MATCO TOOLS Franchise Complaints

4,850 thoughts on “MATCO TOOLS Franchise Complaints”

• Me.

  Was the tire flat (ratchet broke) why did she go in to get it checked? TPMS say it was low? Add air. you sell tools?? Sounds like you got fleeced for $15. Someone says they have a broke ratchet its usually broke (not a low tire) and I fix it. Matco #1 didnt say he held the ratchet for ransom until they bought something, customer walked off the truck with his ratchet and a soda and probably not $15 lighter.
  I do want to remind you that we are salesmen, that is what we do. And Warranty is part of a thing we like to call…..wait for it…………service.

  Please reply…im feeling frisky

• Well Richard I know how you feel, some DM’s take their job seriously, I did my goal was to do as much as I could to help my DBR’s be successf’ul, unfortunately some DM’s its a job, and they treat it that way. It’s human nature, there are good and there are bad in every line of work.

• Thanks Cary, remember you are talking to a guy’s whose purchases doubled your sales this year.

• NOT!

• The Mobile Tool Franchise Guide

  is being compiled to make prospective tool franchisees aware of the complaints and issues raised on this forum. Input is sought on the pages or here.

  Mobile Tool Franchise Guide: List of Calls (LOC)  December 30, 2011

  Mobile Tool Franchise Guide: Franchise Resales  January 2, 2012

  Next topic is uncompensated work, such as that alleged in the Mac Tools lawsuit. How much time should a new tool franchisee expect to put in on such activities as repair work, warranty work, repos, shipping, etc? Is it fair to call this uncompensated work or is it a necessary part of the job? Is enough warning given to prospective franchisees ahead of time about uncompensated work?

  Mobile Tool Franchise Guide:  Uncompensated Work

• Matco 1 you were the one throwing rocks at me first. No hard feelings btw. I don’t sell matco tools either. I just wanted too chime in and share some thoughts. Cary, wife’s commuter car doesn’t have tpms. She works in an area I don’t service nor know anyone that owns garages. Her tire looked low and she was concerned. It’s an hour drive home and I didn’t want her to drive that far on a low tire. I told her on her lunch break bring it to tire center near her job and see if there is a leak. So that’s what she did and you already know what happened from there. So what’s the problem?

• matco1
  im glad that you can understand how i feel. yet you really dont. i have 4 tool boxes in my garage right now, 2 new and 2 used. my rm said that the would help me get rid of them but he hasnt. no one wants them unless i am willing to practicaly give them away.its like a pack of wolves. when one goes down the others attack him.

• I got a question for you guys can you return discontinued tools? What are the policy’s with that?

• i have been told by mdbs that anything over 6 months old is non returnable

• Richard yes I do, as I stated not all DM’s work hard or go the extra mile, that’s all I will say.

• You have a specific time to return discontinued tools, I think its 90 days after discontinued.
  Richard I just returned an item that was on my truck for over a year. if the part number hasn’t changed you can return.

• Richard tough to get rid of used boxes, not sure why nobody would help, if I was close I would buy net minus 15%.

• Admin,

  It cannot be uncompensated work, to be uncompensated you would have to be compensated at some point, and we aren’t,
  We don’t get paid by MATCO. We pay ourselves, we are self employed. So if you want to sue someone for uncompensated work, you would have to sue yourself.

• i stick to my original statement. that is what i was told the requirements were to return any items that i had , plus they had tyo be in the original packaging to include the sleeve that they were shipped in. when you go down they dont care at all.

• Me

  Safety first, I will agree with you on that. Your wifes tire was really not my point, my point is if you feel you need to punch a clock to get paid for fixing a ratchet you should be working in a labor driven industry….not sales??

  You are obviously top of the tool chain in your market. Your customers bow to your greatness and accept the fact that they must pay for you to grace them because you know absolutely nothing about service.

• there are so many simple minded people here , its pathetic. realize the issue and deal with it. dont beat a dead horse

• Good Point Cary, wonder how customers would feel knowing their DBR is mad about having to take 2 minutes, maybe 5 out of their day to fix a ratchet.
  How many Gearwrenches do you think you have warrantied that were not bought on a matco truck, I don’t even ask, I just warranty…like you said Cary it’s service.

• Richard,

  That is because they ARE a supplier, they have stated requirements for returning goods. Wander into a walmart with a used wash cloth, and ask for your money back. I’m truely sorry this gig didn’t work out for you…..dont let it ruin your future move on.

• Matco#1

  So when you were a DM and a Distributor asked to call on a shop with no service.

  What did you tell them?

• It would seem that Distributors are not the only ones unhappy with Matco and DM’s!!! Found this on the internet.

  My MATCO distributor will not honor the warranty on the tools. I have used MATCO since 1993.
  The reason I was given was that there is an old balnce from another distributor that I never dealt with. I had been using MATCO for 3+ years from this route, all of a sudden it is magically there. I called the corporate office and said if they could produce anything that showed I had done business with this distributor and owed him, I would pay. 90 days go by and not a word till I request warranty work, then I am notified that none of my MATCO tools ($10,000+) will be warranted due to the balance that was never able to be validated.
  This is nothing more than a shake down scam by the district manager and his buddy.
  Never due business with Rick or his cronies!!!!!

• Can DM’s who represent Matco Distributor’s sell Matco products to customers and make bids to sell product to customers?

• Matco taking care of our Veterans! Like me!

  Matco Tools is a 60 year old organization focused on supplying professional grade tools, automotive service and diagnostic equipment to professional repair technicians in the automotive, truck, marine and aviation industries. We distribute our products through a system of Franchised Distributors. Our Franchise features:

  •No franchise fees
  •No royalty fees
  •No advertising fees
  •5 week Training
  •Local training and field support
  •National Brand
  •Computerized business system
  •Exclusive Territories
  •Pre identified potential customer base
  •No employees
  •Home based business
  •National conventions at world class resorts
  •Financial assistance
  •Modest overall investment
  •SBA approved Franchise
  •IFA member
  •VetFran sponsor
  We are seeking career minded individuals with good communication, time and cash management skills. Our franchisees come from varied backgrounds and are dedicated to providing excellent customer service.

  Wow! See I even got Matco to back my story or wil you still call me a failure!

  5 weeks training? 2 in Stow, 1 with Regional Trainer, 2 with District Manager is this what everyone else gets too?

  Exclusive Territories? Here we go again and you claim all I had was a “list of calls” You know I remember my DM telling me that the street maps were my territory on my LOC.

  Pre Identified POTENTIAL customer base? I thought it was my customer base Matco#1. Why is it Pre Identified? Because I have a choice what it is going to be. YEAH RIGHT!

  SBA approved franchise. Boy I think Jerry will laugh when he see’s this post.

  No Employees. Kind of hints that you are your own boss doesn’t it? That this opprtunity empowers you to make your own destiny. If only Matco would tell them that through MDBS their whole entire business is monitored from the time they clock in on MDBS to the time they close-out. Now Matco even controls how many times you communicate through MDBS per week. If you choose not to closeout Matco has made it to where your MDBS System will not work properly.

  This business is a disgrace to Veterans! As a veteran I am begging you to reconsider this as an option for your stability. It is not viable.

• Jason, I mean matco#1 what is your last name?

  Do you really expect ADMIN or anyone on this website to believe the BULL that spews from your fingers?

  Stating that before a franchisee is asked to sign his legal documents he is given the opportunity to preview his route? Not even Matco can attest to such an opportunity. YOU get a Pre identified potential customer base. Not you get to preview your Pre identified customer base.

  Come on man! How many Distributors do you think you can put on the stand to say they were given an opportunity to preview their customer route list BEFORE they sign LEGAL documents. Are we expected to believe that you would show us what shitty routes you have in store for us and then sign after we viewed them?

  I GUARANTEE that if I would have been able to preview my route before I committed and thought that the 328 I actually had to call on was the only shops I would ever receive from Matco I would have NEVER been a Matco Franchisee.

• While your at it explain exclusive territory? Is that the map that comes on our list of calls. This is what I was made to believe when I saw my route list after I signed my documents. This is what I was TOLD! That those physical Map locations is where I could pick up and add shops to my route list as they open.

  If there is no such thing as a territory within an LOC then why does Matco advertise they do not commit to overlapping routes and mention EXCLUSIVE TERRITORIES on their advertisements. Why are we made to believe that which you say is not true. I don’t think you would make a very credible witness on the stand as you conflict to much with what Matco Advertises.

  Plus people who will say and do anything to defend something usually get caught with their pants around their ankles.

• When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic.– Dresden James

  See Todd’s post above at 5:15

  Todd is NOT a raving lunatic, nor am I, Tommy, Richard, Mike, Former, Me,
  Gary, Happy2bout,etc.,,,, WE SPEAK THE TRUTH

• Matco1 or Jason, is out of Washington state. I have info on other people on here, I will disclose later, still investigating.

  Remember to post and be loud and to post everywhere.

• The First Annual Matco Tools Distributor Association Conference is being held Feb. 25/26, 2012 at The Flamingo Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas! An opportunity to meet other distributors. Scheduled to coincide with this year’s Matco Caesars Palace Expo so as to give all distributors the opportunity to be a part! Never doubt the power of dedicated individuals working to change an unfair franchise system. I am sure all members of the association will cause many positive changes to Matco in 2012.
  I look forward to seeing you there!

• Tommy makes me laugh you are still bothered by me using Matco #1.

  Todd depends on the circumstance whether or not I added a shop to a distributors route or not, most of the time I did a route adjustment.

  Tommy what do you want to know about Washington….spend some time there. The best time to visit is July or August, very green, the air is the freshest you will ever smell and the water…you can drink right out of the stream.

  And Todd just because you didn’t bother to ask if you could go along during the survey doesn’t mean others didnt. Numerous times I had people ride with me. I always told the prospective candidate to take their time signing docs, I never rushed them, and they had as much time as they wanted to review the route.

• Debbie, good luck at the flamingo, Not sure how a group of 5 people not associated with Matco are going to change anything, but I will give you credit at least you are starting to do something with this so called association, so far it’s been a big disappointment.

• Debbie still didn’t answer Matcoman why you delete good posts on your face book, but only save the ones you like…can you say no credibility!

• Yooo Tommy said hi to any of my old friends you are pretty quiet?

• Crickets, crickets

• New post contains links to all mobile tool franchise related posts on UnhappyFranchisee.com:

  http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/mobile-tool-franchise/

  Check it for frequent updates and additions.

• Tooooooomy, did your boss find out you were spending hours on this sight

• Todd A. Peterson wrote “This business is a disgrace to Veterans! As a veteran I am begging you to reconsider this as an option for your stability. It is not viable.”

  Another great paid-for falsehood by the for-profit franchise propaganda machine that Matco perpetuates is that Matco Tools is the #1 franchise for veterans.

  One might think that that would mean that Matco provides the best record of success for veterans of the U.S. armed services.

  OR that U.S. Veterans who became franchisees and either succeeded or failed voted that Matco is the best franchise for vets.

  But, in actuality, it only means that Matco franchise sales people used the VetFran program to convince more veterans to buy into what CNN called the riskiest investment in all of franchising in terms of SBA loans.

  As far as I know, Vetfran does not track the success or failure rate of the veterans buying franchises through their program. There’s no data to suggest that vets buying the Matco franchise have any better than the Matco 37% SBA default rate.

  Imagine surviving snipers, roadside bombs and IEDs only to be churned and burned by some phony opportunistic flag-waving franchise salesman who schmoozed you and your wife at your own kitchen table!

  I’m with Todd. I think it’s a disgrace to say a franchise is the best available for veterans with no tracking as to whether these vets succeed or are flushed out with the others.

• Guest once again you post inaccurate facts, read the sba failure rate a few posts up, that’s the facts straight from sba….not CNN!

  I think you are convinced if you just constantly lie people will believe it…your wrong

• Ignore, ignore,ignore, the matco way.

• MATCO#1:

  There are 3000 comments on here.

  Don’t they include countless stories of hardworking people who lost it all despite their best efforts?

  Don’t they include people who were successful then had routes cut and were terminated?

  Don’t they include plaintiffs in current and future lawsuits?

  Don’t they include current distributors fighting off termination and getting none of the assistance promised in the upfront sale pitch?

  Don’t they include fellow dbrs like yourself bullying and taunting those who are struggling because they DARE have the NERVE to ask for the support they were promised and PAID FOR?

  Do you know how preposterous and silly you sound when you claim there are no problems to be fixed and that all the evidence of high overhead and churning simply doesn’t exist?

  Very Very silly. Very unprofessional. Very indifferent to the plights of others.

  CNN states in the report on SBA Failure rates that Matco was the “riskiest” of all the franchises listed.

  If CNN is wrong (and YOU know better), why is it that complaints against Matco Tools are greater than ANY OTHER FRANCHISE on this website?

  Why is it that there are more readers and more comments about problems with Matco than any other?

  http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/unhappy-franchisee-25-december-2011/

  But OF COURSE the thousands of readers will take your word for it that there are not problems and no failures (except for lazy people who weren’t motivated to keep their homes, savings, or good credit scores).

  I’m sure all will agree that there are no problems… because the Old Boys Club says so. It must be true!

• Tommy I think you are the one ignoring…did you say hi to all my friends?

  Man I miss those guys

• ignore,ignore, the matco way.

• So Tommy am I going to get to meet you at the flamingo?

• The pink flamingo can’t wait to go

• It’s so awesome being a part of a franchise that does not charge a franchise fee.

  I was just reading the Jani king suit, man 20% that’s brutal.

  Quiznos 10% and that’s after paying an initial franchise fee to.

  Thank god Matco has NO franchise fee or NO initial franchise fee. Now I can keep the money I earn!

• Is the SBA still backing loans for Matco franchises?

  If so, its time for American taxpayers to DEMAND that Obama and the lackeys at the SBA stop using taxpayer money to provide corporate welfare payments to Matco Tools and Danaher Corp.

  PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong ;) but it seems like this may be a rigged game that goes like this:

  1) Matco recruits creditworthy distributor with promise of freedom, independence, American dream, We’re #1! smoke & mirrors, etc.

  2) Matco franchisee gets big SBA guaranteed loan, signs personal guarantee, puts up house as collateral. American taxpayer (you and me) is added as co-signer without being consulted.

  3) Franchisee buys $80K worth of tools from Matco/Danaher, leases truck, etc. Commissions are paid to Matco salespeople, DM gets $3-$5K, others get bonuses, etc. Some of that fat purchase $$$ goes back into the Matco advertising & propaganda machine to purchase #1 rankings, etc.. Everybody’s happy!

  4) Franchisee struggles, complains, gets ridiculed on unhappyfranchisee by Old Boys Club who are eager for pats on the head by corporate and maybe a free Matco pocket protector

  5) Franchisee falls below required weekly purchase and is terminated by Matco, as so many are routinely terminated each year. Franchisee can’t make bank payment, so bank takes assets, destroys credit score, then turns to SBA and collects the balance of the loan from AMERICAN TAXPAYERS.

  6) Matco walks away with the profit from the initial tool purchase and subsequent purchases, dictates what it buys back from dbr (if anything) and is free to resell the failed LOC to another creditworthy dreamer and start the whole thing over. Sweet!

  7) The DM and Old Boys Club buy each other beers and laugh at what a lazy loser the last franchisee was. Then they get to work selling the failed route and collecting the next bonus. Matco gets their money, the bank gets their money, the franchisee loses everything and the American Taxpayer unknowingly foots the rest of the bill.

  Sound accurate?

  Enough corporate bailouts, welfare and socialism funded by the American Taxpayer!

  Maybe it’s time to start writing letters and making phone calls as American Taxpayers to demand the SBA drop Matco from its “franchise registry” and not guarantee another Matco loan, EVER, til these problems are addressed & fixed and these failures are ELIMINATED!

• Garanteed 325 headcount of potential customers…100 more opportunities to sell over our closest competitor. 100 more potential customers every week….that’s 5,200 more sales opportunities than the other brand. THANK YOU MATCO!

• Nope guest not accurate. Just an excuse you have made for people who failed at the business. People who fail always want to blame someone else.

  Guest I told you before no comparing paid to dm on new starts you are just lying hoping your friends will believe you

• I do agree with one thing you say guest but has nothing to do with Matco as they didn’t get a corporate bail out.

  I do believe the government should stop bailing out companies, why should they suceed just because they are bigger than Tommy or Debbie?

  I wonder though, guest do you gave insurance on your car?

• MATCO#1:

  Compare my well-thought out, intelligent and well-written comment and your flippant, sophomoric response and you’ll see why you and the OBC are losing this debate very very badly.

  You are like hecklers who think they are witty and part of the show, while everyone else knows that they are just annoying and pathetic.

• MATCO#1 wrote “Guest I told you before no comparing paid to dm on new starts…”

  Your comments are as eloquent as they are truthful

• MATCO#1 writes “I wonder though, guest do you gave insurance on your car?”

  Your comments are as well-thought out as they are comprehensible.