Complaint Review: FranCorp

I was referred to Don Boroian through IBI (check out the other ripoff report I filed) when moving forward with a plan to convert my restaurant into a franchise operation. Flew back to Chicago to meet Francorp staff spend a full day viewing their operations. After checking out a few of their references, and since they came highly recommended by Bernie Dohrmann, I decided to hire Francorp to write a business plan. This $10,000.00 plan would be the highlighting catalyst when raising capital for my new franchise.

Time went on, Francorp never came to my restaurant to view the operations, nor did they do anything except speak to us via telephone a few times. We kept calling to get a draft prior to meeting with investors and were continuously told, "it's just about done."

Well, the day before our presentation to investors, the FINAL plan arrives and it wasn't just dull beyond belief, it was plagiarized from a real estate development plan. Throughout the document it spoke of the other industry, the proformas were inaccurate, as well as were our bios. Guess we should have overlooked all the errors since it was bound as though a book, which is also very user unfriendly.

Boroian shows up at the location where our meeting is to be held, which we couldn't do as the plan made us look like idiots. After lengthy discussion, Boroian agreed to rewrite the plan and went back to Chicago.

Francorp staff kept dodging our calls and never rewrote the business plan. I informed Boroian that I was due a full refund since the plan was not written in my best interest, and his comment....."you can sue me in Chicago Courts", no refund. Of course, I was not able to fly to Chicago, hire and attorney, and leave my business in hopes of regaining my $10,000, it would have cost me more to do that than recoup my money.

Even though this happened a few years ago, beware of Francorp. They will try to get you to sign up for the "package" franchise deal and when you don't do that, they'll try to coerce you into the business plan. Total misrepresentation by Francorp that they are qualified to write a business plan. Read the jury's verdict from October 2009, zarcolaw.com about Boroians fraud and deception in the franchise industry regarding South Beach.

Before you franchise, check out some of the reputable companies before you even consider moving forward. Talk to franchise owners and learn how much you work you will have to do before really making a profit. This is not for the faint of heart. If I would have been advised as to how much is demanded of a business owner to create a successful franchise I never would have invested and lost more than $50,000.00.