Possibly interesting update after I saw David and Michael in a picture after downloading a franchise pack:
According to the franchise pack that Washforce provide, David and Michael Willis say that:
"...We originally set up our own cleaning company and it cost us thousands of pounds to get set up and to advertise and we were struggling.
We heard through a friend of ours about the Washforce franchise opportunity and arranged a meeting with Paul Wilkinson and we bought into Washforce.
Already our workload has increased and Head Office has given us National jobs within weeks of starting, such as Barclays Bank and Natwest"
The thing that makes it really, really odd, is that they are directors of Washforce (UK) Ltd - who I believe are the
franchisors of the business. As well as apparently being franchisees (that's the impression anyone reading the prospectus might take away - take a look using the link below. Their section looks very much like the sections written by
franchisees though I will agree that it doesn't specifically say they have bought a franchise - it's more of an impression given that the page looks identical to the ones written by franchisees and talks about "head office" giving them work).
The reason I bring it up is that to someone unfamiliar with the Willis boys, it would be easy to read the prospectus and think they were
franchisees rather than directors of the
franchisor.
Now, given how prone to threatening legal action one of these guys is, I want to be clear that I believe what I'm saying to be fair comment. I truly feel that anyone reading the prospectus might be confused. Perhaps they could explain whether they are franchisees, franchisors or both.
Franchise pack at
http://www.washforcefranchise.co.uk/prospectus.aspx if you want to check.