SCHOOL OF ROCK Franchise Complaints

View Comments

• My experience as a franchisee matches up with the above. It's hard to make serious money at this business when the royalties and brand fund contribution are so high but the franchise is not well-known, so it becomes a labor of love instead of a way to support yourself. There is zero support from the corporate group and they are thinly staffed (due to such high turnover) and no one up there has any real understanding of how to run a school from an owner standpoint. Also, it's very disappointing to have such a hostile relationship with the franchisor, especially, the CEO. She goes after franchisees who speak up instead of genuinely seeking to fix problems. We used to work together with corp to fix this stuff but now there is zero concern at the top about franchisees ability to make money. This is a music education business with no product VP - no one in charge of music education, curriculum development or training.

• Article pretty much holds to our experience as well. The business is super rewarding, but rewarding seldom pays the bills. The relationship with the executive management team is not a nurturing one, and is often confrontational, with considerable effort put on compliance and very little on finding ways to make the franchise owners money. People are really left to their own devices, which is maybe ok if you are an experienced owner, but it is not really fair to new owners who buy in expecting a formal franchise relationship with best practices around managing a music education business, when there are none.

• I unfortunately have to agree with everything above. There were a lot of promises of support but very little delivery. Owners are either bullied or ignored, there never seems to be a middle ground. The initial start up was 3x what we were quoted and instead of meaningful support I was repeatedly told I needed to purchase expensive unnecessary equipment. We pay high royalties fees and brand funding fees with almost no national marketing campaign. What we do get I spend hours reworking.
  The owners, students, and staff deserve a better leader in corporate.

• Dzana is fond of telling and retelling her escape story from war-torn former Yugoslavia in particular Bosnia.

  It's a great story.

  That story helped her get hired at all the companies she's left.

  Wondering if any of the former franchisors miss her?

• I am glad this public forum got set up. In addition to the comments above in the post, which I totally agree with, it should be pointed out that many of the franchisees will be totally afraid to post here for fear of retaliation from expressing their opinion, which really isn't right. Many owners have invested significant amounts of money in this business, some their entire retirement bankrolls, and to have to deal from a position of fear of retaliation from the CEO simply isn't right. There are many smart owners with skill sets that exceed those on the corporate side and to have to work in this environment is really counterproductive.

• As a Franchise Owner of School of Rock, the product we were sold is not what we purchased. The corporate team does a great job of selling franchises with little to no support once opened. The CEO Dzana Homan is doing a wonderful job at destroying the company that used to thrive because of the culture and passion for music education. Now, there is ZERO music department, no curriculum, no on going training, and no corporate staff in charge of improving the product we sell to our clients. The one and only thing to corp team is concerned with is their how much money are they making. The franchisees are left to fend for themselves.

• The total investment to be expected is seriously understated. In order to have a successful school we had to invest 3-4X what we were quoted. Instead of meaningful support, I was repeatedly told I needed to spend money on unnecessary items and was given inadequate advice on everything from our grand opening all the way to how to price our programs. I am on our third billing and scheduling software platform and it is highly inadequate for what the owners need. There are no standard operating procedures, no training manuals, no training department, no curriculum, and no support in regards to operating our business effectively or developing leads. We pay very high royalties fees and brand funding fees with little to no national marketing campaign. SoR tries to rely heavily on the School of Rock musical and the Nickelodeon TV show to be recognized nationally, but we are not a musical and we are not a TV show. We are a music education program that needs a strong and legitimate curriculum with a strong training/educational team supporting it.

  It was not disclosed prior to or upon signing our FA that we were required to have performing rights licenses in order to operate our schools. When asked to address the situation and give guidance, Corp has consistently ignored us and continues to delay giving the system a legal and consistent answer. This is one more thing that the franchisees are being required to pay for and did not plan for.

  There has been a massive amount of turnover in the Corporate structure since the arrival of Ms. Homan. In three years, we have lost a significant amount of knowledge due to the departure of long term employees, some of whom were original to the Paul Green School of Rock Music. We have lost VPs of Marketing, COOs, CFOs, and the entire training department, which is now being run by the former IT manager/director. Corp school employees have been moved into positions for which they are not necessarily qualified and there is a revolving door for the Franchise Business Consultants (formerly known as Director of Franchise Operations), leaving the majority of the owners without any type of support for months. I have had as many FBCs as the number of years that I have been open and no regular support from any of them. The owners continue to ask for meaningful and effective marketing campaigns delivered within enough time to make an impact in their markets but campaigns are typically rolled out late in the game. We have asked for editable marketing materials to use in local markets only to be met with demands for phone calls to be "called down" by the "principal" and berated.

  This is not the business that I bought into and has seriously declined within the past 3 years. Ms. Homan has effectively alienated the owners and made them afraid to speak up lest they be the recipient of retaliatory actions. She has behaved aggressively towards staff and owners and refused to recognize or interact with the independent franchisee organization after essentially disbanding the FAC. We are treated like children, when in fact, the majority of owners within the system have a great deal of experience in the professional realm and that knowledge/experience is wasted and ignored.

  The relationship with the executive management team is not pleasant one, and is often confrontational. There is little to no trust in the CEO or the staff due to the constant fear of retaliation. This business used to thrive because of the passion for music education and the culture that was created across all of the schools. This culture has been destroyed and schools are left to their own devices to figure out how to pick up the pieces. Fortunately, the majority of owners still have passion and that is what keeps it going....but it doesn't pay the bills.

• Thanks for these comments. Keep them coming.

  Question: Has anyone attempted to communicate these complaints to management at Sterling Partners?

• It only takes one wrong hire to ruin something great. I'm sharing some first hand experiences with Dzana Homan as she destroyed an otherwise beautiful company. She has done damage to the integrity of the brand and it's so unfair to the many beautiful people who dedicated their hard earned money and their time to trying to foster the music in the communities they serve.

  I'll begin with some direct quotes:

  "This is why you don't hire women with kids, children are a weakness."-Ms. Homan when she found out an employee was pregnant and had limited travel ability.

  "Get that fat Asian bitch out of my school" - Ms. Homan when she found out that an employee had given her two weeks notice.

  "Why didn't you tell me she was gay, I could have flirted with her to get what I want" - Ms. Homan mocking homosexual member of School of rock community.

  "She's not pretty enough for LA" - Ms. Homan regarding coworker

  "Zack Wylde, the lead guitar player in Black Sabbath" - Ms Homan on national television embarrassing the brand.

  "I will make his life miserable with meaningless work until he quits"- Ms Homan on her tactic to not fire someone as to not pay severance.

  Has call with Franchise Advisory Committee and tells them they are to dismantle. Recommends that they stand up at the conference in front of the company and announce they are dismantled. Hangs up the call, waits for one franchisee who attended in person to leave and then plays Another One Bites the Dust on her computer in corporate office and laughs in celebration at the thought of them humiliating themselves in front of the company.

  Drinks vodka and orange juice in office and becomes inebriated. Begins screaming at employee for being insubordinate.

  Becomes angered in meeting and says "I wish I had a little animal that I could squeeze" as she crushes paper mimicking killing said animal.

  Misses call after call after call while team members were working diligently to solve copyright issues and curriculum issues with Hal Leonard publishing. Ceases all progress with no alternative plan.

  Tells Schools she is coming to visit the school and will attend the school's event . Flies first class, stays in 5 star hotel, never shows up at school or event.

  Threatens franchisee of one of the largest schools with kicking her out of the system because the franchisee disagrees with her strategy.

  Announces company strategy at first conference as "increase top line revenue and increase bottom line revenue." Except that isn't a strategy that is the outcome of a strategy.

  Releases "Black Friday" marketing collateral with African American student as the model. Makes zero sense. Don't understand that connection.

  National Press is almost only about her and her escape from her home country. With her the kids come last.

  Overweights and overvalues the effect that "School of Rock Musical" and Nickelodeon television show will have on brand. Effects are basically zero positive and actually trivialize the real School of Rock experience.

  All of this happened in front of my eyes. Don't let this reflect on the owners. They are the victims. Do the right thing.

• In answer to the Admin question if we have attempted to communicate this to Sterling, the answer is "yes." I believe Ms. Homan tells them we are a "handful" of disgruntled owners who do not know what we are doing and that her team provides direction that we do not follow. [untrue]

  With regards to all the other comments posted here, I have experienced the same.

  Here's one more point as to corporate's incompetence: we are having a corporate conference call today to discuss Summer Camps. We start camps in June. (That's 6 days from now.) Everything for camps needed to be completed MINIMUM of 60 days ago.

  I love my students, my parent community, my teachers and my staff. I feel ripped off that I have to pay Corp 11% off the top PLUS $8 for every email address I have PLUS a fee for the software they require us to use (which, by the way is not specifically designed for music schools but is partially owned by the CEO we had prior to Ms. Homan) .

  Speaking of royalties, Corporate hosts a music festival for our students to participate in. We pay Corporate a fee established by Corporate in order to participate. Then when we collect the fees from the student, Corporate takes their royalty on top of that. Double Dipping?