1-800-DRYCLEAN: Failed Franchisee Taken to Cleaners?

A commenter named James claims he was taken to the cleaners by Service Brands, Int’l.  He recently closed his 1-800-DRYCLEAN franchise.  What do you think?

My name is James, I owned a 1-800-Dryclean franchise. 1-800-DryClean is a national franchise operation. The franchisor’s U.S. home office is in Ann Arbor, MI. 1-800-DryClean is part of Service Brands International whose brands include MOLLY MAID and Mr. Handyman. We deliver dry cleaning door-to-door. I feel that I have been wronged from Service Brands International, which has 600 Franchises under its name. I believe that they are selling territories that they know will not be successful. I have invested around $75,000, $45,000 for the franchise initial start up, and the rest, expenses of trying to get this route up and running, this is an estimate, the money could be more. On October 24th , 2008, I went out of business. The home office sent out a letter to all of my customers that stated that I am out of business and if you would like to own a business in Leominster, MA please let them know. They are trying to sell this territory, knowing full well that it will never reach the goals that they have set. I believe they are just trying to get the initial franchise fee, which is around $45,000.

Here are some of the many complaints I have against Service Brands. I have been fighting with them through emails on almost all of these points through the last couple of years and have kept all of the emails. At one point, it seemed liked they were going to change some of their policies, but never did.

READ ON @ UNHAPPY FRANCHISEE.

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