I decided to get in to a franchise business since I am new in starting my own business and needed the assistance of a franchise. I decided to get in to a cell phone store since I like technology and it was low maintenance. I saved up 7k and used 3k from my credit card for franchise fee. The franchiser is MobileHQ. Basically, three months later the president decided to "resign" and emptied the bank account and took off.
I never got to open my store, never had any type of training, and out 10k. While some some franchises had the training and got to open their store others, there are others, like me, never had a chance. From what I heard, he (Geoff Bluenthal) took off with 500k maybe more.
Since I never had any training or opened my store, can I get my fee back? And how can I go about doing so? What legal actions (criminal) can be brought against this jerk? Since they were based in Mesa, AZ and I am in another state, can the FBI be brought in to this? Please help, thank you.
2007-07-21 04:36:31 · 6 answers · asked by vtecx2k 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Small Business
I hate to say this since it is rather trite. A fool and his money are soon parted. If you didn't research the franchise before investing your hard earned money, you learned a very hard and expensive lesson.
Always research any business venture before jumping in with both feet. If you don't understand the business, it's structure and research its past dealings, you would be very unwise to invest your hard earned money.
I suggest contacting the Arizona Attorney General, US Attorney General and federal law enforcement officials and file a complaint and criminal charges.
Sorry to be so blunt.
Good luck!
2007-07-21 06:05:29 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You may also want to contact the Federal Trade Commission and see if they can assist. The link to their franchise page is listed below.
Good luck!
2007-07-23 20:10:37 · answer #2 · answered by finn 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in Arizona the laws are very strick. I live in Arizona and have seen people commit crimes of fraud, tnd the state goes after them. Get with the attorney general office in the state and pursue this. 10k is way too much to walk away from.
2007-07-21 04:41:48 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
well, he's probably in another country by now. State attorney general of AZ would be the place to start. I doubt you'll ever see a penny of your money back though
2007-07-21 04:41:49 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your contract was with the company. If the company closed then you have no redress as they hav'nt the funds to repay. If the matter was fraud then you may look at fraud by officers of the company. I am assuming this was a limited liability company or american equivalent.
2007-07-29 01:59:51 · answer #5 · answered by Barbarian 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully, others will read this and check out franchises and MLMs thoroughly before investing.
2007-07-21 09:31:59 · answer #6 · answered by jdkilp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋