MATCO TOOLS Franchise Complaints

4,850 thoughts on “MATCO TOOLS Franchise Complaints”

• Junior- Gotta disagree again, and Jerry has my proof. One of few answers I ever got from GLenn was the solution to ANY problem was BUY MORE INVENTORY!

  My “starter inventory” was USELESS on my route. I was in rural area COVERED with farm guys, equipment guy and body shops. They didn’t need what was in starter inventory. This is why “starter inventory” should be adjusted somewhet to each route.

  Glenn solution was to load truck with MORE tools that guys needed. I understand the therory, BUT I had NO money to stock, from the get go, what my guys “needed”. Within first month I begged to help we with returning stock for items that would better suit my guys needs. I was told “NO you have to keep starter inventory”. That I “just needed to add to it”!

  Having worked in CDJ dealers for over 20 years I know a thing or two about inventory control. Rule #1 is you don’t stock or sit on slow or non moving inventory, period!

  You send it back, turn it to cash and then buy whatyou can move.

• ANOTHER DISSATIFIED MATCO DISTRIBUTOR

  I am currently a matco tool distributor in the west, not going to say where. My district manager and regional manager are supportive, but when things start to go down hill, they just say “you are everybody else is down with their sales, just be careful out there, collect what you can, and be persistent with tool box sales. I would advise anyone NOT to go into this business unless you have some financial backing, just in case the economy takes the turn for the worse, like now. I was quoted a salary of 4000.00 a month easy, but that is hardly the case. It depends on your route, my route is not the best and the customers are “seasoned” mechanics that have most of the tools that I have on my starter load on my truck. If they want tools, they have you take orders, and give them a 5 to 7 payback period payment plan, and you only get a two week turn around when you have to pay that tool bill. Meanwhile, where do you get the money to pay back that tool order? Yes, you have a lease payment on your truck of 1200 a month, and then insurance for the truck and the business liability, of about 350.00 a month, and then you have to pay the state tax you collected depending on your sales, could be around 1000.00 to 2500.00 a month, and the rest is for running the business of sending the warranty (that you pay) tools back to Matco in Tennesee via UPS and then they credit your tool account, and that takes around a week, so if you have lots of warranty tools, money is tied up for a week? A lot of stuff is not told to you in training in Ohio and by your district manager, VP, and the regional manager. So beware to any one that wants to start up a matco distributorship. Have lots of money of your own, to fund this business when you are in a bind, or when sales are down, cause it will cause lots of nights of tossing and turning due to stress and worry. The laptop you buy is over priced, you can get it cheaper from the manufacturer, and the software they have is good, but it will cost you about 850.00 that sometimes does not function right. The licensing for the truck is going to cost you 800.00 to 1200.00 a year, the state licenses will cost you about 500.00 a year, the internet and cell phone bills will have to be paid with the profits, and mind you, you only get between 35 to 40 percent on every tool you sell. Sometimes much less. The tools you sell that break like flashlights, drop lights, always go out, you pay out of your pocket to ship it back to repair and there goes all your profit margin. Matco should pay for it, it is their tools, they should pay for the shipping for the repair, NOT the distributor and you can not charge the customer who bought the tool a month ago and charge them 10 bucks for shipping, and if you do tell them to pay for it, they want a refund for the tool and get angry with you. So think long and hard on doing this matco, snapon or cornwell distributorship. It is not all glory and smooth sailing, lots of promises not kept by Matco and your district manager. And if you do decide to do it, I wish you all the best of luck, cause it will take lots of your own money to get this business off the ground. I regret it now every single day.

• “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.”

  Well, I guess that is a close as you will get to saying you were WRONG!
  ……….and I won’t hold my breath for an apology

  Bottom Line
  I’m willing to share my story, which I have
  I’m willing to post Facts of which I can document

  I do not need to “prove” anything here, this is a forum for information, a vehicle to “get the word out” – which it has :)

  1952 comments since 11/12/11 –

• Thank you Tommy

  Amazing how yet ANOTHER DISTRIBUTOR WITH A VERY VERY SIMILAR STORY

  I really can’t understand how anyone can DENY there is a problem!!

• World Class Support – not from Matco,,,,,

  Several of my customers, upset that I am being forced out of business by Matco and their unfair business practices – have written letters to Ernie Lauber. Today, I received a copy of an email from Ernie Lauber responding to
  one of those letters.

  My customer wrote- in part:

  Mr. Lauber,

  I am writing to you to formally express my dissatisfaction with Matco Tools……………….two paragraphs more,,,, It certainly seems Matco views their distributors as “disposable”.

  The Response Ernie Lauber sent my customer today:

  On Dec 22, 2011 1:59 PM, “Lauber, Ernie” wrote:
  Thank you for your feedback. We are always trying to improve our system, products and programs. A testament to this is how we have been recently named number one in category – mobile tool company – again by Entrepreneur Magazine. In fact, we have been named number one in category five out of the last six years. We have also been in the top 25 rated franchises by this prestigious magazine for the last six years.

  We will continue to have the lowest distributor separation rates in the industry, along with best in class service levels.

  Have a great holiday season.
  ———
  My customer was obviously dissatisfied with the reply as it was clear to both him and me Matco has no regard for their distributors and apparently even less for THEIR CUSTOMERS.

  Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 2:05 PM
  Subject: RE:

  Sorry to inform you, magazines don’t do any company justice, its the technicians your company attempts to serve that decides if you’re worth dealing with. In my experience I have seen more Matco dealers come and go than any other distributers.
  Also, your reply appears to be scripted. I see no way that you are trying to resovle the situation.

• Tommy over 15k this week, the week of Christmas. Economy terrible, nobody had money, holiday season….that’s all BS.

  My customers have no idea what Matco does or doesn’t do to me and they never will. When you are walking around shops telling your customers Matco is screwing you guess what ….they stop buying from you because they figure they will show Matco. I won’t buy their tools, that will show them, they have now forgot that it’s only hurting you not Matco. Any person that practices this is a fool !

• Junior- Thanks for all you have put into this.

  I am sure there have been some unfair treatment of distributors over the years. I just as convinced that there are people that are in this for the wrong reason.

  But everyone must keep in mind we are in business……. Matco is in business….. I do this to make money. Matco is in this for money. I have done things while running my business that I wish I hadn’t. I would bet Matco has done the same.

  One very important thing that has not been said here is: In business no one does anything to you……. You just got in the way…….

  We are not knitting blankets here everyone has alot on the line. It’s what you do with what you have that makes the differance.

  Again thank for standing up for something you could have walked away from. Even when you offered help you still got slamed for petty reasons.

  Merry Christmas and HAppy New Year.

• Debbie wrote – “Well, I guess that is a close as you will get to saying you were WRONG!
  ……….and I won’t hold my breath for an apology”

  Junior – Apology? WTFF?

• Matco2 wrote – “Again thank for standing up for something you could have walked away from. ”

  Junior – My pleasure. I have too many friends on Matco trucks and although there are real stories here of questionable seperations I can’t stand it when guys like Tommy doing what Tommy does. Campaigns like his hurt the very folks he claims to be protecting.

  Merry Christmas to you and your family as well.

• matco#1
  i am on the east coast as far as you can get

• Oh…sorry I cant help you then either I am on the west coast.

• Tom wrote – “My “starter inventory” was USELESS on my route. ”

  Junior – I see, well this issue happens to be both mine and Matco#1’s personal pet peeves. There isn’t much that can be done about the basic tool set but Matco has what’s called a winter or summer plug. It goes with the basic set depending on the time of year. What a DM can do, or at least I did back then was put an order together that best fits the route and supplement the plug with those tools. This takes an engaged DM and a DM that knew the system and could get this thru. Not easy, and likely not avail today.

  I’m not going to debate you on Glenn, you have your opinion and I don’t doubt you have made your decision based on your experience. But I equally have made my decision on my experience. We should leave it at that.

  I’m going to say something that Tommy and Debbie have been dieing to hear…I made mistakes as a DM and there isn’t one DM alive that can say they are any different. But the Matco system goes far deeper than a DM. I’m not even sure if I wanted to hurt someone’s business I even could have. I might be a little naive here but how much can a DM really do without getting fired.

  If a DM has truly done something like what I’m hearing all a DBR would need to do is put together the facts of what happened and present it to an RM. But facts are facts and if they go against the UFOC/FDD and the Matco plan who can possibly deny it.

  I don’t proclaim to have all the answers, but what I do know is posting hate on craigslist is NOT hurting the right people. It hurts 1400 plus DBRs working their asses off to feed their families and protect their investments during the most challenging times. I hate seeing this. You think I have time for this forum? No, I have 2 dealerships, 16 employees, a $31,000 nut to hit each month, and my own family to take care of. But I’ll do it for the great people on those trucks. It’s how I operated as a DM, it’s how I operate today.

  Said enough to get into trouble…I’m back quiet. Merry Christmas all the same sir.

• Matco has no regard for their distributors and apparently even less for THEIR CUSTOMERS.

  Apparently the FORM LETTER response is all any customer receives when they take the time to write clear, concise, detailed accounts of their issues with Matco.

  MY bet is Ernie Lauber isn’t Personally answering the complaint emails, I think they may even be on “Auto Respond” . Form Letter, insulting

  From: Lauber, Ernie
  Date: Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 1:58 PM

  Thank you for your feedback. We are always trying to improve our system, products and programs. A testament to this is how we have been recently named number one in category – mobile tool company – again by Entrepremuer Magazine. In fact, we have been named number one in category five out of the last six years. We have also been in the top 25 rated franchises by this prestigious magazine for the last six years.

  We will continue to have the lowest distributor separation rates in the industry, along with best in class service levels.

  Have a great holiday season.

• “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.
  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.”

  Wasn’t talking to me…………

  Well, I guess that is a close as you will get to saying you were WRONG!
  ……….and I won’t hold my breath for an apology

  Junior – Apology? WTFF?

  Several posts have been berated for their inferior reading comprehension abilities…
  Several times over I’ve stated I’ve been a distributor for a little over 2 years

  You talk to some woman in Denver YEARS ago and assume it is THIS LADY

  Jonelle was before Lisa who was before ME

  The socially correct thing to do when one makes a mistake is to apologize.

• debbie i spoke to one of the women that you said FAILED,she told me her husban got deathly ill and she gave uo the route to take care of him.NOT EVEYONE WHO GETS OUT OF BUSINESS FAILED…….

• something i always found amazing was when you were on tool hold and you had a 20.00 tool come in that had been on back order for months and it would get canceled so you then went to the bottom of the list again, did i say again. anyway if i didnt say again then im saying it now, again.
  but you let a tool repair be done at the same time and you were charged immediately.
  how does that happen

• matco#1 thanks for the offer.
  i had spoken with mike ramey and he told me that someone would be getting with me to help me out on that but no one ever did and now i know why after seeing all these posts.
  matco doesnt care about you as much as they care about your money.

• Debbie wrote – “Jonelle was before Lisa who was before ME…The socially correct thing to do when one makes a mistake is to apologize.”

  Junior – I should apologize to Jonelle, that who I should apologize too.

• Quote from earlier: Junior on December 22nd, 2011 5:44 pm

  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 I don’t mean to berate you or your family. But if this is your position, I have absolutely NO respect for you or anything that you can bring to this discussion.

  If you know these people, you would know that there is no better person on this earth and more concerned about their position and their influence on their associates than Larry and Tracy. I personnally know Tracy very well and your comments are offensive.

  I can only guess you don’t really know these people or what you are talking about.

• You know what amazes me and always has. People send letters and emails to Ernie or Tom and they expect an immediate anwser, or for either or both of them to drop everything to respond.

  Last time I checked there are about 300 Matco employees in Stow. Plus the 75 dm’s and 6 rm’s. Then you have 1500 dbr’s. Can you imagine if let’s say 25% of those people sent 1 email to either of them what there inbox would look like in a day.
  Not to mention danaher people sending emails, or suppliers sending emails.
  Quite frankly I am surprised Ernie had the time to respond to debbie’s customer, that would have been pretty far down on my to do list, like maybe next year I will get around to it.
  I think if I was vp of a company and someone was bashing my company, threatening to sue me and everyone else, I am pretty sure I would not be sending any emails to that person. I have always taken the road of, when someone lawyers up, party over let’s see you in court. You bring yours and I will bring mine.

• Ernie Lauber writes “We are always trying to improve our system, products and programs. A testament to this is how we have been recently named number one in category – mobile tool company – again by Entrepremuer Magazine. In fact, we have been named number one in category five out of the last six years.”

  Amusing… number one in category sounds impressive unless you realize only two participate in the rankings.

  “We have also been in the top 25 rated franchises by this prestigious magazine for the last six years.”
  EntreManure is NOT a prestigious magazine. It’s one big infomercial. In fact their rankings don’t even state that higher rankings mean better investment ot opportunity. They just call their big advertisers the “top” franchises which is actually meaningless.

  “We will continue to have the lowest distributor separation rates in the industry….”
  Again, kind of amusing when all 3 mobile tool franchises have unacceptably high “separation” rates. Note he doesn’t say “low separation rates” just that they’re not as bad as the other guys.

  Gotta hand it to them for squeezing the most hype out of meaningless verbiage.

• Former Distr wrote – “Junior I don’t mean to berate … But if this is your position, I have absolutely NO respect for you …If you know these people, you would know that there is no better person on this earth and more concerned about their position and their influence on their associates than Larry and Tracy.

  Junior – I think you missed the jest of my position, I like Matt, Larry and Tracy just fine, but I said I’d put Glenn above them any day. You’re entitled to disagree, I said that too, but ask most DM’s how they feel about the training department and you might get an ear full.

  Former Distr wrote – “I personnally know Tracy very well and your comments are offensive.”

  Junior – That’s the risk in posting and reading in a forum like this. Many different opinions and if you are sensitive you might not want to participate. You gotta have thick skin and understand that there are folks here that disagree with you and they aren’t afraid hurt your feelings when stating so.

  Welcome to adult talk.

• Matco#1 wrote – “Tommy over 15k this week, the week of Christmas.”

  Junior – Nice week. December was always my best Month. Call me this next week, I gave the team the week off, yes with pay, so that means I’m off. I’ll be in Phx for sparring practice…lunch on me.

• Your not hurting my feelings, I just feel if you really know these people you would not have made that comment.

  I can appreciate your comments about the training department. I was a training manager for 20 years. Training can not solve your real world problems, we can only prepare them for what is to come. YOU as a field manager have the irresponsibility ‘out there’. Not you specifically, but YOU – Field Managers have failed big time.

• Guest, I told you before there are 3 franchises. MATCO is #1, Snap on #2, and Cornwell #3, but Cornwell doenst make the top 500.

  You got it Junior.

• Guest I think what matco#1 would like to know is what qualifies you to have the opinions on here about what you have, without ever experiencing it yourself. That’s why the identity problem is concerning. At no point have you showed that you ever have been a toolman for matco. So what all of us are trying to figuire out is why are you here??

  Junior- I have appreciated reading your answers on here.

  Matco#1- Are you trying to beat me with those numbers.

  Debbie- I don’t think that mistaken identity equates to a apology. Oh and tell Doug Jay from MDAC wishes him a merry Christmas

  Tommy- Oh tommyboy what have you been doing for three years except this??? I think its time you start living.

• MAC is becoming a franchise also now Matco#1

• Jay, I am living the dream, the dream of bringing matco to its knees. I have moved on, but I will continue with matco to resolve the deceitful, lying and misleading practices.

  I will be loud and be heard, I will be posting anywhere and everywhere, just as the other members have been doing. This is a forum called UNHAPPY FRANCHISE.COM, if you don’t like what you are hearing or seeing, go to the defenders site, the numbers are real low over there, must not be too many people defending a deceitful company.

  AS I HAVE TOLD EVERYONE ON HERE, YOU NOR ANY OF THEM WILL SHUT ME UP.IT IS CALLED FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

  Jay, just keep Jerry’s number, it wont be long before you will need him, numbers show its a matter of time.We will be here for you, we can help.

  Sometimes, when you have bad apples, working for you, you have to go after the company to get the apples removed and thats what this is about, matco is held accountable for its employees and their actions, along with matco’s practices, it called CHURNING.

  HOW ABOUT THAT JSC-750 CART, IT SAYS MADE IN THE U.S.A. WITH PARTS FROM OVERSEAS.

  DOES MATCO MAKE ANYTHING? OR DO THEY JUST HAVE THEIR STICKER PUT ON OTHER PEOPLES PRODUCTS?

• Richard, Are you under the pritchett regime?If so, give me a call.

• Oh, by the way Jay, I have a gravy job, I sit behind a computer all day, make a great living, wife dosent have to work , like the rest of the world, she stays home , takes care of the kids, like a mother should do this day and time.

  I have all day to play, I dont have to put together taiwan made carts, package up defective products, and there are alot of them, listen to matco’s bullshit, and wonder how much are they going to take .

• Was the night before Christmas and all thru the house  every creature was stirring, every last louse

  The dreams were all hung by Matco without care
  In the hopes that another sucker soon would be there 

  The distributors were nestled all snug in their beds with visions of happiness dreamed out of their heads 

  I in my truck and hubby out of luck had just come to wonder WTF

  When out on lawn there arose such a clatter 
  I jumped off the truck to see what was the matter

  And what to my wondering eyes should appear
  But a  class action suit and Matco in fear

  Down the toilet they had been flushed 
  so to Jerry they rushed

  He gathered all the proof and was off to court in a hurry
  We then knew we no longer had to worry

  I heard him proclaim as we hoped that he might
  You can all now have a Merry Christmas 
  and to all a good night!

• Beautiful christmas carol, we will all sing to matco, go job,Deb.

• very cute debbie :)
  Merry Christmas to you all.

• I hope everyone has a safe Christmas, enjoy time with family and lets continue to bring matco to their knees.

  BE LOUD AND BE HEARD.

• MATCO#1 wrote: “Guest, I told you before there are 3 franchises. MATCO is #1, Snap on #2, and Cornwell #3, but Cornwell doenst make the top 500.”

  Cornwell didn’t apply to be included. If they had and didn’t make the top 500 they still would have been listed as “not ranked” They aren’t. So Matco is #1 of 2 in the rankings.

  If you read http://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/franchise500/about.html you’ll see the whole thing is bogus anyway.

  “We do not measure subjective elements such as franchisee satisfaction or management style.” Also ” “Remember that the Franchise 500® is not intended to endorse, advertise or recommend any particular franchise.” Really?

  Franchisee satisfaction isn’t important in picking a franchise? Obviously not to them.

  I would venture a guess that if Snap-on had ponied up for a full-page ad, they’d be the ones posting “#1 (of two) franchise!”

  Like I said, amusing.

• Guest it’s bogus in your opinion because you don’t agree. But the facts are there are 3 tool franchises in the US and MATCO Tools is ranked #1.

  By the way guest…where was your route?

• Jay, 1 more week baby!

  Hey remember havasu and kingman the 2 dbr’s that told me Matco screwed them on their routes because it should be 1 huge route, both were below 80 npa. Both the guys that replaced them will finish top 100 this year. Both were working 4 days a week, both never attended sales meetings, 1 never went to expo no toting, just complaining about how bad their routes were

  Junior that should make happy about havasu, dbr, remember how many waves he created when he pissed all the dbr’s off.

• Guest were you above 80% npa?

  Did you got to any sales meetings

  Did you go to expo?

• Tommy wrote – “Jay, I am living the dream, the dream of bringing matco to its knees. I have moved on, but I will continue with matco to resolve the deceitful, lying and misleading practices.”

  Junior – Tommy your jig is up. You will never get the respect of a distributor once they’ve heard that you disrupted your DBR training to challenge policy, you disrupted meetings to challenge policy, you started your campaign to change the Matco plan month into your distributorship. You agreed to the UFOC/FDD yet you challenged it from day one. No wonder you failed.

  Let’s hear more stories from the folks that actually had something happen to them that might convince us they were wronged. But you sir failed before you ever hit the street. You should have never told the top 25 that “I even questioned the trainer in my DBR training and he had to get Tim Gilmore to answer for him”. He got Tim involved hoping that would get you to stop disrupting the class.

  Tommy will write – LIES LIES, let’s keep posting gang, be load, don’t worry about proving anything, in Tommy’s World we can say anything we want and never have to back it up.

  Tommy wrote – “AS I HAVE TOLD EVERYONE ON HERE, YOU NOR ANY OF THEM WILL SHUT ME UP.IT IS CALLED FREEDOM OF SPEECH.”

  Junior – In your case Tommy it’s called smoke in mirrors. You signed a separation when you realized you had spent so much time arguing about policy your headcount had suffered. Remember? You even told us that your DM tried to tell you that you needed more customers on the books and you replied “should I work at night?”. He replied “No, just work during the day would be nice”. And you ended the conversation. You told the story, your DM couldn’t believe you even mentioned this conversation.

  Tommy wrote – “Jay, just keep Jerry’s number, it won’t be long before you will need him, numbers show it’s a matter of time.We will be here for you, we can help.”

  Junior – This is too funny Tommy. Jay knows more about the business then just about anyone on here. This is a guy that’s seen the highest and the lowest in this business. He knows how to take control of a business and take it straight to the top. Jay wheels more tools out of a meeting than most carry on their trucks.
  Tommy wrote – “DOES MATCO MAKE ANYTHING? OR DO THEY JUST HAVE THEIR STICKER PUT ON OTHER PEOPLES PRODUCTS?”
  Junior – Here’s another example of what you do Tommy. You assume we are all idiots here and make a stupid statement like this. Tour the Matco Tools toolbox plant and then make this same statement. This is why your credibility is under severe question. NO REALITY in your claims.

• Matco#1 wrote – “Junior that should make happy about havasu, dbr, remember how many waves he created when he pissed all the dbr’s off.”

  Junior – That does make me happy. Isn’t it amazing the we have personally seen folks fail in the business only to watch another person come in and take the very same route to a top finish.

  (Tommy, take note here);
  I remember when I first started and at my first meeting two DBR’s asked me what route I got and when I told them they said “oh, you got the turd.” I went home wondering what the hell I just got myself into. Remember Snap On Bob? Killed on his tool truck? That was my route. Try and start your new business one month after a 24 year Snap On veteran is being memorialized. Snap On Bob owned my route. Snap On came out with memorial tools and tool boxes to support his family. The man was an incredible toolman, they loved that guy.

  The Matco turn over why not good on that route. My first year number one in the nation for toolbox sales, top finish, and the second year was the same. It’s what you make of it right Jay?

• IGNORE,IGNORE, THE MATCO WAY, RUN HIDE AND THEY WILL GO AWAY.

• Yes, the State of Fla says,

  YOU MUST BE LICENSED TO DO REPO’S IN THIS STATE. I WASN’T LICENSED, NOR DID MATCO INFORMED ME THAT I NEEDED TO BE.

  YES, THEY HAD ME BREAKING THE LAW.

  MATCO DID,YES, IT WAS THEM.

  YES, I WAS TOLD BY THEM TO REPO THIS AND THAT AND TOO SALE THE TECH’S POSSESSION’S .

  BREAKING THE LAW, BREAKING THE LAW, PER MATCO.

• I need to call and order some tools, maybe a box, i am still employed by matco, they did not put a seperation date on my termination letter, i have it and theres no date.

  i will be in 2012 expo, who’s going, I will meet you there, so we can have a beer.

  You like that up top, STILL EMPLOYED.

• Junior- Wonder why that is? That if you asked DM’s what they thought about training staff you would get an earfull? I can tell you! Because the training staff is teaching us “best business practices” and the way to be successful. I truely believe that if I had followed there instruction I’d have had a better shot than with “Glenn’s way”.

  They problem is that the training staff and the DM’s aren’t on the same page. Hell they aren’t even using the same damn book! Thr training staff is given us tried and true business strategies to use. Then you get out to the truck and have your DM tell you “who you gonna listen to? A bunch of guys in Stow or me?”

  If I remember, Matt was a Marine. To me that right there says INTEGRITY! Something DM’s lack!

  When Matt and Tracy took class to supper we had one guy that didn’t do. MAtt didn’t know that until we got to resturant. The rest of us knew that he was having “problems back home” and was upset. Matt drove back to hotel that instant and talked to him to try and get him to come. By time Matt got back, his dinner was cold. Matt showed genuine concern for this DBR. Again something DM’s lack.

  When I called or emailed Matt or Tracy with concerns, that why DM was not answering, I got an answer ASAP! Not the DM bs of “call another distributor”.

  I have said all along that, with the exception of the top brass, the people in Stow are TOPS! From training to customer service, ALL went out of their way to help me when I asked. Even when it “wasn’t their department”. They are a class act.

  When I had to call in for insructions on returning shipment they were genuinly let down that I was giving up. Next they wondered why my DM was NOT there helpinh me, as it was part of his job.

  My DM only emailed me forms and letters regarding the 30 day end. MOST of which BIT HIM IN THE ASS! Forms that stated CLEARLY that HE was to be there and his specific duties. None of which he did!

  When my RM called me to rip my ass, I told him what forms/letters from DM stated. His reply was that “those forms/letters do NOT exist” and I “was a fxxxing piece of shxt liar” and “that is why I failed at selling tools”! He asked that I email him “these supposed forms” so he could see them. I DID. Guess what? I NEVER heard a peep out of him again! Odd?

  It’s just like any other system. There is a “business plan” that is proven to work. That is what I bought into. But, like in other systems, you have a select few, the DM’s and RM’s, that have learned how to “Work the sytem” to their advantage with TOTAL disregard to the people who are indirectly paying their salaries.

  As I suggested to Tracy in my “exit interview”, which I had to REQUEST even though we were all told it was MANDATORY, IF DM’s and RM’s put half as much effort into doing what Stow hired them to do, as the they spend covering each others asses, things would work better.

  You can NOT got to school for a week and a half to be taught one way. Then get back and on the truck and be told by your DM that “training was a waste of time” because “those guys in Stow don’t know shit”, and then have to learn your DM’s way just to keep him happy.

  Just like with Glenn, the ONLY reason you hold him in higher regards than Matt, Tracy and staff is that he will cover your ass and agree with you.

  The DM’s and RM’s all have a “God complex”! They all think they are the end all to everything. I learned first hand dealing with Lord Vanderwall. No ONE dare cross or question the ALMIGHTY Glenn!

• I have a question. How is Mac not a franchise?

• Question:

  How much does a DM make when a new distributor signs on?

  We know they get up to $5000 right off the bat.
  What % of the initial tool purchase do they get?
  Is there still a $1000 bonus for steering them to non-Matco financing (as established in the class action lawsuit).
  Do they receive anything for a new truck lease or purchase?
  Are there other fees, bonuses, payments, perks, rewards or incentives that they receive or might receive?

  Question for Tom, Todd & others whose DMs played a very active role in recruitment:
  Were you aware that your DM had an upfront financial incentive for signing you up?
  If not, would it have made a difference to you at the time?
  Would you have been more skeptical of earnings representations), etc.?

• Its called a Kickback, under the table without matco supposedly knowing.

• Guest- Coming from the dealership world, I was not stupid enough to tihink there was nothing in it for the DM.

  Now IF I had know about the bonus for steering me towards “non-Matco financing” you bet your ass I would have questioned his motives!

  I know why he pushed so hard for me to get a second mortage on our house when the SBA and banks laughed at us!

  He didn’t give a shit about me being in the tool business. He was concerned with getting his bonuses, period! Once he got his bonus and saw I was struggling he washed his hands of me, simple as that.

  And YES Junior ALL of it IS FACT and VERIFIED by emails and documents Lord V sent me HIMSELF. HE soon leanrned though that email left a paper trail that could and did hang his ass. That is when our communication became strictly phone calls. That way he could “lie then deny” with no proof. The Matco way!

  Of course when it got to point that he knew my wife was participating in phone calls, even the calls stopped.

  I think with me, as one of my old bosses would say, “Glenn whipped his dxxk out and then stepped on it” with me. He thought he was “untouchable and could do no wrong”. Problem was he got greedy and screwed more than one DBR at a time and got caught.

• Guest I will answer your question when you answer mine, but since YOU are the only one on here that was never a dbr I won’t be answering

• Matco2, Mac calls their dealers independent owners or something like that, either way they currently are not classified as a franchise, but sounds like that may be changing.