CUPPY’S COFFEE: Lawsuits Filed v. Cuppy’s, Elite Manufacturing

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• A Guest wrote: Morg never signed any docs and neither die Dale. As the BIG DOGS... they expected their management to do this.
  Is this true?
  The owners of this company never signed any agreements?
  Does this tell you anything, employees?
  Those who defend Morg should realize his true accomplishment: He is the Teflon Franchisor. He stays in the background then slides away leaving others in the spotlight.
  Even stepsonny must see that by now.

• The backend commissions that were still owed to sale people were for stores that had already opened their doors. Morg and Dale cheated the sales people out of these and some waited years to see their people open.

• The backend commissions that were still owed to sale people were for stores that had already opened their doors. Morg and Dale cheated the sales people out of these and some waited years to see their people open.
  Let me understand this: Commissions weren't paid until stores opened? And it sometimes took 22 months for a store to open? And salespeople lost their claim to the commission if they left the company - for any reason?
  So, it occurs to me that Cuppy's had a financial dis-incentive to get stores open, correct, because they had all these people to pay - subcontractors, salespeople, etc. - but weren't collecting royalties anyway. And they already had most of the money they were going to get - except the final loan payout. Correct?

  Also, it was in Dale's best interest to clear out the staff who were due commissions. What would the average commission be? Multiply that by 160 open stores and that could be a good chunk of change.

  It would be interesting to hear from an HR expert or lawyer to know whether that's legal to withhold commissions if a person is layed off - and not fired for cause. I guess Zak's lawsuit might answer that.

• Sales people got 1/2 of their commission when the down payment was made and the backend when the stores actually opened for business.
  Many sales people were owed which is the main reason the sales people held on even after the takeover by Dale. They knew they had owners close to opening or in the construction phase and had waiting so long a little while more didn't matter.

• I am still chuckling over the double meaning of "back-end" commissions. Why wouldn't sales people be paid when the sale was made? The sales people had no control over when owners opened, so why was their take-home pay dependent on that? What kind of saleperson would sign up for such a commission scheme? (Nevermind, I just answered my own question).

• Why wouldn’t sales people be paid when the sale was made? The sales people had no control over when owners opened, so why was their take-home pay dependent on that? What kind of saleperson would sign up for such a commission scheme?
  From what I understand there were as many as 11 salepeople on staff, many of them very young and inexperienced. Let's say each commission was $6000-$7000 and they got half upfront and half when it opened. The second part of the payments would minimize turnover, since salespeople would hang on for their "backend" commissions.
  If Dale Nabors owed $3000-$4000 commissions for the 160 unopened stores, he would have wiped away half a million in future commissions by firing the sales staff.

• It is funny to hear this because when I asked for my refund money back the
  first thing they took from my 20% was the $7,000 that they took to pay commisson for the sales person so they said on the invoice that I got from Elite
  but wait if Elite and Cuppys are not the same why woould Elite pay any commission to a Cuppys sales person WOW is this a scam or what...

• Vc.... If you were requesting a refund and that's what they told you than that was a lie. The sales person rec'd 1/2 commision when zee paid their 20% down but if a zee requested a refund that upfront 1/2 commission was charged back to the sales person so technically, NO commissions were paid.

• VC:
  There's no doubt these were the same company. All the money simply went in - and out - of the same pot.

• Guest wrote: The sales person rec’d 1/2 commision when zee paid their 20% down but if a zee requested a refund that upfront 1/2 commission was charged back to the sales person...
  Would the upfront 1/2 commission be charged back to the salesperson even before a settlement was reached and/or the refund repaid? Many of these were not repaid, and many had fees and franchise fees deducted.