(UnhappyFranchisee.com) Is the STRATUS BUILDING SOLUTIONS Franchise a scam? At UnhappyFranchisee.com, we’ve received a number of Stratus Building Solutions franchise complaints.
Strangely, Stratus Building Solutions is ranked #20 in Entrepreneur magazine’s Franchise 500 (READ: Top 100 Franchise Opportunities 2011: Behind The Hype)
In fact, when Unhappy Franchisee asked for commercial cleaning franchise complaints, half of the negative comments were against Stratus Building Solutions franchise opportunity.
Why are some franchise owners calling Stratus Building Solutions franchise a big scam? The complaints are the same as those levelled against Jani-King, Jan-Pro, Coverall, Cleannet USA and the other commercial cleaning franchise companies out there: Underbidding accounts, fraudulently taking cleaning accounts from one franchisee to give to another, etc. etc.
The question remains: Why are these janitorial franchise companies allowed to get away with these despicable practices?
Chris wrote:
Stratus Building Solutions, Especially the one is Pittsburgh is a big scam. Please do not go to Stratus.
“I bought a franchise and now they plan on taking the one and only account off of me. That leaves me with zero income. The way the contract is written is that they are able to take off of you any accounts they say. They tell you they have complaints about the cleaning you have been doing. They tell you ‘We warned you now the account is taken from you. We need to protect our intrest too.’
The contract favors them. I lost $13,700 Also even tho you think you own a franchise you really do not. They get you accounts that belong to them. so you can not sell your franchise. The only way you can sell it is to go door to door and get your own accounts. You could have started you own cleaning and keep all the cleaning money yourself. Please listen to me. The contract does not protect you at all. The contract benefits them.
Please help me stop Stratus of pittsburg and Stratus corporate from swindleing any one. The solution to me is to go clean places on your own. By the way, if you do get your own places to clean while you are with stratus, you still have to pay percentage.
Ale wrote:
stratus is all bull shiet !! its a fucking fraud!!!
Javier Santos on March 31st, 2011 7:27 pm wrote:
STRATUS is A Big Scam! Don’t let them ruin your dreams they take advantage of good people to fill up their pockets.
guest on May 14th, 2011 10:15 pm wrote:
Stratus Building Solutions Franchise has received a grade of “F” from the Better Business Bureau of Orange County
http://www.la.bbb.org/PublicComplaints.aspx?CompanyID=100103761
Stratus Building Solutions Franchise complaint 1:
“Posted 3/11/2011 Summary – Consumer alleges services were not rendered as agreed.
Complaint Description Consumer alleges services were not rendered as agreed. Consumer paid your company $1000.00 down for a franchise business opportunity on 7/19/10. She completed the classes needed to get certified on janitorial services on 8/24/10. Once the classes were completed she was going to start getting job sites were she had to provide janitorial services, using her own equipment and would receive a check for services rendered minus a 25% fee from your company. To date consumer has not received job sites. Every time she calls to get assistance she is given the run around. She requested to get her money back for the down payment on the franchise however you refused. Consumer wants a refund of her monies.”
Stratus Building Solutions Franchise complaint 2:
“Posted 4/15/2011 Summary – Consumer alleges services were misrepresented and no refund has been issued
Complaint Description Consumer alleges services were misrepresented and no refund has been issued. Consumer purchaser a franchise from your company on 7/14/09 and paid $22000.00. He was promised to have his own business, his own building to provide the janitorial service that will pay $120000.00 a year. To date he has made $17000.00 in one year. He is not running his own company, instead he is introduce to clients as if he was working for your company. He had to pay 25% fee from each check for insurance, processing fees etc. When consumer complains to your company and ask for a refund of the money he invested you refuse. Consumer wants a refund of the $22000.00 he paid because the franchise was not as represented.”
Stratus Building Solutions Franchise complaint 3:
“Posted 4/21/2011 Summary – Consumer states company failed to provide proper services.
Complaint Description Consumer states company failed to provide proper services. Consumer paid $14,500 to the company. The company stated they would assist her in getting contracts with franchises, to clean their facilities. A list of potential leads would be provided to her. The lists they provided are not valid. When she requested a refund, she only received the runaround.”
Rob on June 2nd, 2011 wrote:
Stratus Building Solutions Franchise in Philadelphia is a big SCAM, Please don’t made same mistake I did and do not Buy franchise from them, they take advantage of good people, You are actually paying 10′s of thousands of dollars to make between $8-$10hr. You can’t even hire people without taking a loss, the ONLY people making real money are the people selling the franchises.
anonymous on July 15th, 2011 3:22 pm (Edit)
What bothers me the most is that with all the cleaning companies out there, they all repeat the same deceptive, abusive, misleading and unethical practices. They prey on the average american who wants to legally make money and work hard doing it. Often people have invested their life savings into the hope of making a better way for their families. It is unbelievable how the state and federal government aren’t doing anything after years of complaints and law suits to protect people from these modern day ponzi schemes.
I invested my money into Stratus Building Solutions to later find out that im not a owner of my own business but merely a employee, i paid $11000 to work a job. The gross revenues arent guranteed, they underbid contracts just to build their portfolio. Some of the jobs break down to be less than minimum wage. A business is meant to grow, not keep you stuck in one place where you have to do all the work to get by. If you speak against their actions they totally cut you off, no contact, even when they still owe you money.
IS THE STRATUS BUILDING SOLUTIONS FRANCHISE A LEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITY OR A FRANCHISE SCAM? SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW.
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Anyone in Charlotte nc
mis suenos ,mi dinero todo se fue a la basura con esta compania ratera por no decirlo de otra manera !!!!!
stratus building solution clearwater, tampa es una gran estafa nunca pagan en tiempo, nunca completan las cuentas, toman el dinero y despues no se hacen responsables de nada se aprovechan de los latinos que invierten su dinero en la compania y despues cambian el nombre de compania y se van asi es como no se hacen responsables de lo que hacen
Stratus Building Solutions this company is a scam, they take your money and never complete your account, never send the checks on time, and never answer the calls, after taking your money and no one is responble,
stratus building solution es una gran estafa el dueno jeff te dan las cuentas y despues te las quitan sin ningun motivo nunca podras recuperar tu dinero limpiando si inviertes en esta compania estafadora donde despues k des tu dinero nadie te respondera el telefono nunca mas
Stratus Indy is getting ready to change names. They have several lawsuits pending. They have not dealt honestly with anyone, in fact, because of their bad business practices, they have put one franchise out of business, and ripped him off for nearly $90,000.00+. Because of this bad deal they sent the franchise on, out of state, to wax floors for Dollar General floors, (no signed contract for this, a bogus contact met online through "Linked In"), they have lost their house, their building for business and vehicles. Stratus Indy has offered no help, no solution, and has now revoked the franchise, and even charges the ex-franchise fees, and chargebacks on this bogus job they went and completed (52 stores). These guys are liars and cheats. This is all boiling to a head. Stratus Indy is not honest.
I love it when lies are told and can easily be varified by independent parties.
1) There are two lawsuits currently in place with Shamrock/Stratus Indy. One is against it as talked about on the other post that has already been documented/explained. The other is where Shamrock/Stratus Indy has sued the following: USM/Joanne Fabrics/Dollar General/Dunhams Sporting Goods/Toys R Us and Babies R Us and others.
2) Owner-Operator discussed has not only known about the issue, he has been given approx. 50k even though not one cent has been collected to date from USM/Joanne Fabrics/Dollar General/Dunhams Sporting Goods/Toys R Us and Babies R Us and others.
3) Owner-Operator has been party too, supplied documentation including pictures, met with Stratus/Shamrock Attorneys and is very much in the loop both verbally and in writing as to status of the case.
4) He is still an Owner-Operator and will continue to be as long as he wants to be. By the way, he put $1,000.00 cash down, signed note for $2,000.00 and has billed north of $138,000.00 since he has been part of the Stratus Family.
These are the facts, these items listed above were/are the truth. In regards to the USM/Joanne Fabrics/Toys R Us/Babies R Us/Dunhams/Dollar General lawsuit, Stratus/Shamrock is paying for the attorney's fees and is pursuing this heavily in State Court of Indiana in an attempt to not only make owner-operator hole but to show the lack of Quality Company that USM is by them allowing literally anyone to have access to their customers without proper background checks, without knowing quality of performance, without basic security procedure review etc.
So Anonymous, aka former disgruntled/terminated/embarrassed employee that cussed out two customers causing him to lose his job. Let me know what else you'd like to say/spew and I will be more than happy to counter with facts!
And I am still waiting for the administrator to contact his old friend Fortman and post as quickly as he did the amended complaint the courts findings in this amended complaint......Two days and counting since my request, 8 days and counting since document was filed by the Judge and sent/given to all parties.
My Stratus Franchisor just offered me a new job.
I would pay $ 1000.00 to obtain this account and I would make (gross) $11.21 per hour.
He makes the $1000.00 in fulfilling the account plus another $1200.00 per year.
I have found that Stratus Franchisors are more interested in signing up poor unsuspecting people and fulfilling account requirements with accounts that will pay near poverty level incomes.
My Franchisor says that He can't charge more and be competitive. I cannot afford to fix my equipment when it breaks down much less afford the gasoline for travel to my accounts.
This is not what I signed up for.
Signed,
A very unhappy franchisee.
Hefty Bag wrote: "And I am still waiting for the administrator to contact his old friend Fortman and post as quickly as he did the amended complaint the courts findings in this amended complaint……Two days and counting since my request, 8 days and counting since document was filed by the Judge and sent/given to all parties."
I really am not up-to-speed on what you're talking about. If you have documents you'd like posted, please email them to me at UnhappyFranchisee[at]gmail.com.
It's also not clear why Shamrock/Stratus Indy has sued USM/Joanne Fabrics/Dollar General/Dunhams Sporting Goods/Toys R Us and Babies R Us and others. Feel free to share that story with a clear overview, and provide the lawsuit complaint to that as well.
We deal with a lot of stories and franchisors here, and rely on commenters to keep us updated as to developments.