LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints
UnhappyFranchisee.com asked: Are LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Owners Happy? If you’re familiar
with the Liberty Tax franchise, please share a comment below.
Entrepreneur magazine has ranked the Liberty Tax Service franchise #3 behind McDonald’s & Subway. However, some commenters who claimed to be former Liberty Tax franchisees left stern warnings on the Franchise-chat forum.
This post was originally published
BostonTax wrote:
I’m a former Liberty Tax Franchisee
I hope you are ready for a little enlightenment! I held a successful Liberty Tax Franchise for 5 years until I decided to let the franchise agreement lapse. I did this for a few reasons:
1. The royalty fees were outrageous! 14% went to normal royalty while and ADDITIONAL 5% went for so called advertising royalties. The ad royalties were supposed to be put back into your local market to build the brand name. This was never done! All advertising in addition to the ad royalty I had to pay for because it did not fit into Liberty’s concept of advertising. I don’t know exactly what the concept was because our AD could not give an answer and the approved methods changed by the week.
2. Corporate was totally unresponsive to the needs of the franchisees. The AD system is designed to recruit anyone who can write a check for 100K. No other skills or ability required.
3. The minute you are behind in a royalty payment, they send you a notice to cure. After that, if you don’tpay, they try to terminate your franchise agreement.
4. Upon termination, Liberty enforces through legal proceeding a 2 year, 25 mile radis non compete clause that is in the franchise agreement. This is enforceable in the Eastern Division of the Federal District court, where, at least 2 Liberty friendly judges preside.
5. Liberty does not recognize chargebacks for bad debts as an adjustment for your royalty fees. All royalties are based on your gross, not your net collectable. This was an ongoing issue with them and the accounting department did not have the ability or the inclination to resolve!
My best advice is do not go with these guys, they are bad news. If you like to have people collect royalties and provide no support, then this is the franchise for you! It is very expensive to get into, the initial fee is around $32K just to buy the territory plus those pesky royalties. You can’t make money on this concept.Most of the surviving franchisees I’ve talked to in the last 2 years have experienced great difficulty not only in making a profit, but in the corporate support or lack thereof.Remember, 19% of your gross is getting kicked back to Liberty, which is excessive by any standards. Please do yourself a favor and call former franchisees ,those that are currently getting sued (they are very likely to talk, as I found out), and current ones to try to get the straight poop.
Barbara Green wrote:
I too was a Liberty Tax Franchisee and I agree with everything you said.
The only reason for purchasing any franchise is because the business model is a proven marketing success as evidenced by the profitable franchisees. That is why you pay a license fee of $25,000. Being profitable is not in the cards for a Liberty Tax franchisee. Liberty Tax’s market/ business model is aimed at individuals who have very simple tax returns, i.e one W-2 and standard deduction which is why they were very successful in Norfolk, Va. That market is full of military people with one w-2.
Liberty will sell anyone a franchise at any location, in any georgraphic area, even if there is not a chance in hell of the franchisee being successful.
At one time, I too owned a Liberty Tax Franchise for one tax season. It was only one season because of the behavior of the Regional Manager who called me on January 15th demanding and screaming “Why had I not generated 200 tax returns and that maybe this business was not for me. I was stunned and confused since employers are given until January 31st. to give w-2’s to employees. Apparently, he thought that I was in Norfolk, Va. where that is possible.
It only goes downhill from there. The bottom line is I lost all of my investment in this businees (approx. $80,000) because I closed it rather than becoming a victim of this unethical company. NOthing would make me happier than to be a part of a class action lawsuit.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? DO YOU OR HAVE YOU OWNED A LIBERTY TAX SERVICE FRANCHISE? ARE LIBERTY TAX SERVICE FRANCHISEES HAPPY? WHY OR WHY NOT?
.
The reason Liberty encourages free returns is the same reason they have 1st year franchisees staff for 600 returns, when they know the average 1st year store will only do a 100 returns, “ITS NOT THEIR MONEY”. This company’s philosophy is to build a territory up on the back of one franchisee at a time. The first guy fails sell the territory to someone else most likely another franchisee. However, as SaraEA points out, the days of the RAL are over and this business model doesn’t work.
Buyer Beware.
Interesting response for price shoppers. Think I’ll try a version of it. Phone price shoppers are usually a waste of time. I’m asking the shopper how much they paid their preparer. Price is usually too low. I’m telling them it will be hard to find a preparer at the price they paid and have a nice day.
By the way, it’s not slow at all yet. Steady traffic.
I will start with no estimates over the phone. Great advise SaraEA –
Guys and gals keep the information coming. Thank you. The no price over the phone makes sense. It might be a waste of time, because someone else will just undercut you.
A lot of times it is just another tax preparer from another store calling. How are LTS people doing this tax season? Has anyone heard?
This board has been quiet so far about this tax season’s performance, which means it probably is not good!
I never understood why pricing in the retail tax industry is such a mystery. Now that I am back on my own I post my rates on my website, there is slight variation based on return complexity, but I no longer have to charge $79 for a stupid EIC form, so the complaints and mystery about pricing are just about non-existent!
I think most people are busy. I keep prices in line with the market, plus I want to write people more than just once. LTS has such a bad reputation in and around my area that business and calls are so much better. LTS calls suck and people are greedy, at least I don’t have to explain the cr@ppy $50 for CIF and SAF everytime. What a bunch of wasted money and breath.
balancetrend, how can you post prices sight unseen? Someone with Sch C might just have some advertising and car expenses; another might have loads of depreciable assets, payroll taxes, self-employed health insurance, employee benefits, etc. Or someone who says they have stock sales might have two or 200. And no matter how simple someone on the phone makes their return seem, they may have AMT issues, K-1s, carryover losses or NOLs. Someone with Sch A might just have mortgage interest and taxes, or tons of little medical receipts you have to add up. You never know. If pricing is a mystery, it’s also a mystery how much work a given return will take. You can’t ask an auto mechanic how much it will cost to fix your car when all you tell him is that “it makes a funny noise.” So what do you base your posted rated on?
Our response to phone shoppers is that we aren’t accepting new clients (in other words, go somewhere else).
Pricing is one of the most inconsistent areas of our business. Today I had a guy with 2 W-2s, HSA distribution and three rental properties. He didn’t have a copy of the prior year depreciation schedule so I had to go through 4 of his previous returns and piece it together. I charged him $360.00 which he thought was high. His previous accountant charged him $200.00.
I would like the profession to be more like attorneys. I will charge you for my time and I mean all my time. Answering your phone questions, coping your returns, tracking your cost basis. Maybe this would stop calls like I had to day about how he can appeal his property taxes. We are underappreciated!
SaraEA, I post base rates for the most common forms that are filed and make a very clear note that the complexity of the return could increase the fee. You are correct, there is always variation, but I remember when I was with Liberty the variations were very large, mine are not, I have not lost one client due to my pricing. With Liberty, I had people grab their paperwork and walk right out as soon as they heard the price, and I adjusted my Liberty rates down from the ‘suggested’ rates.
@balancetrend – I too had to adjust my LTS prices by knocking off 3/4 of the bill sometimes. I would even go in and lower the cost through the system and still I had to knock it down from there.
I have found, if the client pays up front, you have to really amend the cost. It also depends on using bank products. My one office was 90 percent bank products and my other office was 25% bank products.
I agree with Bill, we are underappreciated when it comes to knowledge. I have noticed with LTS, doing a complicated tax return in front of someone in less than an hour and they are paid by the hour, and the cost of $360, then they would probably think that was outrageous cost. Especially not using a bank product.
I am doing some EIC people and now with the extra forms being completed, the tax return is really a lot more complicated and takes extra time especially if they have 3 or more children.
Georgia Preparer Draws Federal Ban
Email
Created on Tuesday, 04 February 2014 00:53 Written by The Progressive Accountant
Submit to DeliciousSubmit to DiggSubmit to FacebookSubmit to Google BookmarksSubmit to StumbleuponSubmit to TechnoratiSubmit to TwitterSubmit to LinkedIn
dojA Georgia tax preparer who operates a Liberty Tax store has been permanently banned from preparing federal income tax returns for others. The Department of Justice alleges that the actions of Joan Leger of Stone Mountain, Ga., may have cost the United States more than $2 million in lost tax revenue.
Leger operates under the names 1804 Tax Group and Liberty Tax Service. She previously did business under the name J& Co. The complaint says that since 2009, Leger and her companies prepared about 6,000 tax returns. Her alleged actions included fabricating losses for non-existent business or businesses not operated by the taxpayer, falsely claiming unreimbursed business expenses and claiming the educational tax credit.
Does anyone know of a class action lawsuit I can join. been with liberty 3 years and have only lost money and heard empty promises. the only one that has made money is screwitt. $40,000 franchise fee plus another $20,000 in royalties. while I am out almost $100,000 of my life savings
Sign me up – Is there a law firm working on this? LTS and Screwitt think the stupid agreement is going to stop people from lining up for all the money he has stolen from people. So what, their agreement is about valuable as any piece of paper. Does he really think anyone is going to honor his agreement, when he has screwed over thousands of people? Does he not know his time is running out of excuses of how bad of a business model he operates. Oh wait, this ain’t no business model, it is a money laundering model for Screwitt himself and his ilks. Yes it is legal money laundering for John John.
Sorry unhappy zee – we are out over $300K. So if anyone is looking at this piece of crapola, think about this…..This is first a money laundering scheme, must be legal because he has not been closed down by the SEC and he hooks you in by loaning money at 12% interest, which hooks you in for an indentured servant. This is a permanently failed model.
You do all the work, take all the risk and pay all the bills. And John John daily tells you how great you are and keep it up. He does his little rah rah phone calls just to tell you to keep your chin up and listen to all the happy, happy, happy zees on each and every phone call.
It is all an illusion, except for the money that drains out of your bank account and the time and energy you spend and waste for lining John’s pockets!
I feel like beating up on John John today, maybe the Home office AD’s will be tomorrow. And the top millionaire zees next week.
Are there any millionaire zees? When I first got involved one of the speakers
at the event talked about his millionaire stores he had before he started working for
corp. At the time it didn’t register that this guy was full of it.
News on this board from current franchisees would be very informative.
How many didn’t get financing this year?
How are the numbers year to date overall and in your AD area?
What kind of financial products are being offered?
John talks about a retention rate in the lower income areas of around 30% Has
the HR Block campaign taken business from your area?
This kind of information lends credibility to what is said on this site and the only way
to make this company collapse is to keep it from selling more franchises.
Wow, I’m in the car and heard a radio advertisement for Liberty!!! I wonder who paid for that!
And two minutes later was an advertisement for free tax returns through the IRS! Ha
all you liberty franchisees keep up the great work!!! the one in my town is the best advertisement i can get. $1200 for a simple return. in one day we took 7 clients away from them after they found out the price. as far as the no price on the phone, yep that helps too. they get no price from you guys and they call and they call someone who has been crazy enough to go to lt. keep up the good work guy sand girls so far i am up over 200 new clients this year! yay john hewwitt his jacked up pricing
@lovetheinfo – We are mostly not with LTS. But I guess you’re welcome?
Audition Waivers – possible illegal tactic that the Liberty Tax marketing People thought of.
Was looking on Craigslist SJ under general labor and saw this post:
re:waver (Liberty tax) (- Bridgeton)
Not recommended!!! !!! They don’t even have you fill out a w4 at time of hire- they put it off a day or so till they see “how you work out”. HELLO!! This is TAX service, that works with the IRS!!! So why can’t they do things legit and have you fill out the appropriate legal paperwork. They’ve not paid me either for my work!!!!
This company borders on the line of unethical!
Buyer Beware!!!
1. Coffee and Drinks
2. No bait and switch
3. No cross-selling
4. We don’t send clients to collection agencies
5. We manually check our returns before sending to IRS
6. Follow-up calls within 48 hours
7. Extended hours during peak
8. Open year-round
9. Roadside parties
10. Free tax returns
11. We deliver tax returns/checks
12. No “Peace of Mind” insurance
13. No charge for extra copies
14. No sitting fees
15. We give and honor price quotes
16. Community/charity involvement
17. Kid friendly/Designated kid’s area
18. Cash in a Flash
19. $50 Send a Friend
20. Inexperienced Area Developers
21. $500+ fees for simple returns.
22. A CEO who is an absolute A HOLE.
Lets take a closer look at those 19 items:
1. Coffee and Drinks – WOW, free drinks for an overpriced return!
2. No bait and switch – Ummm, yes, $50 CIF with an upcharge of at least $60
3. No cross-selling – ok, maybe Liberty doesnt do much of this
4. We don’t send clients to collection agencies – maybe not this one either
5. We manually check our returns before sending to IRS – What good is a manual check if the preparer doesnt know what to look for???
6. Follow-up calls within 48 hours – Rarely happens
7. Extended hours during peak – Just means more expense for the Zee
8. Open year-round – Again, more expense for the Zee
9. Roadside parties – Who cares???? I thought this was a tax business, not a party?
10. Free tax returns – Again, sticking it to the Zees!
11. We deliver tax returns/checks – So does the post office
12. No “Peace of Mind” insurance – Google “Liberty Tax Complaints” and you will see how many customers did not get a refund when they werent satisfied and received no help from their preparation office.
13. No charge for extra copies – Copies are free from the IRS
14. No sitting fees – And they have free coffee, retail value, $1.50!
15. We give and honor price quotes – I’ll stop laughing about this one later
16. Community/charity involvement – eh, maybe
17. Kid friendly/Designated kid’s area – Kids do not belong in a professional tax office
18. Cash in a Flash – Rip off!!!!!
19. $50 Send a Friend – I remember paying this one out a few times to customers that went to another office, so again, sticking it to the Zees!
nice rebuttal, for potential franchisees read the list and you will
realize all of these advantages are things paid for by the franchisee and
none of them are unique to Liberty. So why pay them a 14% royalty and
a 5% advertising fee when you can do all of those things as an independent.
As a CPA with a few years of experience and a young family. I thought Liberty
Tax would provide me with more recognition and support then if I went on my own and I would have my “own business”. I already knew taxes especially at the 1040 level, what I needed was the marketing, if I get them in the door I can deliver the product. I was completely wrong. The Liberty name meant nothing in South Jersey or nationally. It’s you that builds the business not Liberty and you will be better service putting your name on those flyers and other promotion.
For anyone who has no tax knowledge you don’t belong in this field. I cut my own grass but it doesn’t make me a landscaper.
I found another source of information. Google “Blue Maumau” website….
Keep up the great work!
Bill, I”m a CPA too, seems like we both tried Liberty for the same reason and even in the same area! I actually just got an email about buying Liberty Tax and the first thing on the advertisement says “No Tax Experience Necessary”! This one blows my mind because no matter how sophisticated the software is, and I will say, the Liberty software was pretty good, a person needs tax knowledge in order to prepare a fair and accurate tax return. A quick two week course is barely enough time to learn how to effectively operate the software.
Buyer Beware and Customer Beware! Always ask your preparer about their qualifications to file your tax return because no matter what, YOU, the taxpayer are responsible!
Hello friends!
I’ve been on an extended vacation. One of the BEST things about being out of LTS is that I can take a vacation any time I want to…….whether it’s tax season or not! :):):) Actually, there are a million best things about not being part of LTS any longer.
I was on a flight on Southwest Airlines and this month’s on-board magazine had a (positive) article about Franchises.
It says: “One of the first things franchisees realize is how much support franchisors offer”. I ALMOST SPIT UP MY DRINK RIGHT THEN AND THERE! THEY CERTAINLY WERE N-O-T TALKING ABOUT THE CREEPS AT LTS.
Then the article goes on to say, “franchising takes some of the anxiety out of launching a business because you’re working with an established product or service, often with a customer base already in place”. HUH?????
That may be very well & true for most franchises, but I will NEVER, EVER give any creedance to Liberty Tax Service for offering anything remotely supportive in the entire 5 years.
I will never find out if that is true or not (getting franchisor support) because LTS was my one and only foray into the franchise business and it was such an incredible NIGHTMARE, I can only say I am soooooo relieved to be out for good. I worked for them early on and it seems as if they’ve gotten WORSE, not better, in terms of rules and regulations.
Bill and Balancetrend: I was in the same boat as you way back when and I cannot believe how it changed my life for the worse in ways I could never imagined.
It’s Tax Season now…………but anyone doing their due diligence and reading this forum to invest in a territory for next year……….DON’T DO IT!!! Read these posts and step away. Keep your money & your sanity and go elsewhere! You will be forever grateful. I am thrilled that I am able to stop many, many potential franchisees from signing on. Hoping this company goes down the tubes.
I did market research. The national average profit for a tax prep. business is 13 cents on the dollar. It is about half a penny higher in a big city. And that is without factoring the franchise fee and royalties.
Based on that number, 13%, that means the Zee is paying 6% to own a tax office. That is assuming the Zee is not getting slammed with the minimum royalties. Sounds about right based on my experience.
Why y’all fees are 710.00 for a return and other places is cheaper
Glennette: That is because Liberty instructs us to do it and we have very large amounts of overhead to cover. I am no longer a franchisee for this reason.
I have been with LTS for a few years and a lot of what I have read on here is accurate.But you have to be the person who makes or breaks this business.I have seen fee’s that are crazy high,in my office they start at $140 and run to $600.I know that corporate is a bunch of weenies but it is up to me to make this grow.I only had 1 brick and mortor store a few years ago and now I have 3 and 2 kiosk’s in high volume area’s.
They think that eventually they will charge one client one million dollars and then be done for the year!!
Just talked to a new franchisee. Corporate convinced him he could still open up this year and do several hundred returns. While he is close to a Block, the nearest low income is 3 miles away in another county. He has done no advertising, has spent several thousand $$ on furniture, has a year lease, and thinks he will come out OK this year. Anyone want to bet odds he gets to April and calls it quits ?
^^Corporate convinces a lot of people to part with their money and open up an office. THAT’s the business that they’re in. The art of negotiating, selling and ripping people off of their money. Nothing to do with taxes. Never was.
They make lots more $$ on re-selling the same territories after the inital people give up and give it back.
Believe me, after doing this over 40+ years, that bozo has certainly perfected his craft. The whole damned corporate headquarters is getting rich off of our money and headaches.
After reading that article on the airplane, I am convinced that this franchise is NOT at all interested in supporting franchisees in the tax business. Nothing could be clearer. I knew that all along, but I had no other franchise experience to compare it to. I don’t need to to know how incredibly dysfunctional that company is.
Bill says “Buyer Beware” and I so agree! :) Please save your $$ and invest it elsewhere. You will be so glad you did!
Well for the new Zee – Hope’s spring is eternal, unfortunately your credit line and pocket book will beg to differ. I know my first year – similar situation, it was a half of a territory because Block had and has this place sewn up. I decided to go another season even if the first one was poor, because of phone book ad would be in the same place for a second season. Well the fast food place next to me moved out before the second season started and it was amazing how less of a presence I had without that walk by business.
So, then I move again, which is common with LTS offices and still hope springs eternal and then move again, as usual hope springs eternal, but finally just plum ran out of money to run the office, plus I am sure IRS will still want to know why am I loosing 5 figures a year…..Luckily I have a CPA who can explain……I would just tell them LTS my new “annuity” as John loves to boast. Oh ya, that did not pan out at all!
I saw them advise more then one franchisee that they could open and do
alright. There was a franchisee who bought a territory in Ocean City NJ and in late January their encouraging him to open and he didn’t have his EFIN yet.
When I was involved with Liberty I got hold of a attorney after being in the system for several years. He told me if I was in my first year and called him he could of gotten me out because of their failure to perform under the contract. i.e. site selection etc. The new franchisee should seek an attorney now, that kind of bad advice will just bury him.
I saw them advise more then one franchisee that they could open and do
alright. There was a franchisee who bought a territory in Ocean City NJ and in late January their encouraging him to open and he didn’t have his EFIN yet.
When I was involved with Liberty I got hold of a attorney after being in the system for several years. He told me if I was in my first year and called him he could of gotten me out because of their failure to perform under the contract. i.e. site selection etc. The new franchisee should seek an attorney now, that kind of bad advice will just bury him.
Well at least LTS told the new franchisees he could do several hundred returns. When I started, minimum 600 returns, no problem. Then next year at least 750, and by third or fourth year up to 1000 returns. Well the first two years you are spending like that is going to come true and come to find out, most market’s with LTS stores are so damaged from too high of prices and piss poor service, that there is no way to compete and make yourself something else.
Franchizee: I’m sure during the training they budgeted this guy for 600 returns it was only when the franchisee started questioning if he had enough time because peak would be over they feed him the bs about doing a couple of hundred returns.
They did this so they could collect the minimum fee. Again who ever spoke with this person should call them back and explain that this kind of bad advice could be considered a breach of contract and allow him to get out.
Poor schlock still hasn’t been able to open as he hasn’t received his occupancy permits. Let me see, it’s February 13, most of the peak already had their returns done and waiting for first day of filing at the Block across the street. The price shoppers have already started. Hello $75 returns……….
Occupancy permits…..haha….. open the damm store and pay the $25 fine for not having a permit your moron.
^^^He should make sure he gets his money back, all of it, an apology, and he needs to back away and NOT sign on with them again. Good luck to him……hope he gets all his money back. Tell him to just start on his own. He’ll be soooooo much better off in the long run. EVERY single client I obtained was by my own hard work. In retrospect, why did I need to share ANYTHNG with LTS? Especially when I’m familiar with tax laws myself. Built in customer base? NOT at all! Brand name recognition? NOT at all. Did they teach me anything to warrant the franchise fees? NOT at all. What an incredibly expensive lesson that was. NEVER AGAIN.
People need to back away so that they don’t make the same expensive mistake I did. What a complete joke of a company.
Unhappydumdums: Your comments are consistent with Liberty management and AD, it’s not you or your money so it’s easy to have balls. This is consistent with what the company tells it’s franchisees “just break the law”. I found this post on craigslist
re:waver (Liberty tax) (- Bridgeton)
Not recommended!!! !!! They don’t even have you fill out a w4 at time of hire- they put it off a day or so till they see “how you work out”. HELLO!! This is TAX service, that works with the IRS!!! So why can’t they do things legit and have you fill out the appropriate legal paperwork. They’ve not paid me either for my work!!!!
This exploitive nature and disregard for the law is part of the Liberty culture. Thanks to this individual posting on Craigslist I was able to file a complaint with the state of New Jersey.
Frustrated and disgusted: Please encourage the new franchisee to review this site. What he has been told can be used as a breech of contract which can get him out of the deal, but he needs to document everything and get a good lawyer.
ADMIN: We need to get some sort of petition together with people’s personal struggles and presented to couple of upcoming politicians like Elizabeth Warren and Joe Manzen and our own state representatives.
^^Good for you, Bill!
It’s time for action and not just words. ADMIN: Is Jonathan Fortman’s office still working on legal issues against LTS and Hewitt? There seems to me to be enough evidence to hang this man. What about Jerry Arrington and the DOJ? Trish? Come back and let us know what’s happening and how we can all get involved.
This man has flown under the radar for far too long. Now that the internet can track his activity, he will be brought to justice, finally. Better late than never.
The IRS released comparative results as of 2/7/14 and 2/8/13. The results show that as of 2/7/14 27,249,000 returns have been filed. An increase of 2.5% over last year. Of those returns paid tax preparers prepared 12,699,000. This is a 5.6% decrease of the number of returns from last year. The 27,249,000 returns represents about 30% of all the returns that will be filed during what is called the “1st peak of tax season”.
This is bad news for all tax prep. services but it is especially bad for those like Liberty & Jackson Hewitt who’s business model was built on the early filer. Without bank products specifically RALS and no early loan program this business model are failing. Factor in volunteer groups and smart software you can use with your smart phone and you can see that these company’s will not survive.
Buyer Beware!!!
I passed by 2 local Liberty’s tonight and they were quite empty. I haven’t even seen a Liberty clown costume in front of either one for a few days now. Maybe consumers are getting wise to the Liberty system that steals their refund money. Maybe the free services are making their presence known. There are a lot of factors that seem to indicate the end of this franchise. Good riddance to them!
Bill, I read the same thing this morning and was going to post the numbers. I remember during our annual cheerleading meeting in NJ (I refused to drop a dime on the Convention) they would tell us over and over how the online services will not affect the brick and mortar business. The whole time I’m thinking, are they really that naive? Look at other brick and mortar businesses that are struggling like the Post Office! Most tax returns absolutely do NOT require any tax experience or knowledge.
Im sure there will always be a need for the brick and mortar store, but not 3 (HR, JH and LTS) in every territory.
Hopefully by 2020, when Screwitt expects to be number 1, Liberty will be a business of the past!
^^Balancetrend:
That’s the point! They are NOT naive at all. They know exactly what they’re doing. Each cool and calculated step is designed to wrangle money out of people and not to have them panic that their stores will be obsolete in the coming years.
That’s exactly why this man should be brought to justice. He is a professional rip-off artist, nothing more. If he REALLY cared about the franchisees, he would run this business completely differently.