[Ian Gourlay]

I was just wondering is there a code of silence with Franchise companies.

Are they not allowed to post on Forums unless it is to plug the company when they are trying to recruit.

[jasonl]

T hey have thier own secret boards,,,, anyone want a password, its funny to see them mock the independants in thier little old vans and terraced houses, we are all cowboys on the breadline.. its humourous to read.

[Kev Loomes]

I think what it is, is that they are aftraid of posting in case they get told off by their franchisor for saying the wrong thing or giving away their ideas

They may mock independents but secretly they wish they were. And believe you me, they are watching and reading - they like to pick up tips from the pro's as much as they can 

[brucie]

Whats wrong with terraced houses?

[Mike Halliday]

that's where poor people live

I dream Of living in a terraced house, living in a shoebox at the moment

I would have thought the Master franchise owners must be worried about the freedom of information these boards bring,  they might tell their franchisers that we all live on the breadline but you only have to read these boards to realise their are a lot of independents earning big money without being tied to a contract

Mike

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Has she chucked you out?

Shaun

[craigp]

i think its the francises that struggle and have been serverly squeezed by independent companies.

jason, were are there secret boards, expose them

[Mike Halliday]

if you publish a password it will be just changed.

Shaun,  the house is in my name, if she does'nt cater for my every whim its she that gets kicked out

mike

[craigp]

i don't want the pass word, weres the boards?

[Ian Gourlay]

When I belonged to another organization, some computer wiz captured the email adress of lots of the members.

Started a Forum.

For the first time we were able to compare our experiences


The company had a complete wobly, several  heads rolled .

[John Kelly]

I think the Chem Dry, Rainbow and Servicemaster guys are too busy making money and running thier businesses to bother with forums.

[craigp]

i met a guy that was ex employee of a franchise, he said they struggled in past 4 years and he said it was the 'private' companies as he put it that had taken so much of there work.

what makes you think they do so well John? its not the impression i get.

[John Kelly]

I know quite a few of them and they have a far higher standard of living than I do.

[jasonl]

I know a few, with everything on lease/finance, 200k plus mortgages, lost 90% of thier insurance work, flogging a dead horse.

[calmore]

I have never really seen the point of a franchise, after all you are effectively just renting a company name.

Unfortunately, the British public generally aren't familiar with these names so I don't really see what the franchisee really stands to gain. I mean, how many members of the general public will have heard of 'Rainbow' or 'Chemdry' and know what they do?

[craigp]

i know what your saying calmore, and i agree, but i dont know now because i think things are changing, but if you called you house insurers cus you spilt red wine on your sofa the insurers will call chemdry and the like because they are a national network, they have all this work to themselfs its high paid work and the insurance industry spend millions each year with frachisee's, oh not to mention the flood work, thats the main benefit of being a franchise.

[bennymon]

hi folks i used to be with chemdry the insurance work was good but only the flood work paid well after id done 6 months of flood work instead of jobs worth £2000 all the jobs were nearer £200 all the work was on a rota there was 8 of us in my area but i got the feeling homeserve were getting moore than most.they no longer want 1 man bands doing insurance work and said at a seminar they think every franchise should start to concentrate on carpet cleaning [ unheard of before ] i think the insurance is drying up  and as a carpet cleaner they offer me nothing .my experience with them was awfull and i will still be paying for it for the next 2 years i hope they  rot 

[calmore]

I agree that with a franchise you will get most of the insurance jobs in your area. However, you probably won't get most of the normal cleaning jobs!

Two slightly different types of business aimed at two different niches of the same market.

Perhaps the NCCA need to market themselves to insurance companies, pointing out that their members offer a more flexible service at a more cost effective price?

[craigp]

yes we get most of the domestic privite work though

[John Kelly]

Craig the bulk of the turnover of most of the big Chem Dry & Rainbow outfits is fire & flood restoration work. Some of these outfits have full time accountants. A flood job can be anything from a £50 call out to £10,000.
When Carlisle got flooded last year Chem Dry had 1100 flooded properties. One franchise dealt with over 300 of these. Even at £1,000 each thats a lot of money and some of them would have been well in excess of that amount. The franchise concerned is now building an industrial estate to rent out.
Different world from carpet cleaning.