IS WIRELESS TOYZ A GREAT FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY?
March 11, 2008 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
(FranchisePick.Com) I have personally deleted nearly 30,000 pieces of “comment spam” in the past 14 months. Comment spammers use special annoying software designed to automatically leave comments on blogs and forums that pitch every worthless and despicable scam product from incest videos to discount viagra to software that enables others to send comment spam and make my life miserable. Now I can add “franchise opportunities” to the list of spam products, since I have recently been receiving comments that appear to be sent from someone at a PR firm called Shazaaam in that expresses profound reverence for someone named Richard Simtob and his Wireless Toyz franchise.
Here’s one:
Author: nmartin
Comment:
I saw your posting and thought you’d be able to relate or would be interested in getting to know my client who is a serial entrepreneur and franchise expert. His name is Richard Simtob and he has directed the expansion and propelled Wireless Toyz Cellular Superstores into national mega-chain status. In what’s been described as “breakneck speed growth,” Wireless Toyz catapulted onto 2006 Inc. 500’s list of fastest growing privately-held U.S. companies and is ranked #1 in category and 98th fastest-growing franchise by Entrepreneur Magazine in the 2008 Franchise 500.Before becoming president of finance and franchise development at Wireless Toyz, Simtob was Chief Operating Officer there, managing the expansion of its franchise network through the opening of 66 new stores in 2006 to a total of 180 locations.
Prior to Wireless Toyz, Simtob earned acclaim as a business innovator co-founding Talking Book World Corporation, America’s largest chain of retail outlets specializing in renting audiobooks. He built the company from a concept to a 45-store chain that, by 1999, ranked number 164 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing privately held companies. Each year under his leadership Talking Book World was named among Entrepreneur’s top 500 franchises. Learn more about how to choose a franchise or determine whether a franchise business is right for you by contacting Richard Simtob at 866-2FRANCHISE or email him at franchise@wirelesstoyz.com. You may also visit www.wirelesstoyz.com/franchise for more information.
Here’s another:
I saw your posting and thought you would be interested in some advice from my client, Richard Simtob if you are thinking about starting a business or purchasing a franchise. “Make sure you select a business about which and about whose products you are truly passionate. Like any business you choose to run, it is a marriage. You’ll be living, breathing, nurturing and growing it for a long time and nothing is worse than a marriage without love,” advises Richard Simtob , president of finance and franchise development at Wireless Toyz. Simtob has been managing the expansion of its franchise network through the opening of 66 new stores in 2006 to a total of 180 locations. Learn more about how to choose a franchise or determine whether a franchise business is right for you by contacting Richard Simtob… [email, phone, URL, etc. etc.]
I will defer to you, the American public, to decide if Wireless Toyz is a great franchise opportunity. Please leave your comments below. Wireless Toyz and I started off on the wrong foot, because:
1) A PR or marketing firm should know better than to spam a blog (especially one with a bad attitude, like Franchise Pick) or to charge someone to promote in a medium they obviously know nothing about. A franchisor should know better than to let them – or hire them.
2) On the franchise video on the Wireless Toyz website, Richard Simtob says “We believe we’ll be the Starbucks and Blockbuster of the wireless industry.” Is that a warning? Starbucks didn’t franchise because Shultz thought franchisees weren’t capable of making coffee without screwing it up. Blockbuster is no franchise success story – they’ve been fending off bankruptcy and franchisee lawsuits for years.
3) Shazaaam spammer nmartin boasts: “…Simtob earned acclaim as a business innovator co-founding Talking Book World Corporation, America’s largest chain of retail outlets specializing in renting audiobooks. He built the company from a concept to a 45-store chain that, by 1999, ranked number 164 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing privately held companies.” How are the Talking Book World franchise owners doing today? It’s hard to tell. The Talking Book World website reads:
***NOTICE***
Talking Book World Corporation has been forced to discontinue its business in the United States at this point in time. We have worked out an agreement with an independent on-line corporation named Audiotogo®, whom we highly recommend.
Investigate and evaluate the Wireless Toyz franchise opportunity for yourself:
Offering the largest variety of cellular and satellite services in one location.
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE WIRELESS TOYZ FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY? WHAT DO YOU THINK?
IS THE WIRELESS TOYZ FRANCHISE A GREAT FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY? COMMENTS ENCOURAGED BELOW.
Franchisees, customers & experts vote for their favorite new franchises at Top New Franchise: Who’s hot. Who’s not.
Visit FRANBEST’s: Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise and business opportunities.
Sean,
I received a comment from these guys, ONCE. I wrote them a nice letter stating that my reader’s were not born yesterday, and that Wireless Toys basically has no class… if that is how they think they will get their phones ringing…
Some folks just don’t get it.
Joel Libava
I’ve deleted a couple. Foolish ploy that will backfire and result in a bad online rep. Some folks think any attention is good attention. Some folks are wrong.
Do you know anything about the franchise? Pushing TBW seems to be the equivalent of saying he was the largest Beta Video franchisor, or built the successful 8 Tracks R Us franchise, isn’t it?
Hmmm… If this were a competitor putting up fake spams, they couldn’t have done a better job. I hope that’s not the case.
I have heard a few things about the franchise. I have no idea how the franchisees do.
Could be a great one. But they have turned me off enough to not want to work with them.
JL
Wireless Toyz is one of the biggest rip offs in franchising. You have for fork over about 250K to get a new franchise. 30K for franchise fees and the rest of the money goes to “approved contractors” that’ll build your store to “Wireless Toyz standards”. It’s a whole load of shat. You can start up your own wireless store for less then 10% of the total cost. On top of that, you’ll have to pay them about 16% in royalty, which breaks down to 13% for them and another 3% for their “National Marketing Funds”, which just means that the money goes back to them. Don’t even bother buying a used one for around 100K. You’ll have more fun burning your money in Vegas. Don’t fall for their sales pitch of “branding” or their “projected income”. If you know the company intimately, you’ll hear about a store closing almost every other week.
I agree completely. NEVER-NEVER-NEVER invest in this company. I know several franchisees (close friends) who were put in bankruptcy by them. They lost over $600,000 in investments and unsucessful lawsuits. Wireless Toyz is ultimate BAD BUSINESS! Be warned, please. Only people who made money in this scam were the originators of this ‘franchise’.
Kay
From the customer stand point, I had a horrible experience at one of their stores. I purchased a Cricket phone and decided to return it the next day because of Cricket’s poor customer service. Not only did Wireless Toyz charge me a $25 restocking fee, they did not give me a full refund. They activated my phone without my permission, resulting in an activation fee for which they would not refund me. When I asked for the owner’s name, the store manager lied to me and insisted he was the owner.
they get what they deserve. they have locations closing all over the country now. most new franchies have closed within 1.5 years. their biggest mistake was the “any warm body” mentallity when it came to “choosing” franchise operators. most of them did not enough about the business to survive (even in good times). it was all a show and dance to sign franchise agreements and not take care of the ones already in operation. if they come to you there first objective is to steal any new and well working ideas that you may have then recirculate them as their own. i have been to training and orientation and know for FACT that they lie about anything that will sell their franchise. they seem to be in bed with a small business leaning firm that will even take out a failure to commit insurance policy on possible operator’s loan applications so even is the loan rules change or their rules change about the operation of the business change they will still make money on the failed loan. SCAM SCAM SCAM.
WIRELESS TOYZ Franchisees Allege Fraud, launch lawsuit against Company, Richard Simtob, others
http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/wireless-toyz-franchisees-allege-fraud/
Wireless Toyz is a fraud. Joe Barbat, Jack Barbat, Richard Simtob & Dave Ebner are all crooks. They feed people bogus financial numbers just to sell franchises. Many stores are closing on a monthly basis and the corporate office is clueless on what to do. They hired Dave Keegan, Gregg Kuperstein and other upper management people with no wireless background trying to turn things around.
The entire executive and management staff has been shuffled and reshuffled over few years with different titles hoping that something would work. Nothing worked off course and things went from bad to worst.
The new investment company brought in a new CEO “Neil” and fired many, many people including executives; Jack Barbat, Dave Ebner Dave Keegan, Gregg Kuperstein and others.
They are all crooks and the biggest crook is Joe Barbat. Do not trust any of them and do not associate yourself with any of them also.
Richard Simtob was fired and from what I heard, was escorted off of the property by the police department.
What else can I say? People have been totally ripped off by these guys. No doubt about it.