The Federal Trade Commission; FTC is violating consumer trust. In their haste to regulate franchising, they have all but endorsed businesses, which sell Franchisor Disclosure Documents to the public. The FTC’s theory is the more disclosure out there the easier it is for the consumers to get information. Yet there is a significant problem in all this pre-screening comparison. Number one the companies selling these documents cannot guarantee that you have the updated and most recent disclosure, thus they are providing disclosure, which may not be factual. This is in effect misrepresenting the company, whether good or bad, if it is outdated it is incorrect. I know that at one time we were changing our franchise documents at least once per week. Some of those changes could be material changes. In fact lawyers suing franchisors really stretch what they consider material, when filing against franchisors. So this practice of collecting UFOCs and selling them to the public is causing unnecessary lawsuits.
Additionally at one time our company had over 50 franchise documents for only one of our brand names, which one would the company who distributes these UFOCs without the franchisor’s consent, give to the person buying it? Many franchisors due to case law have different UFOCs in each of the registration states and then another for those which are not registration states, we did. It was a matter of survival simply to avoid the litigation practices of the franchise lawyers, who in my opinion are crooks. Caesar had some great ideas didn’t he? Indeed he had.
Why is the FTC promoting misrepresentation by allowing these companies to sell outdated UFOCs to the public? Because the FTC is inept and basking in liberalism as it sells the industries out to their friends and lovers in private legal practice, so that they may some day leave the FTC and join one of those firms. Deny it, they are kicking their dogs too, that my friends is cruelty to animals. Why is the FTC so utterly blind to truth and so ignorant to the what is going on in the world of franchising. Think on this.
"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs