Mandatory binding arbitration, which corporations use to dodge accountability for their discrimination, negligence, or harassment, is a caricature of justice that offers no protection to consumers or employees. It’s also terrible for small business owners, as one couple found out.
franchises
People Who Complained About Quiznos Million Sub Giveaway Imbroglio Get $5 Gift Cards
By 3.31.09
Readers who had problems with the Quiznos million free sub campaign and wrote in to the email address the sandwichery supplied to Consumerist report they’re receiving $5 gift card in the mail along with a letter of apology from the marketing director. One reader reports that on the back of the card it says that a $1 service charge gets applied to it each month you don’t use it. To see what some franchisees are saying are the *real* reasons for the problems, check out the comments section on this post at UnhappyFranchisee. Quiznos’ letter is posted inside.
Why The Quiznos Free Sandwich Promo Burnt Some Customers
By 2.27.09
According to tipster Rich Piotrowski, a former Quiznos franchise owner who won a counter-suit against the company, the big reason why some Quiznos were being jerks about taking the free sandwich coupon is that at first corporate was making the franchises pay for all the sandwiches. (Quiznos mandates franchises buy all their ingredients from HQ, often at above-market rates…). Then it looks like they decided to reimburse up to 400 coupons, then bumped that up to 700 to meet the demand, and now they’re going to reimburse all coupons. Don’t give away free stuff in these times unless you’re ready for an onslaught of interest, at the outset. Corporate seems to have realized this and contacted us to say that if you have any problems redeeming coupons you can email millionsubs@quiznos.com. Tipster’s comment, and an internal Quiznos memo, inside…
Mandatory Binding Arbitration Isn't Just Bad For Consumers, It's Bad For Small Businesses
By 2.26.09
Mother Jones has an excellent writeup of Deborah Williams and Richard Welshans, the Maryland couple whose horrific experience with franchising a Coffee Beanery we’ve covered before. Inside, MoJo breaks down the arbitration award to show just how much more expensive arbitration is than litigation.
Petland Uses Puppy Mills
By 11.21.08
After an eight-month investigation, the Humane Society of the United States accused Petland, the national pet store chain, of selling dogs bred under appalling conditions at puppy mills around the country.
Meet The Coupon-Throwing Papa John's Owner From Hell
By 6.8.08
Papa John’s wouldn’t let reader Adi redeem her coupon for a $9.99 extra-large pizza online, so she trekked over to the nearest store in Weymouth, Massachusetts, where she met the franchise owner from hell. The owner insisted that the coupon didn’t apply to online orders, so Adi asked to cancel her online order and re-order her pizza in person to get the discount. This prompted the owner to angrily throw the coupon at Adi, before throwing away her ready-made pizza. And was just the start of the fun…
We Are Not Impressed By New York City's Proposed Cable Consumer Bill Of Rights
By 4.26.08
New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson has proposed tying a Cable Consumer Bill of Rights into the 10-year franchise renewals Time Warner and Cablevision are expected to sign later this year. The proposal would force cable operators to disclose information about their expenses and service goals—which sounds nice and important on paper—but wastes an unrivaled opportunity to end the cable operators’ most hated practices.
Coffee Shop Installs Fake Security Camera In Bathroom
By 2.5.08
A coffee shop in Montreal has removed a “dud” security camera from its bathroom after news of it hit the local papers. Corporate headquarters asked the franchise owner to take it down, and apologized/avoided blame in a press release that said they were “not consulted in advance.” The franchise owner had installed it as a sort of junkie scarecrow, to frighten away heroin users who were leaving dirty needles in the bathroom stall.
Comcast Fined $12,000 For Having Crappy Customer Service
By 1.30.08
Comcast has been fined $12,000 for having crappy customer service by Montgomery County, Maryland..
Local Government Powerless Against Comcast, Tells Residents To Switch To Satellite
By 3.29.07
“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” Gregor said. “We could drop the franchise, but then a lot of people won’t have television.”
Good Things We Found In The Quiznos Manual
By 3.19.07
We’ve been harshing on the Quiznos manual in our possession, but there’s actually some good stuff in there about customer service.
Did Quiznos Even Read Book Included In Their Training Kit?
By 3.14.07
We have to wonder whether it’s a cruel joke or if anyone at Quiznos actually read McDonald’s: Behind The Arches, a book they include in their Quiznos University Training Kit.
Quiznos Manual: An Answer For Everything
By 3.13.07
Browsing through the Quiznos operation manual last night, it was interesting, though not surprising, to see codified instructions for every possible employee action. [More]
How Walt Disney Invented America
By 3.11.07
There’s an excellent piece in the March National Geographic that explores how Walt Disney’s vision of Orlando set the mold for the exurbs (“A region lying beyond the suburbs of a city, especially one inhabited principally by wealthy people”) proliferating across America.
How A Quiznos Owner Shot Himself 3 Times In The Chest
By 3.11.07
In a post Friday, we mentioned a recent NYT article about Quiznos franchise owners suing the parent company for oppressive business practices. The piece mentioned Bhupinder Baber, a franchise owner who sued the company for opening new location too close to his own and Quiznos responded by terminating his franchises. [More]
