KIM MARINOFF Responds to Criticism on UnhappyFranchisee.Com
Franchise broker Kim Marinoff addresses criticism made about her franchise sales tactics and history on Unhappy Franchisee. Here is her letter in its entirety.
(UnhappyFranchisee.Com) by Sean Kelly
Unhappy Franchisee always invites the individuals and companies discussed on our site to provide responses, rebuttals, corrections, clarifications, explanations or other statements expressing their points-of-view. We truly want to hear from all sides of controversial topics, and to engage in open and honest dialogue.
Surprisingly few take us up on the offer. Most, I believe, are under the outdated, pre-Internet notion that if one ignores criticism and does not engage critics, it will all somehow go away. It doesn’t.
Today, we received a letter from franchise broker Kim Marinoff of A2B Franchise Consulting responding to some of the issues raised in recent blog posts. That letter is posted in its entirety below.
Ms. Marinoff states that our blog post initially (and incorrectly) stated she was named as a defendant in a Quiznos lawsuit. In fact, she her involvement was as a member of the class of franchisees, not as a Defendant. I realized that error shortly after posting it and corrected it within a day. However, it was incorrect and I apologize for the error.
Kim Marinoff’s Response Letter to UnhappyFranchisee.Com
On Tuesday 5/22/18, we received this response letter via email from Kim Marinoff:
Sean:
Thank you for the opportunity to respond.
I give permission for my response to be posted only in its entirety.
The information you published contains inaccuracies. I address some of them here.
Regarding Clubstore Outlet, I was an investor, too. I lost money and was misled.
I did not receive compensation for some of my work.
I have a different perspective on how events transpired and led to the closure of about half the stores.
I truly feel for those who, like me, suffered financial and emotional hardship as a result of this organization.
Regarding Quiznos, at no time was I listed a defendant in any lawsuit related to Quiznos.
I was in fact a plaintiff. I owned six stores and received compensation from the class action settlement as a result.
During this time, I experienced personal bankruptcy, a fact I share with my clients.
Regarding the video from 2011, to the best of my knowledge the numbers were valid at the time. I was not aware of the inaccuracies when IFA released the letter in 2005 debunking them. I was in no way trying to mislead anyone. I added a statement to the comments on the video noting those numbers are no longer valid. I appreciate you pointing that out.
Sincerely,
Kim Marinoff
We appreciate Ms. Marinoff’s willingness to engage in conversation, and invite her to address other, more recent criticisms as well.
We also invite her to share her perspective on how events surrounding Clubstore Outlet franchise transpired.
NOTE: Companies and individuals discussed on UnhappyFranchisee.Com are invited to provide corrections, clarifications, rebuttals and alternative points-of-view by posting a comment below or emailing us in confidence at UnhappyFranchisee[at]gmail.com.
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH KIM MARINOFF &/OR OTHER FRANCHISE BROKERS? DID YOU HAVE A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE? PLEASE SHARE YOUR OPINION OR FRANCHISE BROKER STORY BELOW.
ALSO READ:
FRANCHISE BROKERS LIE: The Kim Marinoff Story
KIM MARINOFF Franchise Consultant & Broker
TAPP PALMER, Clubstore Outlet Franchise: What Happened?
CLUBSTORE OUTLET: Chris Conner, Franchise Marketing Systems (FMS) Success Story?
TAPP PALMER Clubstore Outlet: Where’d the Money Go?
FRANCHISE DISCUSSIONS by Company
READ The Series “Dr. John Hayes’ Franchise Fraud School & Pay-For-Praise Emporium!”: Dr. John Hayes’ Franchise Fraud School
TAGS: Kim Marinoff, Kimberly Marinoff, Kim Patricia Marinoff, The Franchise Explorer, A2B Franchise Consulting, Broomfield CO, franchise brokers, franchise consultants, franchise coach, franchise advisor, IFPG, Franchise Brokers Association, Clubstore Outlet, Clubstore Outlet, Clubstore Outlet franchise, Tapp Palmer, Kathy Hylton, Pamela Currie, Jerry Rieder, Dennis Martineau, Franserve, Franserve franchise brokers, International Franchise Professionals Group, unhappy franchisee
Wow. Who knows if she’s telling the truth? But at least she responded unlike that scam show Bizcom and John Hayes. They chose to remain under a rock. And whether she is or is not telling the truth, she did at least make some changes, which is good. I seriously doubt that Scott White or Monica Fiend or John Hayes will ever change. They are so delusional that they can’t see that their lies and deception have the net effect of robbing middle-class Americans of their investment, their savings, their 401ks and their hopes and dreams for the future. Instead, they lie–lie about being a “best selling author.” Lie about their books being real books and not paid advertisement. Lie about the Amazon rankings. Lie about the quality of franchises included in their work. Lie about some fictitious vetting process to be in their books, when really it all comes down to who will pay them $5,000 to be included.
Their lies are not only detrimental to franchising, but they damage the entire foundation of the public relations industry–that credibility is built through objective and third-party review of an idea, opinion, product or service. It’s not, as John Hayes blathers on, is established by being included in a fake book (but that’s just one more Hayes ). Their lies also damage journalism, for when someone fakes the role of a journalist and chooses to publish fake news, they diminish what an open and honest media can do for the world.
I can only hope that somewhere, those who relied on the lies told by John Hayes, Scott White and Monica Fiend in their fake books (and Hayes claims franchisors generated untold leads and sold deals from his lies), and lost their investments due to this deception, I hope these investors retain great lawyers and sue them out of existence.
she didn’t really address any of the issues
Thank you Kim.
However you put yourself out as a franchise expert with 20 years tenure as franchise owner, franchisor staff and franchise broker.
It is a problem that you put out the the fake success numbers and sold franchises based on those claims.
It continues to confound me as to why people people answer questions about their honesty by saying things that aren’t true… and add more falsehoods to be exposed.
Kim Marinoff wrote “Regarding the video from 2011, to the best of my knowledge the numbers were valid at the time. I was not aware of the inaccuracies when IFA released the letter in 2005 debunking them.”
Huh?
They were NEVER valid. The IFA letter was circulated and reported on in 2005: six years before you posted your video. Matt Shay only said the numbers were “no longer valid” to avoid saying IFA members had been lying.
Kim Marinoff wrote: “I added a statement to the comments on the video noting those numbers are no longer valid. I appreciate you pointing that out.”
I checked her video on YouTube and there is no comment from her.
I added the following comment which will likely be deleted:
“Some important points about the misrepresentations in this video:
1) Ms. Marinoff refers to potential franchise investors as her “clients,” which is not true. Ms. Marinoff is a franchise broker. Her clients are the franchise companies that pay commissions averaging between $18K and $30K to brokers like Ms. Marinoff.
2) That Ms. Marinoff puts “helping people” ahead of commissions. If this were true, I doubt she would have steered people to such high risk ventures and complete failures as Clubstore Outlet and BizCard Xpress. See UnhappyFranchisee dot com for how those worked out.
3) Ms. Marinoff states that “statistically” people in their 50s working a job do not improve their financial situation in 3 years. Kim, could you please share the source of these statistics? Does this study also say they will do better cashing in their IRAs and taking SBA loans out to give to you and Tapp Palmer for a fraudulent franchise scheme?
4) In your response to the UnhappyFranchisee.Com expose on your use of fraudulent and debunked franchise success statistics, you wrote “I added a statement to the comments on the video noting those numbers are no longer valid.” I do not see your comment. If and when you do make such a comment, please know that those numbers were NEVER valid.”
Here is what you get to pick from with most franchise brokers.
Incompetent, duplicitous, negligent, inexperienced or stupid.
You can have one or all five.
Kim Marinoff is 4 out of 5.
She has 20 years experience and many brokers have none with 2 days of training.
Finding a good franchise broker that is not all of most of or all of these, incompetent, duplicitous, negligent, inexperienced or stupid, is like finding the right needle in a stack of needles. Franchise brokers talk about how to validate the franchise and that is code for how do they get a direct or indirect earnings claim communicated to the candidate.
And yes some of them think they are doing good here for the buyer and are too stupid or ignorant to know better.
The 2018 FDD of The Entrepreneur’s Source (A franchise sold to people who want to sell franchises but say they don’t sell franchises – only coach) seems to validate your assessment.
From 2015 through 2017 there were 210 active franchise agreements for The Entrepreneur’s Source. Of those, 108 (51.42%) franchise agreements were listed as Terminated (45), Non-renewals (9), or Ceased Operations for Other Reasons (54).
So, The Entrepreneur’s Source franchisee coaches are such franchise selection experts that more than half of them exit the system every three years.
And The Entrepreneur’s Source is so expert at franchising that it has greater than 50% franchisee turnover.
Giving credit where it’s due, TES does deserve a Chutzpah award for continuing to use the 95% franchise success rate statistic while its own turnover is greater than 50%.
Bravo, TES. Bravo!
Kim Marinoff still hasn’t added the comment that her representations are false, and the video’s creator Trevor Munson of JawDrop Films hasn’t removed it from YouTube.
In fact, Munson filed a copyright complaint with YouTube and had our response video taken offline temporarily. My use of his clip is clearly permissible under the Fair Use Doctrine. He retracted his complaint after his lawyer told him I was correct, and the video was reinstated.
Neither Trevor Munson nor Kim Marinoff have removed nor modified her original video, even though they have acknowledged knowing it contains false representations.
Kim is using the same technique on you to stop asking questions as she would with one of her candidates.
That was a very powerful, heart-felt response from Kim Marinoff.
Said no one ever.
The Franchise King®
Her clubstore response was exactly the same as the Bizcard respone, I was an investor also. The comissions paid to her for sales far outweighed anything she may have invested and she very quickly sold her own store, that was purchased by her partner at the time Dennis Stuver. How is it she aligns herself with three fraudulent comapnies, Bizcard, Quiznos, and Clubstore? not sure if she is incredibly stupid, dishonet, or greedy. Maybe all three? Also not sure how she’s avoided prosecution. Seeing the devastation around Bizcard and her part in that I certainly hope she gets what she deserves at some point.
I became a franchise broker based on getting emails about how much Kim made with these “placements”.
Her “professional organization” really pumps up the commissions received and some of those “success stories” that are being used to recruit members end up to be horror stories. People being destroyed for commission and so that people can collect revenue off of membership dues for these “orgs”. Dirty bit of business is what al this is.