The moderators have STRUCK again!

Sarum Associates · Jun 3, 2008

The recent threads about a certain fraudulent franchise have been removed by the moderators.
The latest threads have stopped at least one person from losing £ 50,000 by buying into a 'scam' franchise. - For that at least we should be grateful.

Despite the fact that one of the companies will be wound up tomorrow, and the directors will subsequently probably be prosecuted; this site is still running scared of litigation from a bunch of crooks.

The bad news is that they have set up again under another company, and more unsuspecting victims may fall for their scam because the moderators of this site are too scared to to take a stand against crooks.

We will continue to 'out' these crooks at our site, and will not bow to any threat or intimidation.

details at: www.franchiseassociates.co.uk

Spread the word before this thread is removed as well by the spineless moderators. (Well, this is probably my last post anyway!)

HC-Martin · Jun 3, 2008

I don't think that sort of abuse at the moderators is going to do your cause ANY good whatsoever. I think you will find it's been removed by Sift rather than any individual moderator.

They do a great job and you have no right to slag them off like this. If you don't like what has been removed, speak to Sift, in a professional way.

Jun 3, 2008

There was a long and frank discussion on UKBF quite some time ago about franchises, and it lead to the franchise sub-forum being discontinued. It seems that people think they can come onto a forum such as this one, and spread whatever they want about a company.

This is fine, if the company are as you say, fraudulent - but a lot of these type of posts tend to be from people who have made a hash of their own business, and want someone to blame.

So, case closed really re franchising - as someone said at the time, if you feel so strongly about it, why not set up your own franchise forum, and slag whoever you want off in there?

I'm another one who gets pissed off about the mods here getting slagged at every opportunity - they do a great job, and without their dedication, this forum and others like it would be nothing but a spam hell.

Darren Falkingham · Jun 3, 2008

Hi,

Firstly, please understand that I don't like having to remove posts from UKBF. Especially when I can see that people are having horrible experiences with their franchises.

However I did explain when I closed the threads that I had personally received a legal request to take down the posts on the grounds of libel and defamation. I'm duty-bound as publisher to take responsibility for anything written on this site, once I've been notified of any potentially defamatory content.

It's not that we're running scared from litigation. I've said it before, and my position remains the same - UKBF is not here to fight legal wrangles with franchisors. Get a bit of advice, yes. Talk about franchising as a business model, yes. But name & shame and vent your own frustrations, no.

UKBF is a free-to-air public forum covering many angles of starting and running a small business - but Franchising is a subject that has always caused these sort of problems (and this is the reason we removed the Franchising forum last year).

Believe me, I'm genuinely pleased to see that you're willing to stand up to any firm that you regard as unscrupulous, but for the sake of UKBF as a whole, we simply can't be here to get involved in issues that should really be solved between the franchisor, franchisee, and a legal representative.

I'm sure you can see that it's not fair on me to have to deal with legal letters and wade through posts that I personally haven't been involved in.

Cheers,
Darren

Moneyman · Jun 3, 2008

I hadnt heard of those scams before. It is a very fine legal line from being a scam to just being useless and i would have said it might be just that they are on the border. If someone was prepared to pay that sort of fee without a large proportion being a sucess fee they are not very clued up.
In my world there are plenty of agencies trying to get money to help people find investors. Several charge up front fees for pushing ideas that dont have a hope in hell. It is very hard to do anything because they are "trying".

Mister B · Jun 4, 2008

I am in total agreement with the mods on pretty much all areas of moderation, on the whole, they do a wonderful job.

Although I sympathise with people who may get stung with dodgy franchise deals, I would have thought that if you were looking to invest £50k, you would make some pretty serious investigations into the whole concept and viability of the scheme.

I looked at one recently myself, which only entailed an investment of £10k. After spending £300 on getting the agreement ratified by a bonafide franchise solicitor, I found myself in a position whereby the agreement offered me nothing at all. Pulled out of the deal...£300 saved me £10k.

Mister B

investmentsense · Jun 4, 2008

Moneyman said:
I hadnt heard of those scams before. It is a very fine legal line from being a scam to just being useless and i would have said it might be just that they are on the border. If someone was prepared to pay that sort of fee without a large proportion being a sucess fee they are not very clued up.
In my world there are plenty of agencies trying to get money to help people find investors. Several charge up front fees for pushing ideas that dont have a hope in hell. It is very hard to do anything because they are "trying".

The companies in question were you using false testimonials to lure people into joining and then delivered nothing.

The company was wound up in the High Court today. Yet only 8 months ago £810K was paid in dividends leaving the company with an overdraft of £250K and £1.4m owing to it's franchisees in commissions.

But you are right, fine line between scam and being useless. I would not say useless, in fact I think certain individuals are extrmeely clever, you have to be get 70 individuals to part with between £35K and £60K each for, effectivley, fantasy IP that does not actually exist.

I prefer to look at the facts, and in the company in questions case, the facts really are grim reading.

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The moderators have STRUCK again!

Sarum Associates

HC-Martin

Darren Falkingham

Moneyman

Mister B

investmentsense

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