Complaint Review: Sign*A*Rama & Embroidme - West Palm Beach Florida

SIGNARAMA, Inc., Complainant

v.

MD, Author of Ripoff Report # 129164

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Complainant, SIGNARAMA, Inc. (Complainant), has challenged the truthfulness of certain statements (each, a Statement) posted by Author MD (the Author) on the Ripoff Report website at www.ripoffreport.com on January 27, 2005, as Ripoff Report No. 129164 (the Report) Further, Complainant is challenging the status of the Author. The Author contends that the franchise practices of the Complainant are deceptive. The Complainant denies the allegations in the Report and further contends that the Author is not a former employee as the Author claims to be. In response to the Report, Complainant has submitted a Declaration with accompanying documentation. The Author has not submitted a response to the Arbitration Statement. By submitting a Report and a Complaint on the Ripoff Report website, both the Complainant and the Author have agreed to submit the dispute to the Ripoff Report VIP Arbitration.

Each Statement challenged by the Complainant has been considered, together with any Witness Statements and Documents provided by the Complainant for determination of the truth or falsity of the Statement. The Author did not provided a response to the Arbitration Statement.

The Arbitrator was asked to decide whether the preponderance of the evidence submitted establishes that each Statement is true or that it is false. If the statement identified by the Complainant is determined to be an opinion, no determination was made as to that particular Statement because an opinion cannot be determined to be true nor false. The Arbitration was further asked to decide whether the preponderance of the evidence submitted establishes whether the Author was, in fact, a former employee of Complainant.

The Arbitrator determined that certain statements in the challenged Report were false. Therefore, according to the VIP Arbitration Rules, those statements have been redacted.

The Complainant denies that the Author is a former employee of SIGNARAMA. The Complainant stated that at the time of the report, no former employee of SIGNARAMA had the initials M.D. The Author was given an opportunity to provide evidence to establish that he, in fact, was a former employee of SIGNARAMA, but did not do so. Accordingly, the Arbitrator found that the Author is not a former employee of SIGNARAMA.

Decided September 10, 2012

Bruce E. Meyerson, Arbitrator

* A copy of the full Arbitrators Decision is available upon request. Please e-mail [email protected] with the name of the Complainant and Report number.

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Former employee of Sign*A*Rama and Embroidme is outraged with the deceptive measures taken to sell either franchise. For instance, in the Sign Industry it is a felony to contract out or sell certain types of signs without a contractor license. The sad part is that Sign*A*Rama claims in all there media and yellow page ads they are FULL SERVICE Sign Companies. This couldn't be further from the truth. (((Statement REDACTED as false pursuant to Ripoff Report VIP Arbitration))). It just so happens that the signs you can sell make it very difficult to earn a living and pay the overhead.

Funny that all the marketing materials they start you off with make potential clients believe you do manufacture those signs. They also have a National Accounts Department which is defrauding, in my opinion, all corporations they sell because the SAR outlets can not produce the signs, therefore they have to contract the work out to secondary sources to get the jobs done. SAR sells the concept of a proven Marketing plan. (((Statement REDACTED as false pursuant to Ripoff Report VIP Arbitration))). As a matter of fact the $100,000.00 business purchase comes with a plan that consist of cold calling. Thats right go door to door asking people if they would like to buy a sign. You would think that after 25 years they would be able to give you a stable and proven method to start your business.

Lets talk about the setup. (((Statement REDACTED as false pursuant to Ripoff Report VIP Arbitration))) and then the operation advisors come to your store and teach you the equipment operation and the MARKETING PLAN. We'll get ready for the worse two weeks of your life. Most of the OA's are unable to propoerly operate the equipment and non- of them have real Sign Knowlegde. (((Statement REDACTED as false pursuant to Ripoff Report VIP Arbitration))). That's great so you and another clueless person get to figure out what to do with your new business. They also claim that because of there size they have preferred pricing in the sign Industry. (((Statement REDACTED as false pursuant to Ripoff Report VIP Arbitration))). The best part is when you come to Florida, you are taken on a tour of the Headquarters and taken by a few "Select" stores. Don't be fooled by these stores, they are carefully coached to tell you exactly what you want to hear. You need to call random stores in random parts of the country to get the truth. These stores are known as tour stores. The saddest part is that only two people in corporate have real sign experience and they have been so far removed from the business they are outdated. (((Statement REDACTED as false pursuant to Ripoff Report VIP Arbitration))).

My advice if your looking at buying a Sign Franchise is take the tour, see the dog and Pony show, then do your homework. The most important question to ask other owners is What's the deal with the Contractor License, because you will not have that information disclosed to you when they are selling you or basically taken your life savings and not able to support you as your start your downfall.

Embroidme is a bigger joke then Sign*A*Rama. All you need to do is call around to all the stores you can and ask are you profitable and how long have you been at this. Also be sure to ask if they are the original owners. You may want to see how long the store was open before it was resold. Enough Said.

Run don't walk form both franchises. Keep your money in the bank and look for a worthy investment. Get an ROI from your money not a SOL.

MD

Atlanta, Georgia

U.S.A.