Claim Details
Company: | Smart ABC ltd |
Type: | Selling franchises |
Country: | United Kingdom |
City: | kidderminster |
Postcode: | DY11 7AR |
Address: | Unit 4 Easter Park, Worcester Road |
Claim title: | Smart ABC misrepresentation of facts |
Claim value: | £15,000 |
Incident Date: | november 2008 |
Mature Content: | yes |
Photos included:
There are no photos for this complaint
Files included:
There are no files for this complaint
i paid them £15k for a franchise based on what they told me, since then i have discovered alot of the things they said were lies and certain facts were totally misrepresented, because of the lies and misrepresentation, i want my money back...... To date i am aware of over 40 failed franchises from Smart ABC and another 28 that are struggling to make ends meet...further details are available
Listed below are some of the areas where franchisees have ceased trading,
i hope this info helps individuals to realise that some area have a even higher failure rate then others!!
Scotland..............................Glasgow
..........................................Alloa.......
North East............................Thornby
..........................................West Hull Villages.........
North West............................Liverpool
...........................................Oldham
...........................................Wilmslow
...........................................Leigh
...........................................North Wirral
...........................................Widnes
West Midlands........................Kingswinford
............................................Redditch
............................................Worcester
.............................................Lichfield
.............................................Halesowen
............................................Sutton Coldfield
.............................................Walsall
.............................................Solihull
.............................................Shrewsbury
.............................................West Cheltenham............
East Midlands..........................N/E Nottingham
.............................................IIkeston
.............................................Mansfield North
.............................................Marketharborough
.............................................South Leicester
..............................................South Leicester 2nd time.....
South West.............................CribsCauseway...............
South East................................Oxford North
...............................................Oxford South.................
London................................Greenford
..............................................Ealing
..............................................Staines
...............................................Epson...............................
Comments
[30/04/2010] Graham: I am also an ex franchisee of SMART Auto Body Coat Ltd. I ceased trading last year and have been unemployed since. They have now got a debt collection agency chasing me and threatening court action for 4.5 years management fees and the balance of my franchise fee. I have also had to hand back the lease van to Mercedes Benz Finance who are also threatening court action. Unfortunately people are still falling for the spin and buying franchises. Just look at the facts
[16/05/2010] Robert: I am another with a failed Smart ABC franchise. I too bought the slick sales pitch and believed that I could generate up to £92k revenue from just £3.4k of marketting costs by completeing "perfect results time after time", "in under an hour". Despite every effort on my part and the free help of friends and family, I was only able to generate less than a third of this turnover and no profit as costs spiralled far beyond the business plan. I was never able to come anywhere near the promised repair times, typically taking 3 hours (6 times longer than promised) for a basic repair.
[18/05/2010] Dingo: Hi all I am also a franchisee and very soon within days every thing is going to end. I will loose my home I have to sleep in the street with my family because of mis leading facts given by the SMART ABC. They are not helping any one of the franchise every month lots of them stop trading.we have to act toghther and stop them from making money lots of poor peoples hope and dreams are ruined because of them .........................................................
[27/05/2010] Mike: Can I ask what makes this franchise so bad when compared to other similar ones??
[27/05/2010] BrokeBloke: I answer to Mike, perhaps it's the fact that the repair times are grossly exagerated ie. typical repair time less than 1 hour, I don't know of anyone who has done one in that time from start to finish. We were also told that the products were specifically developed for SMART ABC when in fact they are mainly Dupont product decanted into smaller containers. You are also told that the colour spectrometer is 100% accurate, the manufacturers and Dupont quote 95% accuracy in workshop conditions not outside in sunshine & cold.
[28/05/2010] notsosmartabc: Hello Mike.... I can only speak about Smart ABC but the figures speak for themselves... 33 failures in 2 years (35% failure rate).
If at open days people had ben told the true figures they could make their own minds up .......Nick Bicknell is fully aware that these figures would make most people, if not all walk away.
Mr Bicknell talks about the high levels of support they give at Smart ABC this just doesn,t happen. Its all down to signing more and more individuals up..... the sales lines are slick and well rehersed....... the rest of it falls flat...
The training is slack and if a repair can be done in the times they state an operative can do it in why don,t they leave the training being able to do so?....
[28/05/2010] Mike: I bought a business package from another provider and I have to 100% agree on the repair times, a typical repair takes me around about 3 1/2 hours. As for the spectrometer, that piece of kit is designed for matching colours in leather and should not even be used on paintwork
[30/05/2010] Done: There are success stories within the SMART field, but few and far between.The problem is that people go into it with a distorted view of the work. This is down to a system being marketed in a very unrealistic way, by a company solely selling a product or package without vetting or considering who buys into it.
To my mind there really is not such a thing as a SMART repair and these franchises offer very little in training for you to cope in the real world. You end up learning on the job and potentially wrecking peoples pride and joy.
Mr Bicknell has a history connected to one of the other big names in this field which, although has more backing and offers more support, runs along the same lines.
I was a fool (not with abc) and am now paying for it. Some of it my own fault but I walked into something that turned out to be completely different from what was described. The trouble is once you've handed over the money there is no going back.
There are two ways to go. Make sure your skill level is of a high enough standard to be absolutely confident in the field, or become one of the many cowboys out there.
[01/06/2010] SMART GUY: I think the SMART repair industry as a whole have a lot to answer for. I too bought a smart repair package from a differant provider and was promised pretty much the same as you smart ABC guys were promised, ie great earning potential, repairs in just over an hour, great support ect ect. I am now 2 months in and very little has materialised. I get virtually no marketing support, the training whilst regarded as some of the best available has NOT prepared me for life in the real world as a result alot of work I have to turn down because I simply cannot do it, and the jobs I do take on take me well over 3 hours, and head office now they have my money pretty much dont want to know. I am looking to get out of it soon and hopefully sell on the business to minimise losses.
[01/06/2010] Done: One of the things that can be an issue is the HSE. To be considered a SMART repair involves regulation of both quantities of product used and over how much of a repair area. Also to cure quickly some lacquer has to have isocyanate content, this would mean an exclusion zone of 5 to 10 metres when repairing a car in an uncontrolled environment. If companies are claiming that they can repair whole panels, etc. they are misleading both Franchisees and customers alike. Although definitions are somewhat vague maybe a visit from HSE (although they are quite a weak organisation) would be a step in the right direction.
[30/06/2010] Peter: This sort of witch hunt infuriates me. Whoever you buy your franchise from it's YOUR business and it is entirely up to YOU to market that business and find your own customers. Do you think Burger King sits back and waits for Pizza Hut to generate customers for them or do you think they use their own initiative and do it themselves? That's a no brainer don't you think?
All business will succeed if the person running that business is motivated and can think for themselves. You bought the franchise it's not anyone else fault you cant succeed. I bet your van sat in your drive day in day out expecting someone to chap your door offering you work. That's just not going to happen now is it?
Let me tell you it is more than possible to complete a repair in an hour. It takes time to get up to that speed but it is more than achievable. I am a mobile smart repairer NOT a franchise and I made £540.00 today. Nobody said it was easy but I along with hundreds of others up and down the UK make a success of what we do. Why? because we are SELF motivated.
HSE!!!! show me where it is written and it is the law? You CANT, because there is NO law surrounding Smart repairers while they carry out their work. There are GUIDLINES, that's it. Yes there are compliant products that's all you can buy nowadays
The quotes above are purely fictional and to be honest there are some posts that are complete RUBBISH!!!!. I suggest you get your facts correct before posting your hard luck stories.
The bottom line is that there is no point it blaming others for your own failures.
must bash i have 6 bumpers tomorrow which will ALL be done in under the 2 hour mark.
Peter
[30/06/2010] Smart Researcher: Peter, a far as I read this blog I dont think the guys are disputing that some people do make good money out of Smart repair I think their problrem is that when they asked the franchisor perfectly legitimate questions which need to be asked during the research stage they did not get a truthful answer. For example, I asked SMART ABC how many failures they had had overall and I too was told the answer was 2. Infact as I have posted on another thread 6 have gone from their website in the last few weeks alone.
Couldnt agree with you more that it is down to the individual to generate business, however the point of going with a franchise is to benefit from the support and backup, and if this is not there then what is the point of the franchise.
Also what I think is very unethical is to persue for 5 years worth of franchise fee once the business has gone under.
[30/06/2010] Peter: SR
Sorry i went off on a rant there.
Unfortunately you don't realise until a later date that the question you asked has probably been answered truthfully. There probably has only been 2 failures and umpteen more just left 2 proud to admit failure. Maybe if the question was asked.......... how many people have left the network then this could be a more difficult question to hide the truth without a blatant lie.
A good starting point before going into any franchise is to check the London Gazette for bankruptcy. Try it, you will be amazed at what you find. S***T ABC may not come up as it is a relatively new company.
I do sympathise with some peoples circumstances but why give up? It is nearly impossible for any company to stop you earning money to provide for your family. So leave and do it yourself. Yes they will be able to enforce some of the clauses in the contract as in not working in YOUR area, BIG deal.
Bankruptcy in not the end of the line for you. It could be the beginning of a very prosperous business. The accountant in bankruptcy is not going to take away your tools, how will you survive if they do? Get yourself a van because (loads of companies will rent/lease without credit checks) all smart ABC can take from you is their branded goods, give them nothing else, you bought it. Bob's your uncle bankrupt one day trading the next.
This is a very very good business to be in. If you though you would be making mega bucks instantly then more fool you. The old saying if is too good to be true then it probably is.
Some of you have 2 choices....... give up like a wooos or fight to keep what you have already started. My advice would be to keep going without the backing of the franchisor as it is possible.
Forgot to mention............. do not deal with financial hardship yourself go to an organisation like the citizens advice bureau. Stay well clear of these people that offer IVA's or Trust Deeds their month fees run into hundreds of pounds which the C.A.B will do for FREE.
Good luck everyone and apologies for the rant. I'm just very passionate about this industry.
[30/06/2010] Smart Researcher: Good advice!!!!
[01/07/2010] An Ex-Franchisee: To Peter,
You still do not get it, IF WE WERE TOLD OF THE FAILURE`S FROM THE START, OF WHICH I COUNT PEOPLE THAT HAVE LEFT THE NETWORK AS BEING THE SAME THING, WE WOULD OF NOT GONE WITH SMARTABC IN THE FIRST PLACE AND SAVED , IN SOME CASE`S UP TO £30,000 , we will have our day in court, and just maybe we will get our money back, and our lives , and start again, I do agree the Smart repair business can be a profitable one, but not with Smartabc has your mentors , lesson learned the HARD WAY.
[02/07/2010] A Painter: Peter, you talk some cr*p, I can only assume that from some of your comments to do alot of trade work..trade work is not what Smart ABC are about. dont get me wrong the system works, the standard of my work is excellent and from 250 jobs I have only had to go back to one. in my opinion this is not the issue. you cannot carry out a good job with-in an hour (excluding travel time) the lacquer needs to be dried for 20 minutes and then cooled for 10, mixing the paint 10 mins, prep, mix 10 mins, mixing lacquer and so on, this exludes cleaninig guns, having to put an awning out sometimes. I dont want to hear it, if you are a pro like me you are kidding yourself if you want to complete jobs with-in an hour, you would also be robbing your customer. The issue here is false promises from the Smart ABC Management. They are clever, the sales pitch is superb, the image is excellent and so on but they make it clear that once you have paid them they DO NOT CARE. I was told that is I couldnt make my business work that they would buy it off of me, I'm not alone on this. They will never buy your franchise back. They have no interest with your business once you are trading. The only side of the business they promote is selling Franchisees and not promoting our services, the website is cheap and not efficiant or self promoting hence they ask for more money which is simply spent on google ads so as soon as the money stops so does the promoting. I was told the govening body VBRA had approved Smart ABC when they had not (this was breaking the law) it was printed on my leaflets. The projected figures are completely un acheivable, I worked seven days a week for one year, I took on big jobs to keep my diary full, I did just about every type of proting possible and turned over 75k, my costs were almost 20k, I had no life and Smart made me feel like I had a rope around my neck. If you are able to secure yourself a job with a salary of 35-40k you will be 100% happier, you wont loose your wife, will be able to spend time with your children etc etc.
If you want to become a smart repairer look at the forums, their is plenty of advice available and good people who will help for nothing, dont get ripped of by buying an over prices Vito, buy a second hand VW Transporter and some good quality second hand equipement. Please please please, the best advise I can offer anyone considering a Smart ABC franchise is do not do it, please dont, dont put your family and friends through it but most of all you WILL regret it for many years.
[15/08/2010] Peter: Oh dear Oh dear............. your business didn't work because you are not capable of being self employed. You are not the first to blame others for your own miserable failing and you wont be the last. As for your day in court, that was funny :-) I take it it was a joke?
[15/08/2010] Smartresearcher: Well Peter, over the last couple of days yet another franchisee has disappeared from the SMART ABC technician search. In the month I have been looking there have now been 7 ceased trading, and these are the ones I have noticed.
Franchises sell the franchise based on a business plan. Franchisees invest and take a level of working capital based on this business plan. Investing in a franchise people have a level of trust that what they are being told is to some extent true.
Smart abc forcast that you will be making a profit in month 1, and then by month 3 you will be doing 3-4 jobs. this is complete nonsense and is based on nothing but fiction. A new smart repairer will take 3.5 hours on average to do a standard repair. So, at 4 repairs this is 14 hours a day just doing repairs, and does not include travelling. In addition, to do 4 jobs per day you need to be quoting at least 6-8 jobs per day assuming 1/2 or less will book in. Even if you could market effectively enough to get 8 enquiries, on top of repair times and travelling this would be 17 hour days.
As a result people run out of money. are you earning 'typical earnings' of 90k peter?
[16/08/2010] Will: Peter ur a joke!! i could say much but words would be wasted on a fool like your self. SMART ABC have ruined peoples lives and i know many franchises who have ceased trading and just havent got the money to pay any bills the works not out there.
Peter do us a favour and shut up!!
[20/08/2010] a failed franchise: Listed below are some of the areas where franchisees have ceased trading,
i hope this info helps individuals to realise that some area have a even higher failure rate then others!!
Scotland..................................Glasgow
..........................................Alloa............
North East.................................Thornby
..........................................West Hull Villages.....
North West................................Liverpool
...........................................Oldham
...........................................Wilmslow
...........................................Leigh
...........................................North Wirral
...........................................Widnes...........
West Midlands...............................Kingswinford
............................................Redditch
............................................Worcester
.............................................Lichfield
.............................................Halesowen
............................................Sutton Coldfield
.............................................Walsall
.............................................Solihull
.............................................Shrewsbury
.............................................West Cheltenham........
East Midlands................................N/E Nottingham
.............................................IIkeston
.............................................Mansfield North
.............................................Marketharborough
.............................................South Leicester
..............................................South Leicester 2nd time...
South West....................................CribsCauseway.........
South East.....................................Oxford North
...............................................Oxford South......
London........................................Greenford
..............................................Ealing
..............................................Staines
..............................................Epson.................
[21/08/2010] A Painter: There is a few missing from your list, me for one!
[22/08/2010] Rob: You can add Llanethli in Wales to this list also,
[29/08/2010] ger: just a note to all you smart abc people about to fail. I WILL BUY THE TOTAL CONTENTS OF YOUR VAN FOR CASH 07792 759316
[07/09/2010] endofmytether:
Im a current franchisee thats been trading for 7 months . I am now at the stage where a tough descision needs to be made - invest more money or walk away and deal with the consequencies . The product etc is fantastic , my repairs have all been bodyshop quality and customers and trade have all been 100% happy . Ive done many promotoins , car shows , leaflet drops,e-mail advertising,own website , cold calling,mail shots etc etc.but i am still struggleing to make ends meet. with the cost of the management fee ,insurance,van lease its very hard to make ends meet. I was told there was only 2 failures and getting the work wouldn't be a problem. looking back now i feel totaly scamed and feel like the lifes been drained out of me . Dont know what to do for the best ...any help would be appreciated .
[07/09/2010] Chris: Endofmytether what part of the country are you in? Would it be possible for you get together with the 50 or so remaining ABC franchisees and as a collective just walk away from SMART ABC.
If you all do this SMART would either have to admit defeat, OR their only other option would be to bring 50 separate court cases to chase for moneys owed. The cost and time of bringing such action would be crippling so therefore they would be unlikely to do it.
[07/09/2010] Another struggling: Everyone I trained with has either stopped trading or stopped paying. And I know there are more on the list of technicians that are no longer trading. It's strange though how they seem to pick and choose who they chase for money. Hopefully everyone will stop paying and no one else will get taken in by their clever sales talk. So, no new franchisees and current ones not paying. They won't last long surely!
In fact there are less franchisees now than there was when I started but of course only 2 have failed! ......Blatant lie!
[08/09/2010] endofmytether: Ive just read that Smart Abc have reduced the franchise cost by 10k , oh my god do i feel like ive been robbed ! How can they do this ? Im raging , i stumped up 20k and am sruggleing to surrvive paying them a management fee for them to be of little or no help and then i hear this . Dont want to disclose my area as of yet until ive decided on what to do next . This whole thing stinks .
[08/09/2010] Another struggling: Maybe if they're committed to their franchisees success as they say they are, they could pay us 10k back. Don't not choose Smart ABC smart repair franchise for a career move!
[08/09/2010] conned by abc: Hi Chris i too think it would be a great idea if all the remaining smart abc franchises got together in a mass meeting. i have recently cancelled my standing orders for the management fee as they are completely useless at giving any technical advice. Usually no one gets back to you or if they do its nicks youngest son Julian whos about 18. What the hell does he know about working out in the field. As for the loan agreement well they can sing for that.
i agree if we all stopped paying they wouldn't be able financially be able to chase all of us and would risk more claims of misrepresentation against them.
[09/09/2010] you all know who i am: i've been keeping account of all the failed franchisees that have failed, i am now aware that 49 have ceased trading and another 22 are struggling, thats 71 out of 99 !!!!! i'm pretty sure there is others out that have ceased trading, but i'm unable to make contact with them to confirm it!! so guys for those that are still paying, think very carefully before you give them any more money!! at the end of the day they lied and conned you into this.........ps i'm also aware that non of the contact numbers at smartabc work anymore !!!!
[09/09/2010] endofmytether: If these statistics are true then why dont WE ALL get together for some sort of meeting to swap ideas etc on where to go from here . Im about to cancel my standing order because i feel robbed and insulted especially with th 10k price reduction -what does that do to the value of MY BUSINESS !! I'll travel anywhere to meet up with you guys ...what about it .Im desparate for advice on what to do next and where to go from here.Ive worked so hard to get this going and all this thats going on is news to me as i keep getting told how everyone else is doing so well "go to a car boot sale" was my last advice !!
[09/09/2010] endofmytether: One big elaborate con - thats how i feel at the moment , im disgusted words cannot be found - 71 out of 99 wtf is going on this is obviously a HUGE problem that needs to be dealt with very very quickly .
[09/09/2010] martyn kemm: i am working out of grantham as smart abc /grantham, i am doing ok i went into this job with both eyes open and didnt expect to get rich overnight however i agree that the slick presentation was at best misleading and indeed the training was very poor leaving people ill-eqipped to deal with the challenges thatlay ahead.the claimes made were at best exagerated to the extreme.i have now suspended my management fee as i no longer have any support from smart indeed the best support nick bicknell gave me COST me £400.and and yes the tech support isall but non exicistant, how can a lad who was on the same course as me give tech advice(thats a joke)and the so called leads well they dried up a long time ago and in line with the SUPPLY OF GOODS&SERVICES ACT 1982(AS AMENDED)I NOW BELELIVE THAT I NO LONGER HAVE THE SERVICE THAT WAS STATED ON THE CONTRACT BOTH VERBALLY AND WRITTEN THERFORE HAVE SUSPENDED THIS PAYMENT UNTIL I AM SATISFIED THAT THE SERVICE WARRENTS THE MONIES PAID.I am quite happy to discuss this with any of you and will furnish a mobile number if required as for mercedes well words can not express how i feel about the way i was treated when i tried to change from a lease to a purchase aggreement
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