HAS CURVES FOR WOMEN ABANDONED ITS FRANCHISE OWNERS?
February 15, 2008 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
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Has Curves for Women deserted the franchise owners who built the startup into a 10,000 unit chain and global brand in order to cash in on more lucrative profit centers? That’s the contention of FranchisePick.com reader “Another Curves Owner” who left the following comment on a recent post on the Curves for Women franchise woes. What do you think? Leave a comment below.
AUTHOR: Another Curves Owner
To fellow ‘Curves Owner’,
I too own more then one Curves Franchise. While I agree that some clubs closed due to poor business practices, but that statement does not paint the true picture. Curves International itself is to blame for the vast amount of the closings in part due to: overbuilding, lack of support for the franchisees, lack of adverting and change of business model among others.
• Overbuilding
Curves has over saturated many markets to include where I have my clubs. Fact is in my state, the Sales Director never set foot not only in the cities where I have clubs but also in the state where they are located. At the Curves Convention of 2006 Gary Heavin (sic) the CEO stood before us and stated that many clubs were going to have to close due to the overbuilt system. He further stated that this was part of the so called, “franchise wars” in which he claimed victory. Furthermore, Curves International encouraged their franchisees to split their territories which further caused cannibalization.• Lack of Support
I cannot tell you how many times we have asked for help from Area Directors, Regional Directors, and Curves Corporate Officers for assistance. None of which have helped us in areas of; other owners advertising in our territories, offering corporate discounts to business in our territories, obtaining payments from transferred members from other clubs. The response we have received is either null or statements such as, “Try to get along with each other.” Fact is Curves has never taken a club away from an owner for breaking such rules. Now that this is know by owners, the owners pretty much do whatever it takes in order to survive. Can you blame them with the amount of overbuilding that Curves has done.• Lack of Adverting
Curves owners are required to pay 195 dollars a month for national and regional advertising. Lets do the math shall me? For 10,000 clubs that comes out to 1.95 million dollars a month for adverting or 22.8 million per year to be spent on advertising. That is an enormous amount of money. I have seem more advertising for franchises such as Subway and Jiffy Lube then from Curves.• Change of Business Model
The general public has become more aware of Curves for its energy bars and cereal then for fitness. Curves has changed direction with its partnership with General Mills. Fact is that Curves Owners can NOT get these products at discount rates. The owners have found that it is cheaper to obtain these products from the local supermarket or through Office Depot. Why is that? It is simple, Curves International new direction is now hard product based then through franchising.Lets face the hard truth. Curves club owners are in the fitness business. They are the ones who deliver the service of fitness and wellness. Curves International is in the Franchise business, a business of selling franchises to individuals which they have done very well in and made a lot of money. Now that that business model, of franchising a business concept has reached its peak, Curves International needs to find other ways to make money. The way Curves international has done this is though product promotions by having Curves owners promote non-Curves items in their clubs for other business. The Curves owners make no money on this but I seriously doubt that Curves International did this for free. Still not satisfied with that model, Curves international whipped up a receipt for an energy bar and a cereal, but their logo on it and with General Mills is now selling it to the general public. Oddly enough, not even Curves International franchisees can get the best price for these items. It is shocking that Curves franchisees can get it cheaper at the local grocery stores! Furthermore, Curves has partnered with Avon in selling Curves logo’d hard goods, specifically clothing items. That partnership with Avon has netted Curves International tens of millions of dollars annually. That is a fact, not a guess. Yet, each and every Curves owner has had difficulty in obtaining such items from Curves Intentional wholly owned subsidiary, “Ideas In Action”. Why is this? Probably because it is more lucrative for Curves International to sell through Avon..
This sad fact should be a wake up call that Curves International never did nor ever will value its franchises. The vast majority of the franchisees have worked very hard and many put their life savings into these businesses and built the name brand recognition that it now has. Now Curves International is cashing in on the brand name. But rather then share that with those who worked so hard and so long, Curves international has gotten greedy and built new relationships with others in order to squeeze what ever dollar it can make.
Curves no longer sells new territories in the US. Why is that? Two reasons really, first one is over saturation. But would Curves sell more territories if it could? Absolutely, but it does not. That brings us to the second reason why Curves has stopped selling franchises is the US – Lawsuits. Currently, Curves International along with Gary Heavin is being sued by no less the 350 angry broken franchisees and former franchisees for breach of contract and unfair trade. This number is growing and will continue to grow as the Curves continues to allow the system to implode and fail to repair their broken system.
For every one current operating successful Curves club there are literally dozens of unsuccessful clubs, meaning closed clubs or clubs bleeding money each and every month. Make no mistake, many owners lost tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Curves landscape is littered with bankruptcies (both business and personal), lost homes, children removed from college due to losses, broken marriages and even one suicide.
This in not an invention of imagination or exaggeration, this is fact. This is fact that Howard Gary Heavin will have to answer for in a court of law.
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I owned two in the past and sold them for a huge loss. I blame Curves International. I have lots of reasons.
Marci:
What are some of the reasons?
Mr Foreclosure- If you were raking in 32K a month (1100 x $29) in just MEMBERSHIPS, not including new sales $$$$ (1100 x $100= $110,000.00), where were you spending it? Did you repay yourself? Did you sock some away for when the market would level off? No one should feel sorry for you if this is your story-you have left some information out. You made a TON of money! Members “stopped coming”???? ALL OF THEM? From 1100 to zero? Come on! You cannot think of ANYTHING you could have done to IMPROVE your business profits? Training? Education? Reduce your club size? Stopping your Escalade lease? (It’s like finding out WHY your complaining member is NOT losing weight-OH the nightly bowl of ice cream could be the culprit) I think business judgement might have something to do with your predicament. I don’t know! But I am tired of the Curves bashing.
Boredom? You are all too funny! EXERCISE IS BORING! Do gyms still have weights and treadmills? Are THEY cutting edge? Of course they are- they’ve been around FOREVER!!!!!!! Work on YOURSELF- meaning the STAFF, paint the club, ask other owners to come in and critique you to REALLY SEE WHAT A MEMBER SEES. CHANGE! There is PLENTY you can do AND stay within the Curves rules!
Buy a club in a town of 3,000? Who are your members and how many are there? Sustainability? How many clubs are/were around you? Cheap rent and 1 PT staffer with a FT owner can STILL make $$$$$ in a small town. Did someone hold a gun to your head and MAKE YOU PURCHASE YOUR CLUB THERE? Why did some buy a club with only a mile between you and the next club? You get to SEE YOUR TERRITORY before you fork over the cash!
How many franchises out there ONLY charge $195/395 or the small sliding percentage scale? Not too many. Do some homework! Curves Fees are CHEAP in comparison! Many owners are previous owners of OTHER franchises and think this is a GREAT DEAL. Taking about Curves corporate- also find out the “support” you get from OTHER franchises! Keep in mind-THIS IS STILL YOUR BUSINESS! CURVES ISN’T YOUR BOSS, GARY HEAVIN ISN’T YOUR BOSS! Curves took off like a rocket and they have been playing catch up- adding even MORE area directors and such. They have GREAT training. They have research at Baylor- they are constantly trying to improve the brand. Add ons like general Mills-how cool!!! Free advertising down the grocery aisle. Does the local weight watchers get $$ back from WW when food is SOLD in the grocery next door? No, but it helps strengthen the brand! Come on! THINK! All this whining about what is WRONG with Curves. There is a lot right! Last time I checked, this was a free country! get out of this then and do something else! the grass may or may NOT be greener. From my experience, this is a great business. Is it perfect? No, but you’ll never find perfection and if most of these bellyachers REALLY took stock to see that THEY might have had something to do with their predicament-instead of Curves, the list of REAL complaints would be small.
Poor judgement is not just reserved for some Curves owners (or business owners in general)-buy too big of a house with an adjustable mortgage? Credit card debt? Buy a new car instead of health insurance? Sock cash away for a rainy week? Buy a $30K car on credit? (depreciating before you even leave the car lot) I am NOT bashing people who get socked with cancer, or a family death, or some other circumstance beyond their control and left them unable to deal with unexpected debt, or whatever. No, this is for the “you made some bad decisions” crowd who instead of owning up to them, prefer to bash Curves who has created a service that was non-existent- and most definitely has SAVED lives because of their existence.
I had another (non franchise) business b4 Curves. You were ON YOUR OWN! In the 15 years I owned that, 5 similar businesses came and went around me. Businesses -go OUT of business- ALL THE TIME! Much do to POOR PLANNING AND UNDER CAPITALIZED. My previous business, as a lot of OTHER businesses cost tens of thousands of dollars- many over $100K to open, they have NO REVOLVING MEMBERSHIP each month you can count on. It takes YEARS for them to realize a profit. And it is WORK! Owning your own business in work. You get to clean the toilet, do the payroll AND show up as “president of your company” at the local chamber event!
How many are CONTINUING to learn? Are you taking classes, seminars to better yourself? A new resale next to me proclaimed after 2 months in this business-”THIS is a lot of work!” She thought she could show up at 9 and go home by 5. That’s doable-but having your own gig requires ingenuity and work. Yes, you can go home and take a nap without asking!!! And if you run, you can make a lot of cash instead of making someone else a lot of cash.
350Curves owners in a lawsuit? Let’s see. I PAY this lawyer $2500 and he’ll put me on the “list”. Yeah- the stupid list. Here you go, take my money. Class action suits never ask for $$$ up front. Looks like the same owners who are looking to sue are getting duped. Yawn- move on! You only have so many years to live, so find something better to do!
Maybe under 100 new clubs were opened this past year in the US/Canada, in areas where growth was experienced and needed a club as was stated at convention. There are approx 9000 curves in the US and Canada. More than Golds. More than Curves’ nearest competitor by 8x I’m guessing. are ALL 9,000 closing? Are ANY of them making $$$$$? Let me ask you this- is 30 minutes of exercise still in vogue- or do people nowadays have MORE TIME????
Is the population getting fatter or skinnier? Is LIFESTYLE diseases such as High BP and diabetes on the rise? I’m sorry to BURST your bubbles but CURVES is not obsolete!
A Quinznos, Cold Stone Creamery, 2 carpet dealers, a lot of builders,a karate gym, a jeweler, 3 bakery’s, an Ace hardware, a financial planner and so on have ALL gone out of business around me within the past year. Without knowing if there was personal tragedy, poor management skills, poor financial skills, bad business decisions and so forth who knows!? I do know this- we are in a business that works for those who WORK it. Look at every aspect and see where you can improve your club or improve upon the sellers ability if your looking to purchase. I would NOT listen to people on a list serve. Go and TALK to owners. Talk to a lot of them. Find a few of the thousands of successful owners, Ask them questions. There are a lot of terrible owners. So, find the successful ones and talk with them, what works and what doesn’t. Just moving from a bad location has made the difference of a successful club or not! We moved 1 mile and gained 150 new members. Who was to blame? Curves????? US!
Misery loves company and will bellyache all day long if given the ears to listen. Getting advice from PEOPLE YOU NEVER MET, DON’T KNOW THEIR CREDENTIALS, THEIR BUSINESS ACUMEN, COMMON SENSE OR WHAT EVER!!!! They may own a YUGO and live in a BOX. They’re a legend in their own mind! You may as well ask the Ouija board. Do your OWN homework! ask and ask and talk to REAL people. People on the internet can be anything you want them to be with NO ACCOUNTABILITY! I am always taller and skinnier on the internet! It’s amazing how smart and sharp you get in knowledge with that mouse in your hand!
Have a great day!
An imperfect owner of (2) 4 year old Curves.
I have had my curves for 4 years and my experience has been horrible! I get no help from curves international, I have an attorney involved because I had inquired about closing my club since I was losing money, and the area director at that time took it upon themself to state to other clubs that I closed! I never signed an intent to close form and I had curves try to Bribe my royalties from me if I did not seek legal advice. What crap we all spend so much money to make this work and we get shut down, when this happend my potential seller backed out. I closed my club 2 weeks after this with the advice of the attorney since curves caused damage and we are waiting an answer.
Everyone knows by now that most Curves clubs are really struggling. Too many, not enough corporate support, lack of advertising, etc. etc. I have a club in this category and contacted Curves in an attempt to close it. Many of my associates in neighboring towns have been allowed to close down with no penalty. I was advised I would have to pay $10,000 to close a club that makes NO MONEY! This, supposedly, is a new rule passed as of Feb. 1, 2008. How can this corporation decide who it will let sleep at night and who it will “crucify”. I’m sure Mr. Heavin, Christian that he is, will be quite familiar with the term “crucify”.
Curves Owner 3
You need to check your franchise agreement and get a lawyer. This is the first time I have ever heard of a club being charged any fee in order to close the club.
What Curves will try to do is have you sign a waiver in which they (Curves International) will not be held liable by you. Inotherwords, you are signing off your rights to sue them. DO NOT SIGN IT. If you do sign that, any litigation that you may try to file against them will be tossed out in court. Be aware that most likely, in the franchise agreement you are responsible to continue to you pay franchise fees and advertising fees for the term of your agreement or upon selling your club or territory. Curves international may come to you to buy your territory back from you for $1.00 and then slip that wavier in there, thereby signing away your rights. DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING. Curves will also try to get you to send the equipment back to them, at your cost. DO NOT DO IT, the equipment is yours to do what you want with. My advice is to sell the equipment to other owners or donate it and take the tax advantage.
Finally, there is a group action lawsuit (not class action) against Curves International and Howard Heavin (his real first name). The firm representing the owners is headed by a man named Zarco. There website is http://www.zarcolawfirm.com. I cannot more strongly emphasize that you contact them as soon as possible
As a Curves owner in South Florida I can say the damage has been intense with several bankruptcies, closures and the like. I survived to now (2008) only to have to close-tired of throwing good money after bad. The territories were poorly laid out and no feasibility study was ever performed by CI.
I was advised I could open another club at one time, because it was “over two miles as the crow flies” directly from the corporate office. I was not amused and decided at that point to only have the one club as I knew going forward with lack of advertising and innovation the lifespan of the product I was selling would be very limited.
I offered to add low cost health screenings that all clubs could incorporate but was advised by corporate that we “just do the circle” more brilliant advice directly from the corporate office.
To date, I have never seen anyone from the “home office” and I am now going through the process of being audited for the last two years as harrassment for getting in the lawsuit represented by Robert Zarco to recover damages from a failed business plan provided by CI.
I do remember a meeting with the area supervisors who advised all the owners that they had sold all their clubs (5), did not want to hear any negative comments, and started off the meeting with “let us pray.” Golly gee, was I ever impressed with their business acumen!!
I did have a conversation with the gentleman involved in the purchase of 700 Lady Fitness of America who advised me two years ago that the market is “oversaturated” and the only reason they took over all the clubs was the cheap price paid!
Now I am sure you still have many owners still breathing Heavin’s ether like Marci who apparently has 1100 exisisting members and 1100 new members every month(?) paying her the small city price of $29.00/month-right. Exactly where does she get her members from-she should impart her knowledge and business acumen with all the other owners if she can pull her nose out of Heavin’s @#&*!!
06/30/08 will be a day I remeber as this headache will cease to exsist and I look forward to settling with CI in court!!
I did appreciate her exciting ideas like painting the club!!! Please get me some of whatever Marci is smoking!!
ATTENTION UNHAPPY CURVES OWNERS
Calling on all curves owners who have had problems with [Name withheld] and Curves International. We all know what a crook, unethical, illegal and immoral business person he is but there are some companies who don’t know who the real Heavin is. He is trying to partner with a company called Silver Sneakers Fitness Program for advertising purposes. Silver Sneakers is a replicable business and if you don’t know who they are you can go to their web site by typing in Sliver Sneakers in your search box. As soon as you are done reading this post please either call them, send them a fax or an email telling them what you think of Curves International and [Name withheld]. We need to put a stop to [Name withheld] from taking advantage of the seniors who belong to Silver Sneakers. I can’t stress this enough so all of you who have joined the group lawsuit and those who wanted too but can’t afford to please act on this now before [Name withheld] takes advantage of them also.
Thank you,
Unhappy
Unhappy,
While I understand your hostility towards Curves International (CI) and its owner, would it not be better to address the root cause of your discontent rather then attacking on the peripherals. What I mean by this is that I agree, wholeheartedly, that CI and Heavin are unethical and immoral. I also agree they have broken the law. It is for this reason that I have chosen to sue them both in a court of law.
If your actions, if being a big word here, do take hold there is very little benefit to be gained here. Remember, the vast number club owners are dedicated hard workers who truly delivering a quality service to benefit women’s health. Your effect would be denying seniors an opportunity to that benefit and the owners a much needed revenue stream. The benefit to CI is negligible at most.
While I respect and admire your energy in order to obtain justice against such an unscrupulous company, other avenues are for a greater reward for your talents. I would suggest gathering the forces you have assembled and concentrate them on areas where Curves can be truly hurt. One such opportunity would be in obtaining cases for a second group action lawsuit against CI. Currently the first group action is about 350 owners. That case has cleared another hurdle in that case and is moving towards trail. Curves filed a motion to dismiss the cases but the judge ruled in all 12 instances to deny the motion to dismiss. I understand a second group action is trying to form and if lets say 500 owners form to sue CI that would be devastating to them. Right now, the first case only has CI attention, but my feeling we are still not being taken seriously. We as owners need to concentrate our efforts on where we will get results, and in business we will get our results when the money or cash flow is threatened.
If you cannot sue or do not wish to but you wish to affect change, contact CI whenever you have an issue or compliant. Ask why you have not seen any advertising in your area, ask for documentation to support their statement. Ask why your local supermarket can sell the Curves bars less then buy them at. Do not accept excuses such as, ‘it is a convenience item’, that is a BS answer. Ask if you can get a bulk rate for those items and if not, ask why not. Document everything! Send email to them and save the email and set your expectation to when you will get a response back. On ‘hot’ issues, send certified letter to CI Corp. or hand delivery to your Area Director and make them sign for the letter. This might put some pressure on CI. More importantly, this will provide you with the evidence should you decide to sue in the future.
Finally, when CI sends out their promotional items for us to use in our clubs for other products – I toss them out. There is nothing in my Franchise Agreement that says I have to do this. I then call the company (the one I am to promote for) and let them know what I have done and they are wasting their time with a company such as CI. Hopefully they will get the message to stop doing business with CI.
Another Curves Owner
This is now getting serious, to many owners are losing their shirts what is going on with this company. Is this trily the end of curves. I think so I hear the company is going bankrupt. what happens to all clubs that still remain open. It seems CI takes no responsibility and is still able to bleed their franchisees. The latest is curvessmart. What a joke. I am glad I did not fall for this latest scam as I heard it is a broken system, as well as its founder. with over 350 lawsuits and a second action started. Where does that leave the rest of whats left of curves. Unfortunately the concept is good its the greed of the Franchisor that really sticks. His poor business ethics has ruined his own company. I need to find out more of this new lawsuit ,just in case signed unnerved by all this. how do I get more info
I’m closing my 4th location the day before Thanksgiving….and I am so thankful to be putting an end to my 8+ years as a Curves Franchisee!
I have a ton of debt yet to pay off, but at least I haven’t lost my home and family as many have.
I too am involved in the group action lawsuit (not class action) against Curves International and Heavin. The firm representing our group is Zarco Einhorn Salkowski & Brito. There website is http://www.zarcolawfirm.com.
I had received an e-mail a few months ago from a person using an alias suggesting that another group lawsuit was in the works. Contact zarco and see.
Best Wishes
I am the manager of my Curves and this has been the worst years of my life. Everything that others have shared is TRUE. My family is loosing everything because of this horrible place. There is no support from anyone, it is a complete joke to even survive. We have tried everything and market heavily on our own because CI does not advertise enough to bring members. There is not enough members to support these over saturated territories. WE wanted to change peoples lives. We loved the Curves concept but this gym has wiped my family’s life savings. We have never made one dime. My family has had to invest thousands every month for the last 2yrs to surrive. Now, there is no money. CI has never cared that we weren’t making any money, or even breaking even. They refused to cut us a break from royalties and ad fees even though we are dieing. Sadly, this is it. WE ARE DONE. Lawyers are going to be involve this time around because my family must be protect. The people who got into Curves in the beginning made money, but is us little guys on the end that are loosing it all!
contact robert lay he will point you in the right direction. contact unhappyfranchisee[at]gmail.com he will get in touch with you. I feel your pain we were all scammed
Also be careful if you shut down and they try to charge you $10,000 to do it. They will try and negotiate you down. Once you accept, they want you to sign a waiver you wont sue them. Once they get their money (say you negotiated down to $3,000 from the $10,000), they turn around and harass you and threaten you to pay the remainder of your Franchise Fees and Ad fees. Since you signed that waiver, you can’t sue them. this is what I heard from another Franchisee that closed. CI is a bunch of hypocrites that take the Lord’s name in vein. Everyone that is a “CHRISTIAN” and who knows the Bible knows you do not announce your religion, if you do charity acts you do it in sevret, and that the Lord would never manipulate and rip off a beggar. Gary heavin is full of SH@@!
NJCO,
You are 100 percent right on your remarks and I agree with everything you say. He is not a christian and obviously never has been one but uses it as a way to get people to trust him. When he meets his maker he will surly end up in hell.
Important message to all Curves owners.
There is another site that all current owners of a curves franchise needs to be aware of. The site was set up by Curves using our advertising dollars so we all need to use it. It’s intent is to allow owners to converse with other owners and to share ideas. It is a good site if you are looking for ideas on how to save your club or just have questions for other owners. Here is the link http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/curvesowners/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1
Please go there to check it out and voice your opinion on the current posts and voice your concerns. This site is strictly for owners.
PAST AND PRESENT OWNERS,
Don’t forget to send your complaint letters to the BBB in your area as well as waco Tx. and your states attorney general as well as TX. and the FTC. Here are the links that you can go to to file the complaints.
http://www.bbb.org/
http://waco.bbb.org/WWWRoot/SitePage.aspx?site=40&id=ab5100aa-4c5a-4314-8e1b-f5996973f10c
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/index.shtml
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/index.shtml
I came into this franchise with my eyes closed due to all the hidden ways of their carry on . I myself have found that Curves international are not there to help you at all . Their in it now for the last drop of money to bleed from us as owners . I myself want to close the doors but Im afraid of the reprecutions to follow ! Can i be sued?If so how much for ! Curves took my life and soul to the extent that I had a miscarraige late September due to all the stress and stain of everything ! Now both myself and my husband have had enough and just want our lives to carry on as normal , my family life has suffered due to me been here all the time . My 2 children have been neglected due to my moods.
Please someone tell me that there is a heaven and that we are going to be ok . I cant take it anymore !
To all curves owners who have had problems with curves International and Gary Howie Havein please send your complaints to the BBB of your city and Waco TX. As well as the attorney general of your state and TX. And the federal trade commission. Below are web links where you can file the complaints on line.
http://www.bbb.org/
http://waco.bbb.org/WWWRoot/SitePage.aspx?site=40&id=ab5100aa-4c5a-4314-8e1b-f5996973f10c
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/index.shtml
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/index.shtml
This is about the fourth time I have started to write my comments – too much to say!! The Franchise Fee is most reasonable. The training and marketing support is excellent. The Royalty fee is capped (which I am pretty sure is not normal practice) We, in South Africa, know exactly where and how our marketing contribution is being spent. Our Regional Directors are available and helpful. This could be because we in South Africa only have a few Clubs in comparison to the USA. If there are some 10000 Clubs in the USA then it seems to me that perhaps 10% are unhappy and failing – What about the other 9000? I am truly sad that your business are not succeeding but to blame Curves Internation and, in particular, Gary and Diane Heavin is ludicrous. YOU bought a business OPPORTUNITY, They did not become your Managing Directors!! it is up to you to run your own business and make it work. If there are too many Clubs, too close together, why did you purchase your area? Operating a Curves Club IS hard work, the members have no idea how ‘high maintenance’ they are or the value they receive.
Come on guys, Don’t make the name or Curves and those of us who have also ‘bought in’ suffer by running Curves down. It could have been any business plan that does not ‘make it’ – It’s NOT because it is CURVES. Gary’s past, which he has been open and honest about, has nothing whatsoever to do with your business. Regarding the food products. This is great advertising – EVERy supermarket that carries the Curves Products is advertising for YOU in YOUR area. You are in the Fitness and Health Industry – reccommend the Curves Products – don’t try and make a few e4xtra cents by stocking the product. If you don’t sell it before the expiry date you have lost your money!
LOOK AT THE SILVER LINING, NOT AT THE CLOUD. Search your heart you may find that your venture was under capitalised or that you didn’t do things the Curves Way. If, sadly, you have lost your club, don’t throw good money after bad by making some lawyers more wealthy. In most law suits, the only one to benefit is the lawyer. At our Clu8bs we are promoting the HEALTH aspect more than the weight aspect and the testimonies our Members have a proving that Curves giver you the Power to Amaze Yourself. I AM NOT A CURVES EMPLOYEE!!!
CURVES: A Happy Franchisee Speaks Out
http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/curves-happy-franchise-owner-speaks-out/
Comment posted on UnhappyFranchisee.com for discussion
Congrats, South Africa. You live in a country with few Curves, and the Curves fad is brand new there. Here in the states, Curves oversaturated the market and it’s a dying fad, especially in this economy.
BTW, there are no longer 10,000 Curves. It’s more like 7,000, with an average of two or three closing every day.
Did you know that Curves now allows you to transfer your location from one town to another? They did in upstate SC. Let’s all give them a call and ask for this same privilege. What’s good for one should be good for another.
Curves wont be around in a few years in the capacity they are in today.
The writing is on the wall.
Franchises have gone away and this one will too.
Look at TCBY, Roy Rogers, and plenty of other franchises. They were at one point everywhere, but no hard to be found.
Curves got greedy and Gary is being sued left and right because he felt he was untouchable and he isnt.
They are a disgrace.
I am a resale. My complaints are:
1. Curves is an accomplice in Fraud. In 2004, when I paid almost $200,000 for a resale, Curves REQUIRED a form from the original owner indicating the number of active members and then they approved the sale. That form had fraudelent information showing 100 MORE members than actually were in the system. Curves easily could have determined the FRAUD by looking at the Projection Report!
2. Curves provides no or little assistance to new owner. Numerous letters pleading for assitance, sales training, etc. to Corporate and the Area Director went unheeded. Meetings would be held by the AD for which I NEVER received an invite! Corporate NEVER responded to any of my calls or letters!
3. Curves only focus is to get their money! Curves provided NO training nor any information to new or potential owners in 2004! I found out what a Projection Report was after Corp over-charged me the first month and they charged me for the Original Owner…How can a potentil buyer know what questions to ask when we have no idea what is IN the system?
4. Curves’ advertising is sorely lacking. Over the past five years, Curves did not do national campaigns. Compared to other large franhise organization like SubWay, etc. Curves’ advertising was sub-grade.
My story is that I, too, am closing my club after spending all of my money (retirement, home equity, savings and credit) and having no pension, I will never be able to retire. I also spent 3 months working with a buyer and thousands of dollars on legal fees and for rent, payroll and CURVES fees during that period, only to have the buyer cancel the deal on the last day! Then to have Curves RECOMMEND I try to Sell my club indicates that they NEVER read any of my emails or info I provided in numerous forms.
To ask for $10,000 to close the club is Salt in the Wound! -Janice Kaya, Owner of Redford, MI Curves!
the “website” you reference as being “set up by Curves using our advertising dollars” is actually a free list-serve (like a bulletin board with email) set up by a couple of franchisees several years ago (maybe 2002?). This is the entity that we think Heavin was referring to in 04 when he talked about the “craplines” before the start of the CFA and it’s list-serve.
unhappy says: January 25, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Important message to all Curves owners. There is another site that all current owners of a curves franchise needs to be aware of. The site was set up by Curves using our advertising dollars so we all need to use it. It’s intent is to allow owners to converse with other owners and to share ideas. It is a good site if you are looking for ideas on how to save your club or just have questions for other owners. Here is the link http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/curvesowners/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1
Please go there to check it out and voice your opinion on the current posts and voice your concerns. This site is strictly for owners.
To Mr. Imperfect Owner,
Your imperfection extends to your knowledge base, sir. If you don’t get a pay check from Curves International, Inc, I’d be surprised; the fit makes sense, they prefer people who will speak before getting the facts.
The one FACT that the original author neglected to mention, and this has nothing to do with whether or not a club was run according to Mr. Heavin’s rules for success, is that Mr. Gary Heavin withheld information in the initial franchise offering to buyers, information that is required by law, actually.
Heavin didn’t reveal that in fact he went bankrupt in his first fitness business. Once there were more than 5000 clubs, Heavin felt strong enough to tell the truth. On the 700 Club and to Inc magazine he admitted that he lost his first fitness club business (and airplanes, helicopters, and other toys) because he over-expanded! He said he built more clubs that the market could support! He also failed to mention in the initial prospectus that he had spent time in jail.
These omissions are tantamount to fraud, wouldn’t you say? How many first-time business owners would have invested with him if they had known that?
What would be justice here? Is Heavin not in the same league as Bernie Madoff? We call Madoff’s investors ‘victims’….but Heavin’s victims we call foolish! Is there a bias toward the wealthy? Does the fact that Heavin lives next door to former president Bush give you any hope that justice will be served in a Federal Court in Texas under the control of the same judge who denied the people’s claims against the ATF in the Davidian cult massacres?
Knowledge. It makes you think.
I’m sorry, Belinda, that things have been so bad for you and I hope the other Curves owners will answer your questions and comfort you. I’m sure “Unhappy” of the Curves Franchisees will be in here to try to comfort you as soon as she/he reads your post. Hand in there! Things have to get better and “one day at a time” is good advice until you make your decision.
Are you an original Curves franchisee or did you buy a resale? How long a period will your lease be enforcable against you, and did you and your husband personally sign the lease and was the lease as well as the franchise agreement personally guaranteed by you and your husband?
Are you operating at a loss and have you ever realized any profits? Did you post your personal residence as collateral for a loan and/or did you use a SBA Loan or cash or another type of loan to finance the startup of your business? Did both you and your husband sign the franchise agreement and the lease and the loan papers, if applicable?
Apparently, franchisors use the terms of “termination” in the contract and the repercussions for a termination to hold franchisees in place in businesses that are only breaking even — and only breaking even because the owner is working long hours for nothing. Is this the position you are in? or are you in immediate danger of insolvency?
So sad…I hear ya…Advice, honestly-if you have the means to lose it, then let it go…Curves Corp is Crazy, insestutious (sp), and off the charts when it comes to being unprofessional and dishonest. Truth is, none of us would be here if we would have went to the stupid Club Camp first. As soon as I saw the out of shape, fake, quote unquote trainers with feather boas and purple cowboy hat surrounding me screaming Ya Hoooo-I knew I / Curves was doomed
Sadly, I sat there tortured by prayers, a business model based on “Keeping the Promise” puke, and dated old Christian inspirational videos so I would cry and give Gary all my money no matter whet.
A training. I’m laughing, we had two twenty minute spins on the circuirt, and it was little about the machines and more about guest production…Again, dated and unsophisicated sales model…
What about sitting on the floor making posters and spirit sitcks and cheers, puke…I 47, not 14…I don’t even have words to decribe how sad I was to learn that Gary was the Wizard of OZ and that the fate of Curves is in his hands…
Such a great product that won’t be around because of greed and religion. I mean how many Training Camps-Pep Rally’s have I been to where they refer to Heathens…Pray for me-(like put your head down)-it’s time to pray… Hand out scripture as business model… Provide flawed business computer programs Go figure, Flawed Curves Smart equipment… Unfit Trainers and Speakers (Too scary)…A weight mangement book that is complicated and poorly laid out…A Curve’s web site where you give them your customers and they give you nothing… And avoid all questions about the buisness’s future…oh, and herd you in a room to buy all their dated crap and ship it home yourself…
Sad, Scary, and I’m Still shaking…
I wish they would sell Curves to Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig at this point and breath some new life into it… I couldn’t agree more with comments above, the Curve Owner is Gary’s target market and they could give a #@!%#$$$ about the women we struggle to keep the doors open for…
Again, Sad I feel so sorry for you guys that work hard and can’t make it!!!!
we lost 300,000 altogether. (remortgage/Mom-in-laws money, and our own…) where is a class action lawsuit or any lawsuit that can also represent us or what legal firm should i call? I live in Freeland Michigan and our Curves was in carson City michigan….