CURVES: Negotiating Curves Closing Fees

322 thoughts on “CURVES: Negotiating Curves Closing Fees”

• Howie must think the owners are complete idiots. Well the joke is on him and it doesn’t appear that he is laughing anymore. Thanks to boards like this one!!!!!

• ■Unhappy on May 15th, 2010 1:35 am
  TO All Present and Past Owners of a Curves Franchise

  We have all seen the devastation that comes from owning a franchise that is run by a corrupt, unethical, immoral, and crooked owner such as we all believe Howie to be. We have banded together on this site to get the word out about this company so others won’t make the same mistake we all have by falling for the lies, and dishonest treatment by the sociopath, Howie. The number of clubs closing is not only disheartening but frightening when you stop to consider how many people have lost everything including their homes and retirement funds and they continue to close at an alarming rate. it is now time to start a campaign to lobby our government officials to change and strengthen the laws on franchising for the franchisee. I am suggesting that everyone write not only the President but their senator and congressmen as well. If you click on the sites listed below it will take you to where you can send an email to our elected officials and we need to tell them about our experiences we have had with Curves and demand that the franchise laws be changed.

  Email via: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
  [Note: emails are limited to 500 characters, but that is more than enough to make the key points.]
  [Note: the WH email page requires a U.S. State and Zip Code to submit.

  Here is the sites where you can go to find your Senator and House Representativ

  http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

  https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

• FitDude posted this on Curves Robert Lay’s story early today.
  There goes another one……
  http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/business/economy-new-competitor-taking-toll-on-area-fitness-businesses-1.793133

  I just went to the link and read the article. What a shame and what a bunch of crap from Curves Internationals employee who is quoted in the article. At the end of the article the author or writer leaves their email address to comment about the article. Curves owners not only need to read the article but need to send an email to the writer asking them to do a news story on Curves telling the real truth of what is happening and why all the clubs are closing. Curves Owners it is time we get the real truth out and here is a chance to do just that by sending an email to the author of the news story. Please do so at once!!!!!!!

  Unhappy

• In the above mentioned article the author quotes Kathy Carr, spokeswoman for Curves International as stating “Ms. Carr said it is difficult to say how Curves is doing overall in the economy since the franchises are independently owned and operated.”

  Ms. Carr, have you no integrity, honesty or ethical backbone at all? Where Ms. Carr is your moral compus ? Didn’t your parents raise you better than that? I’m sure they did Ms. Carr, but you have told one heck of a whopper here and you need to explain why you would so blatantly lie like you did. You know Curves clubs are closing at an every increasing rate and the whole Curves empire is about to go belly up as result of Howie’s mismanagement. Come on now Ms. Carr, quit lying and tell the truth. You owe us an explanation for your actions, Ms. Carr.

• Well curves is back to trying to be sneakie about the 10,000 dollar closeing fee. Now CII sends out the closing packet and tells owners there is a moderate fee for closing which they will go over with you once you are done following step by step the closing instructions. Howie is now sending out the boxes for owners to return the curves smart equipment and paying for postage. Of course than Howie tries to resale the smart for 6,000 dollares. Owners it is your equipment don’t send it back you can sell it after you close.

• Hello We closed the club, but so far we did not have asked. It took only 30 days from the date of closing. We closed without closing procedures, but before that we had several times told the curves that we can no longer pay the costs and will have to close the club.

• Andres,

  Sorry to hear about you having to close but every day we hear more horror stories about clubs closing so you are not alone. Keep us informed on what unethical, immoral, and unchristian like conduct Howie tries to use to extort more money from you. Don’t pay them another dime, Andres as Howie is just a crook.

• I sent CI a message telling them I was financially unable to keep my curves open
  They told me closing was not an option and sent me an expense sheet to fill out
  Has anyone experienced this before

• yes Lan this is standard proceedures for CII. They should have told you you have two days to respond. Do not respond until you talk to me. Send an email to admin at at unhappyfranchisee@gmail.com with your phone number I will call you and go over your options and what do expect from Curves. Do not sign anything until you talk to me.

• I just started the process of closing my club and did the exact same thing Lan has done with the expense sheet to fill out and return in two weeks.

  I have done this and have been awaiting to hear a response from CI. Then I had this gut feeling I needed to do some digging online and came across this site.

  My husband and I have been in financial ruin over this. It’s been exhausting with many sleepless nights. Once we made the decision to close, I thought it would get better. Now I find myself worried about closing fees, taking down signs and donating equipment.

  Would love to have some advice on how to proceed to avoid paying Curves another dime, or following their “you must donate to a women’s prison” rules.

  Thanks so much.

• Jenny,

  Do not respond until you talk to me. Send an email to admin at at unhappyfranchisee@gmail.com with your phone number I will call you and go over your options and what do expect from Curves. Do not sign anything until you talk to me. Unhappy but getting happier every day

• thank you so much. I’ve sent the email. Coming across this site feels like such a blessing. I look forward to hearing from you.

• Hi Jenny! I hope you are fine and you are reassured. I think that had made the right decision to close the club. We had a tighter very problem and the same sleepless nights that you do. We told Curves that we will close the club but the answer was a stupid meaningless letter in which they said they were studying the situation of our club. Then contact us master franchise in the country with threats and intimidation. But we still decided to close the club. When you are freed from this, you understand that the money you lost is not important, what is important is that you can live a normal life. You begin to notice their children’s wife, the outside world, you can sleep until 10 am and do not think that the monster will no longer touch you and suck out your blood. Write me and we will be able to communicate with you, I’ll tell you more about what was happening to us. I met many people from Europe, the clubs have closed due to bankruptcy and we want to unite. Waiting for your reply.

• Thanks Andres. I’ll feel much better once I’ve spoken with someone about how to deal with Curves and the $10,000 fee and how to handle the equipment and other things….

• Hello I tried to talk to them about the equipment, but I did not say anything. In my address was followed by the threat. I longer wish hear anything from them. Locked in a world very much in Bulgaria – a club in Turkey – 4 Club, UK – 3 Club, Spain – 3 Club. And that’s not all. It is only those people with whom I spoke. Some continue to work on this equipment and spit on the curves. I read that in their plans to hit Ukraine, Russia and India. Only in Ukraine they want to open 250 clubs, 250 in India, I do not know how many in Russia.

• Jenny,

  It is going to be ok, I have a peace about closing, I hate it for my members that have stuck it out with me but there was no way we could have forseen the economy. Hang in there, this too shall pass. Remember how scary it was when you opened your Curves. If we can get thru that we can get thru anything.

  God Bless

• 1. I did not respond to this emai:

  I haven’t heard from you regarding the above closed club. Curves International, Inc. (“Curves”) has attempted to work with you through a proper closing. Unfortunately, you have failed to comply with our Closing Program. The closure of the club will now be handled by our Legal Department. Curves will pursue available legal remedies against you for the breach of your franchise agreement.

  2. Can I expect further communication? A letter?

  3. Is there any reason to actually do anything?

• Francine,

  Please send an email to admin at unhappyfranchisee@gmail.com with your phone number and ask for it to be forwarded to me and I will call you and go over what to expect from Curves. do not sign anything that they send you or respond without talking to me first. Unhappy

• Francine,
  I highly recommend you contacting Unhappy. He spent the better part of an hour with me this past Sunday and walked me through every single scare tactic Curves has up their sleeve. He was also able to guide me on what I needed to do to protect myself.

  I’m already putting a plan of action together to make sure that I’m not one of the thousands of people Curves is bankrupting. Finding this site and talking with Unhappy was truly a blessing. Good luck, I know exactly how you’re feeling.
  -Jenny

• Hi Jenny! Unhappy is really good man, I spoke with him. You’re not alone, we have a lot. It does not matter from which country we are and what languages we speak. The important thing is that we must stand up and not fall, after what happened to us. Often think – maybe I create one that something bad in your life, that road has brought me to the curves. But this is not true. We just had to go through it that would be better and appreciate the life that we had to the curve. We are all avidly pursued for profit, and we have sold the American dream of own business. But business was not ours, it is entirely their business. Hold on, you all will be well.

• Hello
  I closed the club a month ago, ie they used I do not use the second month. But Curves, I regularly send messages that are not paid royalties. I leave these letters without attention, as I announced to their legal department to close the club, but the clear answer I received. What people do in this case? Closure of the club was due to inability to pay for expenses.

• I am just curious to see if anyone on this website signed a contract that states that Curves is eligible for future royalty fees after the termination of the agreement ??? Don’t the contracts say that the ”the monthly royalty fees will be paid during the term of the agreement OR until the agreement is terminated for any reason”?
  Hola Andres! como estas? no te procupes por las cartas : ) todo va a ir bien : )

• Elif,
  The franchise agreement is vague and can be interpreted either way but the fact is that it is illegal for Curves to try to collect franchise fees and advertising fees once you have closed. This is in the Texas state laws and Curves International knows this but still tries to intimidate and extort those fees from owners.

• So I just received my intent to close packet via email today. Am I understanding correctly that I should simply ignore it and the demands of Curves International? I want to make sure I’m doing everything I should be doing to protect myself and my family.

  Thanks so much!

• I too just received my intent to close packet in the mail. From what I’m reading, it seems like I should ignore this. My wife and I are thinking of just filling it out and trying to negotiate with CI just to put this whole thing behind us. I mean, what’s one more grand in the scheme of things.

  Has anyone been able to move beyond the threatened $49,000 for not following closing procedures? Would love to hear from you.

• Ryan,

  Don’t pay curves one more dime. Send an email to admin at at unhappyfranchisee@gmail.com with your phone number I will call you and go over your options and what do expect from Curves. Do not sign anything until you talk to me.

• Howie is at it again trying to rip off owners who have bought into the Curves Smart equipment (about 45% of the clubs bought into it) If it wasn’t bad enough when Howie came up with the Curves Smart idea he sold it to franchises as new technology (it was actually ten years old at the time and never worked than nor does it work now) and that Curves International would spend hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars advertising the roll out of Curves Smart to generate new members coming into clubs. Of course all owners now know that was just another lie from Howie as so far there has been no national advertising campaign for Curves Smart, .
  But now Howie and Curves International is KNOWINGLY strong-handedly trying to get owners who have closed to violate their leases with the CS leasing company. In short, when one takes out a lease for capital equipment, it is standard in such leases that the lessee MUST maintain possession of the equipment until the lease is up. At that point, you return the equipment to the leasing company (like a car lease, for example) or you have a buy-out clause (often $1). Most Curves owners have a $1 buy-out clause. Howie and Curves International is telling owners who have Smart and have closed that they “have to” return the CS equipment to curves International, although no where does it say that owners have to do this (especially if owners own the equipment!). The wording of their closing documents (that someone kindly posted on the owners-managers site) specifically notes that if you have a lease, you need to be aware of the chain of possession. Somehow they think this will get them out of trouble with the leasor. Anyway, they are offering to “release” people from their franchise agreement IF they return the CS equipment, but what is someone who has a lease supposed to do? They are then selling the “refurbished” equipment to a new owner for $6,000. MyTrak was NOT happy to hear about this and said that it has nothing to do with Curves International (they recommended to one owner to keep her equipment and try to sell it to another owner). And not surprisingly, United Leasing does not seem particularly happy either. One owner posted that they were VERY upset when she returned the equipment to curves International , since she owes the lease. Just another case of Howie’s fraudulent business tactics Howie you are nothing but a crook.

• Many owners are questioning if curves is still trying to collect a 10,000 dollar closing fee. It has now been officially verified that indeed Howie is still trying to collect the closing fee in lieu of receiving a so called mutual release. Bur Howie now calls it “Rite of Passage instead of a closing fee and refuses to tell owners how much it is in closing procedures other than it is a nominal fee which must go in front of the closing board to determine how much the owner must pay. Howie must think the owners are stupid as everyone knows he is the board and it’s still 10,000 but of course In the true crook fashion Howie will negotiate it down to around 3000 dollars. Of course as most owners know the so called mutual release is not mutual and lawyers have advised not to sign such a document as it only protects Howie from being sued and Curves can still try to sue the owners. Of course now days Howie just sends the owners to a illegal ILL collection agency. See ■googled it on June 1st, 2010 2:56 pm at http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/curves-robert-lays-story/

• Hi Everyone,

  First, I think it’s awesome that there’s a place for us to come together and vent and just be supportive. If nothing else, this site has been great for my wife and I because for a while there, we really felt alone.

  Having said that, I must ask: Has anyone taking Unhappy’s advice and really been able to beat the giant?

  The reason I have to ask this question is because $49,000 is ALOT of money. If our contract states that there is a $10,000 closing penalty, for whatever reason, aren’t we obligated to pay that amount? We all read the agreement (or at least I hope most of you did) and were aware that there was such a penalty.

  If Curves International is working with clubs to lower this fee, than wouldn’t a court of law see this and award any kind of lawsuit in the favor of CI.

  Unhappy, please know I’m not trying to say that you”re wrong here, it’s just a big gamble with my family’s future. Plus, I don’t have the money to fight such a lawsuit. I’ve spent years building my credit and my word is my bond. If I agreed to pay the fee, I feel like I’d be breaking my promise if I didn’t.

  Having said that, do I think it’s unethical that CI continues to bleed those who have lost everything, ABSOLUTELY! I don’t know how anyone over in legal can sleep at night knowing this “penalty fee” is literally taking food out of the mouths of children. It’s simply wrong.

  I am following the closing guidelines CI has sent into place. My equipment will be donated as of July 1, 2010 to a women’s prison and I will do all they ask. Then I will hopefully talk with someone in legal about having the fees waived all together. Chelley Breemes has been quite nice and I’m hoping will continue to help me during our financial crisis.

  If anyone on this site has taken unhappy’s advice and won, I’d love to hear about it.

• “My equipment will be donated as of July 1, 2010 to a women’s prison…”

  Is anyone else concerned about the massive amounts of Curves fitness equipment being donated to women’s prisons? Could Howie’s closing requirements actually result in our country soon being overrun by an army of super-fit and empowered female ex-convicts in just a few short years?

  Could that actually be Howie’s diabolical plan… to lead this Amazon army to world domination?

  And why do these prisons need 30 minute workout equipment? I mean, it’s not like prisoners have busy schedules and are pressed for time.

• If you want to talk to other owners of curves who have filed a lawsuit against Howie and CI check out this site
  http://www.wsicorporate.com/article/curves_franchise_lawsuits

• I received a demand letter asking for royalties and advertising fees totaling over $25,000. Advice?

• Mike it depends on if it is the termination for abandonment or from the lawyer (collection service from ILL). You can send an email to admin at at unhappyfranchisee@gmail.com and he will forward it to me and if you enclude your email address or phone number I will contact you to go over how to protect yourself against Curves and it’s questionable business tactics.

• Just wondering? I was going to close at the end of Aug when a buyer appeared, she knows I don’t make money but is willing to give it a go, she currently works at a curves, so my question, we are in BC and Ci wants $5000 USD for transfer fees, what the hell do they do that could possibly be worth $5000USD? I sent them an e-mail saying that I was selling for $5000 CANADIAN $ so there was NO WAY I can pay what they want, has anyone beat the transfer fee??? I certainly don’t have the money and even after the sale I will not, accountants government tax$, you know how it goes.

• My wife owns a Curves that she bought from another person ..Long and short we need to close due to not making money and going broke. I don’t want to boar you with the deatils as our story is just like everyones.

  The landloard will let us out of the lease. .

  How do we start the process of closing ..Reading all the posts I am not sure what to do should… Should i tell them now , get the closing packet, just close shop or try to sell it for a dollar,
  I never seen anything in the franchise agreement that speaks to any kind of $10,000 closing fee… Is there still a transfer fee if you sell, if so is it still 5k.

  Please help we need information ASAP. Let me know what to expect and what to do!!!!!

• Paul, my franchise agreement does not say anything about a closing fee but as far as the transfer fee goes I sent them an e-mail saying I was selling for $5000 and they were not getting it, I had an almost immediate reply and the fee was dropped to $1000, so I just went with it. You are lucky, my landlord would not let me out of the lease and I was walking out on it.

• Folks
  Please help how do i start the process for closing down!!!!

• How much advance notice should i give Curves? if I am closing?

• Hi Paul,

  The first thing you’ll need to do is contact Curves. They’ll send you a closing package. This will include your letter for intent to sell. It’s actually quite simple. If you want to close by October 1st, now is the time to contact them. Plus, it will give your current members plenty of notice.

  Curves asked us to stop drafts for the entire month, but, we didn’t. We felt it unfair that some of those members were basically getting a free month of membership…so, we stopped at around the 2nd or 3rd week of the month. Although we did tell Curves we stopped. We did however reimburse all of our pre-pay members.

  I know there have been horror stories on here about how Curves has gone after people for $40,000 plus, and if you just close your doors, that’s exactly what they’ll do. However, I followed all of their procedures…fudged a little about a few things, but, for the most part, met their requirements.

  They accepted everything and asked that we pay $1750 as a settlement. I explained that our credit cards were maxed and were completely swimming in debt and they released us without penalty.

  I was nice, responsive and agreeable throughout the whole closing process, so, I imagine that made a difference as well.

  My suggestion is for you to contact your area rep first. She’ll most likely refer you to the legal department and they’ll begin the closing procedures on their end. Make sure you are upfront that you’ve heard rumors of a $10,000 closing fee and that if you had $10,000 to pay it, you wouldn’t be closing the club to begin with. But, be nice about it.

  While I do believe that Curves International has done some shady things and has been motivated by greed for a while now, there is still a chance for you to cut your losses and move on without further debt.

  Good luck friends…

• I understand about reimbursing members for prepays. We are not bonded in our state to take prepays; so, that worry is gone. However, if a member pays a sign up fee when joining and has not finished their 12 month agreement, are we obligated to refund sign up fees? I’m thinking “yes” maybe? With the forcast of probably having to close, I’m thinking it might be in our interest to not charge a sign up fee for the very, very few people joining right now.

• I’m not sure what state your in or it’s law regarding this, but, we didn’t have to reimburse anyone for the service fee. The service fee isn’t for the year. We had people join the month before we closed. We literally made the decision to close though one day and turned around and did it the next. So, if you know you’ll be closing, yes, be honest and waive the service fee, but, you shouldn’t give any monies back to current members who signed with you before the decision was made…

• Read this post at everyjoe.com. Curves International should be held accountable.

  By Di
  36 days ago BE SCARED. DON’T BUY!

  http://everyjoe.com/work/is-curves-for-women-a-good-franchise-investment/

• Read this post at everyjoe.com.

  By Di
  36 days ago BE SCARED. DON’T BUY!

  http://everyjoe.com/work/is-curves-for-women-a-good-franchise-investment/

• I’m merging my clubs. CI said they were doing me a favor by allowing me out of my contract. They’re charging me $2000 to combine. I like many of you don’t want and cannot pay $2000. However if I close my bank acct they will not be able to draw fees for the club I’m keeping open. Therefore I’m sure they’ll also cut my wellness reimbursements.
  Any suggestions?
  Thankyou. I’m dying here.

• Kathy, The $2,000.00 to combine, does that create a new 5 year agreemant with your strong club? Be careful.

• Kathy, yes be VERY careful. They may try to lock you into a 5 year agreement. I have a friend who negotiated a 2 year contract (instead of 5) for renewing an agreement. I also have friends who closed clubs-having others open-and never paid anything. I think they are only going after owners if they close all of their clubs-they don’t want to jeopardize getting money from their remaining clubs.
  They got letters from CI, and told them they didn’t have the money for the closing fee, and they haven’t heard anything else. I closed 2 clubs in 2009-both of my clubs. I did everything the way I was supposed to except for getting rid of my
  equipment. I refuse to send it back, and there isn’t a market for selling it right
  now to other owners. I’m holding on to it until I can figure out something. I
  got the letter from CI legal in January, and in April, got the letter from the collection agency in Illinois. I have ignored both. I have back rent and loans
  from the initial investment and others taken out to try to keep the clubs going.
  I am filing bankruptcy which will take care of the backrent, one business loan
  (the others were home equity which I will still be responsible for) and the
  Curves claim. I really don’t think Curves can get the future royalties, but the
  crooked collection agency has reported it to the credit bureau-which I recently
  found out. They put the whole amount on my husbands credit report too, and
  he is only on one of the agreements. I am going to dispute this, but my
  credit is in the toilet anyway because of the bankruptcy. I cannot wait to put
  this all behind me. You are dealing with some slimeballs here, so be very
  careful!! Good luck to you! You may want to tell Curves that if they won’t waive
  the fee you will have to close the weaker club.

• Hi Ketley!
  What do you say, I closed the club earlier this year, so how are things started going badly and the club has begun to yield losses in the amount of 1500 euros per month. When I realized that the situation is not fixable and will not improve, I decided to close, and now I am grateful to the day when I made a decision. Now my wife and I remember laughing about that story that happened to us, it was the misunderstandings in our lives. We were threatened that we will have to pay royalties until the end of the contract and the like, but we could no longer live in this nightmare. I closed my account and credit card companies, but to date no curves do not bother us and I think that will never be disturbed. So to solve and be free from what’s stopping you to live normally.

• I am NOT a Curves owner but a member and have been very frustrated by the limited hours the gym is open as well as the pressure to only conform to 3 workouts a week. I’d like to have the option to work out 5 days a week without feeling like there’s a problem with it.

  I’ve only been to one Curves that seemed to want to accomodate its members that didn’t close for 3 or 4 hours every afternoon. Fortunately, it’s still in operation but I moved from the area. I really think closing in the afternoons and not having enough equipment isn’t helping.

  However, I’m very sorry for the problems that owners are having with the corporate offices. Best wishes to everyone.

• Curves is too busy dealing with closing clubs to take any legal action. Call their bluff.

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