What is in our Agreements!

Hi there:

For those of you that have not yet heard, I lost the summary judgment and the court ruled in the corporate benefit. But, I’m preparing for appeal, and also seeking an attorney to represent my company. As a pro-se and a lay person, I am not able to represent other entities including my own company. The fight still goes on.

However, what I have learned after two and half years of litigations and over 30,000 pages of documents exchanged and reviewed, is that the franchisee agreement(s) that we each entered into in the hope of making a living and put all our hopes, money and hard work behind it, is not worth the paper that is written on. The agreement is so out of wack and it is so much one side it and in the benefit of the corporate that you would not have a chance in the world to challenge the illegitimate conducts of the corporate.

Changing the formula, no problem it is right there, they have the right to change the system!! Did you know that the “system” means the very essence of the products and the brand that got us into this business to begin with? As the capable corporate attorneys’ have argued, Baskin Rubin changes its donuts formulas and accordingly no one expected our products to be the same (other than the fool franchisees and their customers). If corporate can save money by changing the very essence of the products so be it. There is a very reason for the corporate to change what we all come to know and love, the brand that we stood by for all these years. The freezer burns! not because of our freezers settings but due to sudden loss of butter fats! All shortages, the shrinkages of the tubs, the marketing campaigns that only benefitted the corporate! So what, there is nothing you can do? Ask about “Super premium” nature of products? What super premium, show me anywhere in the agreements that it is said or refers to the “supper premium” products!!!! You and I know what we were told and promised, but if it is not in the agreement, can you prove it in the court of law? This is the question. Is there anywhere in these agreements that marked the products as the Supper premium (deliberate misrepresentation)! If the corporate changes it’s “System” (products formulas) tomorrow and decide to sell popsicles, there is absolutely nothing you can do!! You are not sure, read your agreement(s). Can you afford to take them to court?

The lack of support, unfair competitions, high cost of products and every other issues that we have had in the recent years, so be it, they are all according to the corporate legal team, is within the terms of the agreements!! This is not what I have signed for, to be cheated out of the very products that I come to trust and believed on. From loss of butter fat to the lack of ingredients, to fill by volume to discounted pre-pack products and unfair competitions it is all there, if you have a wild imaginations or very capable attorney you can find it in the same very agreement that we all have agreed, signed and paid for. The system and the way it is set up, it is only for the benefit of the corporate and you’re only as good to them, as the “Seven Eleven” in the corner. Knowing what I know now, I would have never ever gotten involved with this business or this corporate. This is not the organization that worth our supported, our loyalty, our money and lives for.

My suggestions are with what I learned in the past few years, if you can sell, sell and get out as soon as you can. If you opt to stay and renew, then negotiate and have an experienced attorney look the agreement over, comb the agreement for word by word, know your rights. Look for words that seem one thing and means something else. If the corporate does not give in to your demand, be prepared to walk away at any time. This is your money, your investment and your lives. And remember this is not the products that we used to know 5 years ago, so trust your customers, when they say it is icy, and then it is icy. Or when it tests like rubber, believe them, it does test like rubber. Sometimes the reality is too harsh to believe! There is more to come. Good luck to all of you.

Mehrdad