About 5 months about I began to search on the Internet for information on opening a franchise. I did not have too much cash so I put in a small amount. I was contacted by Jeff Eser. An employee of ATL. He works in the franchise development department of ATL. I asked several questions and Jeff kept telling me that he would answer those questions at a later time. Jeff painted a beautiful picture of the business, but I was still concerned with my lack of automotive experience. He said 90% of all successful franchise owners had not previous automotive experience. That should have have been a red flag for me. But I was really interested in open in a new business, a franchise would be the best thing to happen to me. We finally got to the part of the $11k initial deposit and I asked Jeff the questions again which I felt were important to my decision, one was I wanted to know what happened to the franchise that was open in my home town but no longer in business. Jeff was smooth and said that all my questions could and would be answered but only after I "was part of the family". Once $11k were taken from my credit card, I never heard from Jeff again. I began getting calls from John Kelly. He insisted that I go to the management class at headquarters, which required the remaining $21k to be deposited. I told John that I would feel better if we found a location first. Jeff assured me that ATL has a real estate department that would help me do this. 4 months later, no location. I wrote to ATL to request they cancel the agreement and return my money.in the past 2 weeks I have been communicating with Daniel J Sparby, SR VP via email. Dan is now saying that the $11k is non refundable and refuses to return the money even though I have attempted to explain the false information that Eser gave me and the lack of help in finding a location. They basically tell you that their real estate department will help you but expect you to find it on your own.
0 comments