In July, 2009, Franchise Pick explored the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of franchising.  I’ll let you decide which is which.
Do you know a franchise company, franchise opportunity, franchise vendor or issue you’d like to recommend for us to feature?  Email Sean Kelly at info[at]ideafarm.net.
Here’s what we covered in July, 2009:

July’s Featured Franchise:  Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning

Featured Opportunity: Oxi Fresh Franchise 33 Comments
Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning Franchise Profile
Interview with Jonathan Barnett, Oxi Fresh
OXI FRESH Pt. 2: The Green Franchise 22 Comments
OXI FRESH Franchisees Happy to be Green (1)
OXI FRESH Franchisees Happy to be Green (2)

July’s Featured Franchise Vendor:  Contour …read more

Tell her you love her each day / You’ll make her happy that way.
A simple “I love you” means more than money,
And with a kiss or two her life is sunny. Frank Sinatra
Franchisors:  Have you hugged your franchisee today?
The franchisor-franchisee relationship is often compared to marriage.  Like a marriage, the courtship shouldn’t end once the deal is consummated.  Franchisors who allow themselves to lapse into complacency or indifference do so at their own risk.  Franchisors who are abusive or who get caught cheating on their franchisees (with new concepts or unrelated profit centers) may learn that hell hath …read more

According to a new post on Unhappy Franchisee (CHILDREN’S ORCHARD: Unhappy Franchisees Launch Site), the Children’s Orchard franchise owners association thinks it’s got a bad apple in its midst, and they’re afraid he will ruin the whole barrel.
They’ve launched a new website with the intent of warning prospective franchisees about what they describe as an “unconscionable” new Children’s Orchard franchise agreement, as well as the downward spiral they claim the chain has experienced since CEO Taylor Bond and his investor group acquired the franchised resale shop chain in 2004.
According to the overview of The Orchard Cooperative’s complaints:  “Since 2004 when …read more

At their franchise convention in Scottsdale, Ariz., on March 6-8, MaidPro had the opportunity to recognize the outstanding performers among their MaidPro franchise owners, managers and home office staff. The winners of MaidPro’s annual recognition awards were announced at the Radisson Fort McDowell Resort and Casino on March 7 by MaidPro President, Richard Sparacio. The winners are:

Marketing Achievement Award – Janet Sklar, Carrollton, TX
Customer Acquisition Award –Dan McGowan, Lake Elmo, MN / Brent Ashley, Maple Grove, MN
Freshman Award – Kathy Ward, Phoenix – Central, AZ
Right-Hand Award – Modesta Mejia, Carrollton, TX
Mentor Award – Greg Ford, Tulsa, OK and Lee’s Summit, …read more

Blogs and blogging is transforming the way franchise opportunities are researched, marketed and selected by franchise buyers.  Blogs are also giving franchise owners a chance to interact as they never have before.  And the mainstream business media is starting to take notice.
Today, the Wall Street Journal published Richard Gibson’s story Blogs Provide Insight to Would-Be Franchisee. While FranchisePick.com escaped mention (undoubtedly because the Wall Street Journal is nervous we’re eclipsing them ;)), Gibson featured one of my other blogs, Unhappy Franchisee.  Here’s my 84 words of WSJ fame:
Unhappy Franchisee (www.unhappyfranchisee.com). Franchisees with gripes about their business can post them at …read more

Quiznos continues to enrage customers, potential customers and franchise owners through its incomprehensible strategy of giving out a million free sub coupons that many of its franchisees refuse to honor.
(Read about the reasons for the Quiznos franchisees well-founded objections, and how they’ve been forced into “snubbing” an alienating customers,  at  Why Your Quiznos Won’t Give You a Free Sub).
FranchisePick.com reader Carol shares the fiery message she fired off to the Quiznos corporate office:
My husband and I took our little boy in to redeem our Free Sub from the
coupon issued to me in your Million Sub promo. The man at the …read more

Quiznos has announced that CEO Dave Deno has resigned and the franchisor’s founder and largest shareholder, Rick Schaden, is taking over the reins again as the chief executive. 
Deno had joined Quiznos as president in 2007 and became CEO last September.  The company statement said he resigned “for personal reasons.”  Schaden had stepped down from day-to-day operations in 2007 after growing the chain from 18 franchisees in 1991 to more than 5,000 today.
In a released statement, Schaden said:

“I am excited about working closely with franchise owners to improve restaurant operations. I also look forward to spending time with the …read more

On the heels of Pizza Hut’s viral video effort, the 25-unit Pizza Time franchise chain has gone viral, too… much to their dismay.  The King 5 video of the Pizza Time owners who allegedly forced their employees to work in sub-freezing temperatures as a punishment is being delivered across the net.  Check it out:

The blogosphere weighs in:
Franchisee From Hell! Awards: Luke Benjamin, Pizza Time
Lacey, WA Pizza Time owners Luke & Gretchen Benjamin were immediately winners of our prestigious FFH! award, putting them in such distinguished company as Subway’s Cousin Vinny Agnello, Holiday Inn franchisee Charles Morais, and Quiznos’ sex offender …read more

(FranchisePick.Com) I guess when you’re already called geek, you don’t care if you’re known as a tattletale, too.
Geeks on Call franchisees kept up their attack on their own franchisor company by filing a formal complaint against it with the Virginia Division of Securities and Retail Franchising.  Their Geeks on Call franchisee press release indicates they believe that the squeaky geek gets the grease:
Concerned that Virginia Geeks On Call franchises would no longer be salable, [the franchisees' General Counsel] Mr. Blasz filed a formal complaint with the Virginia Division of Securities and Retail Franchising alleging Geeks On Call America, Inc. …read more

Did you receive curt or downright rude service when dropping off packages at The UPS Store this holiday season?
It may be they were coping with the holiday rush.
Or it may be that The UPS Store franchise owner hates your guts. 
After all, you who drop off UPS packages without buying anything are freeloaders.  Non-paying leeches.  Bloodsucking parasites feeding off the host of their life savings.
Commenting at the post  Is The UPS Store a Good Franchise Opportunity?, the manager writes:
The person printing saving the 5.00 label is UPS customer and not a customer of the TUPSS…
THIS IS NOT A CUSTOMER. THIS …read more