CURVES: Robert Lay’s Story
The American dream of owning your own successful business seems to be going up in smoke for a lot of the Curves Franchise owners. The story you are about to read may seem like a Steven King horror novel but it is a real story that has happened to my wife and I. To all of the past, present and future owners of a Curves franchise please take the time to read the whole story as at the end we explain what we plan to do and how you as an ex or present owner may want to get involved.
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
anges his patient had gone through. She had gotten off her high blood medication and had lost over 40 pounds in 4 months. It was truly amazing and over the years we have seen it happen numerous times over and over.
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.
There is a list of the outcomes of past litigation against Curves, somewhat dated, here:
http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/curves-franchise-lawsuit-settlements/
If you can get a current FDD it will have a more up-to-date list. You should probably talk to the franchisees who sued Curves to see whether they feel it was worthwhile, and ignore people who get their jollies kicking others when they’re down. Look into suing the previous owner, too.
As those who have been in this position know, it’s not all about the money. The people who stood up and fought back, and exposed the Heavin the Secret Millionaire’s dirty secrets are not the fools, in my book.
Please explain FDD abbreviation.
FDD stands for Franchise Disclosure Document.
It used to be called the UFOC (Uniform Franchise Offering Circular).
If you or anyone you know had a club close because your geographic area was too small to support a Curves and you lost money, I need you to contact me through the administrator (admin please tell me how) It doesn’t matter where you are located in the world. I cannot give details in such a forum. If anyone knows of another forum on which I could ex franchisees it would be greatly appreciated.
Hey Erin, My club will be closing at the end of March. Not only did they allow the territory to be saturated, but I actually had another curves open in my territory and it ended up costing ME over $7000 to get them out.On top of that I had notified CI 9 years before about a club that had opened on my territorial border…they did sweet ‘F” all about it! Curves In’t has done ZERO for me, but waste my money with dumb shit like the Smart equip. What a joke! They have asked for my equipment to be donated/destroyed….this was never apart of my agreement 10 years ago, so it WON’T happen!
I agree with several of these ex owners and would love to see CI go down in flames! Should have known they were trouble ever since finding out Gary went bankrupt multiple times before curves!!!
In the last 2 years there has been more then 6 CURVES close that I know about just in my area alone. Thorold, ON, Niagara Falls, ON, Welland, ON, Fort Erie, ON, Lincoln, ON, St Catharines, ON all of these are in Ontario Canada and not only that 2 of my neices sister in-laws has also just resently closed. Yes you are right they are allowing this to happen it seems it is the owners doing it. The owner that sold me mine is still open and she and her business partner are still going strong. You might want to look into who sold it to you. They are professionals that know the time when to open and when to close.
Question regarding franchisee’s responsibility (seller) for royalty for up to 12 months after sale……..
No. A seller is not responsible. The agreement was made to remove this stipulation on or about September 2010 through the efforts of the CFA agreed on a call with the CFA and Roger Schmidt, chief legal counsel @ CI.
I sold my club and found that stipulation in the closing docx and immediately confirmed this agreement with Ron Gardiner,the CFA attorney. The wording was removed by CI and my sale was if finalized. Sellers and. Users should read their Agreements closely.
Thank you, to everyone for sharing so much of their own information this is very helpful and I do apprecate that you do share. I just wanted to put in a good word for all….
Have a fabulous day!
Sorry about the last two enteries… had trouble getting in. My situation is similar to many other posts. My wife and I sold our franchise on a contract for deed about 14 months ago. the gal who bought it closed the club. Now CI is coming after us for the $10,000. closing fee and thousands more for future royalties.
what can we do next?
We have been in the dreadful middle of closing our club. It has been closed since November 1st 2011. We complied with all Curves Int. demands, including detroying our equipment, sent back our CurvesSmart/computer and now they have come back with $2000 closing fees cost and $1600, owing fees after we closed. Have anyone been thru this within the Ontario, Canada region and did not pay? We are in financial turmoil and really cannot afford to pay their fees. We are also Incorporated, does that make a difference?? Curves I definitely don’t care about the stress we are going thru. So disappointed. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Our county, which had 18 Curves as recently as 2006, is down to six, and three of those surviving clubs are now run by one new owner who got them for free.
Can’t find the McCord Business Brokers site, where Curves are listed for sale. Is it gone?
McCord isn’t doing resales anymore. Contact curves resale dept. …..but good luck getting anyone to buy! Had mine listed for two years couldnt even get 20k.
I’m not surprised McCord got out of the resales business. There were fewer and fewer club listings, and the prices kept plummeting. Another sign that Curves is in its death throes.
@Sind:
Can you contact me thru my e mail. Can the admin give it to you?
Not sure how that works?
I dont want to put it on screen
I would really like to talk to you.
Edie, I am not sure how that works either but if you have an info for me I would greatly appreciate it. thanks
WOW- I am glad I never purchased a CURVE franchise. I was in a fitness franchise years ago, and I will never sign anything without my lawyer looking it over first. Anyway, I want to comment about Zumba in the circuit classes. In my area they are doing that along with the machines, and for some time now, have been teaching 1 hour Regular Zumba classes during regular business hours too.- which is a BIG NO NO- But these owners are teaching them and having the staff also teach too. I can’t figure out why Curve International has not put a stop to them promoting Zumba and not the Curve concept. Shame on them
My husband and I were just served for a club we owned in New Jersey and closed in 2010. The case will be heard in New Jersey instead of Texas and I need to know if any of you know of either cases that have been won or if there is a class action suit in NJ. If you know of successful cases in NJ do you have a lawyer that they used?
Thanks for any help
Andy, why did your club close or need I ask. At one time there were 249 clubs in NJ and now there are 43 and still dropping. Yes that is a drop of 83%. I cannot imagine that any court in the land would hold you liable (for a closing fee or future royalties) with this sort of failure rate. Overall, the current closure rate in the US is 68% of clubs. At one time there were 9882 and now there are about 3200. All information is from Curves submssions in their Uniform Franchise document. Please ask the administrator to give you my email so that we exchange information.
I am now out of house and home. I am now living in my brother’s basement. I had to put all of my belongings into a storage cantainer. At this point my brother’s wife is now badgering me to give the Curves equiptment away to the Salvation Army. Please provided me with some direction in what to do. Please
I have been reading the statements from Curve owners and am jaw-dropped to say the least! I answered an ad for a womens fitness club for sale $9k. The owners have owned it for 2 years and simply wanted to get rid of it quickly. I was very interested OMG! What a mess I would have gotten myself into! THANK YOU ALL A MILLION TIMES for sharing your experiences and may God himself bless each and every one of you for what you have endured with this company.
Can anyone tell me how the class action court case is going against Curves? We are have 30% of the Curves in Australia closed down.
Oh my goodness this is really scary stuff I am a franchisee in Australia who may have to close in the near future, I wonder what will happen
I have heard that Heavin is fixing to sell Curves. Anyone have information or ideas on what that may do to our clubs?
I was offered to buy a Curves club this morning and was very excited as I recently stopped working and am looking to start a business of my own. I then googled Curves Francise this evening and landed on this shocking story of the nightmare that Curves International is! I’m supposed to meet the selling owner next week and can’t wait to hear what her story is and what she makes of all this. Anyway, at least now im equiped to ask the right questions and to ensure the contract does not include these ridiculous closing down fees, phoeny monitoring fees, non-existent advertising etc. Shoot, thank you all you guys for sharing your stories so that we dont fall into the same trap!
Very sad indeed! What happened with the group action?
Gary is on his way out. Newcastle is coming in….
OOPS! Wrong petition! This one!
http://www.change.org/petitions/veterans-deserve-success-not-matco-tools-franchise-failure
i really wish that i would have seen this last year! i bought a re-sale location in august 2011 and less then a year later i am already looking at having to close. last week i FINALLY had someone come in from CI that was to be here when i took over to help me and answer questions. all she was was a corporate cheerleader. i work EVERY hour at my club and she told me to get out and promote more. WHEN??? i can’t afford to pay anyone to be at the club for me to get out and promote! and i have $95 taken from me every month to advertise and i have NEVER seen an ad in my area! there is my promoting money! i paid a $1000 training fee when i took over and i still don’t know what that covered because i watched the SAME videos that were on the Curves Community page leading up to my training. i was told by the previous owner that there were 100 members and i knew that was low but also knew that i could build from that . when i got in and looked in the system i had 62 ACTIVE members. i have not been able to catch up since taking over. i don’t want my members not to have a place to go but when in enough enough! my own health is suffering at this point and my CI cheerleader had the nerve to ask me if i was serious about helping the women of my community! at the risk of my own health??? NO! i could really use some advice on what to do. is there really no way of closing early without paying 10K???
heartbroken
WE too were told we had 230 members but in reality when we took over we have just below 200 active members….THIS IS RIDICULOUS why curves International doesn’t see that and void the transaction knowing that it has been doomed from the beginning, but we all know they LOVE money way more than their own franchisees. We closed last October due to low membership to another newer fitness centre. We are incorporated so not sure of our outcome will be. When we closed, they told us that they would only charge us $1 as franchisee fee and advertising due to closure. Our file was put on hold for awhile with no contact ( later to find out the person taking care of our file left) which told us we were able to keep some of the equipment for only personal use but then going back saying we needed to destroy it. And all the while, they were trying to withdraw the monthly charges for advertising and fees when we were actually closed. Then told us we needed to pay them that amount plus a discounted closing fees. We are still fighting with them needless to say…..I HAVE TO SAY THAT CURVES NOR GARY HEAVIN CARES ABOUT THEIR FRANCHISEES! and also how much we have lost financially buy having this business. We nearly lost our home over it!! We proabably still can! BEWARE IN BUYING A CURVES FRANCHISE!!!!
Heidi I too work every single minute my club is open I cannot afford staff as my membership is so low. Do Curves care that I am running on empty? No. I get the same response as you got get out in the community drop of lead bozes, do this do that. I am now very close to closing my club. I to have not seen my moneys worth of advertising in my area. 3% for advertising royalties is alot of money when you dont have alot of money, then they expect you to pay $10000 to close down. What a greedy greedy man. Stay away from Curves. We in Australia had to sign a 10 years franchise agreement (must have been off with the fairies when I did that).
I have owned a franchise for 2 yrs in a small tourist town, that grows tremendously in the summer months, however, this did not help my “CURVES” business grow. In fact I kept loosing members to the two other fitness clubs in town, one which also takes all of the insurance plans, and has all the newer equipment. So, in
February, I received an e-mail from my area director, then another from the legal department that I was going to be put into their closing program. I complied with all of the items on the list, my club closed on May 1st, 2012, and now I have received an e-mail saying my remaining advertising, and franchise fees would be $42,480., however they would offset them and I would only have to send them $1500. by 5/31/12. Now, first of all Curves International CLOSED my CLUB, second of all, I had to stop receiving all members payments a month before, and I have not ever collected a paycheck. So, where do I come up with the $1500. I guess my question is what can they legally do to me, since my business was filed as an LLC?
With the IFA leading the way these franchisors who sign up and become protected by the IFA are in a competition. To see which franchisor can make the MOST money screwing their franchisee. Educate yourself about the IFA and you will understand what the real problem with franchising is. See that the U.S. government has TRIED to change franchising from a DISHONEST organization to a more HONORABLE way to do business but there are TOO many corrupt members of our government who will not allow MORE FAVORABLE laws to be made in franchising.
I don’t understand why people can’t distinguish RIGHT from WRONG except that it might hurt their pocketbook or keep them from getting a spot in our government.
Look and see what the IFA is! how it was started! who started it! what organizations have been created by the IFA! what the organizations created by the IFA ACCOMPLISH!
You will be disgusted!
Learn about Vetfran, Minorityfran, FranPac.
BigFool – how did they close your location?? did you inquire about it prior? i ask because i wanted to get info on what i would need to do IF i needed to close my club and i heard nothing from my AD or legal for a week and then i get an email from the CDS that was to come help me saying that she is sorry to hear that i am closing and since that was the case that she would not be visiting my club. i was able to get in touch with her and my AD and make sure that she was still coming they said that i was being sent into the closing procedures prior to my stopping it in advance. i’m wondering if now they will close my club since i asked about it…
Heidi- I did send an e-mail to legal on the same day they said I was going to be in the closing program. However a few days before this my AD asked me for all my financial figures, and I complied. I had sent legal an e-mail inquiring if there was any way to end my contract, because my Husband had a stroke the month after I bought my Club, and it has been way too much stress on me!! I can’t believe that they would choose to close me and not even recomment that I try to sell, and now want to collect fees for closing me down. It is a relief to be out from under, however I didn’t want it to end this way.
I was reading about everyone’s problems, unbelievable. Are the Canadian franchises having the same problems.
I have four years into the business. I am ready to get out! I invested a lot of money into my club including Curves Smart and Zumba instructors. Now, Curves is forcing me to get OS. I will no longer be reimbursed for my wellness members unless I invest in OS. They are also canceling the paper drafts. They are trying to push Curves Complete down by throat, and I’m just not buying it. I have lost enough money. If I close before my contract expires (5 year contract), will they come after me with a law suit. Since there have been so many closures —- will they just let me walk away? I can’t afford to lose any more money. Has anyone escaped the wrath of Curves? Please help with a response.
I have four years into the business. I am ready to get out! I invested a lot of money into my club including Curves Smart and Zumba instructors. Now, Curves is forcing me to get OS. I will no longer be reimbursed for my wellness members unless I invest in OS. They are also canceling the paper drafts. They are trying to push Curves Complete down by throat, and I’m just not buying it. I have lost enough money. If I close before my contract expires (5 year contract), will they come after me with a law suit. Since there have been so many closures —- will they just let me walk away? I can’t afford to lose any more money. Has anyone escaped the wrath of Curves? Please help with a response. I hope to resolve this soon.
You will not be forced to get OS until your agreement has run out. Look at the spring training and you will see with the new Conditional purchase of Curves International from Newmarket, that they want to see 80% of the Clubs on OS. Is OS a problem? You bet it is! It can violate Canadian Privacy laws with the required birthdates and addresses that is sent to Texas via the internet. Memebers have to sign forms to release that info to the USA. If you choose to walk away..follow the Club procedures of closing..start to ‘cheat the sheets’ by showing a lower membership and sales so that they cannot see you as making money, but rather having no money. Neg. a closing fee of 1000-1500. Follow their instructions for a complete closure list and they will be more than fair to you. And tell them you have no money if you do not..Tell them now…tell them every month…
Janice mcmullen: Yes..the Canadians are dropping like flies right now..each province sees 2-4 Clubs close every month. There is 60% of the Canadian Clubs for sale right now.12 months ago Manitoba had 36 Clubs . Today they have 22 with 3-4 more closing in the next few months…A case of protein shakes cost 39.00 to ship. and a case now cost 130.00-135.00. The products should have a 70% price point mark up…we only profit 8-10% right now.
will they negotiate a closing fee though? i’m concerned that they will say that they will work with me but still want the 10K. i found out this week that the landlord of my building has been telling people that i’m behind on my rent and not to join because he’s going to kick me out soon anyway! i AM behind on rent but he told me that i can move to a smaller suite to save on rent and make payments for the past due amount. well how can i make money to pay him when he tells people not to join! AND airs my personal business like that! i am in a small town and this will be VERY damaging to me. i was already having a hard time getting members and now that everyone will think i’m being kicked out NO ONE will join.
Heidi; I highly doubt curves int’ will help you in any way! I fulfilled my 10 yrs on march 30th and they still want me to destroy my equip. As for your landlord, I would get some concrete evidence that he’s telling people not to join, etc…. And sue him for slander. I realize you aren’t in the position to spend more money ( trust me, I know how you feel), but if you can find a lawyer who will do it and take their cut after you win, you could come out on top.
Amanda- why do you have to destroy your equipment??? my understanding is that you own the equipment when you pay for the franchise, new or re-sale. there are centers in my area that use equipment that the bought from curves owners that had to close…
i am trying to track down the person that he told this to and get her side. she passed the info on to others so who knows how fast it’s moving through this town. he, of course, denys saying anything but i’m not out bragging about being behind on rent so no one would have gotten that info from me and he is the only other one to have that knowledge.
I closed in December 2010 with 18 months left on my franchise agreement. I was contacted by a mediator with a firm in Chicago and worked with him to come to a settlement. I thought he was very easy to work with, and he made it clear that whatever sum we came up with they would be happy to take payments. We came to an agreement that was less than half of what the payout for the 18 months would have been. I did sign an agreement that I would destroy the equipment (with the glut of equipment on ebay and craigs list…good luck selling it anyway….) and sold it for scrap iron. It took about a year for him to contact me and start working on a solution. Prior to that I never contacted them except to say I was cIosing.I really think that Curves is imploding and if you just wait it out nothing will happen. One thing I would suggest is if you get that far, don’t shoot the messenger. He is just doing his job and being nasty won’t help him help you. I am SO relieved to have it all behind me. Good luck!
me>curves os has a monthly fee of $29 and no sign up fees (those are waived) you may want to reconsider. os is soo much easier! I am reading all of these negative things are there any positive things? we bought this club last minute. not knowing anything. now i am reading all the bad things and I have a 5 year contract and would like to hear SOMETHING positive.
i do realize this is unhappyfranchise.com is there a happyfranchise.com?
Sondra, I, too am trying to find something positive. Maybe things will get better with all of the changes.
me – what changes are you talking about?
sondra – i too have a 5 yr contract and i haven’t found anything positive yet. i bought a resale location and have asked CI for help from the start because of how bad of shape the club was in. their way of “helping” me was to tell me to buy more stuff. i did get OS but i was required to do so. they have pushed me to get the cleveland clinic certification so that i can sell curves complete. i don’t have the money to get the certification and a few of the women at my club that asked about it laughed when i told them the cost of it so i’m in NO rush for that. CI will tell you that it’s good to make more money for your club but when you are in an area like i am where jobs are hard to come by, a $200 plus weight loss program isn’t going to fly. i was told to try more advertising but i don’t have money for that either. i would like to know where my ad fee goes every month because i don’t see anything in my area. and the ads that they were to run in may??? let me tell you, i live in a very rural area and half of the people have never even HEARD of BET, let alone watch it! and i have never even heard of half of those channels i before i moved back into this area i lived in DC! i’m still trying to find ANY positive of this so if you know of one please let us know
I have read a lot of these posts and am shocked. For those that want the positive , here it is
1. Get on OS right away
2. Get certified for Curves Complete. IT makes MONEY!
3. Re Train you and your staff with the on line videos on Curves Community.
4. The Japanese Franchises are the most successful. Why , they do what they are told.
5. Clean up your club and make it look professional.
I run several Curves locations that are STILL successful to this day. We cannot blame CI for what happened to the world and this prolonged recession we are in.
If you read any fitness business magazine, you will see that the whole industry took a major hit in 2008 to 2011. Things are starting to stabilize.
If you put positive energy into your club, do what you are told to do, you will be successful. Fight the system and you will fail. Period. You think McDonald’s would help you out. Yes by taking your store away for non compliance.
Wow, how easy it is to blame others for what happens by greed of wall street bankers. They are the one’s that messed up the world for everyone adn took massive million dollar bonus’s for themselves.