Complaint Review: Lice Lifters

I was sold a new franchise by Lice Lifters Franchising LLC, by the President of the company, Michele Barrack. In the course of our conversations regarding the business, I was told that I would recoup my start up costs within a couple of months of starting the business, and was furnished with an Excel spreadsheet outlining what my income would be. I was told that it wasn't completely legal for her to be giving me this information so I had to keep it under wraps.

I have since learned that it is against FTC franchise sales rules for such information to be given about a new franchise territory. I was also told the business was completely flexible and that I would always be home for my children after school. This was not true. I was expected to be on call nearly 24/7. Franchisees are routinely berated for missing any client calls, or for not being able to service immediately, every client who calls.

As a franchisee, my contract stated I would receive assistance with opening, including the franchisor coming on site to help with establishing the operations. This never happened, even when I specifically asked for help. I was told that the corporate office was too short staffed for them to help me. On a monthly basis, I was consistently over billed for fees which I then had to spend time pursuing corrections for, I had my marketing materials (which were required to be submitted for approval) stolen and used without my permission, and my personal blog entries, created for my marketing purposes were used on public websites without my permission for corporate purposes (and credit for my writing was taken by an employee of Lice Lifters corporate).

Franchisees are nickel and dimed with every transaction. Not only does the company charge franchisees a markup for The Nit Nanny product line, they are also charged shipping (if they are not able to stop by corporate to pick up product) and on top of the markup charged on product, the company then collects a royalty on the sales of those products. It's a double dip for Lice Lifters Franchising. 

The President of the company called me at home to harass me when I had a bad month of sales, mysteriously lost essential parts of our franchise agreement (only to find them when I involved my attorney), and withheld access to acquiring retail products from me during my busiest sales month when she was attempting to wrest control of the company from her partner.

Lice Lifters thrives on a corporate culture of fear and distrust. Franchisees are pitted against one another, communication across the company is discouraged, and the President bullies franchisees constantly with threat of legal action and attorney involvement at every turn.

For anyone considering purchasing a Lice Lifters lice treatment franchise, avoid a costly mistake and DON'T! Sadly, it's too late for a number of people who lost a lot of money with this unscrupulous company because no one was there to warn us.