MATCO TOOLS Franchise Complaints

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• Danny - not much of a 'mystery' - just another story, of another distributor that was CHURNED AND BURNED

  But, if you missed.............

  Danny Beasley on December 26th, 2011 7:33 pm

  I was a distrubitor for Matco from November of 2008 to July 2010.
  Just want you to know that the twelve reason a Distrubutor Failes are so True.
  I lived everyone.
  But they took my Distrubutorship back when I sold my truck and was trying to get a trailer.
  Later I heard that they resold it to another distrubutor that they would not keep him out of my customer base.
  I am glad I am out. I lost about $40,000 with Matco.

• continued..........
  In the Matco class action LAWSUIT document (https://unhappyfranchisee.mystagingwebsite.com/matco-tools-class-action-lawsuit/) Bergen gives a sworn statement in which he identifies “NINE practices that account for the large failure and turnover rate among Matco”

  5. District Manager conflicts of interest
  An inherent and undisclosed conflict of interest exists between district managers (DMs) and distributors because although DMs are represented to distributors as “business coaches” and “partners”, they are paid commissions on tools sold to distributors. If distributors don’t buy, DMs, whose compensation was based, in large part, on distributor tool purchases, don’t earn their sales commissions. Accordingly, distributors are subject to aggressive sales tactics used to sell more and more tools to distributors regardless of their ability to re-sell the tools.”

  6. No Room to Grow – Over penetration
  The List of Calls given to a distributor will shrink over time. Matco locates too many distributors too close to each other and consequently when the natural reduction in customers occurs the distributor has no place to go to replace these lost customers”

• Just want you to know that the twelve reason a Distrubutor Failes are so True.

  Matco Tools Dirty Dozen- 12 Reasons Why Distributors Fail
  1. Bait & Switch Distributor Rides
  The prospective distributor is taken on a “check ride” with a distributor that has a much better territory than the new prospect will receive.
  2. Inflated List of Calls
  The “List of Calls”, or number of potential tool buying customers, sold to the distributor is inflated and often includes customers that have little or no chance of ever buying tools from the distributor.
  3. Misleading use of branch paid sales figures to prospective distributors
  Use of misleading sales figures based on average sales of a Regional Branch, which are by their nature higher than a prospect can achieve.
  4. Churning of List of Calls
  Lists of Calls or territories that have failed before are re-sold time and again to unsuspecting prospects to ensure that Matco keeps a distributor in the territory regardless of their ability to be successful and the company’s knowledge that the territory is unlikely to support a successful route.
  5. Overselling of Tools
  Employees are paid commissions on tools sold to distributors by the company so distributors are subject to aggressive sales tactics used to sell more and more tools to distributors regardless of their ability to sell the tools; after all, you “can’t sell from an empty truck”.
  6. District and Regional Manager conflicts of interest
  Inherent conflict of interest between company managers and distributors because although managers are pitched as “business coaches” and “partners”, the managers are paid commissions on tools sold to distributors – if distributors don’t buy, managers don’t eat.
  7. Extension of Excessive Amounts of Credit
  Matco extends excessive amounts of credit to distributors to allow them to “purchase” more and more tools from the company regardless of the distributor’s ability to sell the tools and regardless of the distributor’s ability to pay that credit line off – eventually, the distributor suffocates on his debt and his route fails (this allows the territory to be re-sold to a distributor with a “fresh checkbook”)
  8. No Room to Grow- Over Penetration
  The List of Calls given to a distributor will shrink over time. Matco locates too many distributors too close to each other and consequently when the natural reduction in customers occurs the distributor has no place to go to replace these lost customers.
  9. Credit Hypocrisy
  Matco will extend credit to mechanics to purchase big ticket items from the distributors such as diagnostic equipment, but will not extend that credit to mechanics that do not have Social Security numbers or other proper worker documentation; yet Matco expects the distributor to extend its own credit to mechanics that do not have Social Security numbers or other proper worker documentation for the sale of smaller ticket items.
  10. Non-Supervision/Assistance –– Diluted District Manager supervision
  There are not enough managers per dealer to provide meaningful business assistance which should include sales assistance to business reviews.
  11. Usurping New Customers
  When a new customer is located in a specific territory, the customer is often not given to the distributor but used by Matco to create new Lists of Calls so that in can sell another initial inventory and more tools to a new distributor.
  12. False Recession Excuse
  Matco blames the current economic difficulties and failures of its distributors on the recession. The truth is that had the List of Calls had been sufficient, meaning enough customers to sustain the amount of tools purchased (and the debt service of those purchases) far fewer distributors would have failed.

• I have never been a DM so I wouldn't know that but it is in our franchise circular so I knew that I was just being a smart ass. Matco #1 I have no beef with you because I feel you are not personally attacking me but this Kevin attacks much like Tommy and if I had someone publish articles in my hometown I might be in attack mode too.

  I am only on here to deter people from doing what I did!

  Trust Matco! who told me if I followed their plan for success I would succeed and I did.

  Tim Novak reinvented the distributor program with GOOGLE map which turned my successful franchise into a money making scheme for Matco .

• Debbie you need to add this to #12

  But Matco has stated that this franchise is recession proof when advertising for new franchisees.

• Let's see Danny sold his truck and Matco took his distributorship....well he'll yeah they would do that!!! It ain't rocket science if you have no way to service your customers because you sold your truck, yeah he will get a lot of sympathy from a court on that one. I am going to go out on a limb and say Jerry won't even touch that one, what a joke !

• #11 is what caused my failure with Matco. You see Tim Novak thinks it is great to sit behind a desk all day looking at TACKS on a GOOGLE MAP and make assumptions about people on their route list. You see a Regional Manager has the ability through GOOGLE MAP to see where every address you type in is at on a map. Then he can see them in colors too. One color might be red for the shops that are not on your LOC. One color might be black for your LOC. And then there might be green ones which list new or surveyed shops with no service. Matco could control Distributors every move in this way. So when you become a Franchisee in a route where Matco knows the head count will not support that many Distributors it gives them a reason to terminate.

  Guess when Matco came out with Google Map?

  About 2006!

  In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Tim Novak used me as an example to other DM's in training of how to successfully threaten their franchise and make them surrender shops with the aid of very loyal DM from Texas (Rick Pena)

• I know Todd, just saying if you want to move some of your stuff I might be able to help you out, if you want you can get ahold of junior he has my email, if you have a list put together send to me.

• Debbie why do you keep posting the same thing over and over?

• Matco#1!

  I just recently after being terminated for over 8 months sold my truck. Before that I had borrowed from my money from my mom to live off of.

  So are you telling me I don't have a case if I don't have a truck?

  That you give up your rights to sue Matco if you sell your truck?

  Just in case I still have an 18' Freightliner!