Ronnie Deutsch

[thomtax]

Just got a call from a salesman offering a franchise in my area. He says that because they want to get into the area, there is no charge for the franchise. So, I immediately took it - NOT.
I did tell him to send me information about it because I'm always curious about things.

LT

[OtisMozzetti]

the fine print

I did tell him to send me information about it because I'm always curious about things.

LT

They'll probably send you a brochure and then will try to arrange meetings and/or phone calls with you. The fine print is what you won't see until it's almost too late.

[thomtax]

I have no intentions of going with it. I just want to see what they say. They have webinars and viewing one of them is what they push.

Even if it was a good thing, I am probably too independent to want a franchise. I have worked, in other fields, with them before. It seems that all the benefits always accrue to them and the costs and downside fall to the franchisee.

LT

[erchess]

For the record

I think her first name is "Roni" as in Rice A Roni which is probably an invention of her mother.

[taxmandan]

That's my experience also

I have no intentions of going with it. I just want to see what they say. They have webinars and viewing one of them is what they push.

Even if it was a good thing, I am probably too independent to want a franchise. I have worked, in other fields, with them before. It seems that all the benefits always accrue to them and the costs and downside fall to the franchisee.

LT

I learned the definition of franchise the hard way: They get all the money, I get all the work.

[joanmcq]

And her franchise is really skeezy.

[Davc]

And her franchise is really skeezy.

She's an attorney. There are limits to what you should expect.

[joanmcq]

Some of my best friends are attorneys. All are flakey when it comes to taxes, but Roni is an ambulance chaser, pennies on the dollar, offense to both professions.

[jeff501]

Roni Deutch's website

http://www.rdtcfranchise.com/

Under the franchising tab, there's a breakdown of investment costs. If they waive the franchise fee, it's around $30,000 minimum to get setup (some of the items listed most of us already may have such as equipment and improvements to location).

Here's another website that compares costs among various tax franchises:

http://www.taxfranchisereviews.com/target-tax-preparation-business-opportunity.html

This is from a franchise called Target Tax Preparation. Each year I get a letter from HRB and Liberty calls from time to time fishing for potential franchisees. I've never really considered any of them.

[Roberts]

Wow those royalty fees are amazing.

I always wondered what benefit a franchise would be in a small rural setting. We were driving in Alaska and passed through a small town and I remember seeing an H&R Block franchise and wondering for the next hour how on earth they could benefit from that name in the middle of no-where. In a town of 1,500, how would a franchise help you sell? I can understand it in an urban setting but not in a small town like that.

[Nashville]

Name Recognition

Remember the awesome power of perception in the minds of the public. H&R Block, for all the criticism they receive for questionable financial products, is a true American success story, arising from Kansas City in 1954 concurrently with a new tax code of that year. They did taxes for the masses and did them correctly, and became the nation's first tax franchise organization.

Even today, they are formidable competition for many of us, simply because of their name. I don't know how many potential customers have told me, "I go to H&R Block -- they're the BEST." This perception may have come from TV ads, or may have come from their long-standing reputation. Of course, I disagree that they are the "best" but even in franchise operations in small towns, you will find at least one practitioner who is very knowledgeable and experienced.

Their story is as serendipidous as it is successful. The Bloch brothers (their real name) started as a bookkeeping service in Kansas City after WWII with no particular expertise in taxes. In those days the IRS had public preparation for free, and the code was simple enough that most people prepared their own. In 1954 Congress changed the code so dramatically that it became untenable for the IRS to maintain their public preparation centers, the largest of which were their service centers, and the Bloch brothers were overrun by requests to prepare income taxes in Kansas City. The 1954 code was changed so dramatically from the 1935 code, that another change of mass proportions was not seen again until 1986.

Sensing they had stumbled upon a windfall, the Blochs, with financing, established offices nearby the six largest IRS service centers in six different towns, and in 1955 the H&R Block franchising story began. Henry had the reputation of being a fair-minded businessman who could sell franchise agreements and manage them without being exculpatory. Regardless of what your knowledge and experience may be with H&R Block, their pre-eminence in the industry is well-deserved and heavily owed to Henry & Richard Bloch.

A small town of 1500, especially servicing a large rural area, could benefit from the HRB name recognition alone and amass a tidy practice servicing 750 returns. For those of you who already know the H&R Block story, thank you for reading this far.

[Roberts]

In a small town a resident usually knows 1/2 the people to some extent from school, church, work, family..... If they need to put up a franchise sign to gain recognition or credibility in a situation like that, they are in for a long haul.

[thomtax]

Follow up

I guess that I did not get back to them fast enough. Ironically, we received a call today on our line, asking to speak to one of the cpas here in town.

They can't seem to even keep their sales department going correctly.