Are you familiar with the Curves franchise program in Australia?
Please share what you know with a comment below.
In the past, UnhappyFranchisee.com has focused its reporting on the troubles of U.S. Curves franchisees.
(Read CURVES: Robert Lay’s Story – 1000+ comments – Or CURVES: Curves Posts on Unhappy Franchisee for a complete list of posts)
Frankly, we don’t know how exactly the Curves franchise operates in Australia.
We have heard that more than 52 Curves franchises have closed since 2010.
We do know that more than 60 Curves in Australia are for sale on the BuyCurves.com resale website.
And we know one more thing: We get lots of emails from Curves franchisees in Australia that mirror the complaints of Curves everywhere else:
Aussie Z wrote:
I wish I never heard of Curves and Gary Heavin… Things were going great for the first 18 months then things started going down hill, repeatedly emailed CI for some sort of help got nothing. Then Curves Smart came and I borrowed more money as Curves said this would really make my club profitable. What a crock. Just meant I am in more debt.
Cornered Gary at Convention and he promised that when he got back to America he would get in touch with me to see what he could do to help. LIAR he never did. I am now on the verge of having to bankrupt myself so I hope Gary and CI are proud of themselves. So much for the god fearing person he portrays himself to be. Made me sick to see him on “Secret Millionaire” giving away thousands of dollars to strangers and wont do anything to help the people who made him rich in the first place.
When I started my curves up there was over 400 in Australia now there are 273 clubs left. One regional club couldn’t even give her club away for $1 so she just closed down as well. Very very sad.
Dont get sucked in by the hype. Certainly don’t help Gary get any richer.
A rural Australian Curves owner complains of the lack of support and threat of termination:
I bought a Curves resale in rural Australia. it wasn’t doing well mainly due to the owner at the time, she did a lot of damage and I’ve been trying to rebuild it. I have continually asked Curves for support during this time but NOTHING. So my issue is mainly with the royalty / ad fee repayments. Some months go through others don’t from lack of members (financials). So they now issued me with a pay $8000 you owe us on 10 days or your agreement will be terminated.
Another Australian Curves owner emailed us:
… I am in the same situation as everyone else who has purchased Curves, and has encountered their unprofessionalism…
I live in Australia, and I have been forced to terminate my franchisees, and havebeen sent a letter from a Law Firm in Melbourne, Australia.
Last year we were forced to be closed for some time due to a natural disaster, and since then we have fallen behind in royalty fees etc….
I have just received a letterlast Friday (27th August) from a Law firm in Melbourne, Victoria, stating that I need to close my clubs ASAP, and also pay then a huge amount of money, including future royalty fees.
I cannot offer any money as I am broke..
“A Desperate Aussie” wrote:
I am from Australia and things are not good here.
Tried to get assistance from CI to consolidate 2 clubs into a single club that may have a chance of surviving. 2 clubs will certainly both fail and very soon, so we are closing one immediately.
We have paid royalties for 3 years from the closing club and 2 years for the one that may survive BUT CI (Jim J and Gary H have both said that population is large enough to support 2 clubs and will not allow us to consolidate. They just say sell one and concentrate on the other. If the closed club were to be resold then the 2 clubs would fail quickly.
We need support and asked for their help and had the door slammed in our face. The population figures they use to justify a viable club is so out of date and does not in any way reflect the environment clubs operate in these days.
We are frightened that CI will access all our funds and force us into Bankruptsy.
I know of several other clubs that are in big trouble also and will have to close sooner that later. CI just does not care. When you no longer supply funds to them they just want you to sell your franchise. It is all about keeping the cash rolling in and to hell with the damaged lives that lay in the wake of the failed businesses.
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE CURVES FRANCHISE IN AUSTRALIA? PLEASE SHARE YOUR INSIGHTS, OPINIONS OR INFORMATION BELOW.
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View Comments
Have just had my tax return done and recorded a loss of $19000 for the last financial year. Its great to be at Curves.
Whats the deal with Curves wanting all the curves smart equipment back if you close your club. We all paid good money for that and some of us took out loans, and when we bought our franchises didn’t we pay for the 8 pieces of equipment, and then have to purchase the rest out of our own pocket, Over my dead body will they get it back for nothing, so they can sell it again to someone else. Is this even legal.
After reading these comments I am ashamed to even be associated with Curves. We are told that WE ARE NICE PEOPLE well its about time Gary showed some compassion and treated his franchisees with some respect. If clubs are closing down it is because they DONT have the money to continue, which means they DONTt have the money to repay huge royatlies bills and exit fees. Why would Gary want to see us go into bankruptcy, he must remember what it was like when he didnt have a penny to rub together. Why doesn't he take the money owed out of our Advertising royalties which we have paid. Where does that money go I have seen any advertising in my area for a long time. I think it is about time we aussies stuck together remember WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER and started a class action here. ANybody know a good lawyer that would want to take it on?
Dear Desperate Aussie, get as many of the other clubs as you can to speak their mind on this forum. The more we can get the more ammunition we will have against the might Gary (Howie) Heavin.
Is there anyone out there who is prepared to go on Today Tonight and speak on behalf of all the franchisees that have been burnt by Gary (Howie) Heavin.
Well the time has come for me to make that decision do I stay open or do I close down. What a hard decision but I can't keep running at a loss. No hope of selling a business that doesn't make a profit. So I am stuck with a hefty bank loan to repay plus whatever CI decide to charge me. Oh joy its so great to be at Curves.
Who is Chip Baird? Does he think that he is going to save Curves, Nothing is going to change, the hole that has been dug is to big to fix. So Gary and Diane are taking a step back well it seems to me it is like a rat deserting a sinking ship, he's been burned a couple of times I am sure he doesn't want to go there again. But where does that leaves all of us owners who are scraping the bottom of the barrell financially. I will soon be out of the Curves web and feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Financially screwed but I will now have a life.
Does this new company thats taken over Curves really think that they can fix the problems. They say they want to make the clubs more proftiable for the franchisees, the only way a club can be profitable is to have more members. If they put the monthly fee up that will only cause members to leave so how are they going to do this. Gary and Diane still on the board (heaven help us). Another 6 clubs in Western Australia disappeared off the curves location website since 30th July 2012. Australia is now down to 279 clubs was at 400. Seems to me that Curves is the fastest failing franchise in the world.
To the administrator:- I emailed you with comments for your website regarding Australian franchisees of Curves as well as a request regarding the contact details of aussie z. I spoke to my accountant yesterday and hope to see my solicitor again next week so we can start to make a plan to shut down. Please email me as above ASAP.
Thanks.
I am a Curves Franchisee in Australia and like so many, I am seriously thinking of closing the doors and walking away. I would like to contact some of the other franchisees in Australia who are in a similar situation to see how I might best get out of it. I understand that privacy is a priority but are you able to request that they contact me? I would particularly like to hear from aussie z because she seems to have gone through the process fairly recently and so would have up to date info for me.
If you would like to be put in touch with another commenter, please email me at unhappyfranchisee[at]gmail.com. Thanks - ADMIN