ATL International - All Tune And Lube All tune and lube No support and help with running of shop. They approve any one. With no good credit it does not matter. They take anyone. Millersville, Maryland

I owned an alltune and lube franchise from 1996-97. What is stated in the rebuttle is everything that was fed to us as owners.  You can follow there so called system and you still will not succeed.  They will always tell you that you need to do more here or more there so that when you are not showing any profits its your fault.  This so  called system  does not work.  I had a prospective employee, who previously worked at corperate who was ran off by corperate because he was telling me the truth. Had I listened to him I would have not lost my life savings. Just to add that all of the franchise owners that bought at the same time as myself were all out of business. I contacted only one who was hanging by a thread at that time, I'm sure if I find his number that his business is no longer open. They take all of your money and then move on to new suckers. How they continue to do this to people is beyond me.

I have been reading the various complaints from the so-called aggrieved former All Tune and Lube, Inc. (ATL) franchisees and I am perplexed by their assertions.

If you were so clearly aggrieved and the facts that you have presented are all true, why then did you not get all of your money back?

The facts appear to be on your side. Why did you not pay the nominal fee and take All Tune and Lube, Inc. to arbitration? The cost is minimal and based on your assertions the arbitration panel would have found in your favor and forced ATL to refund all of your monies.

Seems pretty clear to me

As long as the facts were as you represented you would have won easily.

Instead you chose not to. Why?

My guess is the facts are not as you have stated and, as such, you would not have prevailed.

As a former ATL employee, lets examine your position more carefully.

You say that ATL took your initial franchise fees of $32,000 and provided little if anything for it. You got no support or direction and what little direction they gave you was bad? Essentially it was all a scam and done with malice, correct? Moreover, your contention is that ATL is doing this to all franchisees and is demonstrated by their 85-90% (Incorrect) failure rate.

What does ATL have to gain by acting in the manner you describe?

The $32,000 you send in goes to offset your real estate support search, your training and accommodations and the proprietary information you are given.

Where ATL makes its big money is off of continuing royalties. They like making that royalty money as it provides consistent cash flow to the company.

The last thing ATL wants to do is shrink or diminish the royalty stream as that is their bread and butter.

As such, ATL wants you to be a healthy franchisee so that you can continue to feed their royalty stream.

By the way, this is the motivation of practically all Franchisors worldwide.

ATLs success is predicated upon your success.

That is why ATL helps you find a good location, trains you extensively before you open, helps you secure all of your equipment and inventory, helps you secure employees, helps set up your advertising and, most importantly, provides an infrastructure of support for after you open so that you always know what to do.

ATL does not do these things to be altruistic. They perform these services because it makes them a lot of money.

If ATL behaved in the manner you assert they would have been out of business over 20 years ago. The Federal Trade Commission would have shut them down.

Is ATL those that do not closely follow the system and fail.

It ultimately comes down to you the franchisee.

We can only lead you to water

Finally, I would ask that you do some honest introspection about how you have portrayed ATL.

Did you truly follow the system closely?

Did you honestly divulge your true financial situation?

Did you advertise as instructed?

Did you follow the advice of your Field and Corporate Operations Managers?

Or did you cut corners?

Did you abandon the franchise system in favor of doing things your way?

Again, why would ATL not want you to succeed?

Your assertions do not add up intellectually.

The truth is not on your side.

Best of luck in the future perfect?

No.

Their model of doing business however, is sound.

They have franchisees that are very successful and, of course, those that fail.

All franchises have successes and failures.

There is a direct correlation between the franchisees that closely follow the franchise system and success and

PD

I can believe this "franchise" is predatory. Start with the name. The terms "tune" and "lube" are no longer legitimate maintenance terms. The terms "tune" or "tune up" allude to the cars of the past that required periodic replacement of points, condenser, spark plugs, and perhaps distributor cap, rotor, and/or plug wires.. Of these items, current cars have only spark plugs which typically have a life of 50K miles or more. Gone are the previously mentioned "tune up" related ignition parts. Going away are even plug wires as more vehicles have individual coils on top of the spark plugs.

.

Lube? Current vehicles havent had grease zerks for 15 years or so. There is literally no such thing as a "lube job". Oil change yes. Periodic maintenance, yes. Lube jobs, no. Maintenance on current vehicles largely involves electronic diagnostic procedures (fuel systems, ignition systems and emission related items) differing on each make. This requires equipment and knowledge often manufacturer specific. Not a fits all approach easily performed by an independent garage, to wit: "All Tune and Lube".

.

IMHO there are very few totally successful "franchised" automotive maintenance businesses. In years gone past I at one time was directly involved with automotive dealer service department management. (My dark years) There WERE and ARE successful independent garages enjoying a favorable reputation and busy shops. I cant recall ANY that were franchises. Virtually all had at their core an experienced, knowledgeable, well read owner. Many also had mechanics with years of experience. There were very few shops that performed work on both engines AND transmissions. It was usually one or the other.