ATL International, Inc
Atl International, Inc. Sells you a franchise and a dream, take all of your money, then leave you in ruins Ripoff

I purchased this franchise with high hopes. I did not have any experience in automotive repair, but was told not to worry "Your in business for yourself, but not by yourself". That couldn't have been any further from the truth.

I was told by Denise Richards (Franchise Development Specialist) that I would have to move fast if I wanted the Clermont, Fl License because there is an owner that wanted to purchase it and two other surrounding towns. I went ahead bought the franchise. I later learned there are no such things as licenses.

The real estate department sent a scout to the area and found a location over 20 miles from Clermont out of site in a commerce park. I was told that the owners of the commerce park were going to place a Marquise sign in the front that would have the All Tune and Lube Name on it. That was another lie, after signing the lease the owners released it since they (owners) were misled also (I loss about $300.00 in that transaction).

About a year later another location was found in Orlando, it was a location where a previous All tune and Lube franchise had failed. They sent out an operations manager to help me set up and to train two employees and myself. It is difficult for me to say if the training was good since I have no background in auto repair service. Business was horrible especially sharing the building and parking lot with Meineke (I thought that they specialized in Mufflers) what did ATL care as long as they were going to start to collect their fees.

Initially I was doing everything I was told to do. I was sending in the required paperwork ie. Weeklys, repair order studies, parts costs analysis. I would get an occasional call from coporate to go over a repair order and the ops manager (Scmidt) at times did not even have the copy of the repair order I sent him and would work off of mine. I was appalled. Business continued to go bad and AtL continued charging their min. Fees draining my bank account without helping me. Every now and then the field operations manager would show up make some suggestion and get the computer upto par. He was more like an auditor than anything.

I stopped mailing the weekly reports into corporate and they did not even notice. It was only when I stopped faxing in the weeklys is when they would call. The weekly report shows how much I made so that they can deduct their fees above the $935.00 weekly minimum. They tell you in training class that you have at least $40,000 in your bank account to start up, that was another lie. Apart from my life savings that I invested in this farce, I had to remortgage my home to stay open. Since all of my money was going into franchise fees I had to stop paying them in order to stay open. I worked to try and turn things around, but it was useless. It was when I stopped paying them that they sent someone from corporate, but it was to late. I spoke to VP Sparby who told me not to close the business, but to try and sell it; "That there are plenty of People in the Orlando area looking to buy". It was then and there It confirmed that they have no hearts and that they are nothing but SHARKS.

I was able to sell the equipment just before having to file bancruptcy, but it was not enough to cover my business debts. I Lost my life savings and my credit is shattered. I know I am not alone.

They have so many variables in their system so that when you go down they will blame the owner and not there system. With Atl's high failure rate how can they continue to blame owners. The class I trained in which consisted of about eight owners, I was able to contact five of them; One never opened, three failed and the other is failing. ATL cannot continue to take advantage of people, why they are still in operation is beyond me.

ATL International sells dreams, place people in financial ruin turning those dreams into nightmares. Please if your are considering purchasing an ATL franchise DON'T.

Company: ATL International, Inc
Country: USA
State: Maryland
City: Millersville
Address: 8334 Veterans Highway
Phone: 4109871011

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