MATCO TOOLS Franchise Complaints

4,850 thoughts on “MATCO TOOLS Franchise Complaints”

• Todd, not going to criticize you if you have a legit claim, only Tommy or Debbie who don’t post facts, looks like you have things well documented .

• Wow, chuck was telling some pretty nasty lies, glad Matco fired him

• MATCO#1 wrote: “Speaking of looking the other way, guest where was your route?”

  Speaking of looking the other way, ask your wife.

• I was just curious! Was wondering if it was the same DM I had.

• Guest is EXACTLY right on “income representation”. My DM knew exactly what I made as a tech. My wife corned him SEVERAL times on income potential. We got the pattented Glenn “wink wink non nod” of “I can’t give you exact figures, BUT Tom will EASILY make what he did as a tech with no problems”. Wink wink nod nod!

  The DM DBR’s see at expo, sales meetings, etc is NOT the DM that sits down at the kitchen table and lies to new guys!

  Actually DM’s have 3 faces. The “lie to the new guy” face, the “sales meeting cheerleader” face that DBR’s love, and then the “I can’t help you, you’re not making it so screw you I’m done with you” face.

  I got to see all 3!

• I can answer Matco#1 Questions as it applies to my situation.

  I was not able to grow my customer count. I was losing customers due to shop closings and Layoff, when I tried to expand into new shops I was called and told I could not service the shop as it was designated for another route for a new distributor, and if I continued to service them I would be in violation of my agreement.

  Yes I used the tote bag I did very well with it I did better with new products as I always tried to get them out first. before my competition.

  I talked to everyone

  I went to expo and at lots of pre orders and used the discounts to stock up on everything I needed or thought I could sell.

  I went to all my sales meetings and bought from all of them In fact I overbought. That was part of my down fall was over buying. but I did it on the advice of my DM.
  Is advice was always the more you buy the more you will sell and you can pay for it after the sale.

  As to the Chuck Bergen statements that have been posted here. I’m not surprised Junior didn’t know it was going on. There are some good DM’s And some bad ones. I Know not every DM operates this way. I have friends all over the country some are still with Matco some have left. but in talking to them some have DM’s that are great and have helped them alot to stay in business. Some like me had bad DM’s that were only out to line there pockets at the expense of the distributors there suppose to serve. I think Matco keeps this hidden from The DM’s that don’t operate this way.

  Junior as a DM maybe you can clarify some things for me.
  Is it true a DM gets 5000.00 for each new distributor brought in and what is the retention period?

  Is your commission 1% of what a distributor buys?

  Again There are problems with Matco and I have admitted I made mistakes in running my truck but had I been given the chance to expand like I tried to I would probably still be in business. But when I loss close to 100 potential customers and was not allowed to expand their wasn’t much I could do. The fact that Matco split what was left of my route be tween 2 other distributors I think is proof the route was no longer viable otherwise they would have put someone else into it.

• Who approved this kid for credit, matco did, it was my job to sell tools, I didnt approve the credit, you go to best buy, run credit app with cashier, get approved, is she responsibile if you buy a 70 inch t.v. No, she didnt approve you , she helped with your puchase, should she buy the tv back, hell no

  Matco approved this guy, I didn’t.

• Guest…attacking my wife now, wow that’s mature.

  You can’t answer any of my questions so you try and insult me and my wife, oh yeah that’s what got you kicked off last time when you attacked someone elses wife on here.

  Your a class act guest, no wonder you don’t put your name on here.

• Bob I appreciate you answering guest question, he can’t answer it because he was not a distributor and is clearly a man without class as he repeatedly insults other peoples wives.

• Matco#1

  First, I apologize for the comment that was made in regards to your wife! Just remember that this is an open forum and anyone “No matter who’s side of the fence their on could have made that post.”

  Bob Tremblay

  Man I can sympathize with you brother. You and I have similar stories except my DM never really showed showed me face #3. He had never given me an Annual Review in the 4 or 5 years he was my DM or at least not one I saw.

• Tommy when you go to target and apply for credit did you know they get a bonus?

  Tommy do you know when you buy a car from a dealership the sales person gets a commission.

  When you buy a house your real estate agent gets a commission.

  Wow, there are a lot kick backs going on, I bet you get a kickback from jerry too.

• Like I said there are morons on here who cant read, go bact school, facts are posted

  Fact 1 – matco had me do repo’s , its against the law in Florida, unless you are licensed.

  Fact 2 – no date on termination letter, as far as I know I am still in business, the matco way, IGNORE IT AND IT WILL GO AWAY OR DON’T ANSWER THE QUESTION.

  FACT3- INFLATED HEAD COUNT-GOT PROOF.

  FACT4 – D.M is a liar, got proof

  how many facts do you need.. lok at all of the other facts people have posted, thats right they are lying too.

  Matco would not treat people, like this.B.S.

• Todd,

  You definitely got screwed. I never made it to the 4 or 5 year mark I as my bank account kept getting smaller I realized I wouldn’t be able to survive. In my last review my DM accused me of embezzling from myself. Kind of hard to do when I was pumping personal money into the business just to keep going. and yes he did put it in writing. He also accused another distributors wife of embezzling from him when his business started to fail.

• Did I approve this customer, no matco did.Facts are facts, did you ever get approved for a credit line of 10000.00 at 18, hell no

  matco setting him up for failure, just like everyone else they have.

  I never knew a lube guy to make that kind of money in order to be able to pay that bill.

• Guest wrote – e.p. Matco#1 “Speaking of looking the other way, ask your wife.”

  Junior – What a stupid comment to make to a perfect stranger. Unbelievable.

• Bob wrote – “Junior as a DM maybe you can clarify some things for me.
  Is it true a DM gets 5000.00 for each new distributor brought in and what is the retention period?…Is your commission 1% of what a distributor buys?”

  Junior – Keep in mind I left the DM role 3 years ago so my information is that old. Yes there was an incentive program and every DM had to sign the confidentiality agreement for compensation. I signed that agreement and to this day I respect Matco’s wish to keep certain things proprietary.

  Please do not take this as dodging a legitimate question, but understand EVERYONE at Matco knows Junior. It’s my real name. So it would be a poor decision on my part to discuss this info here.

  With that said; of course there’s a compensation package that’s incentive/commission based. Its sales. The more anyone sells the more they make. Nothing wrong with it until bad people take advantage as Chuck seems to of.

• Todd there are good dm’s and bad, most are good and meN well, others not the case. But because the dm’s are in the field Matco usually doesn’t here about a bad one until damage has been done.

  Junior and I worked several states away but talked all the time, our goal was to help or dbr’s improve their business not hurt their business.

  I heard you got a phone call recently…

• Now that I think about it!

  That wife comment is a perfect example of how manipulative my DM was Matco#1.

  Tell me that I have cured, “Forget that letter ever existed” and “I’ll let you know before something happens.” Then I get a termination letter.

  Who is to say that someone is responding and making comments from the OBC to make us look like we are not respectable, ethical, human beings.?

• MATCO#1: “attacking my wife now, wow that’s mature. ”

  Never attacked your wife. Quite the contrary. She must be a saint. She has my deepest admiration… and sympathy.

  You know what’s really offensive, though?

  All these serious issues, all these people sharing the serious stories of hardship they suffered from greedy individuals and a corrupt system, and you guys trying to gloss over them with petty distractions.

  My comments and the content of the others raising serious complaints are loaded with content and yours have none.

  If you really want to defend Matco, I suggest you dig in and disprove or dispute some of these powerful allegations rather than worrying about me.

• Lets bash Chuck today, the man signed a sworn statement, about the activities at matco, now you all say he’s lying and he did things his way, wrong, he was told to by matco, everyone who works for a company, has a boss.

  Who here would sign a sworn statement, knowing what the penality would be for lying in court, Chuck is telling the truth. If you guys think CHUCK was the problem at matco, he is gone and the problems still exist.

  Its typical of matco distributors, when you are one of them, they are friendly to you, but when you are gone, they will stab you in the back.

• I did but was at Sight and Sound Theatre in Branson with my family. My wife is off for two weeks because she teaches and the kids and I are having some fun time. Just like I did in the past.

  I made several phone calls this morning and left a message but can’t seem to break through the phone lines just like when I was trying to report the false survey and the fact that I should have never received a separation letter from Matco when I had been asking, begging and everything short of threatening for a resurvey.

• I have to say something on this credit issue. I strongly disagree with Tommy on this one. I had several kids approved for the elite program one got a 16,000.00 limit. I refused to take advantage of them and max them out. He wanted to jump right into a 6 series box. I wouldn’t let him I told him to start with only what he needed I put him in a 4 series with tools that he need now. I felt I had a moral obligation to not oversell or take advantage of him. Maybe it’s because when I was fresh out of school I had a tool guy take advantage of me and I didn’t want to be like that.

  Just because they are approved for that much doesn’t mean you have to sell them that much. it’s a judgment call. I knew what this kid made and I new he couldn’t afford to make the payments on that much.

  Believe it or not my DM told max every body out they won’t have money to spend with the competition. It also means if all his money is going to pay his PSA then he has nothing left to buy on TP or make that payment. That was the kind of advise I was getting.

• To make it easier for MATCO#! and the Old Boys Club to really dig in to the substantive allegations, I’ll report this list all together.

  Charles “Chuck” Bergen was with Matco for 10+ years as District Manager (DM), Franchise Sales Specialist (FSS), and Franchise Sales Manager for the North East. The Matco class action lawsuit document (http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/matco-tools-class-action-lawsuit/) includes a sworn statement from Bergen:

  “In my capacity as Franchise Sales Manager, I became fully aware of the numerous distributor abuses that were developed by upper Matco management and have identified the following nine practices that account for the large failure and turnover rate among Matco distributors:

  “i. Inflated List of Calls
  The “List of Calls”, or number of potential tool buying customers surveyed and developed by Matco District and Market Development Managers, sold to the distributor is inflated and inaccurate. It also includes customers that have little or no chance of ever buying tools from the distributor and, more importantly, qualifying for PSA (Purchase Security Agreement) financing which finances “big ticket” and big profit items such as tool boxes and diagnostic equipment.”

  “ii. Churning List of Calls
  List of Calls or territories that have failed before are resold time and again by DMs 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. In addition approval of a new applicant is also based upon Matco’s self-interest in terms of PSA exposure in the route, meaning that the more Matco financed PSA debt outstanding, the lower the standards will be for distributor qualification.

  “iii Deceptive Distributor Rides
  The prospective distributor is taken on two “check rides” with distributors that have a much better or “established” route rather than the “cold” or churned route the new prospect will receive.

  “iv Underestimate of Distributor Expenses
  Up and through 2007, the expenses Matco distributors were expected to incur were all “low balled” All expense and cost estimates were provided to recruits by Matco. This would include, but not be limited to under estimating bad debt, warranty return costs etc. Only after 2008 did expenses become more realistic as is evident from the difference in the 2008 estimated expenses cost from the 2007 estimated cost sheets attached to this declaration (see attached estimated costs sheet)

  “v 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.

  “vi 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”

  “vii Credit Hypocrisy
  Matco will extend credit to mechanics to purchase large purchase 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 his own credit and guaranty on PSA “gold card” purchases to those mechanics who do not have Social Security numbers or other proper worker documentation.
  viii Non-supervision/Assistance – Diluted district Manager Supervision
  There are not enough managers per distributor to provide meaningful business assistance which should include sales assistance to business reviews.

  “ix 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 Matco can use the new shop as part of a new List of Calls to create another route and sell an initial inventory to a new distributor.

  Additional quotes from Chuck Bergen’s signed Declaration:

  “In addition, new Matco recruits were never told during the recruiting process that they would have non-sales duties that would include performing non-warranty repairs; collection of PSA monies for Matco; and repossession of PSA equipment where the customer failed to keep current.”

  “Finally, upper management would turn a “blind eye” to making of income representations by FSSs and DMs.

  “The usual manner in which this occurred through year 2007 was by telling a distributor prospect that “Matco does not permit us to make income representations, but why would you want to join Matco unless you can make more than you are presently earning”. The clear message sent was an income representation that the prospect will earn at least what he was earning in his present job and likely much more.””

  – Former Matco Franchise Sales Manager Charles “Chuck” Bergen

• Guest one thing I was repeatedly told by my fsm was never make earning claims, give a prospective franchise owner your phone list to your entire district so as not to steer him in any manner.
  Everything chuck is saying is opposite what my fsm told me, so my only conclusion is chuck was dirty.
  And again you are the one that avoids questions…what state or region was your route in?

• Junior.

  I Understand and respect the fact you still want to honor your agreement. If I’m not mistaken you taught one of the classes I took at the 08 Orlando expo.

• Bob, I never put him in a 6 series, I did sell a 4725 and about three grand in tools, point being I could have maxed him out with that credit line, I didnt and also Matco should have known better to give a kid that kind of credit.

  Point is matco sets people up to fail, I know this kid , he is doing ok, still paying matco, but he did not deserve such a high credit line.

• Tommy wrote – “Matco approved this guy, I didn’t.”

  Junior – Are you kidding me? You compare a DBR to an employee at en electronics store? No worries, in Tommy’s World none of us are responsible for our actions.

• Junior wrote: “What a stupid comment to make to a perfect stranger”

  True true true. It was just an offhand joke. My apologies to all for stooping to that juvenile level.

  But Junior, don’t you also agree that the reaction to my posting of Chuck Bergen’s sworn statement being “what is guests route” or do I carry a tote? are pretty stupid, too?

  If you think Bergen is lying, say so.
  If you can dispute those allegations, do so.
  If you think only he did those things and no one else, fire away.
  If you think some DMs use those unethical tactics but most don’t, say so.
  If you think things have changed since the time period he references, state the changes that have taken place.

  But for someone named MATCO#1 to simply harp on identity as a distraction from the issues is a little silly, isn’t it?

  isn’t it?

• Bob wrote – “I strongly disagree with Tommy on this one….Just because they are approved for that much doesn’t mean you have to sell them that much. it’s a judgment call….”

  Junior – That’s a stand up position to take and I respect you for it Bob.

  Bob wrote – “Believe it or not my DM told max every body out they won’t have money to spend with the competition.”

  Junior – I do believe it. As a DBR we can make decisions like you do that benefit your business long term.

  I recall over-selling to an oil change kid at a Toyota dealer once. I got greedy. Not but a couple of months later I had to wheel his toolbox, yes I sold him a box with tools, out to my truck. The following week my good customers didn’t look at me the same. I excepted responsibility for the whole deal and carried the kid on the basics so I didn’t come across as a greedy salesmen. I learned from my mistake, put people in a win win situation.

• Bob wrote – “I Understand and respect the fact you still want to honor your agreement. If I’m not mistaken you taught one of the classes I took at the 08 Orlando expo.”

  Junior – Thank you, and yes that was me. Was it the TP Transformer class or was it Glenn Vanderwall and myself?

  Matco#1 and I did a class I thought it was in Vegas.

• Guest wrote – “But Junior, don’t you also agree that the reaction to my posting of Chuck Bergen’s sworn statement being “what is guests route” or do I carry a tote? are pretty stupid, too?”

  Junior – Wrong person to ask Guest, Matco#1 is a friend that I hold high regard for. He and I have had a long standing arguement over who was the better DM, I say he was and he’d argue it was me. He’s wrong, it was him, but I know where he is coming from. I know this man very well and he and I both have been handed poor routes and turned them into success’.

  I’m glad to see you recognize the wife statement was wrong, as are a lot of statements made by a bunch of us here. Some funny, some hurtful. But I think we all agree that Matco isn’t perfect and neither are any of us.

• I take responsibility for my actions, I dont run and hide under a made up name on here like some people. I do take part blame for business with matco, but I was not deceitful and lied to and mislead, they way matco does.

  Lets continue to hide behind names, but also continue to post and be loud, and post everywhere.

  If I state it, I am willing to back it up.

• Junior wrote: “I’m glad to see you recognize the wife statement was wrong”

  And I appreciated your story about the oil change kid you shouldn’t have sold to at the Toyota dealership.

  The world doesn’t operate in black and white. The truth is usually in the grey area in between. I don’t believe evil Matco employees are going to work each morning with “ruin people’s lives” and “screw the distributors” on their to-do lists.

  At the same time, it’s destructive simply to deny the overwhelming evidence that there are real serious problems that are having a devastating effect on many people’s lives.

  If distributors are failing cuz they’re lazy whiners, then Matco needs to do a better job screening applicants and expectations.

  If the compensation system creating a conflict of interest between DMs and the DBRs they are supposed to be helping succeed, it should be changed.

  This forum could make a positive impact if the discussion was on what needs to be done to fix the problems rather than denying there is a problem by one side and completely demonizing everything Matco on the other.

• Junior,

  I took all the classes except the one on toolboxes both in Orlando and Vegas in 09

• Junior – I’m sorry dude – you NEVER spoke to ME

  There have been TWO other WOMEN distributors in my district
  Lisa Cohen and Jonelle Lawrence

  BOTH FAILED –

  YOU WROTE:
  Author: Junior
  Comment:
  Debbie wrote – “I document everything, everything…..
  I CAN back every word….”

  Junior – Debbie, I’m the DM that came to Denver from New Mexico and held one of your meetings while your district was without a DM. (I have my pilots lic, if you’ll recall I had rented a small plane while I was there). We had a great meeting, lots of open discussion. You took my card and I promised to get Tim’s approval to comeback and spend whatever time you wanted on your route. I was serious, like Matco#1 we were dedicated to DBR’s regardless of their district.

  We spoke once on the phone, but I can’t remember why we never put it together. It just occurred to me who you are. I’m really sorry to hear what you are going thru.

  WHILE I HAVE BEEN A DISTRIBUTOR – MY DISTRICT WAS **NEVER** WITHOUT A DM -DOUG HEERSINK HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE DM

  **WHY** WOULD *YOU* NEED TO FLY IN FROM NEW MEXICO TO HOLD A MEETING??

  MY DISTRICT SPLIT INTO TWO TERRITORIES, DOUG HEERSINK IS MY DM
  MARK FISHBURN IS THE DM OF THE OTHER COLORADO DISTRICT

  MARK FISHBURN HELD A MEETING ONCE – WHEN DOUG GOT MARRIED

  TIM NOVAK came to a meeting once – another story…………….

  I’VE SPOKEN WITH MY HUSBAND THIS MORNING – HE ATTENDED EVERY MEETING I ATTENDED – NEITHER OF US REMEMBERS YOU EVER RUNNING A MEETING

  Apparently you have mistaken ME for another woman

• Guest the tote tray was off subject regarding chuck, I was just curious if you carried one when you were a dbr

• so Junior – still not over this LIE

  Junior – Debbie, I’m the DM that came to Denver from New Mexico and held one of your meetings while your district was without a DM. (I have my pilots lic, if you’ll recall I had rented a small plane while I was there). We had a great meeting, lots of open discussion. You took my card and I promised to get Tim’s approval to comeback and spend whatever time you wanted on your route. I was serious, like Matco#1 we were dedicated to DBR’s regardless of their district

  while your district was without a DM. – ???? what was the date – again, i became a distributor in 9/09 and doug heersink has always been the DM

  You took my card and I promised to get Tim’s approval to comeback and spend whatever time you wanted on your route. Tim WHO??

  Little more than offended, – So, you came to Denver and conducted a sales meeting and remember talking to some WOMAN – and automatically you assume it must have been me????

  wasn’t me

• Bob Tremblay on December 16th, wrote – “…when seeding my route with my DM I found shops that were not on my list of calls a couple were not being serviced and he stated I could service them and he would add them to my list of calls.”

  Junior – If a DM is doing his job right he doesn’t miss shops like this. They are either on the route or not. I hate hearing this.

  Bob – “when I finally got into my route I found out several of my shops here taken away from a couple other distributors. This did not make them happy and made it difficult for me to do business with them.”

  Junior – None of this came up in the seed? Not that there’s enough time to seed a whole route anyhow but someone should have said something. And if the shop was on your LOC then I’d be interested in seeing the survey sheet the DM took during the original survey.

  Bob – “ I also found out that my route was made up from a distributor that matco had terminated. he had 3 routes then downsized and went back to 1 route keeping the best shops. The portion of the route I received was the portion that he found to be unprofitable and wouldn’t service any more. Thats why Matco terminated him.”

  Junior – To service three routes would require ‘round the clock work. So it sounds like the old DBR was cherry picking from three routes. It sounds like what the DM did was give the DBR the shops he was actively calling on, and of course it could be argued these were the best shops because he was having good luck there. A shop is a shop (for the most part), just because one DBR does good in one doesn’t mean the next will and vice-versa. So the DM carved off what he needed to establish a 325 min headcount for a new route. Let’s keep in mind that all along here the DM nor Matco qualifies the quality of a shop because we have found that just because one DBR did poorly in a shop doesn’t mean the next will do poorly.

  Bob – “The DM I had was a former Snap-On Distributor and DM. I found him to be a poor business coach. There area I serviced were also part of my DM old territory with Snap-On. In fact on a ride along at one of my stops he informed me he would wait in my truck as the shop owner had threatened to kill him if he ever set foot in his shop again.”

  Junior – Not all ex-Snap On DBR’s or DM’s are bad, but this one is sounding questionable. I’m afraid to ask his name.

  Bob – “I had also found shops on my original list of calls that were no longer in business but were supposedly surveyed. how that happened is up to you to decide.”

  Junior – I can understand it if they went out after the survey was taken. But no excuse if they went out any time prior.

  Bob – “Just before the economic crunch hit my area hard. They put a new distributor in business and took shops away from me. My DM’s excuse was they weren’t on my list of calls. even though he was suppose to add them to it as he said he would do. He denies ever saying that to me. then tells me I had to any shops anyway.”

  Junior – This DM screwed up from the get go. This IS NOT how Matco expects or even trains a DM to do handle a LOC. Regardless of what he said, ‘you have too many shop’, he had a responsibility to make sure that any adjustments made didn’t put you at risk or harm your business. A DBR has to work within his LOC, it all must be documented as per Matco SOP’s. With this said, I must admit that I’ve given DBR’s permission to service a shop not on their LOC. But too I either added this to their LOC or I reminded them that I may need the shop in the future to level the head count on another route. It’s just the system.

  Bob – “…shops laid off several went out of business. when I asked for help and more shops I was told I still had enough to be successful.”

  Junior – He was looking at your MDBS data, or should have been, when he made such an arrogant statement. You go by active customers and potential customers. Number of shops means nothing. It’s the headcount that matters. I use to always remind my DBRs to keep a clean MDBS with regard to shops and customers. Achieve those customers that leave. If a DBR is showing say 206 active and 191 inactive I can only assume his headcount is around 397. Yes this is an estimate. But when a DBR calls me and I’m on the road I carry a district monitor report so to speak. It has coll avg, active cust, margin, you name it. I refer to it while I’m speaking to a DBR so as not to say or do anything that takes them out of the game. Now, if I see a high coll avg with a low headcount and I know a DBR is out there every day I don’t wait for them to call me. I have to survey that route and get the facts.

  Bob – “When a distributor in a neighboring territory decided to close down. he gave me a list of shops that he had found that were not on his list of calls.”

  Junior – When you say he gave them to you, did he adjust your LOC? Or did he just hand you a list and say have at it?

  Bob – “…when I went to service some of these shops my DM called me and forbid me to go to them they were not part of my route…”

  Junior – Did you inform him that he had just implied that they were yours by showing you the list in the first place?

  Bob – “Long story short at the end of 2009 with the loss of customer base and no help from Matco or my DM I decided cut my losses and close my business. When I contacted my DM he said that’s fine you weren’t working hard enough anyway and we’ll have someone else that will be successful within 6 months.”

  Junior – I can only assume this all happened the way you say here, and this sounds like a complete renegade DM. His mouth should have gotten him fired a long time ago. But, there are always two sides to every story and I cannot play devil’s advocate without coming across negatively.

  Bob – “Thanks to this website I will be contacting the attorney and becoming part of the class. I lost over 250,00.00 with Matco.”

  Junior – $250k is a ton. I can ask and you can tell me to pound sand, but what were your business numbers? Your business mix? Inventory level? New truck or used? Your story sounds plausible but the numbers tell the facts. Did you sell your truck? Returned tools credit? Sell your TP? I’m sorry to pry but now I’m hooked on this story and I either want to tell you that it’s your fault or hunt down a certain DM and give him a piece of my mind.

  I said I’d read each story and I have read three. This one disturbs me but there just isn’t any data to go with it.

• Junior,

  If you want to give me a call feel free and i will discuss it with you. My number is located in the 2010 deactivated list in the fdd i’m in michigan.

• Bob, then you know me. Intense guy (lol), I loved the tool business, but I loved sharing it more than anything. So does Matco#1. It became our passion. I still believe that Matco IS the best company with some of the finest people I’ve ever worked for and with.

  The sad part is they have had a bad egg or two once in a while. But in no way is Matco a scam or do the train DM’s lie, or do they have some master plan to get you in the business to just take your money. Not true. It may feel this way to those that didn’t succeed for whatever reason, but there just isn’t this massive plan that’s been communicated here.

  I have moved onto a different chapter in my life, two solid locations AZ and TX, with a plan to buy another one in the Dallas area. I truly believe that I am more successful today because of my mentors at Matco. RM’s, DM’s, and even Matco#1.

  Other may say these aren’t such great people to learn from and as you can tell I’ll debate that point any day. I’m sorry to hear your story, but I can tell you that I too lost good people as a DM and it happens. You can’t control what people will do.

• Matco Tools Named No. 1 Tool Franchise
  Entrepreneur Ranks Matco Tools Top Tool Franchise Five out of Six Years
  Stow, OH (December 20, 2011) — Matco Tools is pleased to announce that its Matco Tools Franchise
  was named the best franchise in the “Tools Distribution Category” and 26th overall in Entrepreneur’s
  33nd Annual Franchise 500®.
  “Matco Tools is a world class franchise system with low startup costs, internal financing and a proven
  business model,” said Ernie Lauber, senior vice president of sales at Matco Tools. “We are honored that
  among the hundreds of other franchises, Matco has been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as best
  in class once again. We see this as a reflection of the power of the Matco’s Business System. ”
  Franchisors are judged by an independent auditor and measured by a set of objective, quantifiable
  criteria, including financial strength and stability, growth rate, and size of the system. Also measured are
  the number of years the company has been in business, the length of time it’s been franchising, startup
  costs, litigation, percentage of terminations and whether the company provides financing. Those
  companies that receive the highest cumulative scores join the prestigious Franchise 500.
  In the 2012 rankings, Entrepreneur named the Matco Tools Franchise fourth in the “Top 10 Home
  Based Franchises” category and number 23 in “America’s Top Global Franchise.” Matco Tools has been
  named the best tool franchise five times in the last six years.
  “We are invested in the success of every franchisee and are committed to providing a foundation for
  growth including flexible financing options for franchisees and their customers, national advertising, and
  outstanding service and support,” said Lauber. “With no franchise fees, royalties, or advertising fees,
  Matco Tools earns our place as the best mobile tool franchise every day.”
  Matco Tools offers these world-class benefits to franchisees:
  · No franchise fees, on-going royalties, or advertising fees
  · No real estate investment or employees
  · Flexible financing options
  · National advertising
  · National motorsports sponsorship
  · More than 200 new and exclusive product introductions annually
  · Outstanding customer and technical support
  For more information on franchise opportunities, call 1-888-MYMATCO or visit matcotools.com.
  About Matco Tools:
  Matco Tools manufactures, distributes and services premium quality automotive equipment, tools, and
  tool storage for the professional technician. The company has more than 60 years of national brand
  experience in the automotive equipment industry and a vast product line of more than 13,000 of the
  highest quality, innovative tools and accessories. The company’s franchise offering has no franchise,
  royalty, or advertising fees. Initial corporate and ongoing local training create and build outstanding value
  for the franchisee’s business. For more information on Matco Tools products or franchise
  opportunities, visit http://www.matcotools.com.

• Junior,

  I also loved the tool business and picked Matco because a good friend of mine has been a successful DBR for 25 years. If you notice I haven’t bashed Matco. I think there are a few bad people in Matco that need to go. I never bought into the conspiracy theory. Call me and I will give you names and numbers that I prefer not to post here then you can make an informed decision.

• Junior- Read your reply to Bob’s points. God I wish I could say more about the specifics of my case, but can’t.

  I will say that Bob’s experience with his DM regarding seeding, list of calls, etc is EXACTLY what I expereinced with Lord Vanderwall!

  I even brought ALL of this to the attention of another DBR BEFORE I signed everything. He was PISSED and told me to “stand my ground”. Well I did. Needless to say that set the tone for my “relationship” with my DM.

  I quickly learned that NO ONE dare cross Lord Vanderwall! He pulled a fast one on me. I later found out he NEVER surveyed my route in person. He did it “by phone”.

  What he didn’t count on was me knowing the shops as good as I did. My first LOC had a ridiculous number of shops that had been closed for years, same shop listed SEVERAL times at same address but with different name. My route was in “my old stomping grounds”. Glenn lived 3 hours away. When I dare confront Lord Vanderwall on errors I got read the riot act from him. How dare I question him! I should have seen what I was headed for then.

  That was when he flipped the “asshole switch”. At that point he no longer cared if I suceed or not. He only care was getting me into business and getting my money, period!

  I was told by a couple DBR’s that “once your on Glenn bad side, you are dead to him”. And boy was I!

  Like I have stated, my trainer Larry Fisher, made MANY calls to Stow the 2nd time he rode with me to confirm and question MANY issues I had brought up for MONTHS!

  Basically he “blew the whistle” on Ole Glenn. Larry stirred so much shit it wasn’t funny! I understand Larry was “fired” shortly after that? Larry stood in my living room his last day riding with me and APOLOGIZED. Told me to get out now! Of course he also said that when I looked for a lwayer, he suggested I get one, that he would DENY everything he said to us or he would lose his job!

  If you’re still connected with Stow give them a call. Ask to see ALL the DOCUMENTED FACTS I emailed Glenn, Larry, Matt, Tracy, Tom, Timand my RM from DAY ONE!

  My guess is they won’t show you. But you can try. I can give you names of another DBR in Lord V’s district that also DOCUMENTED FACTS and questioned Stow from day one. I did not know this DBR until AFTER I got out. When we contaced each other regarding Jerry, we found out that our “experiences” with Lord V were EXACTLY the same! Our emails to Stow during our fisrt months on the route, nearly a year apart, were damn near word for word!!!!!! Wonder how that could be?

  Vanderwall a “standup guy” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Ole Honest Glenn would best fit as a used car salesman!

• Debbie wrote – WHILE I HAVE BEEN A DISTRIBUTOR – MY DISTRICT WAS **NEVER** WITHOUT A DM -DOUG HEERSINK HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE DM

  **WHY** WOULD *YOU* NEED TO FLY IN FROM NEW MEXICO TO HOLD A MEETING??”

  Junior – Jonelle sounds familiar. It was before Doug. When a district doesn’t have a DM to hold a meeting the RMs will ask a nearby DM to fill in. Thought it might have been you.

  I’m curious still though. Where did you get that a DM recieves kick backs from TransLease? Where did this happen?

• Junior- Better yet, if you are still on the “inside at Matco”, get them to sign a release or something that would allow me to openly discuss SPECIFICS about my case, without fear of me being sued by them for speaking about the DOCUMENTS FACT. If I was allowed, I would also be MORE THAN HAPPY to discuss all of Matcos “dirty little secerts” that I learned were FACT, thru discovery!

  I will say this regarding “kickbacks vs commisions”. Commisions are LEGIT compensation. Techs, salesmen, DM’s, etc all work of COMMISSION.

  KICKBACKS are typically “under the table deals” that a blind eye is turned to. Of course no one at Matco acknowledges “kickbacks”!

  I also DOCUMNETED FACTS/LIES regarding Translease, ProVans and Lord V. FACTS that SHOWED they were “in bed together”.

  Ask Lord V why when I was scouring the country for a used truck he NEVER metioned that there was one FOR SALE in MY OWN DISTRICT! IF he was a “standup guy” he COULD have HELPED 2 DBR’s out! Helped one get out from under a truck as they were seperating, THEN helped me by getting me a used truck that was barely 6months old!

  Instead of getting that truck, I got BSed by ProVans, TransLease and Lord V and ended up flying to Orlandp Expo to p/u my NEW truck!

  MORE DOCUMENTED LIES I was told in EMAILS regarding value and terms on lease! Things I was told just to get a truck sold and pockets lined!

• Tom wrote – “Vanderwall a “standup guy” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Ole Honest Glenn would best fit as a used car salesman!”

  Junior – I wouldn’t dream of calling Matco to ask for doc’s. I’ve been gone for a while. Names and info just won’t do me any good because I have zero influence there. I have worked with Glenn on DM projects and have spent many hours on the phone with him. Always seemed to be a stand up guy to me. Not sure what happened but it doesn’t sound good.

• Junior- I will tell you this much about Ole Glenn. When I started having trouble, asking questions, etc it was funny- When I was asked who is your DM and why is HE not helping you, and I pelied Glenn Vanderwall, all I got was an “oh, were sorry he’s not helping”. You could here the “chill that wnet down their backs” at mere mention of his name!

  IT was almost as if they were saying “God Glenn screwed another one and we have to deal with it”. I got DISSTINCT impression that that Glenn was not held in :high regard” by the rank and file at Stow. The “brass” loved him!

  Like I said, it seemed even Matt, Tracy and Larry didn’t like what LOrd V was doing, but hands were tied.

• Debbie wrote – “The most upsetting fact is- One year ago, my business was doing fine. I was ‘breaking even’ and all my bills were getting paid. Then my DM stepped in, accused me of “living off my inventory”., told me I should be concerned as my inventory value had dropped.”

  Junior – He see’s the business mix and can predict a problem in the future. DBR’s living on inventory is easy to see on a monitor report. So he didn’t just pic it out of his hat.

  Debbie wrote – “So, I did as HE instructed – and ordered more inventory.”

  Junior – Now here’s where I am having trouble. It isn’t normal for a DM to just come to a DBR and say start buying. They are trained to get to the root of the problem, like why are you living on your inventory. Fix that problem first then let’s work on a plan to build back the inventory. I can tell you from experience that very few DBR’s can recover from low inventory. This is why they teach you in DBR training and it’s pushed throughout meetings etc never let your inventory get below your start up level. They also warn do not grow your inventory too fast. I think there was a miscommunication between the two of you somewhere. If we’re talking about Doug then it’s likely a miscommunication. He’s does know the business, not the best communicator, but he know how to make a living on a tool truck.

  Debbie wrote – “…considering I was operating under FALSE budget figures.”

  Junior – You are in control of these. Why didn’t you fix them so as to show the correct info?

  Debbie – “I borrowed money -time and time again, …”

  Junior – Did you sit down with your DM and adjust your breakeven every time you borrowed money? Again I assume it was Doug here, he will be the first to tell you that borrowing money isn’t part of the plan. More sales and collections is. Or did you even share this info with him?

• Tom wrote – “Like I said, it seemed even Matt, Tracy and Larry didn’t like what LOrd V was doing, but hands were tied.”

  Junior – I’d put Glenn above all three of the names you just shared any day of the week.

• Junior- Maybe you would, but not me. Glenn addressed NONE of my questions or concerns, period!

  The other 3 names I mentioned, bent over backwards, went above and beyond and out of their way to address my concerns and answer my questions.

  AND all 3 had no clue as to why Lord V wan NOT. That is when the phone calls from my RM started. Not calls of “I hear you have questions/concerns that Glenn is unable to answer or help with”. But the phone calls of “how dare you call Stow and question the all mighty”. And “you must be a reall piece of shit to go over Glenns head”. “You don’t deserve Glenn help if that is way YOU are treating HIM”. “You are gonna get Glenn in trouble and cause him problem”.

  It was CLEARLY shown that my RM’s main concern was “covering his and Glenns ass” NOT helping a new DBR suceed or even answer questions.

  Yep, “the good ole boys club” is alive and well at Stow.