTHS later…is worth more than any amount of money. I feel confident in my ability to run a successful business in any industry because I know where to start now. I will be returning for my 2nd year with college pro as a franchisee. Don’t be surprised if some of you are working for me someday because you didn’t take this opportunity and run with it like I did.

• Honson, your attitude towards other peoples experiences shows your lack of empathy. So i guess you are perfect for College Pro.

  A 107K business in your first year is amazing! But how much profit are you walking away with? $5000-$15000. You made about $3/hour. Where College Pro made about 3 times as much per hour YOU WORKED.

  The experience, the growth, the blah blah blah yeah all great, and all beneficial for your future. But at what expense?

  The most important skill to have as an entrepreneur is to know how valuable your time is. Through my experience I learn’t just that, I learn’t that my time is not worth $1.89 or $3 an hour. I am worth more than that.

  Also do not shame the working class; your hypothetical future business would be nothing without them.

• The amount of negativity on here is staggering. Of course, when you run a business there is no guarantee of profit. Yes, it is a lot of work but it really pays off. Not just financially but the skill development received is unparalleled by any other company. I have run a College Pro Window Cleaning franchise for the past four summers and I can honestly say that I’m a much more confident, outgoing person because of it. The biggest thing I gained from it is the ability to work well with people. As far as profit is concerned: I made 18 grand in my first year, 16 in my second, 20 in my third and 30 in my fourth. I also took about 4 or 5 weeks off to party and travel every summer. Yes, the royalties can seem a bit excessive but with the amount of coaching and support I received from them, I feel that it was worth it.
  That being said, this experience is definitely not for everyone. If you’re not willing to put in the time required to set up and run a business, then don’t sign up. It is a lot of work at first; if you want a 9-5 job where you can come home and relax at the end of the day, this is not the right fit. If you want to make good money while developing yourself in a way that cannot be done through school or most other jobs then College Pro is a great company to work with.

• Kevin is right! It is an invaluable experience for a young person to get burned by College Pro Painters early in their career. It is a lesson they will carry with them the rest of their careers, and will probably save them from losing much more from the more expensive franchise nightmares exposed on this site.

  They will be much less susceptible from pie-in-the-sky sales pitches and cult-like sales organizations once they’ve been through College Pro, and will get a real lesson in the difference between sales and profits.

  College Pro does provide an education in business and entrepreneurship – just not the one they claim.

• I’m in the process of interviewing with College Pro right now and I’d like to address a few of these from the perspective of someone who’s done a lot of research before accepting a position w/ CPP.

  1) This is a real job with incredible responsibilities. Although my interviewer made this abundantly clear to me, other recruiters may not have. Or the student’s weren’t listening / downplayed the risks.
  Running a business means you have to make every step of the business successful. Here’s just a few: making the success rate of cold calls / door knockers higher; closing the maximum number of estimates you give; giving the highest estimate you can while remaining competitive in profits; optimizing painting time (should I hire a professional at $30 to paint for 8 hours, or a student at $10 to paint for 20?); KNOWING CASH FLOW (a customer has already paid 70% so I need to make sure that I can pay off CPP and my workers anything that the remaining 30% will not cover); etc.

  2) Running a real franchise is incredibly risky.
  http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/running_small_business/archives/2009/09/how_much_does_a_franchise_earn_on_average.html
  From the article above, franchises make on average $60k a year at the onset. Also remember that 50-60% of startups go out of business within a year.
  Taking that $15k profit over 3 months, that’s about $60k for the entire year. That’s for running a $400k business.
  In addition to being comparable to running a real franchise in yearly profit, there is not startup cost to you. Most franchises cost a lot to start up.
  When you are given the Franchising document, please PLEASE read it over and be aware of all the risks. I cannot stress enough the importance of knowing what you’re getting into.

  3) The cult mentality is a byproduct of two different experiences / viewpoints coming out of CPP
  I worked for Vector Marketing / Cutco two years ago and I was a terrible employee. I didn’t have a car, was in an unfamiliar place for school, and I didn’t have the initiative to succeed. So for me to make $100 in sales to hear high performers making $2000 in sales, I was pissed. And frankly, it was my fault. I didn’t have the resources to start working for Vector (gas fees, a car, networking / contacts to do demo’s with). And I feel bad. My manager was a sweetheart, and I feel like I could’ve easily sold $50k (and as you start selling higher amounts, you get a higher commission) in cutlery. I didn’t listen to her, and I didn’t want to try. I knew I wasn’t going to be a part of the high performing team and at the time I was mad at them and not me for it.

  4) Customer / painter dissatisfaction is a direct result of bad employees (from above)
  If the frachise manager gets burned out, or doesn’t care any more, EVERYONE suffers. That person is responsible for the painter’s wages and for the quality of work the customer is going to receive.
  This part is about taking pride in your work. Sometimes things happen and you have to declare bankruptcy (perhaps to financial mismanagement). These things are unavoidable, unfortunately.

  5) Every job is has executives that are paid well
  That’s just the unfortunate situation. If I am paid $15 an hour to work for say P&G, there are still executives there taking away million dollar paychecks.

  6) Taking a moment to look at CPP’s perspective
  They want you to succeed. Take a moment to read this please.
  Let’s assume that if you quit, they get $10,000.
  Let’s also use the 25% royalty fee that others have stated in this board.
  Just for argument’s sake, if you ran a $50,000 business and then quit, they get 25% plus say a $5,000 quitting fee. That’s a profit of $17,500 for CPP.
  But if you hang on and they are able to teach you to run a $100,000 business, they get $25,000 total.
  And if you cannot do it after signing the contract, the reason they take $10,000 from you is because they just lost a lot of potential profit. If you had been able to run a $50,000 business, that’s $12,500 to CPP. Charging you $10,000 still loses them potential money. That is why if you make the commitment you have to make sure you stick to it NO MATTER WHAT. If I invested half a million in starting a McDonalds franchise for example, I couldn’t just leave the franchise because of personal reasons. If I did, I would suffer a lot in the startup money I invested. Since CPP doesn’t have that startup, that’s why they charge the fee to quit.

  7) Running a franchise is a lot of problem solving on your own
  I hear a lot of people complain about the lack of painting experience, and I had the same concern. The solution I came up with is to work with the professional painter (as a franchise manager you should plan on having at least one professional on your team) to learn anything that I didn’t in the training sessions. If I sacrifice a hundred dollars but gain an in depth knowledge on painting, it’s well worth the investment. Even better, those of you who are working close to home and have a handyman relative, ask that person! I’m sure your relatives would be happy to help teach you (you might throw in some baked goods or offer to help them with a project in return).

  All in all, I think this is a good opportunity, but with a LOT of risk and problems that require critical thinking skills. I wish everyone the best of luck.

• My “friends” at College Pro owe me $1400 from the summer for so called warranty work that I was forced to do outside of my franchise area. Two months after the summer was over, I am still waiting for it!

  Pretty sleazy if you ask me ecspecially since I am a student!

  *********BEWARE******

• I was a franchise owner with College Pro this past summer and here are my thoughts. College Pro is definitely a scam. Yes running a business is hard and yes you can be very successful running a franchise with college pro. The issues here are the outrageous royalty amounts and the numerous “recoverables” they charge you for. If you want to learn how to run a successful business, you can read a book that costs lest than $40 and start from scratch. In fact, this method would probably be more effective than trying to “learn” anything from the college pro training sessions. They charge you for their “irreplaceable business wisdom”. This is a completely “do-it-yourself” opportunity. You will do all the work, put in all the time, face the same difficulties as if you started your own business only in this case you pay damn near half of your earnings to the people that “taught” you how to run a business. Scam scam scam I don’t care if you’ve succeeded with college pro. You still got scammed!

• I 100% AGREE with this post. I was a highly successful franchisee for 4 years. I won all the awards, and received all the appraise. At the time I felt like College Pro was the best thing ever — man was I wrong.

  Franchisees will pay on average about $25,000… for what? For a couple days of “training” that is conducted by people who have no more experience in business than she does? It is disgusting to think that the requirement to be a GM is a couple of summers running a painting business. That HARDLY qualifies you to train someone in business.

  I was successful because I have a talent for business. The college pro training had nothing to do with it. And I strongly believe that the 10% of other successful franchisees are in the same boat. The remaining 90% who fail or breakeven trusted that they would get the training and support they needed.

  I feel bad for this franchisee who failed but feel even worse for those who have commented here saying that they believe in College Pro. I believed once too but then saw the light when I left, became more educated, and have now had time to reflect. It’s a scam by definition.

• From the perspective of a previous student franchise manager for College Pro that ended up with LOSING MONEY and an overall terrible experience, I have to say OP’s post about College Pro being a scam and deceiving is exaggerated but is not completely untrue. Some of the points that he made are actually true and I’ve seen and heard many students who have been victims of College Pro’s misleading and profit-driven practices. The company obviously states they value the experiences students learn from the opportunity as an entrepreneur but ultimately, it all comes down to profit. They will not care for your personal stories or situations, and if it means taking money from you to generate profit, they will do it without hesitation. However, people should know people like OP should’ve been more careful when signing the contract (even though the contract is 30+ pages long and they sort of make you just sign it), actively engage more with their supervisor (theres a chance your supervisor might be a total asshole and barely give you any helpful advice or support), and know what they’re signing for. The job is NOT easy. You’re obviously going to be dirty and sweaty when cleaning windows in the hottest time of the year. Also not to mention dangerously climbing 30+ feet ladders without any safety measures. What I can say to those who are skeptical about the legitimacy of College Pro is that it regardless of how much money you make or you lose by doing the job, you will gain experience. Even though I lost more money, and my experiences were terrible (boss was a total jerk, conflict with customers, immense pressure to meet unrealistic goals, feeling of guilt for being told to overcharge customers, cold calling, etc), at the end I gained a once in a life time experience. You are still young and have a long way to go with endless opportunities. Don’t let this one judge you because you failed to meet your own or their expectations, and learn from it. If you are willing to take the chance, go for it.

• My G.M was verbally abusive. There is a lot of kool aid being handed out. They do there job well. They come in with promise of big money for college students that have debt. Problem is if something sounds too good to be true it is dangerous. I lost 5000 dollars and it is not from booking work issues. I was sick of them taking my work.

  I learned a lot it was a very life changing lesson and an emotional experience. I paid my painters and I will never forget it.

  Do not book with college pro by the way.

• Hey so this website seems like it is really badly done. I was reading the main article and everything was really terrible, but lots of the other comments which you don’t show say that College Pro is fine. :/ This is really strange to me.

  Leon

• Hey i’ve also run a franchise for the past couple years and it has been by far the best thing I have chosen to do in my life. Can’t say this about many other things including going to a great university with lots of scholarships, being on the students union at the university, playing in community bands, etc. etc. Things that people who are hired usually do before. This involves a practical education, solving real problems, being an entrepreneur. There is a reason that 95% of new businesses in a regular economy fail.
  Listen, owning a College Pro Franchise is legally similar to owning a franchise with McDonalds, it is not a job. You have to get your own business license and GST number and take care of your staff and clients, and your own profit. If you don’t realize that you have to hit a break-even point to make money in a business, you just weren’t paying attention in a training session. Plus, this is not their responsibility to tell you haha. You should not do any job without keeping track of how much money you are making, especially one where you sign a contract at the start that says there is no guarantee of profit lol

  When you choose to become an entrepreneur the government thinks of you as the same as Bill Gates, owner of his company. If you aren’t willing to take the risks of owning your own business, you should not expect the same benefits you can get.

  I’ve made about 35 grand in the past two years. Yeah I made about $4/hr my first year when I was 18, but I was an adult, and it was my choice. The only regrets I have are the times when I have compromised on my own values, which is what happens when you don’t own up to your mistakes and blame everyone else for the things that go wrong with you.

  The one guy (said he did a 50k business) who commented had a rough summer obviously cuz he bought way too much stuff from CPP (30k is wayy to high for that summer), also he ripped off his staff (should have payed them at least 15 grand, not 7 which is less than he should have payed one of his painters), and his paint costs were very wasteful (should have kept those down).

  Anyways let me know if you have further thoughts.

  Much love,

  Leon :)

• Not sure what you’re referring to, Leon. We show all the comments that have been posted – positive or negative.

• College Pro is an amazing opportunity, only earned by those of us who deserve it. If you failed, sorry. That’s your own damn fault. You were probably a lazy ass piece of shit. If you succeed, you know it’s because YOU worked hard for it. Life isn’t a free for all meaning that you actually have to work for something you want! What? I have to work??? Grab life by the balls and change your future. I plan to vacation in Hawaii or Cabo this year when I’m done with production. I love being a franchisee, fuck the naysayers and imbeciles!

• I’m really quite happy that I came upon this site. I have recently been in contact with College Pro regarding taking on a Franchisee role and have found these posts extremely informative on both perspectives concerning the company.
  One thing I must admit though: while I found reading the ‘success” (?) stories provided much needed variety to the otherwise staggeringly negative experiences expressed, has anyone else noticed the overwhelmingly juvenile and offensive attitudes on display in many of them? To me, this seems to do more to strengthen the opposing argument: that College Pro consists of morally bankrupt and predatory business men that create a corporate cult out of preying on young students’ desires to prove themselves and be a ‘success’. Cleary these posters who have ‘succeeded’, as they put it, have had their egos stroked by this scheme and are looking to inflate it further by ridiculing those who have been taken advantage of. And then, of course, it is these ‘successful’ few who are brought in to upper management roles within the company and the cycle continues. To me, this is the most enlightening aspect of this string of posts.
  I just wanted to bring this observation to the attention of any other prospective College Pro franchisees who may stumble here, as I did, looking for other perspectives. The personalities of those involved can be quite insightful on their own.
  I am still likely to take up any subsequent opportunities to interview with College Pro and see first-hand what the experience truly is. I doubt I will be signing any contract though, given the personalities which clearly thrive within the company and what that says about their principals.

• Bradley:

  Thanks for your insight. Please keep us posted on your experience going through the sales process.

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