CURVES: Negotiating Curves Closing Fees

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• We will be waiting for your call, because it is important for us

• Hello again. We waited all night for your call. They sent a lot of messages on the address you gave us. What do we do? On Monday, we want to send a statement to close the club. Our lawyers say, to the personal property will not come.

• Hi,

  I opened my club in June 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey and for the first few months my club seemed like it would be doing well but by November my membership numbers dropped to 0!!! At the time of my opening my club there were 5 Curves clubs in my city and now there is only 1 left; all the others had to close down including mine...I have been chasing CI since beginning of December, telling them I was having a tough time and that I would most likely end up having to close down. I haven't been contacted by anyone offering any support, guidance or help so in the end I gave up trying and had to close down in March.

  Funny enough 4 months after my various emails I receive an email from their re-sale department telling me; and I quote, that so-and-so from Curves tried contacting me various times but was unsuccessful in her attempts reaching me...total load of crap! yes there was a lady at re-sale who emailed me and said she would contact but never ever did even though I chased her many times! So I reply back asking for proof as to when and how they tried to reach me as per their claims and the answer was 'sorry for your frustration but we promise that we will be in contact from now on.now tell us are you still open or closed?' and I told them that after 4 months I couldn't afford to wait for them to come back to me any longer and eventually I did have to close down...

  Now they sent me an email, using a very intimidating tone of voice as I expected of course, and told me that I abandoned my club which is a breach of contract ( A.K.A THE CARDINAL SIN - OH FOR GOD'S SAKE, GIVE ME A BREAK!) and that I owe them all the future royalty fees as well as the advertising fees, which come to a total of around 40K Dollars...Hahahahaaaa, really funny! I cannot believe that they actually have the nerves to ask me for the future advertising fees as CI have been telling all the Curves clubs in my country from the beginning that there would be no advertising done (whether local or national) in Turkey because there just wasn't enough number of clubs to support just yet; so each club had to pay for their own advertising until now. It's obvious that those half-wits that send franchisees like me those scary-sounding-emails have a template email that they copy and paste and they are not even smart enough to check their policies for individual countries.

  Anyways, I will not pay them a single penny and don't care how many silly emails they will send me. It already cost me 150K Dollars so far and I had to sell my flat to pay off my loans to the bank. It makes me sick to think of the amount of money I threw away, we have a 7 month-old-baby and my husband, quite rightly, says that it could be her life-time education money had I not got into this business; how very stupid of me! I don't even want to think about it because it makes me want to literally throw up!

  Does anyone know if they can sue me in Turkey? I know they claim that it was breach of contract from my part but I have been reading the contract thoroughly and it appears that the franchisee does infact have the right to terminate the agreement should CI not support them, offer them advise etc etc and I wonder if I would be OK to go down that route and refuse any payment

  I do feel for everyone that went/goes through the same nightmare but lets all look at the bright side; at least we've been there, done that : )))

• I forgot to mention that on their last email, they sent 2 forms for me to fill in, sign and send back within 2 working days (why 2 working days, God knows!) : Club worksheet and Intend to Close Facility Form. But I won't send them back until I am 100% sure that they OK to sign and send back. What did the other franchisees here do?

• Hi Elif! We are very sympathetic to your situation, since we are on the verge of closing and will close soon. We understand you, because we've been in your situation, but thank God that we do not have credits. The American dream of own business - it is simply a lie. Real business is not yours, it is the business of the Americans and the master franchise in your country. And we were told about the successful business that can bring from 3000 euros per month and more. We were deceived, just like everyone. The courses we were in Spain, and we noticed that the people who have this is very sad and worried, but people who just bought a carefree and joyful. We are still very surprised at this. But now we know it. The fact that we have sold - this monster, who is infinitely drink and drink your blood. And without it, he's dead. Thank God that we will soon be able to kill him. Two documents that you sent a waiver of the right to apply to the court to protect your rights and your commitment that you must bring the gym where they would go. Did not sign these papers. We told our closing, but we were told that they were very disappointed and examine the situation of our club. It's all excuses. I know that I will send 42,000 dollars for royalties. But I will not pay a single dollar for what I sold. I want to sue them and get all the money we spent back, believe that such a possibility. Soon, this infection will be in Poland and the Czech Republic. Poor people who buy it or have already bought. I suggest you join, find more people in Europe and your country, that would speak with the requirements for the return of our money and pecuniary damage. After years of work with this nightmare, I hate this company and want what they can as quickly went bankrupt. We would like to talk with you closer and understand each other as the victims of the curves. How can we contact you? Write to us and we'll find a way to communicate. Locate your fellow countrymen who have suffered from this plague.

• Hi Elif,
  So sad to hear about your problems with curves but as you can see your not alone. Don't let them intimidate you and don't send them any money or sign anything that they may send you. They are nothing but crooks!!!!!!!!

• Hi everyone! Dear users of the forum. We suggest you create an association to assist victims of Curves in Europe. I think that such people there are very many. We were beaten by one and we all remain silent and fight themselves as best we can with this monster. I have read that only in Istanbul was closed four of the club. And everyone is silent, but these crooks they write what they want 42,000 dollars. They brought us to poverty, all while we are silent. As long as we keep quiet we will beat, beat and beat. Waiting for your suggestions by email

• Hello all. My Curves is in the verge of closing as well. We bought it resale 3 years ago. It was good at first, but now it is in RED figures, cannot sustain itself any longer. I have several questions: I incorporated, so all paperwork is through the corporation, how does this affect the closure if I just disolve my corporation? Anyone has any feedback on this? Also, I got the curvessmart equipment, but instead of buying it outright, I leased it, how will that work as far as selling the equipment, am I entitled to do that? Any feedback very appreciated? Thank you very much and hope all of us find peace and forget it all ever happend after is all done!!

• Andres,
  Your idea of an association for UK clubs for support is an excellent one. We can do that right here. Spread the word to all the owners over seas to come and [post here and we will give them all the advice and support they need.

  Abraham,
  When you signed the franchise agreement you singed it with a personal signature so according to curves you are liable not the corporation. You leased the smart equipment on a plan where you would own it after your payments were done. It is your equipment once you close but you may have to take the smart off and send it back to the lease holder.

• Hello friends affected by the one-eyed!
  I'm not talking only about the UK. These clubs have appeared recently in Turkey and in Ukraine and Bulgaria and Romania. Soon there will be in Poland and the Czech Republic. If you look at the statistics for closure - that Turkey closed only 4 clubs in Istanbul. Now people began to intimidation and to demand 42,000 dollars, after ruining them. You can read the story of a girl from Turkey, she had to sell his apartment, that would settle the debts, which were made during the work. Our club has existed for only 6 months. We have 3 months he started to bring to 1500 euro loss in 4 month loss amounted to 2000 euro, for 5 months we decided to close the club. We reported this to the main office of curves. Contact us representative in our country and threatened to pay royalties for 10 years of the contract, the courts and lawyers. I think that once held 60 days from the date of application, we will begin to receive emails from the curves with death threats, and documents that will say that we renounce the right to file them in court. We will not sign anything and intend to defend. The contract we signed the first from individuals, and then sign a document transferring the rights to the franchise company. We can all join together and sue the joint action by competent persons. We are all devastated and we must unite to cut costs all of us at the Bar. I think that in the UK, the contract also says that the dispute shall be settled by the Arbitration Court under the laws of England Wales. Waiting for your reply, I think that we can create together and fight these fraudsters. I heard that the curves are bankrupt, but it's hidden.
  Think about all of this.