Complaint Review: WSI - Missassagua Ontario

I purchased a WSI franchise in 2004, hoping to develop a home-based business and use my many years of experience in technology and sales. I thought I did my homework, but was too willing to believe what I was told by the sales person (aka Regional Development Director) I was working with. They used a very hard sell approach and when I did a corporate visit was pressured to make a decision right away. I bought the franchise, quit my job and signed up for training. Training was mostly a motivation workshop with marginal techincal training. Upon returning from training, I worked very hard to try to build the business, with little success. After 15 months of failure, I reluctantly returned to working full time. I terminated the franchise for a total loss. I liked the business but could not make it work. I believe the primary reasons for my failure (and, by the way, the failure of nearly everyone I have ever spoken to that was involved with WSI other than the paid shills who were provided as references) were: --WSI is only interested in selling franchises, NOT making their franchisees successful. --WSI's products and technology are sub-par in the market and overpriced --WSI's support is horrible --WSI provides no advertising or business development for its franchisees --The market for web development is very saturated, competetive and commoditized. There are literally hundreds of web developers in every city --Web consulting actually takes serious skills. Can one week of training prepare you to compete with people who have been involved in web development for years? If you are truly interested in a career in web consulting or in starting a web development business, I have three suggestions for you: 1) Contact some of your local WSI franchisees and offer to work with them for commission for a few months. 90% of the WSI business is selling web sites, so go sell for someone else and see if you like it and are successful. Working for nothing is a lot cheaper than a $40,000 loss. 2) Offer to buy out half of another franchisee's business. Two people can get all the same "benefits" of the franchise that one can for half the price. 3) If you really like the internet consulting business, go it alone. Link up with other web development firms as a marketing agent. Go to work as a commission-only sales person for a real web development company. The number of unsuccessful WSI franchises is impossible to determine but the percent is very, very high. Do not fall for their pitch and save yourself the loss of your money, time and dreams. Luke San Francisco, California

U.S.A.