business connect franchise Posted by blaine

hi matthew thanks for the advice i will get them to answer the questions you suggested,

i have spoken to two of the franchisees now and have their details they seem to check out ok ( but it could still be a ellaborate scam , i was caught out by one a few years ago.)

they seem to have been upfront about things so far eg; not to expect the £100,000 a year for a while as it will build slowly, and that they are a newish company only started trading in 2007.

like you i cannot find much on the company but like you said may just be new to franchising.

am i just being to sceptical as i was burned before?

thanks blaine 

I too am thinking about joining this company and am going for a meeting next week.  It does sound promising and I'm hopeful - but also have had a bad experience of franchise previously.

Has anyone moved on any further in finding out if its all legit?

hi guys just an update on how things are going so far.

i have recieved their company accounts information and had a read meant nothing to me lol ( sending it to my accountant to see what he thinks)

i had been trying to make contact with a man called jay as i had done most of my communication with him.

but i recieved a phone call today saying that he was no longer with the company?

now this has made me nervous.

did some more digging and it appears the only two franchisees that i have spoken two are the only two that give a tesimonial on the site?  ( smells fishy to me )

i have asked for a complete list of franchisees now as it not looking to good lol.

please somebody leave something.

Hi Blaine

mmmm certainly sounding a little "fishy" to me too.  You need to go with your gut instincts on these things, although 5k is not much for a franchise it is by no means a small chunk of cash and i'm sure you would kick yourself if in a few months time if you made the wrong decision  It could well be that this is a decent opportunity but again, 5k for 100k yearly returns just does not sound right to me.  If they can do that for you then they have found "The Secret To Making Money" !! They should be doing this for themselves and earning several million a year.....

Moving house atm so sorry for the short n blunt reply, I have not done any further research on them but from what you have said and my own thoughts on the "minimum" i could find on them + the discrepancies in their website going live, promises of 100k a year and current franchisees already earning that, well.. Wouldn't - touch - barge - pole.

Hi Paul

This one has alarm bells ringing all over it.  Even you coming on here has me thinking "He's been sent in to give a good impression"

You are saying you have made your franchise fee back + 2.5k in 3 months.  If this is as good as you say it is then by the end of the year this franchise will be the hottest and most profitable franchise in the UK.  It will be featured in every biz magazine and the owners will be voted entrepreneurs of the year 2009.

I could be wrong but having seen many franchise scams/failures over the past 12 months and giving a few the benefit of the doubt, this one is really feeling a little sketchy to me.

The 100k mentioned is supposed to have been reached already yet the website was only launched late last year which seems odd to me.  Not every company has a website but 99.9% of established companies do.  If the owners can produce the magic franchisee that earned 100k in a year then perhaps we are getting somewhere.  Even 7.5k in 3 months is very good and with franchisees making that word would spread fast and testimonials would be coming through like a freight train.

Sorry Paul, still thinking that Blaine should steer clear.

Well Paul

Due to my ever so slightly sceptical and negative comments  I think the people from Business Connect UK should come on and comment.  I could be being really unfair on them and if earnings are what they say they are and the majority of their franchisees are hitting their targets then having a public thread that may put off potential franchisees would not be something I would want to broadcast to the world so some clarification and real franchisee testimonials would be good. 

I'm sure Blaine will gain some good feedback if he asks for a full list of franchisees which will go a long way to determining how successful they are.  It would also be good to see the franchisee's books that gained 100k within 2 years. 

Quoted from Franchise Direct is

"Current franchisees are already earning incomes in excess of £100,000 per annum."

Proof of this would be all that is needed assuming the "franchisees" had no previous affiliation with the owners.

Hi Guys,

Well I think someone will join soon and it could be me. I understand Mathews comments as a proffesional but every company has to have a start date and for some it may only be 2 or 3 years ago. I had a meeting with Ryan and he told me he made 100k he told me he started in june 2007 and by April he had made 40k then between April 2008 and April 2009 he made his 100k which is why they asked him to do the recruting job. I have spoken to 2 Franshisees today the first was not particulary helpfull and I don't think from what he said that he is very succesful but he said the company was ok and he was making money but I don't think he will make 100k. The second guy I spoke to was quite the reverse he was driving when I called so I offered to call back but he said no and pulled over to speak to me, he is called Mike and was very positive, he has been with the company for 4 months and said he would definately make 100k next year, he told me he made nothing for the first 6 weeks but his last months pay cheque was for 3k and that he has a lot of business pending ie waiting for renewal dates etc. Mike was very forthcoming with the info and very believable. It will be a first for me but maybe we might just have landed on our feet.

PS. When I met with Ryan he did tell me that the boss had said about raising the fee to 20k but decided not to as they did not want to look as though they were making money just from the fee.

Regards

Paul Lester

Hi Guys and Galls apparently,

Jackie hi, and Blaine,

I have spoken to Ryan and Stewart (the MD) today and I am told that Jackie (J Neilson) and Blain have joined this week, if you have I wish you luck and will probably be meeting you soon.

Good luck

paul

Hi Jimmy

Purely trying to decipher what this franchise is about and whether it is a viable opportunity.  Any franchise that tries to claim franchisee earnings of £100,000 in the first year is setting themselves up for a fall to be honest and of course they have to live up to these claims if they are to look in any way legitimate.  So far i am yet to be convinced on this one and I too would like to see some current franchisees on here (that were not previously affiliated with the company ) and hear their opinion.

Still waiting to eat my words but it has alarm bells ringing all over it..

I'm trying to gather some independent research on this company. I know they changed their name to Enterprise connect UK ltd in Sept.2009 and have offices in Oxford and Aberystwyth. Apparently they have been trading since 2006, but I can't find any information for Business Connect from Aberystwyth even though they have been trading there for a number of years. The director is S N Reeves, but again I can't find anything relating him with the business. Generally if you search google or any other search engine with either a company or directors name there is usually a lot of information, but on this occasion very little info is available.  What are your thoughts?

Canch

I Urge every one to steer clear of this franchise i and several others have been ripped off by stuart reeves he currently owes me around 10k for business i bought in during my franchise time, then just after xmas he decided he didnt want franchisees anymore and pulled the plug on around ten of us promising to pay back the franchise fee and commisions owed but now wont reply to any form of communication i  and others have since employed debt collectors to retrieve the money owed to us !!!!!!!