SIGNWORLD Complaints
SIGNWORLD claims it is a business opportunity, not a franchise. Others use a different term to describe SIGNWORLD: A Ripoff. 
As an alleged business opportunity, Signworld makes bold claims on its website that would be illegal for a franchise, including lots of attractive earnings claims and promises of “high profit margins” and “high resale value upon retirement” for its $185,000 investment.
But comments on complaint website Rip-off Report are critical of SIGNWORLD, founder Ken Kindt and VP of Sales Jack Werner. Here are some excerpts:
December 16, 2008, dh from San Antonio, Texas wrote:
…THEY PROMOTE “No previous industry experience is necessary” because SIGWORLD is supposed to reduce the risk of failure. B.S. … It is bad enough that SIGNWORLD sell this lie by building up misleading statements on statistics (never see this in writing though) of low failure rate and cleverly hiding the awful truth of failure. I was told 5% in the 20 year history. I found out it’s closer to 40% once I got in and they had my money….
It’s a shitty competetive dog eat dog business. Your lucky if your gross profit ends up at 50% with this model…. any one can order the bread and butter business you want online for half the price you can do it for.
One more thing…. CITY REGULATIONS are getting tougher and tougher to put up signs. You basically make a sale and go back and research wether you really have a sale or not…
YOU WILL LOSE MONEY EACH MONTH FOR 2 TO 3 YEARS… it seems about 80% of new owners lose money for 2 or 3 years and they either close up or continue to work without a paycheck. This is true even though you do exactly what SIGNWORLD and Jack Werner said you should do….
MY ADVICE-Rather than wait until your broke……STAY AWAY!!!
December 31, 2008 Anonomous of Ofallon wrote:
They underestimate the capital required for start up. The performa’s they provide you with are erroneous….plan on an additional 100k over what they tell you if you want to stay in business. I asked for help trying to sell mine and JW’s comment was…”it would be against our best judgement to try and sell a failing business to a perspective client” How ironic!!
January 23, 2009 Rk of Spokane wrote:
…If you feel compelled to spend well over $250K in capital, I recommend that you convert it to dollar bills, pile it up at a camp site, light it on fire, and gather the kids around for a good old fashioned marshmallow roast rather than waste your time with Signworld.
Seriously, if you really want to get into the sign business, just visit a few sign shops and they’ll sell to you on the spot. Because the only thing that owner wants, is to get the bloody Hell out of his Signworld mistake…
October 13, 2009 signgirl of newnan wrote:
I work for a signworld company, not saying where, but have been there since the start up…
Ken Kindt sells dreams, and many people have bought it, i wish i could sit down with the man, and ask him how he sleeps at night knowing he has reemed so many people, but you know, people like him would laugh if they read this, because money has taken over ethics and morals.
Be sure to read: SIGNWORLD: VP Jack Werner Fires Back at Critics
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE SIGNWORLD OPPORTUNITY? WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
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Signworld corp, located in Hawaii, aka SKUNKWORLD, SUNKWORLD, STINKWORLD, SCHEMEWORLD
Ken Kindt, Rip-off ARTIST FRAUDELENT founder, FRAUDSTER of SKUNKWORLD, SUNKWORLD, STINKWORLD, SCHEMEWORLD
After his career at Ford Motor Co he became fraudulent certified planner with Pollock Financial Group, in the Mid- 80’s, in Menlo Park, presently residing in Portola Valley, CA conning prospective investors into Limited Commercial Real Estate projects being offered by Trammell Crow. Hundred of investors lost millions of dollars, which represented their life-time savings, pension funds, and retirement funds.
kk is a Liar and a Cheat, basically a FINANCIAL TERRORIST. kk HAS NO MORALS OR ETHICS, when it comes to defrauding his friends, relatives, or acquaintances for money.
Like SIGN WORLD Corp, AKA SKUNKWORLD, SUNKWORLD, STINKWORLD, SCHEMEWORLD, kk guaranteed positive cash flows and 100% return on your original RE investment.
BLATANT LIES.
kk has the same mentality as BERNIE MADOFF (REMEMBER HIM?): SCREW EVERYBODY.
kk! you’ve made my financial situation miserable beyond words, I intend to reciprocate the favor.
YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE. WATCH YOUR BACK!
kk’s greed for money in the mid 80’s has flourished to this day in new fraudulent schemes.
Again, you’re a FINANCIAL TERRORIST.
BEWARE OF THIS EVIL MAN.
JL
I’ve worked at two SignWorld Sign Companies.
One is successful, the other (where I am currently the only employee) is on the verge of going under.
Sure, some of the blame could be put on SignWorld’s shoulders. For the most part though, it is the owners, and how committed they are to making their business a success.
SignWorld sells a start-up package, nothing more. Printer, Plotter, Design Station, Software, Training Course, and support. It’s how SignWorld wraps that package and presents it that is a tad shady.
The first SignWorld company I worked for (the successful one), the owner Mike was constantly out chasing down jobs, submitting bids, schmoozing customers, etc… He worked harder and longer than anyone else there to build his business. For the most part, he was more worried about making his customer happy than his bottom line. While the other sign companies in the area were using crap material and cutting corners wherever they could, we spent the extra time and money to create quality signage.
While this eventually paid off and he has a very successful business now, he also did not collect a paycheck in the first 2 to 3 years.
Mike educated himself in different aspects of the sign industry, from electrical all the way down to basic table production. He also surrounded himself with people who had the experience he needed. I’m telling you right now, if you come out of that SignWorld training and think you are ready to run a sign company, you are a dope and should prepare for failure.
Through a lot of hard work, and yes money, this sign company became very successful.
Now the second SignWorld company, which I am currently employed at, not so much. Currently wrapping our first year, I sit at my desk with no jobs and nothing to do but write this. A “sinking ship” feeling has engulfed the place and I’m starting to wonder if I will show up to work one morning to a locked building and “out of business” sign.
It’s not for lack of effort, the owner here does try to track down those “big” jobs and does spend a nice chunk of change on advertising. In many ways he puts just as much effort forth as Mike did, but without the results.
While SignWorld could be a little more realistic with the package they are selling prospective business owners, in the end it is up to each owner to do what it takes to make their business a success. Even then there are no guarantees, starting your own company is a risk, no matter how much SignWorld wants you to believe otherwise, but it’s not their fault you bought into the bullshit.
Signworld ruined my life both financially and mentally.
Do not believe what Ken or Jack tell you. They only tell you the good in order to get your money. Failure rate is not 5% like they tell you, but more like 40%. Since we started our business in 2009, there have been over 22 signworld owners that have gone out of business. It’s been a very tough, long road. I would NEVER do this over again if given the chance. It’s made me sick.
I am currently employed at a “SignWorld” company in the southeast and I laugh every single day I show up to work. From what I see at other SignWorld companies, it’s not unusual. These poor suckers get conned by someone and they pay all this extra money for stuff that is pretty useless. They have no experience in the industry and are mostly destined to fail.
While I feel bad for the people that got into this without any experience and got sold something they probably didn’t expect, what were these owners thinking? Their equipment is claimed as high tech and that it will give them an edge but that’s not true. They get one printer, one plotter and one laminator. Plus maybe a color
Profiler(not much good when you have no experience in color management to start with), a book about “how to make signs”(lol! You shouldnt go into business if you are that clueless) and some supposed deals through vendors. Decent equipment but nothing that special. You can buy all those for less than 30k combined.
Anyone with any experience would laugh at this package. You are better off doing the research and avoiding signworld at all costs. If you truly interested in getting into the field, just do your homework. SignWorld is not needed.
Now if you are an experienced sign maker and don’t need to hired some half baked lackey like myself to tell you how to do every little thing you may have a chance but of course you’d just go out and do it instead of messing around with these jokers. Think about what you are really doing.
Good luck fellas.
Bullshit it is….i speak from experience…CON MEN!
They boast that anyone can start a sign company with no prior knowledge…and if you fail it’s your fault. Why is it your fault? Well, probably because you bought into a business simply because you paid someone to tell you that you could.
Remember that old saying, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” You want to start a sign business? Go right ahead. Leave Signworld out and immediately save $100+k.
Well if you were half as good at sales as you are at griping and crying you wouldn’t be such a bunch of negative Nancy’s.
I am a proud sign world owner of almost 12 years and I like everyone else had no industry experience. I LOVE not paying royalties,I have a LOT OF FUN doing my own thing, I HAVE gotten to know a lot of other owners, I DO go to the convention every year, I am INVOLVED in the various programs and opportunities available to all owners, I do make a lot of MONEY, my wife is HAPPY, and I do take a lot of VACATIONS!
Really? Obviously you never reached out to me personally or the other owner/leaders in the organization or……you too would …..BE HAPPY!
Want to have a conversation? I’m here just like 240+ other committed owners. Just give me a call or e-mail and don’t hide behind “Name Withheld”…..it’s unbecoming!
John Bogensberger
Signs for Success
Spokane, WA
[redacted]
One of the most successful sign shops is a Signworld owner in San Diego doing $28 million dollars.
Not everyone is going to be successful. I’ve seen McDonald’s close locations. Are you gonna poo-poo Mickey D’s?
“Are you gonna poo-poo Mickey D’s?”
That’s a weird question, Larry Ball, but since you asked, I’m actually poo-pooing Mickey D’s while I’m typing this.
We’ve been in this for way too long! The industry is getting saturated and other companies are cutting their prices to make it through the month! Yes, there are successes, but there are much more that have closed. Would I do it all over again? NEVER! Don’t let them kid you and take your money. You will be sorry.
Don’t do this to yourself! Run as fast as you can away from Signworld! Too many sign shops all over and you will fight for the very last scraps. People want something for nothing and your competitor will do it just so they can keep the doors open. It doesn’t matter if they get a shitty job, just as long as they get it at a discount. This is a miserable business.
I am surprised there are not more complaints about this company. Now with the internet, people can go online to get the cheapest deal they can find. They don’t care! As the above poster said, they don’t care if it’s crappy, as long as it’s cheap. Our area is overflowing with sign companies. It’s very tough . The people that want quality over cost are few and far between.
IMO, find something else to do. I promise, you will be sorry if you do this.