MATCO TOOLS Franchise Complaints

View Comments

• In keeping with great tradition of CHURNING franchisees Matco terminated 27 franchisees from their franchise in 2013. 161 Ceased operation for other reasons and 5 (10 year) franchisees were NOT renewed. With a year end total of operating franchises at 1426 Matco added 16 more franchisees than the previous years 1410. One must ask themselves if about 200 franchisees lose their franchise each year HOW MANY YEARS WILL I BE ABLE TO KEEP MY NEW FRANCHISE!!! If there is 30% of Matco franchisees with a SEPARATE agreement called a Distributorship or a Charter who have larger routes with undefined customer head count will that make me at a disadvantage with a LOC (List Of Calls) and a defined point of sale location??? USE WHAT GOD GAVE YOU!!! Know that fraud perpetuated by a Fortune 500 company called DANAHER is just that FRAUD!!!

• I am a master auto technician and have made the mistake of buying matco tools in the past. In my area dealers for matco might last for 6 months. And we wait with broken tools till some pour fool signs on as a distributed and he gets hammered with warranty tools for a month.I've worked for corporate shops that had other locations in other cities and we would send all our tools to that shop to have them delt with. That dealer is gone now and out of the 7shops in Michigan they have no dealers. On average I would say it takes me at least 2 years to get anything taken care of I will never buy from matco again

• My grandson bought tools from Matco distributor right out of technical school. Isn't it nice that these vultures prey on the young kids and take their money, then if they should lose their job, which is very common in our economy, their repossess their box and resell it with all their tools. My grandson paid almost $2400, and owes $1600, he was laid off, and now Matco distributor took his box, and is going to sell it, as they say their contract states you have to have a job for your box to be placed in. Are they out of their minds, they give you 10 days to get a job. Wow, it took me 18 months to get a job after my company was taken over by FDIC. I spoke with several idiots at Matco, they could care less, and let me tell you, I spoke to a VP in Matco, he doesn't give a you know what.
  His grandfather wants to make payments on the box, however, since there is no job in the horizon, they are repossessing and selling the box. So know how much do you figure they make doing this time and time again. The government really needs to look into these types of companies. Come on America, lets stand up for our rights, this is not what our forefathers wanted out of this country.

• Before you sign anything take the list of calls and go to each shop and talk to these people, you might just save your self a lot of trouble and MONEY. I've been at this for 10 months and have failed due to the area I was given. Route survey not done correctly, head count on route WAY OFF, on paper showed 375 in actuality more like 180. Previous distributor left too many people out there with bad feelings and would not come back to Matco. This your business but with everything that you have to do it feels more like your owned by this company with out any of the benefits. In my area they are more concerned about selling franchises not keeping the ones they have, and then when you go under guess what their is A LOT of they will not take back Most of the time the only time you will see anyone from Matco it is to sign something or they are try to sell you more inventory . The startup inventory they send out is a joke on you, most of it is discontinued, or overpriced or doesn't fit with your route, and stuck with most of it. This is a big one the quality of this stuff is not worth the price they want to charge you or the customer. You can go to a lot of websites and buy this stuff sometime 40% or more cheaper than they charge you for non Matco items, with out all the hassles of returning it.

• I am in the process of considering a franchise to invest. After reading multiple reviews on the net - 95% negative - am steering away from Matco tools. All the comments are similar - Matco taking over routes, forcing distributors to carry unnecessary inventory, lack of help and worst of all forcing the franchise to carry customer/client debt. In todays economy why would a small business owner take on customer/client debt unless you're a financial institution. Richard Dayton made a comment in which he basically stated "a business owner is responsible for their success" however on the flip side a proven franchise doesn't have the high failure rate Matco tools seems to be churning out. Advise to anyone looking into franchises - do your homework and if you're not reasonably savvy at understanding contracts, take the contract to a lawyer before signing.

• Very GOOD advise Chris!!! If only this sight existed 10 years ago. Maybe it did but when I searched for information on Matco as a scam nothing popped up. Thankfully, this sight does pop up! I know the owner of this sight does not really care for me much but I have given him much information on how Matco Tools franchising works and maybe a little more insight to franchising than he really wants to see. I do know this though. No franchisee prospect can discern the information in 250+ pages of a Federal Disclosure Document. I think it is disgraceful that the Federal Trade Commission who is the one who came up with this idea of franchisors having to disclose information to franchisees so that an informed buyer can make a good decision is nothing but a magic act to lure franchisees into a spiders web so your financial life can be sucked out.

• matco tools is a joke. dont buy there tools

• While I agree with Arthur about Matco being a joke I have sympathy for those who bought into the Matco franchise BS to earn a living for their family. Please don't stop buying tools from franchisees because their franchisor is a joke.

  These men who sell usually come from a mechanical background and are easy prey for con artist like DANAHER who run their Ponzi Scheme. Matco could run an ethical franchise business opportunity for their franchisees but they choose to CHURN them instead of keeping them in their franchise. Every year since Danaher purchased MTC (Matco Tool Corporation), which had relationships with their tool distributors as "Charters" and "Distributorships", they have gotten rid of "Charters" and "Distributors" to make way for the new "FRANCHISEE" contracts. Lawsuits which cost Matco $100,000 of dollars with CHARTERS and DISTRIBUTORSHIP agreements 10 years ago now cost them the loss of an inventory and $20,000 to split with 30+ franchisees who identify Matco as the scum they are.

  Together, with the IFA (International Franchise Association) and ALL the other franchisor participants Danaher has helped create a system which allows them to commit CRIMINAL ACTS against the "Franchise Laws" of a state because of an "Arbitration Clause" which says you will resolve disputes in THEIR state with THEIR JUDGES!!! This is why you NEVER see lawsuits against Matco (Danaher) in their FDD's!!! Because there is no one who will put them where they belong! No franchisee would ever dream that a franchisor who acts criminally criminal against a franchisee could get away with it just because of a contract but that is why franchising exists. So investors can be FLEECED to keep Wall Street buzzing.

  The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has the capability to do something because I have NO DOUBT!!! the 4000 to 5000 franchisees, distributorships and charters Matco (Danaher) has churned since they purchased MTC more than 20 years ago have made complaints just like I have. I am sure the same could be said for the FBI who takes complaints and investigates CORPORATE FRAUD whom I have reported to. The IFC could hold their franchisor members responsible for their actions and rebuke the ones memberships whom take advantage of investors but I am sure that would leave them broke and useless as a NON-PROFIT if they did so! Beth Solomon would rather point the finger at me and tell me I am a failure. At the end of the day it is all about SCREWING an investor to make a bunch of DANAHER investors on WALL STREET MORE WEALTHY!!!

  Ever heard of trickle down economics? That is exactly what franchising is! PUMP AND DUMP! I know who SUNTRUST BANK is. I know where money gets dumped from N.M.T.C! NMTC has nothing to do with Matco either. Ever heard of NEW MARKET TAX CREDIT? Is that why Danaher renamed MTC as NMTC Inc. dba Matco Tools? So they could have a good laugh about how our tax money gets dumped into banks so smucks like me who buy a franchise can transfer that tax money from a bank to Danaher Corporate investors?

• I bet Todd A. Peterson, Russell Campbell, and all the rest of you probably voted Republican all your lives and ranted and raved about having less government and less government interference.

  Now here you are ranting that the Federal Government (FTC) should be doing your homework for you, protecting you from your own bad decisions, and bailing you out cuz you got taken by the same greedy capitalist bastards you vote into office.

  Isn't that what you call a nanny state?

  How many of you voted for Romney? You don't think he or any of his right wing cronies would put his golfing buddy's at Danaher ahead of you?

  I like how you want less government til it come to saving your asses then you want a fully staffed FTC patrolling every franchise show and protecting your dumb asses. They get you hyped up on abortion and immigration to distract you while their 1%ers pick your pockets.

  Sorry, even the FTC can't fix stupid.

• Here is my point Guest! Matco (Danaher) and it's employee's acting on behalf of its investors committed criminal acts against my franchise according to the Arkansas Franchise Practices Act. You know, the section of law that the UFOC states supercedes our contract. It is now called an FDD but when I signed up it was the Uniform Franchise Operating Circular. According to the laws of the state of Ohio, according to any employment law across America Matco (Danaher) is acting out of good faith, committing fraud, promoting a fraudulent opportunity to one investor to make another investor money. That is called a Ponzi Scheme! You want to blame me for investing but I didn't just invest! I SUCCEEDED! What happens when your franchisor criminally sabotages your business because they don't want investors to succeed? I know, you have probably never succeeded at anything in your life Guest. I think it is funny how people suggest I want more government when criminals commit crimes according to Franchise Practices Act in my state! I laugh at your stupidity to suggest that I didn't do my homework before I bought my franchise. I will share with you that in my UFOC there were SEVERAL payouts by Matco to resolve unhappy "Charter" and "Distributorship" contracts. Did I know in 2004 that most lawsuits were not from "Franchisee" contracts? NO! Would it have made a difference in me investing in a Matco franchise had the District Manager told me that the FTC has nothing to do with insuring I don't get screwed? Quite the opposite. He insured me that that is exactly why I needed to invest because big brother is making sure I don't get screwed that is why the UFOC exists and they have to follow all these rules to insure I am given a fair opportunity. The FTC is there to make sure investors are not taken advantage of. I even pointed out where the FTC said they didn't make sure my UFOC's information was accurate but the information should help me make a decision. WTFE!!! I know now that the District Manager gets BONUSES for finding more victims so why would he tell me the truth! When you do business with another business that relationship should not be built on lies! Mine was! From the beginning! I would have never signed a contract had I known that Matco can violate the Arkansas Franchise Practices Act and because I signed a contract with an Arbitration Clause that no attorney will take my case or sue Matco for committing criminal acts. Who would sign a contract if the UFOC (FDD) stated that by signing an arbitration clause you give your franchisor the right to break Franchise laws. My UFOC stated that the laws of my state supersede my contract. But if the state and federal government does not enforce that law who will???