Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  10/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  In May 2023, we signed a contract with the VP of Sales for Franchise Post for a monthly cap of $1000 for leads for our franchise. After one month, we were billed $1500 instead of $1000. I informed the company of the overcharge, and the VP of Sales plainly stated in an email the accounting department would correct the error. Instead, I was overcharged $1500 in the second month, too. I cancelled the contract, but instead of getting a refund, I was emailed invoices seeking additional payments from me. No one answers the business phone. The VP of Sales will no longer return my emails, phone calls, or texts. I wish I had read the BBB reviews and complaints prior to doing business with this company. I think they are a scam. The leads were promised to be vetted prior to delivery. I can confirm the leads were not vetted. The majority of the leads never replied to our repeated attempts to contact them. Some said they had no idea how we got their contact information. One contact was deceased (his widow answered the phone). There is something deeply flawed with this company--and likely outright fraudulent.

  Business response

  11/09/2023

  Hi ***,

  Thank you for reaching out. I looked into your account and the details after you got started with your campaign. We specifically asked a representative from your company:

  During any given month, our marketing / lead generation team may have the opportunity to include your brand in additional marketing opportunities with ******** and/or ************** that generate excellent leads, but your cap may have been hit for the month when these opportunities arise. Please indicate Yes if you authorize a cap overage to receive these excellent leads or No if you wish to be excluded from this opportunity. Yes

  This opt in helps brands that are serious about growing their franchise unit volume over the next 6-12 months. Have you tried sending out email blasts and other messages to invite people to your Discovery Day? Open houses help get people through your pipeline to success as well.

  ***** your account manager will reach out to you to see what options we can do to help you get this situation turned around.

  Thank you.

  Business response

  11/19/2023

  What is the next step?
  The company failed to respond to the consumer the Better Business Bureau, and so the BBB has closed the complaint.
  There is no action for you to take at this time. We will contact you when we next require your input.

  This is not correct and is a lie. We responded to the consumer. Please fix this case.

  Below is our response:

  Hi ***,
  
  Thank you for reaching out. I looked into your account and the details after you got started with your campaign. We specifically asked a representative from your company:
  
  During any given month, our marketing / lead generation team may have the opportunity to include your brand in additional marketing opportunities with ******** and/or ***** ******** that generate excellent leads, but your cap may have been hit for the month when these opportunities arise. Please indicate ‘Yes’ if you authorize a cap overage to receive these excellent leads or ‘No’ if you wish to be excluded from this opportunity. Yes
  
  This opt in helps brands that are serious about growing their franchise unit volume over the next 6-12 months. Have you tried sending out email blasts and other messages to invite people to your Discovery Day? Open houses help get people through your pipeline to success as well.
  
  ***** your account manager will reach out to you to see what options we can do to help you get this situation turned around.
  
  Thank you.

  Business response

  11/19/2023

  Hello - I have no option to do this:

  Can you reopen this complaint so we can do each item? Right now it's saying we did not respond and we did.

  We cannot upload our client's contract without their permission. It goes against our privacy policy.

  Thank you for providing comments regarding the above captioned matter.  Please be advised that the BBB cannot consider these comments a response.  We respectfully request you provide a fair offer of resolution or a response that is professional and contains the following information:
  addresses all significant issues raised by the complainant,
  includes appropriate evidence and documents supporting the business's position, and
  explains why any relief sought by the complainant cannot or should not be granted.
  Please address the request for a refund.
  Please understand that the customer's complain

• Initial Complaint

  08/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Signed an agreement for leads with this company. They are all BAD Leads and we have a 30 day notice in our contract. We continue to try to contact this company to provide our notice with our attempts to contact going unacknowledged. Furthermore, they are invoicing us for leads we no longer want to receive. This group is as bad as other portals in taking peoples money and ghosting us when we try to communicate. SO MUCH SO - that you can't find a phone number to even call them on their correspondence.

  Business response

  08/30/2023

  Hi ********,

  I am extremely sorry for the bad experience that you have had. You may call me anytime at: **************.

  We allow replacement of any bad lead that you receive by forwarding the lead directly to: leads@franchisepost.com. I get with our lead generation and qualification team on a weekly basis to see what we can do to provide better quality leads for you based on your feedback of leads that you send there. I want you to know that I also personally call every returned lead to ask the prospect what happened. Remember we have an obligation to our users to put them in contact with the franchises they have selected in a timely manner. What I have found is that most of the time a "bad lead" are people who are early in the process and would like to receive more information via email, SMS or direct mail to learn about the opportunity at their own speed on their own time. Then they are more receptive to phone calls and Discovery Day events.

  If you would please, send me your ideal customer profile and demographics of your existing owners. I can do some targeting on my end to help you have more meaningful conversations with your prospects.

  Thank you.

  ***********************

  Customer response

  08/31/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  My request is to cancel service and not receive more leads please. 
  Regards,
  
  *****************************
  

  Business response

  09/13/2023

  Hi ********,

  We have processed your cancellation request and we will fulfill our obligations per or agreement and terms of service. Thank you for the opportunity to help you grow your brand and serve your needs.

  ******

• Initial Complaint

  06/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This company sells leads to franchisors. We have received over 100 leads and every single lead was FAKE! I have personally reached out to every lead and 100% said they never filled anything out and never heard of Franchise Post or ************************* the owner of the business. We have asked for 6 months to be removed from their website but they refuse to remove us. I have now blocked all their FAKE leads from coming to our company emails as of 6/2/23. Franchisors BEWARE! This is a SCAM! I have spoken to about a dozen other franchisors and they all agree that this website and owner are fictions and trying to RIP COMAPNIES OFF! If you get an email from ************************* DELETE it! FAKE SCAMMERS.....BEWARE!!

  Business response

  06/19/2023

  Hi ****,

  I am sorry that you are having trouble growing your franchise concept from a regional to a national brand. One of the most challenging parts of growing a franchise business is building a brand that resonates with consumers. Each lead that we deliver to you is verified for a correct email address, phone number, and liquid capital requirement to start your business. Many times franchise buyers are early in the process and simply want to learn more about how Shine can help them achieve their dreams of business ownership. This is where having a drip marketing campaign that can nurture your leads can ultimately help you have more success with your campaign. Also are you having regular Discovery Day Events?

  Per your terms of service we are willing to replace any invalid lead that you have received. Please email them to me so we may replace them. One other consideration would be to utilize an appointment setter. This will allow you to have more meaningful conversations with serious franchising prospects and lower the amount of time you have to spend prospecting. Please let me know if you would like to discuss an appointment setting campaign for you.

  Thank you and I appreciate the opportunity to help you get your campaign optimized to fit your needs.

  ******

  Business response

  06/26/2023

  Hi ****,

  We would like the opportunity to schedule appointments for you and your team on your behalf. The greatest challenge in sales is getting a hold of other people and utilizing an appointment setting campaign will help you and your team have greater results. We would like the opportunity to do this at no additional charge. Do you accept it?

  One additional question: What CRM are you using to send drip messages to your prospects? Purchasing a franchise is a major decision for people and individuals want information about your opportunity over time that they can digest on their own timeline. Please let me know.

  Business response

  07/26/2023

  ---------- Forwarded message ---------
  From: Customer Service <customerservice@franchisepost.com>
  Date: Tue, Jul 25, 2023 at 11:46 AM
  Subject: Re: Complaint ID: ******** - Please help
  To: Dispute Resolution Team <drteam@mybbb.org>
  Cc: ******** ******* <********@mybbb.org>
  

  
  To Whom It May Concern:

  
  

  Every client that we sign up for service agrees to our contract and terms of service. Per our privacy policy here: *************************/franchise-post/privacypolicy we cannot publicly share our clients' contracted terms of service without their prior written consent.

  
  

  In general, we have a replacement policy where if a client has an issue with a request for information, we will replace that request at no additional charge. We did respond to the complaint and remind them of the terms of their contract. Additionally we did remove the company from our website because they did not pay any of their bills.

  
  

  The erroneous note on the complaint says that we did not respond. We responded numerous times to the complaint. The error must be fixed immediately because it is causing financial damage to our company and is not truthful. We responded and followed our contract, website terms of service and privacy policy. Please help us adjudicate this matter ASAP.

  
  

  Thank you,

• Initial Complaint

  03/13/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  We signed a contract with Franchise Post on January 9, 2023. The following are the things we were promised that NEVER HAPPENED: in-house verification (their team was going to call every candidate to confirm the intent of starting a franchise as well as having the liquid capital required to start the franchise), free press release submissions, scheduled appointments using our Calendly links, monthly email blast to targeted states, and press releases posted to Franchise Post. Every lead we received had (1) never heard of us (2) never inquired with anyone about franchise ownership and (3) never shared their name, phone, or email with anyone regarding any kind of business ownership. Franchise Post stated at that "non-qualified leads may be returned for replacement." Absolutely NONE of the leads they provided had brand specific interest, which, according to them and the contract we signed with them, equates to a "non-qualified lead." Therefore every lead we received, we requested a return for replacement, but it was replaced with yet another non-qualified lead. We cancelled our contract with them on February 15, 2023. To date, they have charged us $6,450. Our attempts to contact anyone to get a resolution/refund have come up empty. There is a gentleman who will randomly reply to emails, but you never get anyone live on the phone and for sure never get a return call. Meanwhile, they continue to send us fictitious leads, despite the fact we cancelled our contract, requested all leads stop, remove our brand from their website, and refund us the money they charged us due to not meeting the terms of their own contract.

  Business response

  03/25/2023

  Hi ***,

  Thank you for your feedback. We've spent a lot of money advertising your brand and I am sorry that you have not had a great experience with our service. 

  I am a little confused, can you please help:
  1. Were you able to get logged into ******** to receive your appointments? Our team has been delivering these. These are very good leads and they're also highly qualified.

  2. We are willing to replace any invalid lead. Who is the person that is calling the leads and speaking with them. Please do know that many people seeking a franchise opportunity see something in your listing and request information to learn more about your franchise concept. They do not always think of your brand name and have it top of mind when engaging with your opportunity. Do you have a CRM and drip email campaign in place to nuture the leads? This is extremely important and what seems to be a missing piece of the puzzle here.

  3. Did you receive a copy of your press release? If not let me know and I will email it to you.

  Thank you for the opportunity to turn this situation around for you *******

  Customer response

  03/27/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  1. You are not confused.  You are scamming us and you know it.  

  2. Yes, our entire team uses ******** every day.  We have for years.  No, you have not sent us any leads via ********, but you know that already.  Your comment about all of the leads that you've sent us via ******** are "very good and highly qualified" is laughable.  How would you know?  You've had ZERO contact with any lead you've sent to us prior to sending us the leads.  According to your program details, you were supposed to do "in-house verification" for all leads.  You didn't call a single one to confirm intent, as it states in your program details.  
  3. Your comment about willing to replace any invalid lead is also laughable since every lead you've sent us is invalid.  Invalid leads were replaced with more invalid leads.  You even charged us for invalid leads AFTER we cancelled our contract.  According to the insertion order you provided (attached), a valid lead "has brand specific interest." NONE of the leads us had brand specific interest...during or after we cancelled our contract with you.  None of them had even heard of our brand, let alone requested information about it.  
  4. Yes, we have a CRM and drip campaign and we know how to nurture leads.  We've done that for over 20 years.  That's not the missing piece of the puzzle here.  You've haven't sent us a single valid lead to nurture.  I promise you we would have if you would have given us something to work with.
  5.  Nope, didn't receive a copy of our press release, because you never sent it.  Too late for it now since we cancelled our contract with you weeks ago. Don't bother sending.  

  Regards,
  
  *******************

  Business response

  04/18/2023

  Hi ***,

  Thank you for your feedback.

  I have called your leads this past week and many people said they have not received a return phone call related to their inquiry. I can tell by your responses that something is wrong in the sales process and I would like to help you fix that. Would you mind telling me how many salespeople you have on your team? Also may I get a conference call with your team so we can get to the bottom of the core issue?

  Thanks,

  ******

  Business response

  05/08/2023

  Hello ***,

  Thank you for your feedback and I am sorry that you did not have a good experience. We've spent a lot of money advertising your brand and I am sorry that you have not had a great experience with our service. 
  
  1. Here is the link we have been using to deliver appointments directly to your salesteam: ****************************************** - These are very good leads and they're also highly qualified.

  2. We are willing to replace any invalid lead per your agreement you may send any bad lead to: leads@franchisepost.com and we will replace them. One important aspect of growing your brand is to build a sales funnel where people to learn more about your opportunity. Please do know that many people seeking a franchise opportunity see something in your listing and request information to learn more about your franchise concept. They do not always think of your brand name and have it top of mind when engaging with your opportunity. We highly recommend putting a CRM and drip email campaign in place to nurture the leads.

  3.I have attached a copy of the press release we have submitted to our database of franchise seekers. Please feel free to keep it and use it for your marketing needs.
  
  Thank you for the opportunity to turn this situation around for you.

  Customer response

  05/08/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  In response to the April 18 comment:
  Why are you still sending us leads?  Our contract ended with you in February 2023.  We have resorted to blocking all of the leads you send to us because our numerous attempts of requesting you to stop sending leads to us have gone unanswered.  For the record, every lead you did send us, when we were under contract, we contacted.  I have all of the documentation to show that we contacted every single lead, so don’t even try to tell me there’s something wrong with our sales process. I have plenty of salespeople on my team to cover leads.  Since you asked…YES!  I would love nothing more than to hop on a conference call with you so we can get to the bottom of the core issue, which is that you have stolen over $15,000 from us at this point and I want it refunded. However, I have tried to contact you via phone call, voicemail, text message, and email and you have NEVER returned my calls.  So, you and I both know this "conference call" will never happen.  Just refund my money so we can be done with this. 
  
  In response to the May 8 comment:
  This is almost a literal copy and paste response that you sent on March 25, 2023, which I already responded in full. Therefore, here's my copied and pasted responses:
  1. Yes, our entire team uses ******** every day.  We have for years.  No, you have not sent us any leads via ********, but you know that already.  Your comment about all of the leads that you've sent us via ******** are "very good and highly qualified"is laughable.  How would you know?  You've had ZERO contact with any lead you've sent to us prior to sending us the leads.  According to your program details, you were supposed to do "in-house verification" for all leads.  You didn't call a single one to confirm intent, as it states in your program details.  
  2. Your comment about willing to replace any invalid lead is also laughable since every lead you've sent us is invalid.  Invalid leads were replaced with more invalid leads.  You even charged us for invalid leads AFTER we cancelled our contract. According to the insertion order you provided (attached), a valid lead "has brand specific interest." NONE of the leads us had brand specific interest...during or after we cancelled our contract with you. None of them had even heard of our brand, let alone requested information about it.  
  4. Yes, we have a CRM and drip campaign and we know how to nurture leads.  We've done that for over 20 years. That's not the missing piece of the puzzle here.  You've haven't sent us a single valid lead to nurture.  I promise you we would have if you would have given us something to work with.
  5.  Nope, didn't receive a copy of our press release, because you never sent it, but you appeared to send it this time.  Too late for it now since we cancelled our contract with you months ago. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *******************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩