NOVUS GLASS Franchise Complaints
Is the Novus Glass franchise opportunity a “total scam”?
According to the Novus Glass franchise website, “NOVUS® invented windshield repair in 1972. For over 39 years, NOVUS has been and remains the industry’s research & development pioneer.
“NOVUS has been awarded more U.S. Patents for windshield repair than the rest of the windshield repair industry combined.”
Novus Glass claims that it provides dedicated support to all Novus franchise owners.
The Novus website promises prospective franchisees that “The NOVUS staff of management, technical, marketing and research specialists will support you in the beginning and as your business grows.
“This means you are never alone and help is always a call or a click away. NOVUS’ more than 39 years of experience in the auto glass industry and the experience of our franchise network provide our franchisees with best practices to help their business thrive.”
However, we received an email from a person who claims that his experience as a Novus Glass franchisee was a disaster.
He has numerous Novus Glass franchise complaints, including:
- Competition from the franchisor
- Lack of franchise support
- Disrespectful attitude toward franchisees
- Lack of marketing support
- Untested marketing ideas
- Possible use of “shills” franchise in recruitment process
”Novus Franchisee” wrote:
Novus Glass franchise is a total scam.
Their holding companies compete with franchisees through 800 numbers on their websites (which were way better than the franchise network website that they provide) and then subletting the work to some local guy in that area.
They have this attitude that they trained us and gave us their name and logo so we are really stupid to be asking for help. Their regional manager would never call or return calls and will only answer our calls after 3 or 4 days of our persistent calls to him.
They never tell us what is working for successful franchisees so we could implement the same in our areas but would continually give us new untested and unproven ideas on a whim that sometimes would send us on a wild goose chase.
Auto glass business is mostly dependent upon receiving referrals from insurance companies without which you are doomed to fail. They give us all the information to be able to become part of the insurance network but there are so many companies on it that you receive 1 or 2 referrals a week from them if you are lucky.
Their [FDD] does tell you that the company is showing a loss on their tax returns but when I had called other franchisees before buying,
most had positive things to say about them because they have a vested interest but there was 1 that talked to me for over an hour, kept engaging me in a lengthy conversation… After I became a franchisee… a lot of things suggested that he night be a shill who was actually receiving jobs through them.
READ: NOVUS GLASS FRANCHISE DISCLOSURE DOCUMENT (FDD) 2011
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE NOVUS GLASS FRANCHISE? IS NOVUS A SOLID OPPORTUNITY OR A FRANCHISE SCAM? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
Novus Franchising Inc., which sells Novus Glass franchise, is a complete fraud and scam and they make money by selling a business model that does not work in this day and age and then suing the poor and hardworking franchisees when they fail after giving it a good 2 years of their life alongwith their life savings.
Please Google search “Novus Franchising Court” and you will know. Going deeper, you will also find that they had lost a legal battle with their “esteemed” inventors and founders whom they purchased this company from.
Here is the link: http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/96/12/961223U.pdf
Please do yourself a favor and spend time on research and keep in mind that the successful franchisees you speak during due diligence might even be a “SHILL”.
Discuss the FDD with lawyers before you decide to part with your hard earned money! Understand your rights and do NOT waive them by just signing on the agreement.
Facts are still facts.
True or False: NOVUS has been in business since 1972 (40 Years)? TRUE
True or False: NOVUS has over 1,700 locations worldwide? TRUE
True or False: The founder of NOVUS was the inventor of Windshield Repair and NOVUS continues to hold more patents than any other glass company in the industry? TRUE
True or False: NOVUS lists all franchisees along with their phone numbers in their Franchise Disclosure Document as required by law? TRUE
True or False: Anyone interested in the NOVUS Glass Franchise Opportunity has the ability to call any and all franchisees in the system to get their opinions? TRUE
True or False: NOVUS uses “Shills” to help them sell Franchises? ASK THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION AND SEE WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY or in other words FALSE
“NOVUS uses “Shills” to help them sell Franchises? ASK THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION AND SEE WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY or in other words FALSE”
NOVUS FDD: I just contacted the Federal Trade Commission like you said to.
They said “Why the F— are you asking us? We don’t check to see if franchise companies are telling the truth or using shills. No one does. It says so right on the front page of the FDD. What fool told you to ask us ’bout dat?”
I’m confused? Why did did you say to ask them?
Why was there a $700,000 judgement against Novus Franchising anyway?
“they make money by selling a business model that does not work in this day and age and then suing the poor and hardworking franchisees when they fail after giving it a good 2 years of their life alongwith their life savings. ”
NOVUS FDD: I just read the Novus FDD and it does look like Novus sued a few failed franchisees.
Why would you sue a franchisee who invested in your franchise and lost their investment? Why would you sue someone when it was YOUR job to help them succeed? I don’t get it.
“Why would you sue a franchisee who invested in your franchise and lost their investment? Why would you sue someone when it was YOUR job to help them succeed? I don’t get it.”
Well said, Guest!
They seem to have access to ‘super lawyers” and their cases seem to be referred to highly esteemed judges. I used to think that courts would be suspicious of franchisors who sued more than reasonable amounts of their own franchisees but in this case I am just stunned to see that these judges actually seem to favor this fraudulent franchisor.
Novus’ FDD lists only 1 or 2 court cases where Novus Franchising Inc. has sued it’s franchisees. They claim that those are the only ones they are required to mention in their FDD for some reason. Upon doing a Google search on “Novus Franchising Court”, you will find that they sue around 10 franchisees a year!
When I had called the FTC, the lady who took my call told me that they generally look for a pattern in complaints to establish a course of action. She was not allowed to give me specifics of other complaints but told me that she herself remembered taking a few complaints herself and there were only a handful of call handlers there so she was aware of other franchisees complaining to the FTC on a regular basis against this franchisor.
The FTC does explain Franchise Fraud as Pyramid or Ponzi scheme but Novus Glass has taken this fraud a step further. Their tax returns show a loss so they don’t make money through Royalties but they make money by selling a bogus franchise and then preying on the same franchisee by up-selling all their marketing material (material that is designed to promote more sales of their franchise rather than the product itself) and then finally preying on that same franchisee yet again by threatening him legally.
In these legal threat notes through them or their lawyers, the logic in their statements seems so out of whack that one might think they are actually building a case against themselves. I am not sure what their strategy is but I think they want the franchisee to sue them so they can drag it out in court.
Their parent company competes with franchisees through their website http://www.speedyglass.com by listing a fake location on their website. They take orders using the 800 or local number that routes to their call center. This part is easily proved by going on their websites and calling those numbers and placing a glass repair or replacement order. They then pass those jobs to a subcontractor in that area. I personally met one glass guy who told me he did subcontract work for them. Although this part can not be proven immediately, maybe the Novus proponent on this forum can tell us what they do with the orders they take through those fake locations?
In their FDD, there are a lot of clauses and provisions that makes the franchisee waive their rights as soon as he signs the agreement. At least get those amended through your lawyer if you just have to become their franchisee.
About patents: I could design an upside down faucet and patent it- doesn’t make it better or even necessary.
Novus’ windshield repair system takes the longest to perform a repair compared to most competition! Novus repair takes a good 40 minutes to do it right as opposed to 15 minutes using the better ones out there.
One major reason is that Novus uses plastic injectors which come with their resin you buy as franchisees. The competitors have far superior equipment with metal injector pumps which pulls a far better vacuum and does a superior job.
Their resins are full of acrylic acid which causes long term problems to skin and lungs. A lot of the competitors sell safer resins.
Most of the competitor companies are non-franchise and only sell kits and training but some of them have a support structure and training far better than Novus. One would think it should be the other way round or why else would anyone buy a franchise of anything.
About other franchisees Phone Numbers on FDD:
Ex franchisees are required to give up their phone numbers to Novus so one can’t contact them by phone.
The current franchisees have an invested interest in the business and they are still hoping to make it so they only say positive things about the franchise.
Some of the current franchisees go out of their way to “sell” the franchise to you and they say everything you wanna hear in the way you wanna hear to the point that you unknowingly make that conversation the most important decision sub-consciously even though the numbers weren’t making much sense.
Look up “Shill” on wikipedia or the web in general and you will get a broader picture.
About “Novus the inventor”
The inventors had sold the company to this Canadian company called TCGI around 1993 which owns a lot of companies including Novus Franchising Inc. as well as Speedy Glass that competes with Novus Glass franchisees.
It makes better sense for franchisors to be located in the state of Minnesota as MN laws favor franchisors so they have this franchising arm located in MN.
For starters, TCGI had lost a legal battle with their “esteemed” inventors and founders whom they purchased this company from.
Here is the link: http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/96/12/961223U.pdf
About Number of Franchisees:
Who knows about the whole world but their existing franchisees in the U.S. is only around 250 and their FDD states that they loose about 24 franchisees a year. They probably make the same amount of new franchisees. Their older franchisees probably have an established business to be able to sustain themselves or maybe they make money from the new franchisees like in a pyramid scheme. I am not sure. Their new ones seem to fail in about 1 to 2 years time.
Do your children a favor- stay away from Windshield Repair business in general but do NOT get in to a franchise.
Buy a $600 kit from another company. Even Novus’ parent company sells it with another name (so much for the exclusivity franchisee signed up for) and just practice on a windshield at home following their training DVD.
Or spend another $3000 on a competitors training if you must and they have a better support structure than Novus.
If you absolutely have to become Novus Franchisee, make sure you amend all those clauses in their FDD that make you waive your basic rights. If Novus refuses- consider yourself lucky!
If anyone is interested in reading the Novus Glass Amended FDD dated June, 2011, I have posted a link to the .pdf file in the post above, just below the blue box.
Thanks ADMIN.
This should really help new entrepreneurs an informed decision.
I see that this amended version still has provisions that make a franchisee waive their rights such as:
“24.8 Venue and Jurisdiction.
Except as set forth in the last sentence of this Article 24.8, unless prohibited by applicable law,
all lawsuits, court proceedings and other acfions initiated by us, by you, or by the Owners and the
Personal Guarantors wi ll be venued exclusively in Hennepin County, Minnesota”
Franchisees should consult with a lawyer to draw a new contract which is fair to both and not just sign the contract drawn by Novus which is pretty much the FDD.
It is also interesting to point out that the clause sighted as an example above while prohibited in some states, is illegal in Novus’ case due to the following reasons:
1. Their CEO is located in Canada near the US border and signs the contract in Canada and mails it out to the franchisee from the US State of Washington.
2. All background checks of the franchisee and all administrative work is done by their Canadian office.
3. All payments that a franchisee makes are handled through their Canada office.
4. All royalty reports that you fax in are received in their Canadian office.
5. All faxes that you receive from them are either sent directly from their Canadian office.
6. All mail they send to you either originates in Canada and then electronically sent to MN and only then printed and mailed to you from Canada.
7. When you call the toll free number to make a credit card payment, their account receivable in Canada answers to take payment
8. When you receive a call regarding payment matters from Novus, their account manager in Canada calls you
So all current franchisees who are being sued by them should take the above points to their lawyers.
All franchisees who are contemplating suing them should take the above points to their lawyer to see they can sue from their home state. Seems like you can- check out the following link:
https://docsdms.pulaskiclerk.com/DocsDMS/default.aspx/?A=/ck_image.present?DMS_ID=04C480C7-B727-45C2-85C4-E1D337EC6447
Also:
Gag orders are illegal in many states.
Covenant Not to Compete is invalid in many states
Here is another link to how TCGI as Novus likes to scam their franchisees:
http://www.wikidfranchise.org/19990824-novus-auto
First read these testimonies from real NOVUS Glass franchisees at http://www.franchisereviewboard.org/novus-glass-franchise-reviews/ and then decide for yourself. Like NOVUS FDD said, “Facts are still facts.”
Franchise Review Written By: byronnelson
My wife and I were looking for a way in which we could start our own business. My wife had tried working online and found that it was just not her thing. We wanted something that was going to give the consumers in our area a service that they need, while also being something that we could have for years to come. This was when we ran upon the NOVUS Glass Franchise. These are the experts that come out to the vehicle and replace the windshield in those cases in which a crack starts to happen, which in my experience is something that happens to everyone. In my case, three times in one year. When I was the consumer I found that I used a NOVUS company that was an hour and a half away because there was not one closer.
The great thing about the franchise is that we were able to afford it. We put down a payment of around $7500 to get started, then kept paying monthly payments until we were paid in full. This financing is offered by the company so I did not have to go to the bank and beg for a business loan, something that I greatly appreciate. Once we paid our initial investment we started on the training and we found that we were being given clear, concrete steps to take in order to get our business to succeed. We worked hard and found that we were really understanding the process and were confident that we could do this.
We officially opened our NOVUS Glass franchise around two years ago, and we have been busy ever since. Since NOVUS is such a trusted name in the glass business, we found that people were coming to use without us having to seek them. The work that we do is guaranteed by the company, thus we give people that peace of mind that they need.
Franchise Review Written By: kellyjonathan
I started by NOVUS Glass Franchise around six months ago and have found that it takes a lot of hard work and determination to succeed in the business. For those that believe that this is going to be a breeze, then they are mistaken. It still requires that the investor do some work. I found that since I knew nothing about the process of replacing glass that it was a bit harder for me. Though, the good news is that the company gave me all the information that I need in order to succeed, thus, I was still able to learn the process and through practice, I did master it. However, the glass replacement is not the only thing that the franchise offers, and I feel that people do not realize this enough and this is one of the main ways in which my company excels in the economy.
My company also offers spray in bed liners, scratch removal and so forth in order to make the vehicle look the best that it can look. I have found that a main part of the job is not actually performing the tasks at hand, but also dealing with the customers. Many times, customers are upset and frustrated, and it is my job to get them back at ease and make sure that the job gets done right so not to cause the person any more stress. For those that do not deal with those that may be a little on edge, then this is not going to be the company that they want to offer.
Overall, though I entered into the business believing that I was going to succeed with the minimal amount of work, I was soon corrected. However, even though it does take some hard work and determination to succeed, I find that it is very worthwhile and something that I would not change.
Okay, the names in the above testimonials sighted by Novus Happy are nowhere in the Novus FDD and I can’t imagine why an existing franchisees would shy away from using their real names and locations in an online testimonial as that would give them more web exposure and hence more business.
Therefore, it can be safely concluded that these testimonials are not real!
I was really fooled once by one of their Shills- now I just use logic even on the web. If I were to be fooled twice, the shame would be on me, wouldn’t it?
TCGI as Novus Franchising Inc. has found an ingenious way of playing the numbers game with lawsuits. They just fight a dozen court cases a year with individuals and just let it stretch in court, With their deep pockets, the poorer individual usually ends up making an out of court settlement to save his house or whatever he is left with.
TCGI would just sue anyone much poorer than them but who still has some assets or even get sued by them as the same logic applies. But the best person to sue would be a person who signs a ONE SIDED contract drawn carefully by their lawyers. This is where TCGI’s franchise- Novus Glass comes into play.
To Scammed Franchisee:
If you think the Happy Franchisees are Schills, then why don’t you tell us your name and provide us with your contact information? How can we be sure that your not a “Schill” yourself? A competitor of NOVUS could have easily hired you to write this factless information…
Also, while you’re at it, why don’t you give us the specifics of what you did to try and make your franchise succeed?
I think Guy is right. NOVUS could not have survived and thrived for 40 years if NOVUS had done anything illegal. The Federal Trade Commission makes sure of that.
I have always only heard good things about NOVUS from all NOVUS Glass franchisees. NOVUS Glass franchisees are extremely successful and are always willing to help each other and go out of their way to help the new franchisees.
NOVUS has national contracts with big companies like Penske, ARI, Pepsi, Mercedes and Insurance Companies so all that franchisees have to do is follow up with them. In addition, NOVUS trains their franchisees on obtaining new account and provides all marketing tools needed.
Scammed Franchisee seems to be the only one complaining about NOVUS. This tells us that either he/she did not implement the NOVUS system as per training and manuals provided by NOVUS and therefore failed due to his/her own fault. Or, as Guy suggests, he/she is hired by a competitor of NOVUS to sabotage the reputation and goodwill of NOVUS.
NOVUS Happy wrote “NOVUS could not have survived and thrived for 40 years if NOVUS had done anything illegal. The Federal Trade Commission makes sure of that.”
I am not familiar with Novus and cannot comment on the complaints against it.
I can tell you, though that this statement is completely wrong and misleading. The FTC does virtually NO policing of franchise companies whatsoever. They don’t monitor or even READ the FDDs being used to sell franchises in the marketplace.
The contention that franchising is somehow “regulated” is a deceptive myth used by unscrupulous franchise salespeople. The government’s attitude is buyer beware, if you get screwed by a franchisor then hire a lawyer and slug it out in court at your own expense.
Novus Happy, you are sabotaging the reputation and goodwill of Novus by making such BS deceptive contentions on its behalf.
If my not providing my name and contact information on this forum automatically makes me a shill hired by a competitor of Novus Glass Franchise as stated by Guy, I think Guy just admitted to being a shill himself by the same logic.
I am not a shill and am not hired by anyone in the windshield repair business or have any interest in it at the present whatsoever. I have only pointed to information openly available through Google search and Novus FDD.
I would also like to state that just as our nation does not deal with known terrorists, I do not deal with fraudsters and scam artists once I know them as such.
I have already lost what I did when I was a Novus Glass Franchisee and my only motive was to inform future entrepreneurs of what the windshield repair business and franchise is all about.
Money comes and goes so money is not the biggest thing that is lost. What would be lost if you do become a franchisee of a fraudulent franchisor is that dream of becoming independent and your own boss. It’s pretty big but not the biggest.
With this fraudulent franchisor, you become a paying employee who is still in the hole at the end of the month instead of a paid employee when you had a job and brought home the bacon and were even able to create a little egg nest which is why you are thinking of investing in a business.
You cheat your children out of present happiness by not giving them any time and by keeping them deprived of small things today hoping you will be able to “make it” and give them a better tomorrow. Since you don’t realize you are being cheated by this fraudulent franchisor yourself, you don’t realize that you are actually cheating your family.
This is the Biggest thing you loose!
I would not be surprised if this fraudulent franchisor still ends up recruiting you after you read this as they are really that good at this fraud. At least have the FDD thoroughly checked by a Franchise Lawyer and ask the lawyer if it makes you waive any rights availed to you by state and federal laws and see if you can make changes in the contract and if the franchisor will accept those changes.
Strapped for cash? Make some calls, contact the bar association, your local law college or community college- there is free legal advise out there too but don’t just jump in to this as eager as you may be!
And yeah, do the same with their competitors too!
Does anyone find it peculiar that the Novus Glass Franchise representatives here are fixated on the shill aspect of the complaint whereas there were several other complaints against them and the use of shills was just sighted as a possibility?
“Novus Glass franchise complaints, including:
Competition from the franchisor
Lack of franchise support
Disrespectful attitude toward franchisees
Lack of marketing support
Untested marketing ideas
Possible use of “shills” franchise in recruitment process”
Guest:
You say that The FTC does virtually NO policing of franchise companies whatsoever. They don’t monitor or even READ the FDDs being used to sell franchises in the marketplace.
But I am sure that if there were numerous COMPLAINTS AGAINST NOVUS, then FTC would have acted and TAKE ACTION AGAINST NOVUS!
Scammed Franchisee:
You are trying to sabotage reputation of a decent and honest company who only helps new entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. NOVUS and their holding company TCGI’s CEO, Mr. A. Allan Skidmore is a staunch adherent to the Christian faith.
NOVUS Glass Franchisees only have nice things to say about NOVUS. Read the testimonial below and decide for yourself.
Novus: New Franchisee Profile: John Lovier
February 2nd, 2011 by jessicad
Looking back at the events that changed his life almost 2 years ago, John Lovier
has no regrets. Sitting in his suburban St. Louis, Missouri house, John
remembers his days as Director of Logistics at a global company as well as the
15 years he spent in the logistics field. He can also remember the sense of
being just a number within a large corporation and being frustrated at watching
decisions being made that were based solely on the stock price and not on what
was in the best interest of their customers or the employees. While he loved the
challenge of planning, prepping and coming up with creative solutions in the
logistics field he was worn down by corporate life.
That was when John made a decision that would change his life. He saw an
opportunity to take a voluntary layoff from his company in an attempt to reinvent
himself. This was a very big risk for someone in their mid-thirties with a wife, 2
young children and a mortgage. With the support of his family, John set out on
an odyssey to find the opportunity that would be the perfect fit for his lifestyle and
his growing family’s needs.
“I thought about a lot of different
options,” says John from his at home
office. “At first I fell back into my
comfort zone. I sent out literally 900
resumes and had two interviews, both
for jobs that I was over qualified for. I didn’t really want to start over,” John
continues. “I knew if I was going to be happy, I needed to start looking for other
opportunities. In the back of my mind, I always envisioned owning my own
business, but I never knew how or what was the right way to achieve that goal.”
That is when John started doing research on what it would take to own a
business and more specifically what kind of requirements it would take for him
personally and financially.
John employed a multi-pronged approach as he was looking for the right
business. He first looked at existing businesses in his area that were for sale
and found restaurants and dry cleaners. He quickly realized that they may not be
the right fit for him and his family given the long hours and the added anchor of
having a physical location. He then contacted the Missouri State Employment
Department which gave him a list of companies that had opportunities available
in the state. On that list he found NOVUS Glass.
New Franchisee Profile: John Lovier
Case Study: From Corporate World to Franchisee
Franchise Start Date: August 2009
“I knew if I was going to be
happy, I needed to start
looking for other opportunities”
John began a search of business and franchise sites on the internet. Throughout
this search process, John kept coming across information on NOVUS Glass on
the different franchising sites and the more he read about the NOVUS Glass
opportunity the more interested he became. He filled out a questionnaire form on
one of the sites and his information was forwarded to the NOVUS Glass
Franchise Development Office.
“Before the information from the state and my online research, the thought of a
franchise didn’t even enter my mind,” says John. “It wasn’t until I started doing
research and talking to a few of the companies did I realize that a ‘franchise’ was
exactly what I was looking for.”
Through his diligent research, he found that for his vision to come true, he would
need the support of a franchise organization to help him start his business and
run it to its’ full potential. “Starting a new business is always going to be a bit
scary,” reflects John, “especially in a field where you have no prior experience.
What helped me through the fears and the anxieties is knowing that a system of
training and support existed from the franchisor and that the support doesn’t stop
after you opened your business, it continued throughout your career.”
One of the ways many prospective franchisees start their research is by talking
with existing franchisees in there area or those in a similar size market. “There
were a number of NOVUS Glass locations in my region, so I picked up the phone
and started talking to them” says John recalling his research. John found that
the openness and passion of the franchisees he had
spoken with made him even more comfortable with a
decision to move forward with NOVUS Glass “From
these discussions I found the brand reputation, technical
expertise and marketing resources I was looking for,”
says John, “What I was looking for I found with
NOVUS.”
“Choosing to go with NOVUS, like any of the other
options, was a risk. My family and I thought out our
decision thoroughly, weighed the pro’s and con’s and
went for it. The biggest fear was that of the unknown, it
was the fear of taking a risk. We loved our home, we
loved our lifestyle and we knew that going into business for ourselves put all of
that at risk,” recalls John. “But not doing anything would have been the biggest
risk of all.”
What initially drew John to the concept of franchising was the fact he would be in
business for himself, but he wouldn’t be doing it alone. The size of the NOVUS
Franchisee Network and the support he would receive is what sold him on
NOVUS Glass. “I strongly believe in the concept of strength in numbers. A lot of
the hard work and heavy lifting I would have to do while starting up a new
“The biggest fear
was that of the
unknown, it was
the fear of taking
a risk… But not
doing anything
would have been
the biggest risk
of all.”
business was already taken care of by NOVUS . That allowed me to concentrate
on perfecting the technical skills that I learned from the training classes.” John
remembers that “as I got those first early jobs, it helped me build confidence and
pretty soon the technical part of the job became second nature.”
John always considered himself a “knowledge junky.” In his past career he
prided himself on tackling the constant challenges of his job and coming up with
creative solutions. With that drive and his corporate experience, it wasn’t
necessarily running the business that John had concerns over, it was the sales
aspect. “I am not a good salesman” John freely admits, “but I feel I am a very
personable guy.” It was his personality and the training that he received from
NOVUS that got him through his first weeks of business and he hasn’t looked
back since.
With a lot of hard work, John envisions his business growing in the coming years.
“I feel very good about the future of the business,” confides John. “One piece of
advice I would give anyone in this business is to always answer your phone, you
never know what you are going to get.”
One of John’s biggest early “wins” came from simply picking up the phone at
6:00pm on a Friday night. “It was a large national rental company that was
looking for someone to do a quick windshield replacement on a truck that was
scheduled to go out on Monday morning. The service manager had called a
handful of glass shops and I was the only one to answer the phone,” recalls John
with pride in his voice. “I replaced the windshield at 8:30am the next morning
and they were able to get the truck turned around for Monday. The service
manager was so happy he started giving me some business, now I have it all.” “I
love my competitors,” says John with a bit of glee in his voice, “they are the worst
business people I have ever met. They offer bad service, poor customer service
and have little pride in their work. I guess that’s what sets me apart, I own my
business and I take a lot of pride in what I do. While my competitors are
watching the clock and turning down jobs
that might inconvenience them, I gladly
take them and win a customer.”
From the beginning of his process, the
idea of working out of his home was very
appealing to John. “Looking at my family
and our lifestyle, I realized that I was not interested in a fixed location. I didn’t
want to be anchored down, I wanted freedom and I wanted to be able to work the
hours that afforded me time with my family.” John also wanted this to be a family
affair. “My family was very supportive of this decision and the plan was to always
include them in the business,” adds John. “At some point in the near future my
wife will leave her full-time job to work the business with me.”
“I wanted freedom and I
wanted to be able to work the
hours that afforded me time
with my family.”
His oldest son, now 13, rides along with his father when he has the chance. “It’s
great to have my son with me, he is already becoming my helper,” says John
beaming with pride. “It gives me a chance to instill a work ethic and teach him
how to do things the right way. Hopefully when his younger brother is old
enough, he can ride along as well.”
From a family standpoint, one of things that set NOVUS Glass apart from some
of the other opportunities was the ability of his sons to transition to NOVUS. The
final decision came down between NOVUS Glass and a computer service
franchise, and one of the key factors to John was that NOVUS would allow him to
transfer the business to his children when the time is right. “I envision that my
NOVUS Glass business will be a part of my family for a very long time and
provide opportunities in the future for my kids.”
Looking back at the entire process, John speaks philosophically at what lead him
up to today. “I can’t image going through the training, the start up and the first
day as a business owner without the support I received from NOVUS. I’m very
proud of all the hard work I have put in to get my business to where it is today,”
John continues, “I couldn’t imagine doing it alone.”
About NOVUS
NOVUS is best known throughout the world as the inventor of windshield repair.
NOVUS is also the windshield repair industry’s research & development leader
and pioneer. In fact, NOVUS has been awarded more U.S. Patents for
windshield repair than the rest of the industry combined.
NOVUS is also the world’s original “Repair First, Replace When Necessary”®
company. This distinguishes NOVUS from the average auto glass shop in the
eyes of insurance companies, fleets and consumers. “Repair First, Replace
When Necessary®” system is NOVUS’ distinctive competency and is backed by
the NOVUS Guarantee that ensures a NOVUS windshield repair will restore
strength and clarity to the glass; will halt the further spread of damage; and, will
pass vehicle inspection in all states for as long as the customer owns their
vehicle or NOVUS will refund the cost of the repair.
The sales guys entice you into signing the agreement based on the insurance and fleet concepts and then on the first day of training the instructor tells you to forget all you heard about insurance work because it probably won’t happen.
If someone failed to manage their business properly they can’t put the blame solely on the Franchisor. I don’t care what has been written above, there is responsibility on both the Franchisee and Franchisor side in any Franchise System. Any franchise is going to have Training and Operations Manuals to follow, along with a support team in place to assist Franchisees.
The one thing that seems to be overlooked in all of this is the Money factor that “Scammed Franchisee” says doesn’t matter, which is wrong. Money matters for everyone, including the Franchisee and Franchisor, otherwise why go into business together in the first place?
Let’s discuss Royalties: NOVUS takes 8% of gross revenue. With that said, would it be advantages for NOVUS to watch their franchisees go out of business, or help them make as much money as possible to in turn generate as much corporate revenue as possible? Since “Scammed Franchisee” will have a response to this, I’ll just tell you that it’s the latter….
I’m assuming that one rebuddle to this statement will be that NOVUS is only interested in taking the initial franchise fees and then they don’t care what happens after that. NOVUS has one of the lowest initial investments of any franchise company in the world. That is proven by it’s #14 Overall Ranking in the list of 2012 Top Low Cost Franchises by Entrepreneur Magazine.
NOVUS also ranked #77 in the Franchise 500 Rankings this year and has been ranked #1 in the Windshield Repair category for well over 10 years running. This should show anyone that wants to take the time to read through all of this nonsense, that NOVUS has been a very reputable company for a very long time and will not be going anywhere. NOVUS will continue to put successful franchisees into business for years to come.
I agree with “Scammed Franchisee” on one thing however, anyone considering a franchise opportunity should do their research. Comments from the owner of one mismanaged franchise shouldn’t stop you from doing your research.
P.S. If you do get your hands on a NOVUS FDD, refer to the list of franchisees and call any one of them. The testimonials on the NOVUS website or anywhere else are actual franchisees listed in the FDD along with their phone numbers.
Novus Happy wrote: “But I am sure that if there were numerous COMPLAINTS AGAINST NOVUS, then FTC would have acted and TAKE ACTION AGAINST NOVUS!”
You may be sure, but you are surely wrong. Take a spin through this website and see thousands of complaints against franchise companies, some are outright scams. Has the FTC taken action against any of them? (Here’s a hint: NO)
There is no protection for franchisees. If they’ve been screwed over they have no recourse but to hire a lawyer and sue. Most can’t afford to do that since they have lost all their money by that point.
Highly Ranked Franchise Company wrote: “That is proven by it’s #14 Overall Ranking in the list of 2012 Top Low Cost Franchises by Entrepreneur Magazine.
NOVUS also ranked #77 in the Franchise 500 Rankings this year and has been ranked #1 in the Windshield Repair category for well over 10 years running.”
Seriously? Entrepreneur rankings are complete b*llsh*t and you know it.
Let’s say that #77 ranking means something other than someone paid Entrepreneur. Prospective franchisees should forget about Novus and buy one of the 76 higher ranked franchises, like all those janitorial franchises that are getting sued right and left, or those tool truck franchises half of whose franchisees are failing. Why settle for #77.
I’m not saying Novus is bad because I don’t know. But if Novus defenders have to make false claims about the FTC’s protection and brags about BS meaningless rankings, then it seems like they are hunting for suckers rather than addressing serious allegations about the business.
Just saying…
Speaking of b*llsh*t points, Novus Happy also resorts to playing the “Good Christian” card.
Novus Happy writes: “You are trying to sabotage reputation of a decent and honest company who only helps new entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. NOVUS and their holding company TCGI’s CEO, Mr. A. Allan Skidmore is a staunch adherent to the Christian faith.”
You know who else was a staunch adherent to the Christian faith? David Koresh, up until his compound in Waco burst into flame.
The Rev. Jim Jones was a staunch adherent to the Christian faith as he handed out dixie cups of koolaid in Guyana.
What about Fred Phelps and his Westborough Baptist Church? The guys who hold up “God hates fags” signs at soldier’s funerals? Staunch adherents of the Christian faith.
Let’s get it out of the way: Mr. A. Allan Skidmore also loves puppies, reads to the blind and has a shrine to our brave servicemen in his living room.
Novus must be a great franchise and all failures must be the fault of lazy good-for-nothing franchisees! It’s decided!
Highly Ranked Franchise Company’s response is exactly the kind of response I got from this fraudulent franchisor when I used to contact them for help as a Novus Glass Franchisee. For instance, did anyone read me state that money does not matter? I only stated that money is not the biggest thing one looses as family for me is always the top priority. they just like to put a spin on anything and everything one says.
In their FDD linked here, they state that 21 franchisees left them. In the FDD before this, they had 24 that left them in that year. How exactly are they a top ranking franchisor with 2 dozen franchisees failing in 1 year?
Their accounts receivable manager at TCGI in Canada had actually informed me 1 year before I failed during a conversation that and I quote, “I should not be telling you this but I suggest that you document all communication with Novus as it will come in handy if they ever take you to court”!
I was completely shocked as I was working extremely hard to make this work and my whole family was enthusiastically supporting me but this Novus’ employee was giving me some kind of inside information about how Novus takes their franchisees to court for no reason.
I did not want to build on this negative information at that time so I kept working even harder. Later when I knew I had exhausted all resources, I did some research and found to my horror that Novus Franchising Inc. makes it’s profit by suing their franchisees!
To ex-franchisees, be aware of their mystery shopping (remember that their Regional Manager liked to brag so much about how he is an excellent mystery shopper?). The online inquiries that they keep sending you long after you are no longer part of their network is not a coincidence but they are trying to find a solid reason to sue you- usually on a covenant not to compete clause.
They don’t realize that if the auto glass business was so great than there was no reason to fail and leave Novus. Even without the royalty factor, Auto Glass business FOR A RELATIVE NEW COMER and a SMALL TIMER can be part time at best. Only the big players like Safelite or Allstar are making it big.
If you still want to be in this on your own after leaving Novus and if your state does render the covenant not to compete invalid, please still don’t act on that online lead they sent you. Just ignore it.
Broke NOVUS Guy:
They probably also promised you the ARI, Pepsi, GSA… pretty much all that Novus Happy sights and more. They later tell you at some point that you are only one of the registrants there along with thousands other so don’t count on receiving any business from them.
When I asked their sales guy after becoming a franchisee about the ARI business he was so enthusiastically talking about, he gave me the name and number of a person to talk to. When I spoke to this guy, he actually tried to sell me a small franchisette of sticker removal business for another $3000 and claimed he could get me ARI business!
Broke NOVUS Guy, are you still a franchisee? Your using capitals in writing Novus is the reason I asked. It’s funny how their so called marketing manager would insist that you write Novus in capitals for “branding effect” while she steered clear from any real marketing tools that would help the franchisee instead of helping them sell more franchises.
Scammed Franchisee wasn’t kidding about Novus Glass being lawsuit-happy.
I did a search on Novus lawsuits over the past few years. Anyone know the story behind any of these? Shouldn’t they be disclosed in the FDD?
Novus Franchising, Inc. v. Superior Entrance Systems, Inc. et al
Filed: March 26, 2012 as 3:2012cv00204
Plaintiff: Novus Franchising, Inc.
Defendants: Superior Entrance Systems, Inc., Superior Glass, Inc. and Knute R. Pedersen
Cause Of Action: Fed. Question: Trademark
Court:Seventh Circuit > Wisconsin > Western District Court
Type:Contract > Franchise
Novus Franchising, Inc. v. Dawson et al
Filed: February 29, 2012 as 0:2012cv00529
Plaintiff: Novus Franchising, Inc.
Defendants: Michael L. Dawson and Carmike, Inc.
Cause Of Action: Trademark Infringement (Lanham Act)
Court:Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type:Intellectual Property > Trademark
Novus Franchising, Inc v. Healy Duskin, Inc et al
Filed: February 24, 2012 as 1:2012mc00016
Plaintiff: Novus Franchising, IncÂ
Defendants: Healy Duskin, Inc, Glenn Healy and Jeffrey Duskin
Court:Eighth Circuit > Iowa > Northern District Court
Type:Other Statutes > Other
Novus Franchising, Inc. v. Superior Entrance Systems, Inc. et al
Filed: January 25, 2012 as 0:2012cv00187
Plaintiff: Novus Franchising, Inc.
Defendants: Superior Entrance Systems, Inc. , Superior Glass, Inc. and Knute R. Pedersen
Court:Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type:Intellectual Property > Trademark
Novus Franchising, Inc. v. Healy Duskin, Inc. et al
Filed: July 22, 2011 as 0:2011cv02046
Plaintiff: Novus Franchising, Inc.
Defendants: Healy Duskin, Inc., Glenn Healy and Jeffrey Duskin
Cross_claimant: Jeffrey Duskin
Cross_defendants: Glenn Healy and Healy Duskin, Inc.
Cause Of Action: Trademark Infringement (Lanham Act)
Court:Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type:Intellectual Property > Trademark
Novus Franchising, Inc. v. Livengood et al
Filed: June 24, 2011 as 0:2011cv01651
Plaintiff: Novus Franchising, Inc.
Defendants: Jeffrey L. Livengood and Betty A. Livengood
Court:Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type:Contract > Franchise
Novus Franchising Inc v. Brantner
Filed: October 1, 2010 as 2:2010mc00015
Plaintiff: Novus Franchising IncÂ
Defendant: Carey Brantner
Court:Ninth Circuit > Washington > Eastern District Court
Type:Other Statutes > Other
Novus Franchising, Inc. v. Dean et al
Filed: July 1, 2010 as 0:2010cv02834
Plaintiff: Novus Franschising, Inc.
Defendants: Mark A. Dean and Joyce Dean
Cause Of Action: Trademark Infringement
Court:Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type:Intellectual Property > Trademark
Novus Franchising, Inc. v. Brantner
Filed: November 4, 2009 as 0:2009cv03087
Plaintiff: Novus Franchising, Inc.
Defendant: Carey Brantner
Cause Of Action: Trademark Infringement
Court:Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type:Intellectual Property > Trademark
NOVUS Franchising, Inc. v. Brown
Filed: May 29, 2009 as 0:2009cv01256
Plaintiff: NOVUS Franchising, Inc.
Defendant: Joel M. Brown
Cause Of Action: Trademark Infringement
Court:Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type:Intellectual Property > Trademark
NOVUS Franchising, Inc. v. Flint
Filed: January 16, 2009 as 0:2009cv00085
Plaintiff: NOVUS Franchising, Inc.
Defendant: Frederic Alan Flint
Cause Of Action: Trademark Infringement
Court:Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type:Intellectual Property > Trademark
NOVUS Franchising, Inc. v. Garcia and Associates, LLC et al
Filed: October 16, 2008 as 0:2008cv05750 Updated: October 19, 2008 22:59:33
Plaintiff: NOVUS Franchising, Inc.
Defendants: Garcia and Associates, LLC and John Garcia
Cause Of Action: Trademark Infringement
Court: Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type: Intellectual Property > Trademark
NOVUS Franchising, Inc. v. Nathan Hemperly
Filed: April 19, 2007 as 0:2007cv01965 Updated: August 27, 2007 00:13:33
Plaintiff: NOVUS Franchising, Inc.
Defendants: Nathan Hemperly and Corey Hemperly
Cause Of Action: Petition for Removal- Breach of Contract
Court: Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type: Contract > Other Contract
NOVUS Franchising, Inc. v. Oksendahl
Filed: April 19, 2007 as 0:2007cv01964 Updated: August 27, 2007 00:13:31
Plaintiff: NOVUS Franchising, Inc.
Defendant: Rande Oksendahl
Cause Of Action: Diversity-Breach of Contract
Court: Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type: Contract > Other Contract
NOVUS Franchising, Inc. v. Larson
Filed: September 19, 2006 as 0:2006cv03767 Updated: September 19, 2006 00:00:00
Judge: Unassigned
Court: Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type: Intellectual Property > Trademark
NOVUS Franchising, Inc. v. Kaiser
Filed: August 11, 2006 as 0:2006cv03303 Updated: August 11, 2006 00:00:00
Judge: Unassigned
Court: Eighth Circuit > Minnesota > District Court
Type: Intellectual Property > Trademark
Novus Franchising, Inc. v. Marrs
Filed: June 3, 2005 as 1:2005cv01017 Updated: August 15, 2007 00:44:59
Cause Of Action: Trademark Infringement
Court: Tenth Circuit > Colorado > District Court
Type: Intellectual Property > Trademark
Yes, I am still a franchisee and understand that if you try to go out of business they will hold you to the minimum royalties and fees for however many years you have left in your agreement. How did you get out? Or did your term expire?
Broke Novus Guy:
Keep pressing your regional manager for help- this time by EMAIL, copy the CEO in Canada and document everything and you will find your answer.
Remember how they were ignoring your phone calls but would send you a text message or email saying they “spend the most time with you”? ( In their convoluted minds, spending 5 minutes on the phone per week if you are lucky qualifies them to say that) Now you make sure that you only send emails and save copies including printing and filing hard copies when asking for help. Their accounts receivable manager at TCGI in Canada actually gave me this advice.
They will NEVER extend any real help either- other than asking you to get fliers printed through their marketing manager or giving you numbers of other “successful franchisees” to call who in turn tell you that they make money by charging dirt cheap prices on cash jobs like $10 a repair and then not reporting those jobs in their royalty reports! It’s obvious how wrong they were on a moral as well as practical level.
Read the FDD again- trust me, it will make much more sense this time even without that lawyer explaining it to you. You will know when to get legal help after you follow these steps.
Of course, above is based on my experience and every situation is different. Please follow your own sense of judgement including consulting a lawyer and a CPA and make an informed and right decision for you.
Good luck!
I once read somewhere:
If you find yourself in a hole, maybe it’s time to stop digging.
Were you able to terminate your franchise early or did they terminate it for you? Were you responsible for the ongoing fees and royalties?Can Allan Skidmore waive the fees?
If this FRAUD Franchisor is adding about 21 new franchisees each year every year and about 21 leave each year every year, then don’t you think they should just concentrate on the success of the existing ones instead of adding new ones if what their representative’s claims about royalties are true?
This FRAUD Franchisor has a MINIMUM monthly ROYALTY of $350 even if you have no sales that month so they have nothing to loose but their morality. So much for Mr. Christianity.
The reason they add new ones is exactly what their representative above sights as a rebuttal. They add new franchisees for the franchise fee. Later, they get to sue a lot of them on some technicality to extort a whole lot more money.
The judges seem to favor them because the next case is identical to the previous so the judge just gives the same verdict he gave in the previous one!
I think the government should just close the FTC instead of giving us a false sense of security.
Guest: When I had called the FTC last year, they told me that they do take action once they detect a pattern in complaints and they even asked me to save the letters they sent me in case there was a settlement any time in the future. Your rebuttal to Novus Happy suggests otherwise. Did I miss something?
Broke Novus Guy:
I am not sure if I should discuss those points out in the open yet so let me tell you this.
Spend some time doing what I suggested in my last post to you and you might find something that they did wrong to you in particular and then consult a lawyer. They have been doing this for so long that they have become arrogant and complacent so don’t be surprised if you find something they did wrong to you.
I don’t mean to offend you or anyone but If you really are broke (I hope not) then bankruptcy might be the easiest way of getting out- or even keeping the franchise if you are so inclined as the law protects franchisees in cases of bankruptcy.
Read the FDD and consult a lawyer.
Don’t open your cards to anyone including your rm or other franchisees as they might take preventive action against you.
“…they even asked me to save the letters they sent me in case there was a settlement any time in the future. Your rebuttal to Novus Happy suggests otherwise. Did I miss something?”
The FTC does nothing except but bust a few telemarketing scams and an occasional vending scam. But even those are blatant scammers running con games.
I spent some time reading through a lot of the stories on this site and it was quite an education. There are some stories about a company called Cuppy’s Coffee that sold 300 franchises and took $50K to $350K from people then never even delivered their equipment or anything. The FTC did nothing. If you search by company in the directory you can read dozens of examples.
There’s a company that sold Revive energy mints vending machines and these energy boosting mints. 300 people bought into it for tens of thousands of dollars. The company left them high and dry, disconnected phones and they couldn’t get product to restock or assistance they paid for. What did the FTC do? Nothing.
Somewhere on here they have a list of SBA loan defaults by franchise concept. There are franchises with 30% – 40% failure rates that are allowed to keep selling. Heck, your tax dollars repay the loans to the bank. The FTC does nothing and they keep selling.
You’re right, Scammed Franchisee, they ought to disband it. All the FTC does is let franchise salespeople claim that someone is regulating them, so they MUST be trustworthy.
I say they disband the FTC and decriminalize violent acts against bad franchisors and sleazy franchise salespeople.
That will clear things up, and won’t cost the taxpayers a cent :)
Guest:
Thank you for sharing your findings with us. As disturbing and unsettling as it is, it is a real eye opener.
I also wanted to comment on Novus & TCGI employees playing the Christian card. When I was a franchisee, their employees, from time to time, would let me know that Skidmores are very honest people as they are devout Christians.
I guess I have the same sentiments as you regarding this but could not really bring it out in words. Do you know why people say this and if this is a common practice in franchising?
The Skidmores announced at the Super Session(which is a convention that the franchisor requires the franchisee to pay for ,whether they attend or not) in March that they plan to triple the number of franchises in the next two years.Lots of praying I guess.
Not all Christians are scoundrels, but many, many scoundrels profess to be Christians. It’s an easy way to get people to trust. Beware of franchises that profess to be “Christian companies”
I was reading that thousands of Curves franchisees have failed and lost their investments. Instead of having an ounce of compassion, Curves sicks their legal attack dogs on them to threaten and harrass the devastated and broke franchisees. There are over 1000 comments here from franchisees:
http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/curves-robert-lays-story/
Gary Heavin the founder and head of Curves is a born again Christian promotes himself as a charitable godfearing christian and even appears on ABC’s secret millionaire!
http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/curves-gary-heavin-secret-millionaire/
The real secret is that the money this good christian is giving away was taken from Curves franchisees who lost their homes, savings, etc. and weren’t given a moment of kindness from this good christian.
I have nothing against most Christians but am very skeptical of those who go around talking about it and making a show of it. Show me what you’re doing to make franchisees successfu, not your prayer book.
Concerned:
Thank you for sharing that news with us- that is certainly a cause for concern!
Around 21 franchisees leave them each year and around 21 new franchisees join them so their total is always around 230 or so, Now they intend to triple that to around 690 so they will have to get around 460 new suckers in next 2 years. They would have to recruit 12 new suckers a month for that!
What do all unhappy franchisees of this FRAUD Franchisor think about complaining on the local DA’s website along with MN DA’s website and the FTC (for what it’s worth) for starters? We might even need to complain to the Judge’s office to whom their cases are referred to.
They do have a policy of keeping our information confidential from what I was told.
It would be nice to bring a class action suit against them. I don’t wanna dole out more money in a lawsuit (even if I had it) but contingency lawyer would be good if we can find one.
Like the FRAUD Franchisor’s rep stated above, “Money matters for everyone” and it would be nice to get some portion of ours back. And if we get to put a stop to this FRAUD Franchisor in the process, that will be our good deed for this lifetime for having saved hundreds of families.
A class action lawsuit is interesting. There needs to be some exposure for those suckers you metioned.
I did take a spin through this website and it seems most franchisors are running some kind of a scam.
But while most are in the business of ripping franchisees off and then taking cover to avoid a lawsuit, TCGI as Novus Glass Franchise is actually in the business of suing their franchisees!
As soon as you ask them for help, they start sending you legal threat notes and keep sending you those threat notes themselves or through their lawyers long after you are no longer part of their network demanding huge sums of money and asking you to call them to negotiate.
Once the already poor franchisee agrees to pay in order to avoid a lawsuit to save whatever he is left with, they make him sign a gag order. Try calling any of the ex-franchisees and you will find that their numbers have changed and they never respond to emails if you can find them online.
It’s unfortunate that there are people out there who have had bad experiences with franchising / had trouble managing a business and following a franchise system. However, the fact remains that there are many very successful franchisees with NOVUS or any other franchise company out there.
The most unfortunate thing is that someone who was probably a terrible Entrepreneur in there own right and ran a franchise into the ground, decided to create this website. This site is simply a collection of people complaining about the fact that they couldn’t follow the agreement that they signed or even manage a business in general.
It’s really too bad that the entire franchise industry, which is one of the largest producers of jobs in this country, is taking the heat for it.
I think it’s pretty rediculous that people have so much time on their hands that they can sit on a waste of time blog all day long and do nothing but bash on people who actually are doing their jobs well, running a successful business and helping others live their dreams as successful business owners.
Guest:
Thanks for explaining the “Mr. Christianity” bit.
It was almost like these employees were actually trained to say such BS!
Since this FRAUD Franchisor wanted to discuss numbers, let’s discuss numbers for someone considering to be sucker like us.
Below are some very rough and conservative figures for 2 years it takes to deplete your life savings:
$20,000 (Franchise Fee)
$20,000 (Vehicle)
$100,000 (minimum amount needed to sustain your family for 2 years)
$140,000 (Total)
Your total income after expenses each month (average) is only around $1500 which comes to $72,000 which leaves most franchisees about $68,000 in the hole after 2 years.
Sure you do get that occasional insurance job especially for that RV replacement where you can make $400 in one shot but there is not enough volume in this business to be able to make a living and I tried each and every thing in their training and manuals and much more with Google Adwords and online advertising.
Do your children a favor, don’t get into Auto Glass Business especially the Windshield Repair Business but whatever you do, do NOT buy a franchisee.
Even selling cookies door to door can bring you a lot more profit and a sense of pride than becoming a franchisee especially for a FRAUD Franchisor.
I think Billy is entitled to his own opinion and the moderator of this website does let the franchisors post their side of the story too.
So, instead of saying that the unhappy franchisees are at fault and they should not be writing against the franchisors, why don’t the franchisors use this forum to let prospective buyers learn how “good” their franchise actually is and how they help franchisees succeed.
Why are they so upset with the unhappy franchisees expressing here when the franchisors have the same right?
This Indian manufacturer called Tata manufactures the cheapest ($2,000) car (called Nano) in the world and also bought British luxury car maker Jaguar a few years ago.
Would you say that Nano and Jaguar are the same?
TCGI bought Novus Glass back in 1993 but their system and equipment has gone through tremendous amounts of changes since then so the original inventor design is almost lost. Their so called engineer that we got to meet on discovery day and their super session only has an associates degree and is not even an engineer!
The changes to the system were made only to benefit the franchisor like changing to plastic injector pumps that only come with resins franchisees buy from them. The changes were not made to perform a better or quicker repair. The plastic injector pumps are almost identical to the once that come in a $10 windshield repair kit you would buy from Wal-mart called Fix-it or something.
As a matter of fact, I saw one car detail person using that kit from Wal-mart to do a windshield repair on a car he was detailing in a parking lot I was also working in on another customer’s car. I shook hands with this guy and exchanged business cards with him and he showed me the repair he was finishing up. I expected to see a real shoddy job based on what Novus trainer had told me but to my shock and dismay, his repair using that Wal-mart kit was as good as the repairs done by the Novus instructor in his lab!
Yes, I have seen really shoddy ones out there too and maybe the above guy was experienced enough to do a good job regardless of his equipment or maybe the break was a very simple one but my Novus Kit from the “inventors” did not seem all that hot at that moment.
I know, I know, Billy does not approve of my wasting so much time writing about them and in all honesty, I hate waking up thinking about Novus Glass too. What can I say- it has become a habit as I was living and breathing this so called business with a reverse cash flow. At least I don’t keep changing my screen name and pretend to be a different guy each time. I will try to remain as honest as possible when I state my experiences and opinions. Would “Mr. Christianity” and his army of God on this forum approve of that?
Billy wrote: “The most unfortunate thing is that someone who was probably a terrible Entrepreneur in there own right and ran a franchise into the ground, decided to create this website.”
I don’t know who runs this website or why but there are a few points worth making
– 2/3 of the story we’re commenting on is pro-Novus Glass, giving the franchisor’s own viewpoint about their great opportunity along with one complaint. Then it asks for both sides to comment. Why do you think the website is against Novus when it gives both sides equal access to communicate?
– Don’t know why you say the creator of the website is an unsuccessful entrepreneur. The website seems pretty successful (you’re on it) In fact, when I search “Novus Glass” on Google this discussion ranks as high as Novus.
– Billy says “It’s unfortunate that there are people out there who … had trouble managing a business and following a franchise system.” Isn’t it the franchisor’s job to select and screen franchisees who are capable of managing a business? Are you saying Novus is lousy at selecting franchisees? Do they accept anyone whose check clears or fogs a mirror?
It’s great to live in a country where people can debate and disagree. Billy, I don’t agree with what you say but I respect your right to say it. Hope you’ll respect others’ right to freedom of speech some day soon.
About franchisees’ success:
NOCLASS Frauds should know that most franchisees were already successful having built a savings a/c and a great credit to be able to invest in this NOGUD Franchise all with honest work. Can these frauds and their “pious” CEO say the same about themselves?
Novus Glass Franchisors are successful at the dishonest business of extorting money from honest people but are a complete FAILURE at managing their franchise business with any honesty with almost 100% failure of their franchisees at least since a last few years!
Guest:
I found a post of yours on another thread which, I have a gut feeling, greatly relates to the Novus Glass Franchise situation. I am copying and pasting that below.
Would you be able to elaborate on that post as to how “the (Quiznos) system was set up so that the fatcats at the top raked in the dough”?
“Guest on November 11th, 2011 1:45 pm
Incidentally, Quiznos has a failure rate higher than 25%. Thousands of them are closing around the country. Why? Because the system was set up so that the fatcats at the top raked in the dough while the peons got to invest their life savings and end up in foreclosure.”