My wife and I had owned and operated our own business for over 20 years and had been very successful at doing so. While we were making a great income from our business there was something missing in our life. Neither us felt that we were contributing to society but just taking and we decided to make a major change in our life. That was when we heard about Curves for Women. It was a new franchise that only had 300 or so clubs and for the first time in years we both became excited at the prospect of actually helping people reach their goals. We bought our first club in 1997 located in a city of thirty thousand. From the first day it opened it was more successful than our wildest dreams. Not only were we making excellent money but the personal rewards helping people better their lives was a truly rewarding feeling. I can still remember as if it was yesterday the first time a Dr. of one of our members came in to check out what we were doing as he couldn’t believe the ch
We sold our first club in 2001 and bought two more franchises. My wife became a mentor for Curves International around this time and I was helping to sell franchise for Curves International as so many of are members wanted to own a club. It was at this time that we started to see problems arising with Curves International but we attributed it to the fast growth that Curves was going through. In 2002 we bought two more franchises but this time they were in what was called a metro-area instead of city under thirty thousand in population.
The first problem we encountered with Curves International was in early 2003. Curves sold a franchise that was a corridor of land between one of our franchise’s and the next city 8 miles from our southern boarder. It was obvious to us that the territory didn’t have the necessary population to support a facility and that Curves International was selling any location just out of greed and the fact that there were so many people who wanted a franchise. The people who bought that franchise tried to open up on our border but it had always been an unwritten but followed rule of Curves International that you open in the middle of your territory so that disputes between owners over stealing members from your territory didn’t arise. We immediately filed a complaint with Curves International and they stopped the new owner from opening at that location. Unfortunately for the new owners there were no other commercial locations between the two cities so they were forced into selling that franchise back to Curves International for a loss.
It was also at this time that Curves International started to change personnel. The employee’s who we had a personal relationship with that had started Curves International with Gary Heavin were leaving the company at an alarming rate. Seven employees that were the top management of Curves left or were forced out because of Gary Heavin’s greed. They ended up filling a law suit against Curves which was later settled out of court. It was at this time that Diane Heavin became involved with Curves and a whole new history was being written about how Curves was started. The original Curves member guide which was written by Gary Heavin and June Manley was taken off the market and the new Curves book authored by of course Gary Heavin was on the top 10 of the Times best seller list.. To make sure it was on the Times best seller list all the clubs had to order at least on case. That is when we as owners realized Heavin was a manipulator and not the born again Christian he portrayed to be. It was also at this time that the price to buy a franchise more than doubled in price. This came as quite a surprise as Heavin had always maintained that he would never ever increase his franchise price and he even swore on the bible in front of a group at club camp that he would never break his word on that. Well as we all know he didn’t keep that promise for long, which just shows his greed.
At this point my wife and I became quite concerned and even considered selling our business but other problems arose concerning Curves International that demanded our full attention. In 2004 another Curves location located on our boarder of one of our metro-areas hired two of our employees and stole around 15 members from our club. Both employees had signed the anti covenant not to compete and in our state those agreements are strictly enforced by the courts. We considered going to court but since it was another Curves facility we decided to file a complaint with Curves International. And to let them handle it. What a mistake that was as they did nothing. We transferred the members files but refused to transfer the money for the members dues until such time that Curves International responded to our complaint. We were told by the area director, which was a new position at Curves International, that we were trouble makers and he refused to send any of are clubs the members appreciation bags. Shortly thereafter Curves International resold the corridor of land that had been sold back to them at a loss from the previous owners and they allowed the new owners to open up in nearly the same location that they had refuse the previous owners only a year and a half before. The new owners advertised in our area and ended up getting 10 or 11 members to transfer to their club. Again we held their monthly dues but did transfer the members files. We immediately filed a complaint but again got the same response nothing. It didn’t take long for most of the members who transferred to come back to our club as the other location was small and in a very run down area and to this day that club has not shown a profit and has been sold numerous times over the years for little to nothing.
Then in 2005 the real problems with Curves International started that we are still contending with today. In one of our metro-areas a competitor by the name of Ladies Workout Express opened up right across the street from our location. Unknown to us they had hired our manager and one other employee from that location and when the employee’s left they had stolen off our computer our member files. They ended up stealing over two thirds of our membership with in a week. The employees had signed the covenant not to compete so we immediately hired a lawyer and prepared for a lawsuit. As I stated before in our state that agreement is strictly enforced but it took four months to get it into court. During this time that location was losing so much money that we decided to move the location next to our other territory so that both clubs could stay open. We sent in the required change of location form to Curves International but never heard anything back from them so we went ahead and relocated in late 05. The owners of the Ladies Workout Express eventually went broke because of the lawsuit and the fact that they would end up owing us monetary damages. They filed for bankruptcy to prevent us from collecting any monetary awards in Dec 05 but we did have the satisfaction knowing that we did what was right
In early 06 we were informed by Curves International that because we abandon that location they were terminating all of our franchise agreements. We immediately requested mediation for all of our clubs which is authorized by our franchise agreements with Curves International. We never heard back from them so we hired a lawyer in Waco, TX to represent us. He proceeded to send them a letter requesting the same mediation process and they did respond to him. They sent him letter stating that it was premature to go through the mediation process at that time as they were in the process of researching our reason for moving. Curves International continued to debit our account for the franchise and advertising fees for all the other clubs we owned but stopped talking the fees for the one territory that they stated we abandoned. The lawyer had us send Curves International a check for the fees and a new authorization form for them to deduct it from our account. Neither our lawyer or ourselves ever heard anything back from Curves International so we all assumed that things were back to normal.
In the spring of 07 we made the decision to start selling off all of our clubs and to completely retire. It didn’t take me long to sell the club we owned that wasn’t in a metro-area and I agreed to stay with the new owner’s to help train them how to run the business. We sent all the documentation into Curves International and the sale was completed by January 08. That freed my wife and I up to concentrate on our metro-area clubs and to get them ready for sale. In Feb of 08 we heard that a Curves club was opening in one of our territories within a mile of our current club. We could not understand how Curves International could do such a thing. We again filed a complaint by phone and e-mail to Curves International and several weeks later we were informed by e-mail that they didn’t know what we were talking about. We were told we didn’t own any franchises and hadn’t since we were terminated in 05. That came as quite a shock to my wife and I as our franchise and advertising fee’s had been deducted all along from our checking account and we had just recently sold a club that they were telling us we never owned. We had a local lawyer send a letter to the new owners explaining the situation and that we would be seeking legal recourse against Curves International and depending on the outcome they were opening themselves up to a potential lawsuit. During this time we had bought and paid in full for the Smart Equipment for Curves International and were waiting for the installation which was scheduled for the June 24th. On June 20th , a Friday we received a phone message telling us that the Curves Smart Installation was canceled and that we had to call Curves legal for an explanation. We left messages both e-mail and phone every 30 minutes on Monday June 23rd and finally late in the afternoon we received an e-mail stating that one of there lawyers would be in touch with us before the end of the day, They never sent an e-mail or a phone call as was promised but by mid day the next day they did respond by e-mail. It stated because of the problems with the members transfers, the fact that we abandoned a franchise, and that we had interfered with the opening of the new franchise located in our territory we weren’t approved for the Curves Smart. Yet in late May they had sent all the promotional ad material for the Curves Smart and of course we had gone to a considerable amount of expense for training the employees, advertising and promotion of the Curves Smart equipment. It was at this point that my wife and I decided that drastic action had to be taken against Heavin and Curves International.
While we still love the concept of Curves we feel that because of the deceptive and we believe fraudulent business practices that Heavin has allowed under his management Curves will eventually end up in the toilet so to speak. After spending many hours on the internet we have found that there are many lawsuits against this man and his company. Just read some of the post’s that are on franchisepick.com from owners concerning the new ten thousand fee if your club goes under and closes to the vitamins that were sold in Feb and March by Ideas in Action at a discount to owners without telling them that they would expire at the end of May. The lack of support and communication from Curves International that all of us owners are going through is intolerable. It is impossible for an owner to get through to them on the phone and good luck if you expect a call back in a timely manor. The fact that we as owners pay a lot of money for our advertising fees and have no accounting of where it is spent and a quite frankly we never see many ads in our area.
I have taken the time to do the necessary research to find several good lawyers who handle franchise law who are more than willing to help Curves owners who are having similar problems with Curves. I for one am going to go after Curves International and Gary Heavin in a court of law. These are not class action but group action lawsuit and if you don’t understand the difference contact me and I will explain it to you. There have been over 200 such lawsuit filed against Curves in the last several years and while some have been settled in mediation others are in the process of going to litigation. If you are a past or present Curves owner who has experienced these problems and want satisfaction whether it be monetary or revenge please contact me. We have several options that we can go and I for one am positive we will win as the other lawsuits have been successful so far and have set a precedent for ours. It is time for the owners of Curves franchises either past or present to stand up together and put a stop to Heavins’s ramped destruction of peoples lives just for monetary greed.
Thanks for reading our post and God Bless you all.
ARE YOU AN CURVES FRANCHISE OWNER OR FORMER CURVES FRANCHISEE?
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE CURVES FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY?
PLEASE SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
Recent developments have left franchisees worried and uncertain about their futures. To advocate for greater…
The Building Kidz Worldwide franchise is an opportunity to own a preschool & childcare center…
PAINT NAIL BAR has undergone some significant changes since franchisees contacted us with their complaints,…
U.S. Veterans magazine has removed JDog Brands as its #1 "Best Franchises for Veterans" list.…
More than 400 Veterans & military families who invested in JDog Brands franchises have failed,…
Genevieve McDaniel is a former franchisee turned franchise researcher, franchisee advocate, advisor and fiercely honest…
View Comments
Mr Lay:
Thank you for telling your story. I can totally relate. Four years ago, my wife, her niece and I owned a Curves so successful it had 1,100 members and was named franchise of the year for the Southeast US. We wound up owning a total of three Curves. The future seemed incredibly bright,
What happened in between is a long, frustrating story that I've told at franchisepick.com, but today, my wife and I are broke, bankrupt and about six weeks away from losing our home to foreclosure, and we've still got a child in diapers. I've never known such feelings of fear, failure and despair, day in and day out.
Oversaturization killed us, just as it did you. Curves should have capped the number of clubs at 4,000 to 5,000. We started cannibalizing one another to survive, while fighting off knockoffs.
The only group-action lawsuit I've heard of is being filed by Zarco and Einhorn in Miami. If you've heard of others, I'd like to hear about them. Unfortunately, we were told by Zarco that since we SOLD our clubs - one for full price and two others for a paltry 50 cents each plus debt when things got real bad - and didn't close them we couldn't be part of the lawsuit.
Thanks again for your testimony. Perhaps our stories will keep others thinking about buying a resale from experiencing the nightmare we've endured for the past few years.
I am in the process of a "sale" for 10k. I originally was going to close on July 31, 2008. A buyer came forward, we met, and she wanted more info and went to CI and when they were through they told her to go through MCord to handle the sale instead of coming back to me. They wanted thier 5k fee. They lied to both of us. They got me to agree under duress. I have been in business four years. They were going to come after me for the remainder of 10 years. Two years ago I put in for a 2-day "tune-up" for July 2006. Before it could happen all of my employees quit. I called CI and asked for a 2 month delay, and they said no. They said that if I did not go through with it, they were going to hit my account for the two months dues forgiveness from the previous 2 months, and take the next month at the same time. So I sat with the trainer for 2 days and did nothing but entertain her, buy her lunch and pay her mileage and fees. I have been furious with CI ever since. I participated with the Powerful Promotions Fitness Study two months later when it was "illegal" with CI. My cards accidentally went into a neighboring territory, she called me and called me everything but white and human for an hour on the phone. Called our AD, and she called me an hour later and said that she would have to turn me over to legal, I told her go ahead, that I was doing whatever it took to keep my doors open. I never heard from legal at all. It was approved shortly thereafter. Of course this was after Gary Heavin was able to get an office inside thier operation, so he could monitor it and make sure he got his share of the money. I was the only one in my area that decided to do the study, and after the other clubs saw my results, they lost thier fear and jumped on the bandwagon. Now nothing works. All of our so called methods are ambiguous. My paper went out of business a few months ago, mailouts are outrageous, telemarketing is out of the question. My territory should be closed and never re-opened. We are rural and people have to drive purposely to get to me. McCord is telling me that I should be "happy" to be selling even though it is at a loss, they call 5k "some money". They expect me to leave all of my circuit (all 14 pieces) and furniture, computers, everything for this price. They are crazy, since I paid for the other 6 pieces, they are going, along with everything else into storage. I feel sorry for the new owners, since one of them is a member in my club already. They don't have a clue as to how hard they are going to have to work. They are dealing with my landlord now. She is stupid, she refused to make improvements for me in four years, and they are trying to get her to concede on some things. I have been sorry for the last two years for the decision that I made four yers ago. This was my first business, and it had to be a franchise, and now I have to lose it all. I am totally turned off of franchises now. I almost split my territory three years ago and am so glad that I did not, if I had I would be out double my losses. I am deeply disappointed in Gary Heavin and the way he represented his company and the lies that he spews forth. I am so glad that I did not buy the Smart Equipment, that would have been another loss. We were part of the first roll out last year, here in Texas. They tried to strong arm us into it. I did not bite. I was told yesterday by the new owner, that soon it will be mandatory for every club. I hope this will dissappoint people from jumping off into this company. If you are contemplating buying sit down and talk with the owner in the area you are considering, then make your decision.
I feel for you Dorothy. My sister had to go through mccord as well and they could care less about her all they cared about was getting their money. Gary Heavin has this guy McCord set up in business as an approved vendor to broker resales. Sounds like a conflict of interest to me. Who are they representing the seller or Curves anyway. It's hard to figure out.
I bought 3 curves franchises a year ago guess what I cant make my rent I bounce my payrolls and now I am at a loss for words...I have 2 kids in college and I am drowning
Hello all. Me and my husband purchased a curves in the ohio area October 2007. I was so excited because I had own a business before. I was off work and I only had my retirement money to live on. My husband was laid off making litle money so we thought that this would be a great investment. Well my story goes like this. I purchased this club from an employee from Curves International. She had only owned the club from July 2008-Oct. 2008. She stated that Curves approached her about the opportunity to buy. (seemed strange) to me but my excitement was over shawdowing any I thought I was getting a good deal with everything included in the package. (equipment, washer/dryer, etc). However this is when my nitemare began. The revenue was not generating , landlord was making me honor a prior lease agreement, they were not responsible for no maitenance of their space. They were not helping to promote to bring more business in the mall. I requested from curves international to relocate and they denied me statin that the new location was within 2 miles from existing location. I tried discussing this matter wih curves but they replied to an e-mail but when I ask for their suggestion on where to locate they never responded back. I tried requesting support from the area director and additional training they stated that they did not do that but other trainings were offered about 45 minutes from me. But they will call me to clear out my curves e-mail account.
Now I am getting further in debt with no support can not move, can not pay my rent nor can I afford an attorney.
The training that was held in Texas was more of promoting their products and you as the owner need to buy, buy buy.
Curves misrepresented themselves and I feel as if I am stuck.
I have been an owner for almost 2 years. I understand that there's lots to learn when you start a business, and that it's tough to turn a profit w/in the first few years in business.
What I don't understand is why the only 'help' we are offered is the supposedly 'proven systems' that worked amazingly over 10 years ago when Curves was a phenomenon. Where is forward thinking? Strategic planning? Where are the 'systems' that assist the owner in day-to-day operations (eg. procedures for all staff members from unlocking in the morning to shutting down at night?) (It's been an interesting adventure and education putting together those procedures during the past year, but isn't that what the supposed benefit of purchasing a franchise is to entail?)
I'm hoping to sell my area asap, but in my heart I know it's highly unlikely. Who willingly buys a broken car?
I don't know if I have enough 'fight' left in me or the capital necessary for legal action. I'd be relieved to be out from under, feeling much smarter about business (and possible mistakes to avoid in the future).
I have been a franchisee of a Handyman business in the past. The one thing anyone getting into a franchise needs to remember...the franchisor is in the business of selling franchises. Once they have your money I find that the franchisor is not very helpful with any problems.
Be careful when buying a franchise, more than likely you can do the idea on your own, have faith in yourself and go for it on your terms, not the franchisor terms.
Hello All I have owned my franchise for three years, I have not been making any money for two years and not getting any help 2 years ago I had a stroke my doctor said it was do to stress I am 46 years old trying to hang on but very hard I would never do this again
I am sad to hear all of these terrible stories but I am glad to know I am not alone. I just closed my business in June. It was a very hard deciosion to make because I dearly love my members but it was a business decision and it had to be done. Other Curves owners that I be-friended told me how they were paying credit with credit, not making the rent and then the economy went south. I saw it was going to happen to me as well. I had considered closing in October of 2007 and called to see what I had to do to close and I was told there would be no closing fees. I decided to tough it out and hang on a little longer and that was a mistake. Luckily I didn't really go further in debt and my business was able to stay above water but I had not taken a pay check since June of 2006. I called them back earlier this year and I was threatened with the 10K closing fee. I was told to sell it for $1 to avoid paying that fee. I was decreased to running around town offering my Curves for free to anyone who would take it, so when it doesnt sell you look like a fool that you couldn't even sell it for a $1. They did decrease my fee but it was still too much. I have a $25k loan I still have to pay that I took out to buy the franchise in 2004 and I am unemployed. The funny thing is, when I signed up there had to be a population of 5000. When I did my initial research the 2000 cencus reported my area as having 3,600. I assumed this would prevent me from being able to purchase the club. They told me I had a population of 5800. When I asked them how they come up with that figure they told me they figure populations in towns where I would be pulling members from. After I opened Curves clubs were put in those towns and I was no longer pulling from them. About a month after I opened they raised the bar of the population to 7,500. Do you know still to this day they tell me I have a population of 5800 and I know it is not the truth. I was allowed to buy a franchise that was not going to work for long. We were all set up for failure.
How can I contact Mr. Robert Lay?