LearningRx Franchise Take Down Request

LearningRx promotes itself as the “The Brain Training Franchise.” 

The FTC recently alleged that LearningRX “furnished franchisees with marketing and advertising materials that contain the false, misleading, deceptive, or unsubstantiated representations.”

UnhappyFranchisee.Com recently received this Take Down Request from William J. Robers,  Attorney for LearningRx, Inc. and LearningRx Franchise Corporation.

 

August 31, 2016

 

Website Administrator at UnhappyFranchisee.com

 

RE:          Take Down Request

This firm represents LearningRx, Inc. and LearningRx Franchise Corporation (“LearningRx”).  I formally request that UnhappyFranchisee.com remove a June 22, 2012 posting, with the headline “LearningRX Complaints: Falsified Test Results.”

This post and the comments following it purportedly were made by anonymous LearningRx franchisees and employees.  The post and comments are defamatory of LearningRx, and do not advance your website’s purpose.  In fact, several of the complaints are alleging bad actions by franchisees, which does nothing to advance your stated purpose of educating prospective franchisees about the franchisor and the franchise itself.  Any franchisee of LearningRx found to have falsified test results would be promptly disciplined and/or terminated.

 

In particular, the following statements are defamatory:

• The title itself, “LearningRX Complaints: Falsified Test Results” is clearly intended to suggest that LearningRx falsifies test results to exaggerate the effect of the program.  LearningRx has numerous peer-reviewed studies showing the effectiveness of its program, and it does not falsify test results.
• LearningRx employees are “blatantly instructed to falsify test scores to exaggerate the effective of their program.” – If this statement is about a franchisee, (1) such actions are a clear violation of the Franchise Agreement, (2) such actions would be grounds for discipline and/or termination of the franchisee, and (3) such posting does nothing to advance your readers’ understanding of the franchisor and the franchise program.  If this statement is referring to LearningRx itself, such comment is false, defamatory and malicious.
• “LearningRX franchise locations intentionally falsify test results to show bogus improvement – and avoid paying refunds.” – Again, if that were found to be true, such actions would violate the Franchise Agreement, and would subject the franchisee to discipline and/or termination.  In addition, this statement does nothing to advance your goal of informing prospective franchisees of the franchisor and the program.
• “. . . . i witnessed test scores being changed to persuade parents to sign up or continue after completion . . . .” – If this statement is about a franchisee, (1) such actions are a clear violation of the Franchise Agreement, (2) such actions would be grounds for discipline and/or termination of the franchisee, and (3) such posting does nothing to advance your readers’ understanding of the franchisor and the franchise program.  If this statement is referring to LearningRx itself, such comment is false, defamatory and malicious.
• “I worked for them for many years, and they are EXTREMELY corrupt.” – To the extent that this refers to a LearningRx franchisee, such statements are not helpful in educating prospective franchisees about the LearningRx franchise system.  To the extent it refers to LearningRx itself, it is an ad hominem, personal attack on LearningRx and its leadership, and is false, defamatory and malicious.
• “Standardized assessments like the initial and supplemental tests are not meant to be given more than once a year.  LearningRx gives them every 4-6 months.  This allows the student to get a higher than average score on the test . . .” – This is blatantly false and provided with malicious intent.  Even the authors of the test use it more than once in a year, and in fact use the tests in shorter time frames than LearningRx.  Multiple published studies used the same protocol as LearningRx.
• “. . . there was absolutely NO improvement in any of the areas that had been discussed during the initial visit!  In fact, some grades were even worse while taking the training – this was explained away as ‘normal’ at the half-way review point.” – There is no guarantee by LearningRx of grade improvements.  Clearly, there are many inputs into grades over which LearningRx has no control.  There is no guarantee provided on improved grades.  Such a statement is an intent to malign the system, and is defamatory.

 

These statements suggest that LearningRx is falsifying test results and adding fake reviews.  To the extent that this is a comment on particular franchisees, this would be a violation of their Franchise Agreement, and these comments do nothing to further the stated purpose of UnhappyFranchisee.com to educate prospective franchisees about the franchise.  To the extent that this is a comment about LearningRx itself falsifying test results or adding fake reviews, such statements are maliciously defamatory and a personal attack with no proof whatsoever.  These statements impute a lack of integrity to LearningRx, prejudice LearningRx in its trade, and cast aspersions on LearningRx’s honesty, efficiency, research, results, prestige, and standing in its field of business.  The statements may be deemed to be defamation per se made with the knowledge that such statements are false and for the sole purpose of damaging the good will and reputation of LearningRx.  It has caused damages to LearningRx in terms of reduced franchise applications.

Although we are well-versed in the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. §230, we are requesting that you take down any defamatory material, and especially that you take down any material that detracts from the valuable service provided by UnhappyFranchisee.com.  As stated above, many of the statements refer to specific franchisees, which does not aid your website’s stated purpose of helping prospective franchisees better understand the franchise and the franchisor.

On behalf of LearningRx, I respectfully request that you delete this June 22, 2012 post and all comments associated with it, by the close of business on Friday, September 16^th.  Please contact me if you have any questions or would like to discuss further.

Thank you in advance for your assistance, and the valuable service you provide to the franchise world.

Sincerely,

William J. Robers

Sparks Willson Borges Brandt & Johnson, P.C.

Attorney for LearningRx, Inc. and LearningRx Franchise Corporation

William J. Robers, JD/MBA | Attorney at Law

Sparks Willson Borges Brandt & Johnson, P.C.
24 South Weber Street, Suite 400 | Colorado Springs, CO 80903

Tel: 719.634.5700 | Fax: 719.633.8477

wjr@sparkswillson.com | www.sparkswillson.com

More about LearningRx:

LearningRX Complaints: Falsified Test Results

LEARNINGRX Brain Training: What LearningRX Costs

LearningRX Insider Secrets: How to Negotiate a Better Price from LearningRX

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