Jan-Pro Franchising
Reviews and Complaints

Jan pro of Atlanta is a scam company, they got me for $23000. They will literally tell you a lot of lies and promises that they can’t keep. Dealing with that franchise company is a nightmare. The sale people lie, the Vice President lies, they are nothing but blood suckers. Please be careful young entrepreneurs! Do not invest your hard earned money with that company. Look at their reviews and will see how many complaints and law suits the have against them. They will blame you, and in your face so they can keep your money. They need to shut this company down. It should be illegal for them to be in business and arrest the owner and the Vice President.

Good Morning,

I have been a franchisee for Jan Pro since July of 2018. Since then I have gained accounts and lost accounts due to misconceived lies and unaccountable management. I previously had an account with Estes Trucking Company. Unfortunately I suffered a death in my family that meant I needed to take 48 hours off due to funeral arrangement preparation. I was lied on about the amount of time I had to take off. Not to mention my operation manager disrespected me verbally and then had the nerve to tell my higher ups that I missed 72 hrs instead of 2 days. Leading up to the day I asked him for help in locating someone and was not helped at all.

Fast forward another one of my accounts moved their location and went through renovation services. I was never told about this change by the office. When I told them they didnt know as well. The trying part isn't the miscommunication though. It's the idea that I was never properly given a replacement account. When I did bring it up I was told I declined 3 accounts. Which is another lie. I was told about 2 accounts and declined both due to distance. At my meeting with Jason I was informed about a new account matrix that's generated often but never received any email. As you can see this is nothing new and my distrust in the management in Edison has stopped me from reinvesting and making the best out of what I thought was a great franchising opportunity.

Go I am certain that Jan Pro is a wonderful company as my Professor suggested to me to buy into. And I did in 2021 of July in East Hartford, CT. I was full of dreams and really liked the operations Manager, thought the guy was cool. Since being in New Haven, I was informed that a new operations mgr was coming. I waited over 60 days close to 90 and the 89th day I get a call from this guy stating that he tried calling me for days mind you all calls I save and have record of and he did not when I did speak with him, I told him I am not satisfied and wish to have my money back. The main operations mgr in east Hartford told me if I'm not pleased, then sell my company. Not only have I not received the equipment I bought, I have to date no business (6/2022). My advice to any minority, get an attorney before signing anything in CT with JAN PRO. I am out of a business and if I wanted to go to another commercial cleaning business I cannot because of the contract I signed. Is this not clear BULLYING and major RACISM! I even tried contacting the Florida office so that I could get another location and they gave me some pointers

I work at the CVS in Wilkes Barre, PA and I've witnessed discrimination against a Jan-Pro employee. The new manager of the building has hired her son and his best friend to work here and they haven't been dong their jobs correctly since. Us, CVS employees and the security guards has made several complaints but no changes were made, things just got worse. After the last complaint one of the lead Jan-Pro employees finally stood up to the manager and told her about her son's failure to do his job and she fired him. Later on, I personally heard her say "We finally got his black a* out of here."... I did not report this to my employers because I'm afraid much won't happen and I'll end up being fired next.

I have videos from past year of service, kids cleaning my daycare running thru it at 2 am I have had crew after crew replaced, they use all my cleaning products sweepers etc and do not check on who they hire, I have over 40 emails to the franchise owner Nancy Dillard who does nothing about it, I'm fed up and sending these videos of children cleaning to someone who will shown what Jan pro is doing, minors under 18 cleaning is not permitted with your company as I already called about that

I got ripped off by jan-pro of Cleveland. Like so many other people I to fell for there Deceit, Fraud and Missrepresentation. I was given accounts that pay less than minimum wage. I was also given accounts that belonged to previus people. When this transaction occurred I had to pay the same Sales and marketing fees that the previous franchise owner had to pay. They take from your paycheck and at the end of the month you owe them as if you are paying for a job. Then when you buy things from them on items from your business on one day they split it up on 2 different billing accounts to steal more money from you by charging you different sales taxes. These blood suckers need to be exposed and taken down by the law because they prey on the poor and uneducated. JanPro are Predatory Lenders

This business is called Jan-pro, this company steals from their Franchisees, they overcharge them money for the items of cleaning, janpro cleaning systems has a particular lady by the name of office manager who stole 3 computers from office depot and ups.

If I were you I would not purchase a cleaning franchise from these people I would go to another company, at the end of the month you could have paid 4, 000 for example to them for a franchise and bring home 100 dollar paycheck. they even have customer who come in raging about there paychecks I know because I use to use there franchise, and they ripped me off badly and I never received a dime from them.

the regional director is the person who is suppose to direct the company’s cleaning company, and secure a site for you to go and clean, and they are extremely expensive.

The following is an article that came out on Franchisetimes.com

Taking off the Gloves
Commercial cleaning franchisees sue

By Julie Bennett
As published in: Franchise Times - August 2009

Several pending court cases, which are all seeking class-action status, challenge the business model on which some of the largest commercial cleaning franchisors have operated for decades.

Lawsuits have been filed against Jani-King International of Addison, Texas; Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System of Boca Raton, Florida; and Jan-Pro Franchising International of Alpharetta, Georgia.

That business model, developed by Jani-King’s founders in 1974 and since copied by competitors, is promoted as a low-cost business opportunity. Each franchisor sells off regions of the country to master franchisors who then sell unit franchises to individuals–mostly minorities and immigrants–who pay franchise fees of $2, 000 to $5, 000, plus “finders’ fees” for a specific amount of monthly business. At Coverall, for example, a franchisee would pay a total of $10, 750 for a franchise package that provides $1, 500 of commercial cleaning business each month. The Coverall regional franchisor then provides all the training, obtains and distributes all the cleaning contracts, sells required supplies and insurance coverage and does all the billing and collections–services those with a native language other than English might find useful.

But the lawsuits, filed recently in Massachusetts against all three companies and in Pennsylvania, Minnesota and California against Jani-King, contend that the cleaning companies misrepresent their offerings, because they do not have sufficient customers to guarantee each franchisee the amount of monthly cleaning business they purchase. Instead, the lawsuits allege, they breach their contracts by underbidding the amount of time and staffing required for each job, refusing to allow franchisees to inspect cleaning jobs or bid sheets before accepting or rejecting a job, offering geographically inconvenient jobs and unjustly taking jobs from one franchisee to re-sell them to others.

Perhaps more damaging is a second contention–that these so-called franchisees have so little control over their livelihoods, they should be re-classified as employees of the janitorial franchisors and, therefore, entitled to minimum wages, overtime pay, unemployment benefits and worker’s compensation.

Lawsuits over misrepresentation and breach of contract are nothing new. According to its 2008 FDD (Franchise Disclosure Document), Coverall has settled 26 such cases in the past 10 years, admitting no guilt, but paying former franchisees settlements of $3, 575 to $450, 000. Many of the 52 pieces of litigation listed in Jani-King’s FDD also ended in settlement payments. Commercial cleaning franchise contracts are usually written only in English (Coverall has offered a Spanish translation since 2004) and are so complex that the state of Maryland adds a warning page about potential risk factors to their FDDs, said Dale Cantone, Maryland’s assistant attorney general. The Federal Trade Commission distributes a 19-page booklet of cautions for people considering commercial cleaning franchises.

What is new is the second charge, that commercial cleaning franchisees are merely buying themselves low-paying jobs and should be treated like employees. In 2006 the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that a Coverall “franchisee, ” Rhina Alvarenga, was actually an employee and therefore entitled to unemployment benefits after Coverall removed her from a nursing home cleaning account. Attorneys representing Jani-King, Jan-Pro and other Coverall franchisees cited that decision in their complaints. “It’s possible that the business model under which they’ve operated could be ruled illegal, ” said one of the attorneys.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, an attorney with the Boston firm Lichten & Liss-Riordan, who has filed lawsuits against Jani-King, Jan-Pro and Coverall, said, “It’s heartbreaking to meet immigrants who have put their entire life savings into these franchises thinking they will have businesses to support themselves and their families. Instead, they are buying jobs that are terrible, that pay less than minimum wage. When they do get a check, the franchisor has taken out so many deductions, for royalties, supplies, management fees and bogus insurance policies, that they receive very little. I’ve seen pay stubs that say the franchisee owes the company money.”

The other side responds

Representatives of the janitorial franchises disagreed. Jacqueline Vlaming, Coverall’s general counsel, said, “Every franchise owner who runs it like a business can make money. Ninety-nine percent of the people who buy a Coverall franchise are committed to it.” Ron Rosenwasser, of Friedman, Rosenwasser & Goldbaum, of Boca Raton, who represents Jan-Pro, said, “We have thousands of franchisees who work hard and develop their franchise; others fail because they do not work the territory or are distracted by personal problems.” And Don Burleson, executive vice president of Jani-King, said, “We have over 12, 000 franchisees worldwide who have been operating for decades and have many success stories.”

All three top cleaning franchises claim to have thousands of unit franchisees. Jani-King and Jan-Pro, in fact, trade titles as the country’s fastest-growing franchise. But when Franchise Times made random phone calls to “active franchisees” listed in FDDs from all three systems, we found only a handful of people who said they were still happily working the franchise.

Since they operate through regional master franchisors, Coverall, Jani-King and Jan-Pro do not file FDDs that list all their unit franchisees. Their master franchisors are required to file their own FDDs, including franchisee listings, in registration states. New Venture of San Bernardino, a Jan-Pro regional franchisor in California, lists 94 franchisees in its most recent FDD.When Franchise Times called 39 of them at random, only three we reached said they were still active (two said they were making money and a third said she was “doing all right, but I’m not glad I got into this.”) Of the rest, 10 phone numbers had been disconnected or reassigned, seven phones were never answered, 11 people never returned our messages, four people spoke only Spanish and four others said they had left the franchise because they never made any money.

Out of 17 franchisees listed in Jani-King’s Los Angeles/Colton region, we reached only two that were still active. An Ohio woman listed as a current Coverall franchisee said, “I gave them $16, 000 and didn’t get squat. After two years, the most I made was $600 a month.”
Celeste Iles, of Rialto, California, said, “I paid Jan-Pro of San Bernardino $5, 000 for $1, 600 worth of work every month. Before I paid the money, I was told that I’d get accounts in the Rialto area and that I could decline jobs in cities I didn’t ask to be in. Once I started, they offered me one cleaning account in Chino, which is 25 miles away, and others 15 to 20 miles away. When I turned those down, they said the offers fulfilled their contractual obligation. They did give me a few little accounts, but I never got my maximum volume.I cleaned one building diligently for over a year. Suddenly, the person in the Jan-Pro office said my level of cleaning went down and I lost the account. When I went back to the customer, they told me they never had a problem with me. I discovered that Jan-Pro would take accounts away from one franchisee to sell them to another franchisee.”

Gerardo Vazquez, of Bloomington, California, said he, too, had purchased a franchise that was supposed to generate $1, 600 worth of business each month from the San Bernardino Jan-Pro office. “But the office would underbid each contract, and no matter how hard I worked, I never made more than $4 to $5 an hour.” After Vazquez posted his complaints on Internet blogs, he was contacted by so many other Jan-Pro franchisees, they decided to file a class-action lawsuit. He is now one of the 12 lead plaintiffs involved in Liss-Riordan’s Jan-Pro lawsuit, filed last December in federal court in Massachusetts.

Fulton Connor, Jan-Pro’s master franchisor in San Bernardino and San Jose, denied that his office underbid contracts. “Some people, like Mr. Vazquez, took too long and were not following the cleaning schedule. In general, our franchisees are happy. I’ve had owners thank me because they were able to buy homes for the first time in their lives.”

Jan-Pro CEO Richard Kissane called the lawsuits “witch hunts” and said, “We have only one lawsuit in our FDD. If we didn’t have wonderful relationships with our franchisees, we’d have lawsuits out the yin yang.”

Liss-Riordan said, “The reasons we see so few complaints from commercial cleaning franchisees is that immigrants are often nervous about exercising their rights in the U.S. legal system. They don’t know who to contact or they’re embarrassed about losing so much money.”

That may soon change. Thomas Pahl, of Foley & Mansfield in Minneapolis, who specializes in class-action cases, filed his case on January 27, 2009, on behalf of 52 Jani-King franchisees who were referred to his firm. In that case, Jani-King, represented by the Minneapolis firm of Faegre & Benson, won motions to dismiss 11 of the plaintiffs because their claims were too old and to move the action from state to federal court. But a request to dismiss the case altogether was denied.

The companies’ business model might have worked a few years ago, before all three had recruited so many franchisees, the attorneys for the plaintiffs agree. Now they’re so desperate for cleaning contracts “they’re racing each other to the bottom, making bids so low it’s not possible to do this work and make a living, ” said Liss Riordan. “If we’re successful, ” she added, “we’d like to see cleaning work done by employees who receive the benefits of employment.”

Jani-King’s Burleson predicted a different outcome. “I don’t believe there’s any merit in these lawsuits, ” he said. “There’s nothing different now. We’ve been doing the same thing for decades.”

cleaning the mens restroom men are comming using at the same time put signs up told the warehouse housekeeping department told jan-pro nothing being done about it . I am a female locked in a contract need help.

I worked at Jan-Pro of Tampa Bay and lived the horrible things that were done to poor innocent franchise owners. They would convince people to buy a franchise and illustrate a perfect picture of what they would be earning as independent business owners. It is sad how many give up their life savings to this company in hope of getting the American Dream in return. While I worked there I had to help one particular individual with a room to live in. I actually had her living in my house because after she invested $18, 000 in a franchise that would give her $6, 000 net/monthly she ended up getting less then $1000 from her investment. I just hope that if this company is going to sell franchise to stop their little games and stop stealing peoples money. They are quick to take your money and get you signed but after you buy with them and need help they forget that these people are actual business owners and treat them as if they were employees working for jan-pro. STOP STEALING ALREADY!

There are a lot of complaints about Jan-Pro. If you've read any other complaints it indicates that they give you contracts to clean buildings, that are not even worth the pay; you're basically working for minimum wage and working triple to double the hours that you would if you just got a normal job. It's all true. And trust me, you won't feel like a business owner, they'll make you feel like you're a worthless worker.

They will offer you cleaning contracts but they will be so ridiculas, that you have to turn them down. If you're lucky enough to get a cleaning contract that's worth your time, it'll only a couple of years, because Jan-Pro collect royalties, not profits, it is in their economic interest to sell more franchises for a large fee and give your contract away. Nearing your aniverseray Jan-Pro will go out of their way to cause you to lose your contract. If that doesn't work than they'll entice the owner of the building by lowering their price and giving it to a new frachisee. Once your not cleaning any buldings for them anymore, then they will avoid all contacts with you. The receptionist will pick up your phone calls but will indicate that the person you are requesting is away and a international conferance and won't diclose to you when they'll be back. If you call back, in a couple a weeks...same story.

Now, if you know about the small business frachise act (SBFA) and you browse through the contract you signed with Jan-Pro, it's misleading and fraudulent, violating several things indicated in the SBFA

Jan-Pro isn't worth your money or time. You're better off investing your money somewhere else, especially if you're looking to invest long term.