Complaint Review: Image Sun Tanning Centers - Beach Bum - TC Franchising - Sterling Heights Michigan

When the image sun corporate office learned of the negative post on this site they asked me to respond and share my experience.  I am a franchisee of Image Sun and i currently operate 2 image sun franchise locations.

In my experience, Image Sun has been absolutely FANTASTIC in every manner.  They have delivered everything they have promised and they have been there to support us every single time we have called on them.

The fact is, getting a business loan can be very difficult.  But to blame Imag Sun because your loan was denied is absoluetely not fair in my opinion.  Image Sun is a great company, their staff awesome, Anthony has been wonderful to work with and we have enjoyed our ongoing business relationship.  Becaus of Image Sun we are making way more money than we every dreamed possible.

I have worked for Image Sun for over a decade now and I can tell you straight up, this company is very fair and ethical in every way.  This particular person who posted this complaint is mad at us because his loan was cancelled after he started his salon development.

Yes, he did in fact pay Image Sun 25K for his franchise fee and he did sign a lease with a landlord.  Then he went and applied for his business SBA loan and he was initially APPROVED.  

However, prior to him closing on his loan, the bank found out that he was married but did not list his wife on his loan application. Instead, he listed himself as SINGLE.  When the bank asked why, he said that his wife had a bankruptcy on her credit record.  The bank then replied and told him they were cancelling his loan because he listed himself as SINGLE on his application and they were not conforatble with his wife's bankruptcy.  It had nothing to do with Image Sun.   

It really upsets me to hear someone make these accusations about these people.  Anthony and his family are very honest and fair people.  They never did anyting wrong, this guy just lied to everyone and made a mess for himself.  Then he tried to blame everyone around him.

If you have more queistions feel free to email me at [email protected].  I will be happy to call you and speak with you directly so you know the real truth.

The person idenetified in this post, Mr. Delveccio, is an independant Business Broker and NOT an Image Sun employee.  He works for the BUYER, like a real estate agent, and helps them select a Franchise that is right for them.

If you were referred to Image Sun under the guise that he was part of Image Sun, that would be simply untrue and we certainly apologize if he mislead you or anyone else.  I am sorry that you had this experience but please udnerstand that he does NOT work for us.  He is an independant agent working . . .for you actually.

At any rate, we are happy to have you speak to any of our salon owners and you can review and talk numbers, profits and losses with them as much as you like.  We encourage it.  If you are not happy with your Broker then i strongly suggest you just contact the companies you are interested in directly so you will be dealing with the Principles of the company directly and get all of the information that you need to make a proper decision.

This person joined our membership program for $19.95 per month and signed up for our Auto Pay program.

After several months of paying but not using his membership he came in the salon and demanded his money back.  He was informed that he could cancel his membership and not be billed any further but we do not refund payments for past months.

Our membership program is similiar to any other membership plan.  You pay wether you use it or not.  It is up to you to use it every day if you wish or use it never.  This particular customer realized that he never used it for several months but was still paying for it and became upset.  Mostly upset with himself I presume.

We have just become aware of this post so we are just now responding.  At any rate, this particular person did pay us, Image Sun, 25K for his franchise license.  He also then applied for an SBA loan through his bank and WAS APPROVED. . initially.  He then moved forward and signed a 10 year leas with a local landlord and scheduled the closing for his loan.

A few days prior to his loan closing, the bank learned that he was married but did NOT include his wife on his credit application.  Instead, he listed himself as SINGLE.  When the bank informed him that their Business Loan Policy required a personal guarantee from both himself and his wife, he then notified the bank that his wife had a recent bankruptcy on her credit record.  The bank then informed him that his loan was being cancelled on the basis of his Wife's Bankruptcy and the fact that he had falsified his application by listing himself as Single.  This is the truth.  

I hope this clears this up.  If you have any questions please feel free to email me at [email protected] and i will be happy to call and speak with you.  I know this case very very well and Image Sun did NOTHING WRONG whatsoever.  I have worked for Anthony and his family for over a decade and they are very fair and honest people.  It really upsets me that someone would actually accuse them of every being a scam or anything like that.  

Because of this guys misiformation on his application to both Image Sun and the bank he caused Image Sun to lose several thousand dollars as well from deposits on construction and tanning equipement.

i was scammed as well, fortunately for not nearly that much.. they only got $1600 from me but as soon as they got it, they stopped responding to telephone calls and blocked my email addy.. these people only care about money, when i did a walk-in after being ignored, they were super friendly until they realized i wasn't there to sign up.. then they went and got their "manager" who told me that i'd have to take it up with "corporate".. which i cant do since they're ignoring me...

I too was to buy this franchise, but I dug deeper to find a lot of miss informative information about the company. I met Mr. Delvecchio, nice guy but used a lot of stories about his previous band he was in, and all these stories about U2 and Bonno. What bothered me the most was that I never saw a physical store when I came to meet him, I never was shown P&L statments from one of there stores that they own. I was promised these things before I left on my trip to visit Image Sun. Now I just spent good money for my wife and I to come there, and they couldn't show us what they had promised before hand. I spent the money for the plane, the hotel, and to mention the money I lost from missing work. I understand that is a small amount to lose if your going to better yourself. But in this situation it was a huge waist of time and money. I never felt good giving 25k without knowing what the hack I was doing with it. Your problem was one of my nightmares that I wish would never happen to me. So I truly feel bad for you, really do. Do yourself a favor. Google tanning salons and buy a few books and there is a company that actually does it all for you. Open your own place. Find a solid location, because at the end, its all about location and you will do fine. I know where Image sun gets there beds. I googled a company in Milan and they make the same beds and better for half the price that Image sun is selling them for. Huge rip off. Do some homework first, then decide what ave. you want to take. Good luck...