Complaint Review: etyres fleet mobile tyres

Well done Mikey, what you forget is that you wrote this when you had a franchise for a few months, maybe you should write an update as i have found out who you are and the fact you are no longer trading. 

Thinking about buying a franchise, ask a few questions:-

Etyres have been selling franchises for around 20 years, and on average appear to sell around 10 a year, so that’s around 200 they have sold.  Yet they only have around 50 active franchises. However you do the maths it’s always poor.

So, please explain - Where have the other 150 gone, have they gone bust, just packed up, earnt so much money they walked away.  The reality is that even if this is 30% wrong in the assumption, then that’s still a poor result.

On average they appear to have sold the franchises for around £20,000, that’s £4,000,000 they have taken for franchisees that at best have a 25% success rate, but in real terms 100% have failed as no territory achieves the figures and profit they suggest.

So still tempted:-

Take the etyres declared turnover, available from companies house, divide this by the number of actual franchisees, (now at this time etyres need the number of franchisees to actually be quite low!)  You now have the average turnover per franchisee, note you need to look at the actual number of areas a franchisee has, for example Luton 5, Manchester 2 etc.

So now you have your turnover per franchisee area.  Note exclude out of area work as this is not a right and you can’t depend on this as Bowman could sell it at any time. Take around 20-30% off and this should give you a reliable figure for each franchisee.  With this your are expected to pay all your costs, loans and a wage.  The numbers won’t work for you.

Work out your sales margin per tyre:-

• Deduct the cost for old tyre disposal (say 75p)

• Deduct the amount for a new vale (say 7p)

• Deduct the amount for balance weights (say 10p)

• Deduct the cost of new tyre

• Deduct the etyres handling charge (5%)

• Deduct etyres management fees on your entire turnover (yes you pay twice) (6%)

You now have the margin per tyre.

Now think about the bills to pay:-

• Fuel for the van

• Insurance for the van and public liability

• Loan repayments for the van and equipment

• Mobile phone bill

And a few more bills will be sent from etyres

• Add words

• Leaflets

• Stationary

• Anything they feel like, Could be a promotion computer costs anything they want to at all

And a few more things:-

You will need somewhere to store scrap tyres, Bowman may say not but do you really want 2-300 scrap tyres at your home, are you even allowed to keep them a home they are a fire hazard and you live in a residential area. 

You will need somewhere to have your deliveries, you need a place to accept deliveries as you can’t stay in all day waiting for your deliveries as you need to be out fitting tyres, and anyway 4+ deliveries a day from your suppliers in a residential area, will your neighbours complain.

So after all this still tempted, I hope not, but if you are ask etyres to guarantee levels of business you will receive, also note that needs to be part of your contract (not just an email saying its all wonderful) as etyres have some extremely strong non-reliance clauses in their agreement, in essence anything they say written or not won’t count!

So I hope this helps in making your decision not to buy a franchise from this lot.

Mr Tony Bowman suggests all franchise contracts favour the franchisor, I accept this.
Would Mr Bowman like to comment on these items spefically :

Why are there no franchisee meetings?

On the prospectus (of a few years ago) , the suggested average t/o is over 200k in 2 - 3 years, he also has suggestions there are close to 100 franchisees, that would be 100 x 200k = 20 million but the turnover was no where near this figure (well under half, approaching a quarter)  as per the audited a/c provided to the franchisees.

I suggest the real number of franchisees was (is?) closer to 40 take 5,000,000 and divide by 40 = 125k per franchisee, if you then accept some will do better than others some may get 200k some 50k this is not anything like what is suggested in the prospectus.

Sure, the franchisee should expect to work on the territory himself to build the business up! IF you are getting 50K of business on which you are charged 5% (THE 5%!) + 5% for marketing, and you paid 30k for the franchise, and all you get is abuse rather than support, would you not be better off starting up on your own? As a contractor, you get the web site sales figure without the 5% being removed!!! so one is better off being outside the franchise for lots of reasons!

I know of more than 10 franchisees who have failed during the short period that I was a franchisee, (I suggest that was close to 25%) one realised his error after less than 3 months! and walked away before further financial damage was incurred.

Any person considering an etyres franchise should ask other existing franchisees about "THE 5 % " in essence where a web sale is achieved, 5% is taken off the web site sales figure before the franchisee is allocated the sale revenue, the contract allows for this (the original contract did not, after the house of lords appeal in which the franchisee won, the contracts were changed,) the franchisor can pass over what ever he wants to the franchisee, who having signed the VERY one sided contact has nothing he can do about it. I believe every franchisee finds this a shock! and this is only part of the problem with the franchise.

Yell.com is a good place to start seeking existing etyres franchisees, ask them about the 5%,  the non existant franchisee meetings, dig deep, ask many questions of many franchisees, and when you smell a rat, walk away thankful you did take due dilligence!

One recurring theme is coming over, how charming the operators at head office are before you sign, and how adversarial rude unfair and threatening they are once you have signed.

You have been warned.!

My name is Tony Bowman and I am the managing director of Fleet Mobile Tyres Ltd which trades as etyres.

Our business has been established since 1992. We have been awarding franchises since 1996. Our first franchise owners are still with us and still trading successfully. We were the first mobile tyre company in the UK to achieve ISO90002. We were the first on-line tyre retailer in the UK and the first to publish a price check facility. This year alone, four of our Franchise Owners have had sufficient confidence in our business to buy additional Territories. We have continually ranked at, or near, the top of all the major search engines on the key search terms in our industry. Our Franchise Owners always seek to renew their Franchise Agreements when they expire at the five year breaks. We are full members of the British Franchise Association.

It is intreresting that the "ex-franchisee" who filed the report declined to give their name. Where would they be able to fit tyres at 5am or 11pm? Could they actually be a competitor?

Well done Einstein, I mean Mikey!! you may have noticed but the last posting date for the poster changed to same date as your post, and will now change to the same date as this reply! So I guess you must have written them all?? no i mean me?? oh I dont know?? I am responsible for the second post and believe that is an accurate account of my short experience with the company.

If you look at the posters first report and look at the dates first post and last posted dates then look at the alleged second persons reported date.
To me it looks quite clear that they are of the same person. You see the internet is a marvellous tool for reporting dis-honest people too.
Even more interesting, to run a succesfull business one would expect a certain degree of inteligence, so to use the same log-in details to report as an alleged second person gives most people an idea of that persons i.q.

I am also a victim of the etyres scam. I am an ex franchisee who thought I saw an excellent opportunity in etyres. When I contacted the franchisor i was very impressed in the enthusiasm they showed for their brand, they were very friendly and I was made to feel welcome.  After stupidly signing contracts I was invited to the head office to complete the relevant training, immediately after this, the relationship changed and I was made to feel like an unwanted member of staff not the franchise partner I felt, and believed I was.

Shortly afterwards I found out that the price a potential customer pays on the website is NOT what you recieve, there is % taking off even though you pay 5% every month on top of these sales AGAIN. Each and every job came through I would have to phone the call centre to haggle for more of my money, some of the staff would happily increase this, but I believe these members of staff are no longer with the company.

I am unaware of any subbies being used on my territory, however thre was 2 things that did concern me regarding this, on arriving at one address I was greeted by the customer who asked "where's the usual guy?". I was a sole trader and was the only person that fitted tyres, so still dont know who had been there previously. Secondly I arrived to fit some tyres at a different address and was being questioned by the customer regarding the company, he then showed me a letter which was basiclly showing that part of my contracted area was being offered to him!! The guy never pursued with his interest but I do wonder what would have happened if he did??

I believe Ive lost approximately 50,000 but am still in denial and have not worked out the exact figure due to embarrasment. In my time I was also shocked that it was frown upon if we spoke to neighbouring areas, I dont know the reason why, but suspect it is because if we speak, we would all find out how badily we were being treated and take action. I am aware of approximately 10 people who are, or have experienced the same as me and have had their lives ruined by etyres.

The company will not back you up and will always pay the customer regardless of liability and will simply bill you for the privelege. In 1 instance a customer accused me of damaging there wheels almost 12 months after completing the job, I have fitted tyres for the past 25 years and was unable to inflict the kerbing damage to these wheels as accused. Needles to say etyres decieded it was in the companys interest that this be sorted and organised the wheels to be refurbished, then sent flowers to the customer and billed me for the whole thing. So if your a customer just bear that in mind!!

Of course this is my experience, and would advise any potential invester to get the contract read by a specialist and contact as many current, and ex franchisee's for their advice.

As the person who filed this report did not disclose their name it may well be a hoax. However as it contains some details about our company I will respond with the information available.