Regus review: Dishonest practices 44

Prior to signing of my contract with Regus, Mark Sinclair (General Manager) assured me there would not be any additional fees/hidden fees. I was informed by a competitor that Regus had hidden fees and not to go with them during my research of finding a temp office space. My contract was for 3 months. During the last week of my contract I emailed and personally asked the Operations manager, Marybeth Catinella if I had to sign, review, final walk through, and anything else prior to my last date so that I do not get any other charges then what I have already paid. Marybeth Catinella said "dont worry about it, everything is fine" and that I should receive my deposit in 30 days. On the 30th day I receive an invoice for $1032.50. After further research I found out the contract had a clause with NO FEE SCHEDULE about "continuing business" setup. I asked Mark Sinclair about the fee and he just email replying "I just received word back from my boss that Regus cannot waive the business continuity charges that are outlined in section 23 of the terms and conditions of the service agreement."
I'm a small business owner. Every dollar matters! I received a PROMISE from the General Manager assuring me there will be no other fee then the $600 per month and assured me his competitor was lying. When I asked the Operations Manager if I needed to do anything to assure my full deposit with no other charges, she stated "dont worry about it, everything is fine".
I should have ended my contract when I received my 1st invoice with a higher agreed fee of $600 BUT again I was sold by the General Manager, Mark Sinclair.
I am very upset that I was deceived and not told all the information by the General Manager and the Operations Manager (Mark Sinclair and Marybeth Catinell).
I want to warn others of Regus's hidden fees and bait and switch sales tactic.

Regus is the biggest rip off in the world. they charged us than here in cupertino for one year of membership and the place closed down right after. now, they have scamed us of our money and no refunds are issued.

I am furious... do not pay a dime to regus business centers... pls keep your money away from these frauds...

Anyone wants to sue them? let me know... I am all for it!

Yes I totally agree I am having murder with one in the UK at the moment who have provided an absolute sham of a service and wont do a thing about it having a huge detriment on my business! Steer clear of Regus

Highly agree. All around they are too expensive and the fee's are ridiculous. I would never recommend there service to anyone in any location.

I concur about everything that has been stated! We were hit by the same charges unknown to us! They are scams and something has got to be illegal about what they're doing.

I agree, stay clear of Regus.

Me too. i've been in business for 10 years and signing up for a year with regus has proved to be the biggest mistake i've made. i'd like to agree that they are the biggest rip off in the world - please please read and then read again anything you sign with them and they are also a sham of a service.

I'd strongly advise others not to make the mistake I made by signing up with them.

And yes, i'd love to sue them. I also have a good case. does anyone have mark dixons email address? he is the ceo of this absymal company.

Mark dixon - ceo of the regus group is one of the worlds biggest scam operators

It has been reported through various reliable sources and ex-regus clients that the regus group/hq management group is under criminal investigation for fraud, stealing of clients funds, non-delivery of services and falsification of documents.

Should you consider using their office services think twice before you part with your money. these international scam artists will do everything not to deliver their services after they collected your payments.

It further appears that the regus group will be filing for bankruptcy very soon, due to the fact that thousands of customer payments have been collected but clients have not seen any professional services in return.

Their global network looks at the first glance impressive, however the “small prints” in their contracts are so clever written that even if they do not deliver the office services as contractually agreed on, the client is left ‘hanging in the air’ without any possibility to receive his money refunded.

The regus managers “in charge” are suddenly “un-available” to solve any problems and the client is “dragged over the floor” for months with “excuse letters” but no improvement of service takes place. cancellation of contracts are simply “ignored” and requests refunds due to breach of contract by the regus group are ignored too.

Instead the client receives invoices for services he never ever ordered or signed for. or invoices are sent from the regus group, which are dated months before the service contract was even signed. this is outright fraud and the therefore this scam operation must be stopped immediately.

Do not pay them any money if you don’t wish to be the next victim. there are far more professional companies out there who will gladly offer you their services and they do deliver!

If you have ever dealt with regus and you feel that you are a victim too, please contact our investigative journalist team.

The regus group is a 100% scam operation! - here is what other clients and ex-employees are saying about the regus group! stay away from these scam artists!

I can confirmed the validity to the previous post, every single word is true. my lease ended 10/31/2008 and in the last week I recieved and invoice from regus (indianapolis, in.) for $850.00 of whch there was no listing or breakdown of why I was receiving this invoice... just a single unidentified dollar amount. when I called the office, ispoke with the billing person who did a very poor job of helping me identify the full breakdown of the invoice. after concerted effort I was able to identify phone, mail, covered the fees over a 3 month tranistionary fee... upon further complaint, the general manager called me today and of course reminded me that this transitionary fee is well represented in my contract that I signed 12 months ago. and of course I contend that at no time in dealling with the office manager at the initial signage of the contract or my exit conversations did this transitionary fee be expressed of discussed to me which I find non-discloser a fraudulant act and places regus in my opinion as a scammer... I plan to pursue this to and end and want all to know that regus in my cased misrepresented their contract and service.

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I think the regus people are all talk and all sleeze. I had an office at regus on rt 128 near boston. my company paid a lot for it, but I needed a place to work away from two small kids in between sales travel.
Thru word of mouht I found another executive suites, highland-march, in westborough. I really liked th e space and the peaople there a lot and it was much closer to home, so I put in my 3 month notice at regus. I began working out of highland-march right away on a day-to-day basis. the staff there was fabulous and the price was almost half of what regus charged. really top-notch people.
So here's the catch: I hadn't shown up at regus for about 5 weeks, but I still had 6 weeks to go on my contract and my comapny was still paying the (outrageous) monthly fees. well, I go to my office, unlock the door — and there is someone else working there! they had taken all my stuff and put it in boxes in storage there, and sold my office right out from underneath me — and I was still paying for it!
I will never-ever use regus again.

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Our company was opening a new office in nashville, tn, and we had been searching for a small office space to accommodate our two employees. while doing research, we came across the regus group, offering us an all-inclusive package in one convenient monthly bill. this was an ideal plan for us. we began our relationship with regus in october 2008, and after just one month, we were highly disappointed. we began seeing charges for services that were priced much higher than the area average. getting in touch with the general manager at that location was nearly impossible. emails were sent and phone calls placed, and were not returned for days when there was an urgent need for a response. after being disappointed in so many ways, we decided to terminate our relationship with regus, and move to the private sector where terms were a bit better, and the bills would be more manageable. we received our final bill from regus, and saw charges that we never agreed to pay. regus wanted to charge us a “business continuation” fee, which, when looking over the t&c, there was nothing specified that we would be charged for something like that. we had no qualms about paying an exit fee, as this is standard, but we were charged an exorbitant amount. while we could have paid a cleaning service somewhere in the amount of $75.00 to clean the office, regus charged us more than double that price. we felt really let down by regus, and will never do business with them again, nor refer anyone to their offices.

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Does anyone know if you sign an agreement with regus and your company goes bankrupt, can they come after you personally? I realize that any responses should be validated by an attorney, etc.

I re-newed my regus deal 8 months ago after a 6 month contract, then the economy drove my business into the duldrums. I gave notice in february that I was going to vacate and vacated in march. I paid march rent but sent in 2 secret shoppers in late march. they were not shown my space. I am a sole proprietor and the agreement was signed in the company's name and written in the company's name. there is no personal gurarantee on the agreement. I offered them a 75% buyout and they said no. anybody else experience anything like this?

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We moved into regus hq in tulsa, ok in nov. 2006. the whole time we rented our office space there they seemed to come up with misc. charges for all kinds of things. when we moved out they charged us $2000 and they couldn't tell us what all the charges were even for! and then put a late charge on our bill while they were taking forever to research what our charges were. here we are, 5 months after we moved out, and we just received another invoice for postage and supplies from our "business continuation" fee that we were unaware of when we signed the contract. this is a charge for them to forward your mail (you don't have a choice, all the mail that comes is listed as one suite, so you can't intercept @ the post office) not only do they charge to forward your mail, they charge you for the postage and supplies that they use. now we are paying $200 on a $35 postage charge because they slapped two late fees after not billing us on time. oh, did I mention, it's 5 months later and we haven't received our deposit back from when we moved in? I would never recommend regus/hq to anyone.

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This post if from an ex-employee of the regus group/hq management group. if this is not enough warning for any client to stay away from these scam operators, then we do not know what is…?
I used to work for regus and I have to concur that unfortunately, what is written above is true. please know that with the economy turning, the pressure on managers to gloss over key areas of the contract and then hide behind the fine print will increase. previously, managers were allowed to discuss those fees. most did, some did not. the explosion of complaints, I believe, is a direct result of the pressure they are now feeling to sell at any cost - customers be danged. once you're in you're in and that is the stance that the company will take. I left after years with this company when I finally got tired of fighting against such practices, as have many other managers in the last 8-12 months. sadly, many of the people who put customers first are no longer there. go to careerbuilder - they can't hire people fast enough to stop the bleeding. I count myself as one of the lucky ones having left early enough to escape the new initiatives that severely reduce incentives, encourage infighting and poor customer management. this company had the potential to be great but is being driven into the ground by fear and greed. if you need to sign a contract with a regus/hq building, please read the contract thoroughly and ask about every single fee listed and every deadline for renewal. it appears more likely than not from the comments above that they will not review it and you will certainly end up paying for it. hq was a great company once. it's sad to see what it's become.
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Regus asked for nearly $3600 in security deposit for a 3 month contract. mark green, the incompetent manager at 5 penn plaza assured me that every single penny would be returned.in mid-march, I upgraded my office from a $1200/month room to $2100/month room. during my upgrade, mark green told me that he would waive any fees associated with the upgrade.

To my surprise, I received a $2400 bill for the month of march (I expected to receive a $1650 bill since I moved mid-march). I asked mark green what had happened. he told me that he wasn't sure, but that he had spent two hours last night adjusting my bill – the nightmare had begun.

When mark green was unable to resolve my bill on april (after coming back with many excuses that he didn't have time to look over my bill), I told him that since my 3 month contract would come to an end on may 1st, I was prepared to leave if he cannot deal with my bill.

Mark green, frustrated at his lack of understanding of his own company's billing system, delegated his duty to cathy defrenza, another manager who didn't understand her own company's billing system. cathy assured me that she was prepared to resolve my bill that same day. I was very happy to hear that.

Of course, cathy disappeared. she was on jury duty for over two weeks. after contacting mark green to ask what had happened, I was repeatedly told that cathy would give me a call. cathy never did. on june 1st, mark green told me that he was no longer in charge of my bill and that the responsibility had been elevated to regus corporate headquarter.

I called regus corporate headquarter and another employee who had no idea why mark green had forwarded this information answered my call. she informed me that I was being charged a $1000 business continuation fee and that my security deposit will not be returned until i've resolved my account. there was no hope left. I had no one to speak to about my overcharged bill on the month of march. regus also charged me $300 wear and tear fee for an office I had used for three months. the office was practically brand new when I left

So here's my advice: don't go to regus if you want an honest billing system. I found that there are much better offices with windows (mine had none). if you put in $3600 security deposit, know that you will probably get $1000 back or nothing at all.

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I confirm this as well. I was a fool and signed two agreements with them. the first was for an office for $600 a month. *I never paid less than $1200* for that lease. at the end, I was hit with an $800 virtual continuation feel. I then really needed an office for reasons that don’t matter, so I signed a 3 month contract for $205 a month for basically a broom closet. it turned into a 4 month contract because they don’t count partial months as part of the terms and of course I never paid less than $525 a month for that lease. I had to extend it once and of course went for an extra 4 months instead of three. well, after the 5th month I moved to a more traditional office and figured i'd just cancel the extra phone and internet charges and just eat the $205 fee for the rest of the lease. they told me that I couldn’t cancel the phone or internet and it was in my contact! I was so disgusted I haven't even looked at the contract again to see what rabbit they're pulling out of their hat (like the virtual continuation). I figured the hell with them and i’ll never ever do business with them again.

Oh! my lease is paid via credit card. well, last month (my last month w/ them ever, thank god), my credit card was declined. they charged me a credit card declined fee! hahaha have you ever heard of such things! these people have some nerve to say the least.
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I confirm this as well. I was a fool and signed two agreements with them. the first was for an office for $600 a month. *I never paid less than $1200* for that lease. at the end, I was hit with an $800 virtual continuation feel. I then really needed an office for reasons that don’t matter, so I signed a 3 month contract for $205 a month for basically a broom closet. it turned into a 4 month contract because they don’t count partial months as part of the terms and of course I never paid less than $525 a month for that lease. I had to extend it once and of course went for an extra 4 months instead of three. well, after the 5th month I moved to a more traditional office and figured i'd just cancel the extra phone and internet charges and just eat the $205 fee for the rest of the lease. they told me that I couldn’t cancel the phone or internet and it was in my contact! I was so disgusted I haven't even looked at the contract again to see what rabbit they're pulling out of their hat (like the virtual continuation). I figured the hell with them and i’ll never ever do business with them again.

Oh! my lease is paid via credit card. well, last month (my last month w/ them ever, thank god), my credit card was declined. they charged me a credit card declined fee! hahaha have you ever heard of such things! these people have some nerve to say the least.

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Hq global workplaces/regus group complaints –
Fraud, employee theft of identity

Hq global workplaces/regus group

Fraud, employee theft of identity

I recently returned from my military mission in iraq as one of the thousands usa soldiers and thankful to be joined again with my family, but worried about how I would support them. I borrowed $1350 from a loved one and then went to add the funds to my bank account. within minutes, I discovered that a company named hq global workplaces had charged my account $326.00. when I called my card company to inquire and dispute the charges, they suggested I first call the merchant. when I called the merchant (hq global workplaces) they informed me that they had charged my card because someone using a different name other than mine, had ordered some type of virtual office service. they refused to refund the money to my card even though I told them that I was not the one who made the transactions. I offered them proof of my identity and even offered to send them a photocopy of my id and my credit card to show that the name on my card is not the name that was used to make the transaction. I also offered to provide them with I had just returned from the military and could not have possibly made the transaction. I will unfortunately have to spend more time and money in taking them to court 'but in the meantime, I still am out of $1350 and my rent is due.

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Exclusion and limitation clauses - commercial contracts and the fraudulent regus strategies
In our june 2007 commercial update, we reported the decision in regus (uk) ltd - v - epcot solutions ltd [2007] ewhc 938 (comm) in which an exclusion clause in the supplier's standard terms was held to be unreasonable under section 3 of the unfair contract terms act 1977 (ucta). the court reached this view on the grounds that the clause left the customer, epcot, with no real remedy for breach of contract.in a recent judgment ([2008] ewca civ 361), the court of appeal upheld the clause and it is important to understand why.
Epcot, a small it training provider, rented high quality serviced office accommodation from regus for a number of years but the relationship was marred by a number of problems, including the inadequacy of the air-conditioning system in the premises which ultimately led to epcot claiming substantial damages. regus attempted to rely on the exclusion clause in its standard terms, the relevant parts of which were as follows:
"we will not in any circumstances have any liability for loss of business, loss of profits, loss of anticipated savings, loss of or damage to data, third party claims or any consequential loss. [the customer was advised to insure accordingly.] we will be liable... up to a maximum equal to 125 per cent of the total fees paid under your agreement... or £50, 000 (whichever is the higher), in respect of all other losses, damages, expenses or claims."
In the court of appeal, rix lj held that the trial judge had erred as to the scope of the clause and epcot's available remedies. rix lj pointed out that the obvious and primary measure of loss for the defective air-conditioning is the diminution in value of the services provided - i.e. the difference between the value of air-conditioned offices and non-air-conditioned offices. although the first limb of the clause excluded some heads of loss, notably loss of profits and consequential loss, it left this primary measure of loss untouched.
It was argued that the first limb was unreasonable because it operated "in any circumstances", i.e. even in the case of regus's fraud or deliberate acts. this was a misconstruction. liability for fraud or malice would always be accepted because parties contract with each other in the expectation of honest dealing. extreme or remote possibilities like these should not be the primary focus when assessing clauses for reasonableness.
Looking at the ucta reasonableness factors, rix lj pointed out that epcot's ceo was an intelligent and experienced businessman who was well aware of regus's standard terms and used a similar exclusion himself. there was no inequality of bargaining power, as shown by negotiating patterns and epcot's obvious awareness of alternative providers. as for insurance, it would have been far easier for epcot to insure against the losses mentioned in the first limb. overall, the first limb met the requirement of reasonableness and the figures of the higher of 125 per cent or £50, 000 specified in the second limb were, in fact, described as "generous".
The trial judge had originally stated that the first part of the clause could not be severed and therefore the whole thing failed. by the time of the appeal, it had been conceded that severability was possible, allowing the second limb to remain intact. rix lj approved this approach, despite the fact that the clause was not divided into separate sub-clauses, because the two limbs were clearly independent of each other and served different purposes (i. e. one excluding liability, and the other limiting it).
Anyone whose standard terms include a cap of this type will be reassured by the court of appeal's stance. lawyers, too, can distil some drafting guidance from the judgment.in particular, clauses should be split into separate sub-clauses, wherever possible, with clear numbering to differentiate them, and drafted so that they are capable of standing alone if one part is struck out. this should be supported by a severability clause in the boiler plate.
This is just another warning to stay away from regus and/or hq management group. these guys ar crooks!

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The regus group is the biggest scam operation globally! - here are more facts from regus clients and ex-employees of the regus group! warning! stay away from these scam artists!

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Regus / office rental complaints - bait and switch

Regus / office rental

Bait and switch

Prior to signing of my contract with regus, mark sinclair (general manager) assured me there would not be any additional fees/hidden fees. I was informed by a competitor that regus had hidden fees and not to go with them during my research of finding a temp office space. my contract was for 3 months. during the last week of my contract I emailed and personally asked the operations manager, marybeth catinella if I had to sign, review, final walk through, and anything else prior to my last date so that I do not get any other charges then what I have already paid. marybeth catinella said "dont worry about it, everything is fine" and that I should receive my deposit in 30 days. on the 30th day I receive an invoice for $1032.50. after further research I found out the contract had a clause with no fee schedule about "continuing business" setup. I asked mark sinclair about the fee and he just email replying "I just received word back from my boss that regus cannot waive the business continuity charges that are outlined in section 23 of the terms and conditions of the service agreement."
I'm a small business owner. every dollar matters! I received a promise from the general manager assuring me there will be no other fee then the $600 per month and assured me his competitor was lying. when I asked the operations manager if I needed to do anything to assure my full deposit with no other charges, she stated "dont worry about it, everything is fine".
I should have ended my contract when I received my 1st invoice with a higher agreed fee of $600 but again I was sold by the general manager, mark sinclair.
I am very upset that I was deceived and not told all the information by the general manager and the operations manager (mark sinclair and marybeth catinell).
I want to warn others of regus's hidden fees and bait and switch sales tactic.

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More clients comments about fraud techniques of regus & the ceo mark dixon

141 days ago by sara s
+1 votes

Regus is the biggest rip off in the world. they charged us than here in cupertino for one year of membership and the place closed down right after. now, they have scamed us of our money and no refunds are issued.

I am furious... do not pay a dime to regus business centers... pls keep your money away from these frauds...

Anyone wants to sue them? let me know... I am all for it!

119 days ago by twinkle1000
+1 votes

Yes I totally agree I am having murder with one in the uk at the moment who have provided an absolute sham of a service and wont do a thing about it having a huge detriment on my business! steer clear of regus
69 days ago by ihateregus
+1 votes

I concur about everything that has been stated! we were hit by the same charges unknown to us! they are scams and something has got to be illegal about what they're doing.

I agree, stay clear of regus.
9 days ago by hardworker
+1 votes

Me too. i've been in business for 10 years and signing up for a year with regus has proved to be the biggest mistake i've made. i'd like to agree that they are the biggest rip off in the world - please please read and then read again anything you sign with them and they are also a sham of a service.

I'd strongly advise others not to make the mistake I made by signing up with them.

And yes, i'd love to sue them. I also have a good case. does anyone have mark dixons email address? he is the ceo of this absymal company.
9 days ago by hardworker
+1 votes

Me too. i've been in business for 10 years and signing up for a year with regus has proved to be the biggest mistake i've made. i'd like to agree that they are the biggest rip off in the world - please please read and then read again anything you sign with them and they are also a sham of a service.

I'd strongly advise others not to make the mistake I made by signing up with them.

And yes, i'd love to sue them. I also have a good case. does anyone have mark dixons email address? he is the ceo of this absymal company.

It has been reported through various reliable sources and ex-regus clients as well as ex-employees that the regus group/hq management group is under criminal investigation for fraud, stealing of clients funds, non-delivery of services and falsification of documents. the list of client and ex-employee complains is getting longer everyday.

Should you consider using their office services think twice before you part with your money. these international scam artists will do everything not to deliver their services after they collected your payments.

It further appears that the regus group will be filing for bankruptcy very soon, due to the fact that thousands of customer payments have been collected but clients have not seen any professional services in return.

Their global network looks at the first glance impressive, however the “small prints” in their contracts are so clever written that even if they do not deliver the office services as contractually agreed on, the client is left ‘hanging in the air’ without any possibility to receive his money refunded.

The regus managers “in charge” are suddenly “un-available” to solve any problems and the client is “dragged over the floor” for months with “excuse letters” but no improvement of service takes place. cancellation of contracts are simply “ignored” and requests refunds due to breach of contract by the regus group are ignored too.

Instead the client receives invoices for services he never ever ordered or signed for. or invoices are sent from the regus group, which are dated months before the service contract was even signed. this is outright fraud and the therefore this scam operation must be stopped immediately.

Do not pay them any money if you don’t wish to be the next victim. there are far more professional companies out there who will gladly offer you their services and they do deliver!

If you have ever dealt with regus and you feel that you are a victim too, please contact our investigative journalist team.

Regus staves off bankruptcy with £57m uk disposal
By liz vaughan-adams
The cash-strapped provider of serviced offices regus sold a controlling stake in its uk business yesterday in a last-ditch effort to raise money to ensure it stays afloat.
The company is selling 58 per cent of its uk business for a maximum of £57m to rex 2002, a new company set up by the venture capital firm alchemy.
Regus said it believed the deal was the only option left on the table and warned that unless it was completed by the end of the year, as expected, "parts of the regus group will be unable to trade, which is likely to result in the appointment of the administrators".
"this was a deal we had to do," said mark dixon, the chief executive. "we are selling the crown jewels here, we can't deny that. the uk business is our most established business, it's our most profitable business, it's the best cash-flow producer."
The company's uk operation, which has a workforce of 556, made an operating profit of £13.6m in the first nine months of the year, on sales of £129.4m.
Regus warned yesterday that it would have faced a £6m shortfall later this year were it not for the disposal of the 58 per cent stake in that business to alchemy. shares in the company closed down 6 per cent at 14.5p.
The company does not have any overdraft or debt facilities to bridge that shortfall and admitted yesterday that none of the banks or potential lenders it approached were prepared to help.
It said that providing it made revenues of more than £270m in 2003 and provided the disposal to alchemy went through, it thought it had sufficient working capital for the next 12 months.
It is now also working on plans to sell non-core assets as well as to restructure its loss-making businesses, particularly in the united states, to improve its finances.
But the company warned that it expected pricing to remain under pressure "at least for the foreseeable future" and said it expected turnover to be "down fractionally" in the first quarter of next year.
Regus' advisor, nm rothschild, said regus was in "severe" financial difficulty and warned that it would not be able to meet its obligations unless the sale went through in time.
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'hotdog hero' hits hard times
Regus chief executive mark dixon faces an uncertain future as the us arm of his company files for bankcruptcy, writes mark tran

Mark dixon, chief executive of regus, put his finger on the problem that has bedevilled his office rental company since boom turned to bust in the us.

"the reason we are trading poorly," he said, "is largely a result of us having too much space and at too high a rent on the west coast of america, where the market has been affected very badly by the technology slump."

Only three years ago, mr dixon - who left school at 16 and once sold hotdogs - was singing the praises of the us, saying it was a wonderful place to do business. but that was before the hi-tech bubble burst, pushing the world's largest economy into recession.

The downturn left the us market with a glut of office space and threatens to force to mr dixon to hang up a for-sale sign. but mr dixon insists that he is not bailing out of the us. the operations are to be restructured, not scrapped, and no wholesale closures are planned.

The odds are against him.

Filing for bankruptcy in the us is the latest twist of the knife for regus. last month it sold a majority stake in its only profitable business to a venture capitalist. alchemy partners agreed to pay £51-57m for 58% of regus's uk division, depending on performance.

At the time, mr dixon, who holds a 64% stake in the company, admitted that he was selling off the "crown jewels". now other venture capitalist firms are circling.

The us venture capital firm, indigo capital, has said it was considering a bid, although it is under scrutiny from the financial services authority (fsa) for possibly issuing misleading statements over its shareholding.

Should regus be swallowed up by someone else, it will mean a huge setback for mr dixon, who hit upon the idea of providing office space with all the trimmings - from photocopiers to toilets - for businesses.

Mr dixon hit upon the idea during a trip to brussels when he noticed the large number of international business people working from their hotel rooms.

He decided to introduce the american business centre concept to europe to take advantage of a shift in working patterns, with companies requiring flexible office space and services. his first office rental overlooked brussels' stephanie square, in 1989.

Regus was actually founded in the uk by john wheeler, who had the same idea as mr dixon. mr dixon approached mr wheeler and suggested joining forces. then regus's swedish backers, reinhold, collapsed. mr dixon bought regus from the receivers, with the help of £800, 000 from the sale of his dial-a-snack business.

Regus became one of the world's fastest growing companies, expanding into the us and asia, and employing almost 3, 000 people. it provided fully equipped offices equipped with high speed internet access and high-quality furniture.

The world's biggest company of its kind, regus boasted a global network of over 420 full-service business centres with 92, 000 workspaces in 51 countries, located in modern and prestigious buildings.

The accolades followed.in 1999, mr dixon was named ernst & young entrepreneur of the year, while the sun complimented him on being a "top geezer" and a "hotdog hero".

The expansion into the us proved to be regus's undoing. at first business took off. it then fell off a cliff when the us economy went into reverse. regus made the classic mistake of jumping into a hot market just as it was about to go cold.

Floated on the london stock exchange and nasdaq in the us in 2000 at a value of £1.5bn, regus shares peaked at 392p during the hi-tech boom. now regus shares fetch about 21p, giving the company a market value of just £126m - and shares have actually gone up this year because of takeover speculation.

Should regus be bought up or go bust, mr dixon, who is only 43, can be expected to be looking around for other business opportunities. three years ago, mr dixon claimed he would start over again if he went bankrupt.

"definitely, I wouldn't hesitate - I wouldn't miss a day," he said in an interview. that day might come round sooner than he had anticipated.

© guardian news & media

>

Mark dixon: the briton who wants to build a new google
Mark dixon, chief executive of regus, made his fortune supplying serviced offices and he has his sights set on creating a world-leading company.

By andrew cave
Published: 9:00pm bst 25 apr 2009
What does a man do when he has lost half a billion pounds, been trashed by the city and gone through an expensive, high-profile divorce?
For essex burger-flipper turned monaco-based tycoon and tax exile mark dixon, simply rehabilitating regus – the outsourced offices provider whose us business crashed into chapter 11 bankruptcy protection during the dotcom bust – wouldn't be enough. neither would taking the group into the ftse 100 index – a task that would need it to roughly double its £700m market capitalisation.
What mr dixon, the son of an engineer and owner of 40pc of the company, really wants is to "build the next google or microsoft".
Is he serious? you bet. "whatever I achieve, I get a second of light when I achieve it, but then I want to get on and do the next thing," he said. "regus at some point in the future will be an important global business. I want the business to be accepted and for people to talk about it like they talk about google and microsoft: companies that provide tools that they can use. that's what we want: for our customers to say: 'yes. I really get value from that.'"
This inveterate need to prove himself is what led mr dixon, 49, to leave school at 16, starting dial-a-snack to make sandwiches which he delivered on a butcher's bike. the business was not a success – "customers loved it but no one told me you had to make a margin" – and he ended up travelling the world, paying his way by working in restaurants and selling encyclopaedias.
On his return, he invested £600 in a burger van and began selling hot dogs, buying seven other vans in essex before ploughing his £10, 000 savings into setting up the bread roll company, which he sold in 1988 for £800, 000.
He moved to brussels and had a flat-rental firm before he spotted businessmen holding meetings around coffee tables in hotels, saw the potential for providing desks for executives on the move and set up regus in 1989. when he floated the business in october 2000, it was valued at £1.5bn. six months later, it was worth £2bn and mr dixon's 60pc stake at the time made him a billionaire.
Now he's tending to his ninth business, the chateau de berne vineyard in provence, which he bought a couple of years ago.
"I enjoy what I do and my businesses are also my hobby," he said. "wine is my weekend job. i'm one of the leading producers of cote de provence rose. we produce about 600, 000 bottles of wine, mostly rosé – the stuff you drink when you're sitting on the beach. I also do about 35 tonnes of olive oil a year."
Does he really still need to prove himself, seven years after the chapter 11 filing and the sale of a majority stake in regus's british operations to venture capital firm alchemy partners? "of course I do. not to the city, though. I am driven more personally. I am not worried by what people think."
Regus suffered in the last economic downturn because its easy terms for flexible short-term office or desk rental were highly attractive to dotcom entrepreneurs, who fled en masse when the boom turned to bust. mr dixon said the company had also over-expanded in the us and calls the chapter 11 episode a "near-death experience."
In the uk, the shares, floated at 260p, hit a low of 3½p, valuing mr dixon's stake at less than £80m. however, within a year regus was able to buy hq global, its american rival, for £164m. regus now has full control of its uk business and increased group pre-tax profits by 25pc to £149m last year.
It now has cash of more than £200m and no debt, 171, 277 desks at 1, 000 office centres and gets 40pc of its revenues from the us. last year it redomiciled for tax reasons and is now incorporated in jersey and resident in luxembourg.
Now more storm clouds are gathering, with dire conditions in the commercial property market and spiralling levels of business failures, but mr dixon claims to have reinvented regus's business model to make the company more recession-resilient.
He says 65pc of regus's offices are leased through partnership profit-sharing deals with property owners, which give less exposure to long leases and empty properties.
Businessworld, a members' club launched last summer that mr dixon describes as offering "oyster cards for offices", has signed up 200, 000 members who pay monthly subscriptions in return for desk-days at regus's sites. average occupancy of regus's office space increased slightly to 82.9pc last year.
"we're not in the risk-taking business. we're an operator," mr dixon said. "we've got a brave new world of products that are really touching a nerve with the business world now, based on the ability to cut a business's costs.
"you could be someone made redundant in the city. you don't want to sit at home in essex. you buy one of these cards, pop up to london and you've got a place to sit. or you could be a very large corporate that's looking to take out costs."regus also offers a deal that gives unlimited access to business lounges providing free wi-fi internet connections and tea and coffee for £17 a month."they're like airport lounges, said mr dixon. "you're not allowed to sit there and camp out. it's there for occasional use. these are great recession products.
"this time, we're prepared. we're not going to be so badly affected. last time, we were an immature business. the business had doubled in size every year for the previous 10 years so the average age of the centres was under two years.
"now the average age of our centres is nine years. we're starting from a very strong base and trying to hold it. the next two or three years is going to be all about value. it's the ryanair and easyjet world. you've got to be focused on the cost for your customers."
Mr dixon doesn't underestimate the severity of the challenge ahead.
"i've been in business for 34 years and never seen anything like this," he said. "but our relationship with landlords is symbiotic. if there were to be a problem I believe people would work together. it's not a time for conflict.
"we have 400, 000 customers. it's taken us 20 years to get that but we've got the best distribution that landlords can possibly touch, and we're in 75 countries and will add 10 more this year. we're just opening up in honduras, paraguay, senegal and mauritius."
The tough times, including his £28.7m divorce settlement in 2005 with ex-wife trudy, the mother of two of his five children, clearly still hurt deeply.
"going through the reconstruction, the humiliation and the damage to value and everything else, I class that as a rite of passage, "he said."it's difficult at the time but you get on with it. I didn't spend time sitting crying into my soup. you just work a lot more hours in the day. you don't have time to worry about what everyone is saying.
"my rite of passage has made me into a better business person. i'm more rounded and i've aged a bit. i'm a lot more mature.
"i'm a completely different person from last time around. I take a lot less risk. but we've not only got to fight the recession, we've got to get rehabilitated. we've vowed to leave the emergency ward and not go back.
"if you disappoint the market badly, as we did, it takes years and years to recover. we're doing it. we'll be in the doghouse for as long as it takes."
Mark dixon cv
Family: divorced with four daughters and one son
Houses: connecticut, provence, monaco
Interests: sailing, wine-making, tennis and collecting old trucks
On burgers: "I still occasionally meet people who bought hot dogs from me. it's a great business but you work all night and smell of onions all day."
On tax: "I pay some tax here. i'm only in the uk 45 to 60 days a year. I spend my life on a plane."
On films: "my favourite is the godfather - it's all about honour and business, although it's not the sort of business we do."
On cars: "I drive a range rover but I don't really do cars. I do old trucks. I have a 1971 toyota and an old citroen."
On reading matter: "you'll laugh but i'm reading the great crash by jk galbraith and a book about julius caesar. I also love private eye and no, I don't think i've ever been in it."
>

More regus victims:

11 hours 54 minutes ago by sophia2000
0 votes

I have problem with regus uk, at first they talk about benefits with regus, and after end of my contract when I decided to leave them they show their real face and they didn’t return my deposit, please beware them and considering before agreement with them.

>

Mark dixon has given a typically bullish interview with the telegraph newspaper this week.

In it he states that he wants regus to become the next “google or microsoft” and that he wants to regus to be seen as a useful tool that people use to operate successfully in business. clearly regus have got someway to go to reach the status of google or microsoft in terms of monetary value, however it is more the sentiment expressed by dixon that should be of interest. if anyone thinks that he would be satisfied with regus’s current domination of the global serviced office market, then they would be under a misapprehension over the psyche of mr dixon...

How long will it take before the authorithies bring this global scam artist down...?

>

Sir stelios haji-ioannou issues defamation proceedings against the regus group plc and mark dixon its ceo

Sir stelios, the founder of easygroup, which includes easyoffice.co.uk, has today issued defamation proceedings through schillings (the leading law firm in reputation management) against mark dixon, ceo of international serviced office company regus group plc, and the company itself, which is listed on the london stock exchange.

Sir stelios is suing following claims made to the financial times

Sir stelios said today:

“I was called a liar to a publication I respect hugely and one that is very important in my business career. this is unacceptable to me and I have decided to take this legal step to clear my name and my reputation in the city.”

>

4 hours 55 minutes ago by don not use regus they are bad
0 votes

Trust me they are just as bad in the uk, we took a office from them in leeds, wellington place, the staff are very rude the sales reps totally lie about everything then you never see them for a blue moon, they very very dodgy to look at them you would think they would be a good company to deal with they are the utter pitts, do not use them, they will only get in the way of you run running your business!.

Stay well clear from them, they are bad news.
>

>
Regus chiefs waive their pay as losses spiral
By susie mesure
Mark dixon, regus's chief executive, and stephen stamp, the finance director, have waived their salaries in a desperate attempt to stop the troubled serviced-offices provider haemorrhaging cash.
Mark dixon, regus's chief executive, and stephen stamp, the finance director, have waived their salaries in a desperate attempt to stop the troubled serviced-offices provider haemorrhaging cash.
Both men have worked for free since august and will continue to do so until the end of the year. mr dixon was being paid £400, 000 a year while mr stamp earned £160, 000.
The move accompanied redundancies for a quarter of regus's staff and an across-the-board pay cut of 40 per cent, helping to slash £60m from the company's cost base.
Shares in regus soared 87 per cent to 36p, buoyed by signs that the group's strategy shift to longer-term contracts was working. mr dixon, who owns 60 per cent of regus's share capital, bought a further one million shares at 30p each. his share holding is worth £121m, down from more than £1.3bn earlier this year.
Mr dixon said the cost-cutting action, prompted by a catastrophic profits warning in july following a downturn in regus's business, should mean the company is cash-flow positive by next year. "we are guardedly optimistic about the future," he said.
Regus cut 800 jobs in the last three months, including 287 in britain, and halted its new centres opening programme. it has reduced monthly cash expenditure from about £12m a month through to september to a forecast of £1.2m by december.
Analysts remained cautious about the group's ability to increase its cashflow next year after it discounted fees to win back tenants. businesses can rent a regus workspace for as little as £8 a day in the provinces and £19 a day in london.
While regus said that its order book had reached a record level in september, fears remain about how well the business will fare in increasingly difficult economic conditions. demand for regus's us workstations has plummeted.
Regus reported a pre-tax loss of £11m for the three months to 30 september, compared with a profit of £4.9m a year earlier. the company took an exceptional charge of £87m, mostly in relation to its efforts to cut overheads.
>

Regus shares drop and investors reject pay package
By ceri jones ⋅ may 21, 2009 ⋅

Shares in the uk’s largest serviced office operator regus plc have fallen by over 10 per cent.

The drop of 9p per share has come despite the company seeing a year-on-year increase in turn over during the past four months. ceo mark dixon has reportedly blamed the drop in value of the pound for the slow up in revenue.

After being offered an executive pay package, a third of the company’s independent shareholders voted against the package for the second time in two years at the group’s annual meeting.

Ahead of the vote the association of british insurers expressed concerns regarding the company’s corporate governance after regus chose to ignore the company’s share underperformance and allot 1.6m shares to mark dixon, who owns over 37% of the company, in line with the group’s performance bonus plan.
Mark dixon and the regus group - a sinking ship...? make sure they dont go down with your money in their pockets...!

>
More scam victims from mark dixon, ceo of the regus group
Posted: 2009-03-31 by
disappointed client

Dishonest practices

Our company was opening a new office in nashville, tn, and we had been searching for a small office space to accommodate our two employees. while doing research, we came across the regus group, offering us an all-inclusive package in one convenient monthly bill. this was an ideal plan for us. we began our relationship with regus in october 2008, and after just one month, we were highly disappointed. we began seeing charges for services that were priced much higher than the area average. getting in touch with the general manager at that location was nearly impossible. emails were sent and phone calls placed, and were not returned for days when there was an urgent need for a response. after being disappointed in so many ways, we decided to terminate our relationship with regus, and move to the private sector where terms were a bit better, and the bills would be more manageable. we received our final bill from regus, and saw charges that we never agreed to pay. regus wanted to charge us a “business continuation” fee, which, when looking over the t&c, there was nothing specified that we would be charged for something like that. we had no qualms about paying an exit fee, as this is standard, but we were charged an exorbitant amount. while we could have paid a cleaning service somewhere in the amount of $75.00 to clean the office, regus charged us more than double that price. we felt really let down by regus, and will never do business with them again, nor refer anyone to their offices.
>

71 days ago by anonymous
0 votes

Highly agree. all around they are too expensive and the fee's are ridiculous. I would never recommend there service to anyone in any location.

>
Mail and wrong addresses
Company information:
Regus group
California
United states

Regus published wrong address on several buildings. during a usps software and hardware upgrade, we noticed mail being returned with what we knew to be the proper address. later we learned that the post office had advised the regus group in irvinemant times about using the proper address. they have since changed the address but wont pay a dime to anyone! most are unaware and absorbed the cost to cure because regus told the clients the post office was in error. I found it and was terminated!

Regus loses mail
Regus is awful to deal with
Regus doesnt care about client service
Regus told our clients we werent there, didnt have a real office etc
Regus told our clients they had th wrong number!

Watch out for regus group!
>

More regus victims:

11 hours 54 minutes ago by sophia2000
0 votes

I have problem with regus uk, at first they talk about benefits with regus, and after end of my contract when I decided to leave them they show their real face and they didn’t return my deposit, please beware them and considering before agreement with them.

>

Mark dixon has given a typically bullish interview with the telegraph newspaper this week.

In it he states that he wants regus to become the next “google or microsoft” and that he wants to regus to be seen as a useful tool that people use to operate successfully in business. clearly regus have got someway to go to reach the status of google or microsoft in terms of monetary value, however it is more the sentiment expressed by dixon that should be of interest. if anyone thinks that he would be satisfied with regus’s current domination of the global serviced office market, then they would be under a misapprehension over the psyche of mr dixon...

How long will it take before the authorithies bring this global scam artist down...?

>

Sir stelios haji-ioannou issues defamation proceedings against the regus group plc and mark dixon its ceo

Sir stelios, the founder of easygroup, which includes easyoffice.co.uk, has today issued defamation proceedings through schillings (the leading law firm in reputation management) against mark dixon, ceo of international serviced office company regus group plc, and the company itself, which is listed on the london stock exchange.

Sir stelios is suing following claims made to the financial times

Sir stelios said today:

“I was called a liar to a publication I respect hugely and one that is very important in my business career. this is unacceptable to me and I have decided to take this legal step to clear my name and my reputation in the city.”

>

4 hours 55 minutes ago by don not use regus they are bad
0 votes

Trust me they are just as bad in the uk, we took a office from them in leeds, wellington place, the staff are very rude the sales reps totally lie about everything then you never see them for a blue moon, they very very dodgy to look at them you would think they would be a good company to deal with they are the utter pitts, do not use them, they will only get in the way of you run running your business!.

Stay well clear from them, they are bad news.
>

>
Regus chiefs waive their pay as losses spiral
By susie mesure
Mark dixon, regus's chief executive, and stephen stamp, the finance director, have waived their salaries in a desperate attempt to stop the troubled serviced-offices provider haemorrhaging cash.
Mark dixon, regus's chief executive, and stephen stamp, the finance director, have waived their salaries in a desperate attempt to stop the troubled serviced-offices provider haemorrhaging cash.
Both men have worked for free since august and will continue to do so until the end of the year. mr dixon was being paid £400, 000 a year while mr stamp earned £160, 000.
The move accompanied redundancies for a quarter of regus's staff and an across-the-board pay cut of 40 per cent, helping to slash £60m from the company's cost base.
Shares in regus soared 87 per cent to 36p, buoyed by signs that the group's strategy shift to longer-term contracts was working. mr dixon, who owns 60 per cent of regus's share capital, bought a further one million shares at 30p each. his share holding is worth £121m, down from more than £1.3bn earlier this year.
Mr dixon said the cost-cutting action, prompted by a catastrophic profits warning in july following a downturn in regus's business, should mean the company is cash-flow positive by next year. "we are guardedly optimistic about the future," he said.
Regus cut 800 jobs in the last three months, including 287 in britain, and halted its new centres opening programme. it has reduced monthly cash expenditure from about £12m a month through to september to a forecast of £1.2m by december.
Analysts remained cautious about the group's ability to increase its cashflow next year after it discounted fees to win back tenants. businesses can rent a regus workspace for as little as £8 a day in the provinces and £19 a day in london.
While regus said that its order book had reached a record level in september, fears remain about how well the business will fare in increasingly difficult economic conditions. demand for regus's us workstations has plummeted.
Regus reported a pre-tax loss of £11m for the three months to 30 september, compared with a profit of £4.9m a year earlier. the company took an exceptional charge of £87m, mostly in relation to its efforts to cut overheads.
>

Regus shares drop and investors reject pay package
By ceri jones ⋅ may 21, 2009 ⋅

Shares in the uk’s largest serviced office operator regus plc have fallen by over 10 per cent.

The drop of 9p per share has come despite the company seeing a year-on-year increase in turn over during the past four months. ceo mark dixon has reportedly blamed the drop in value of the pound for the slow up in revenue.

After being offered an executive pay package, a third of the company’s independent shareholders voted against the package for the second time in two years at the group’s annual meeting.

Ahead of the vote the association of british insurers expressed concerns regarding the company’s corporate governance after regus chose to ignore the company’s share underperformance and allot 1.6m shares to mark dixon, who owns over 37% of the company, in line with the group’s performance bonus plan.
Mark dixon and the regus group - a sinking ship...? make sure they dont go down with your money in their pockets...!

>
More scam victims from mark dixon, ceo of the regus group
Posted: 2009-03-31 by
disappointed client

Dishonest practices

Our company was opening a new office in nashville, tn, and we had been searching for a small office space to accommodate our two employees. while doing research, we came across the regus group, offering us an all-inclusive package in one convenient monthly bill. this was an ideal plan for us. we began our relationship with regus in october 2008, and after just one month, we were highly disappointed. we began seeing charges for services that were priced much higher than the area average. getting in touch with the general manager at that location was nearly impossible. emails were sent and phone calls placed, and were not returned for days when there was an urgent need for a response. after being disappointed in so many ways, we decided to terminate our relationship with regus, and move to the private sector where terms were a bit better, and the bills would be more manageable. we received our final bill from regus, and saw charges that we never agreed to pay. regus wanted to charge us a “business continuation” fee, which, when looking over the t&c, there was nothing specified that we would be charged for something like that. we had no qualms about paying an exit fee, as this is standard, but we were charged an exorbitant amount. while we could have paid a cleaning service somewhere in the amount of $75.00 to clean the office, regus charged us more than double that price. we felt really let down by regus, and will never do business with them again, nor refer anyone to their offices.
>

71 days ago by anonymous
0 votes

Highly agree. all around they are too expensive and the fee's are ridiculous. I would never recommend there service to anyone in any location.

>
Mail and wrong addresses
Company information:
Regus group
California
United states

Regus published wrong address on several buildings. during a usps software and hardware upgrade, we noticed mail being returned with what we knew to be the proper address. later we learned that the post office had advised the regus group in irvinemant times about using the proper address. they have since changed the address but wont pay a dime to anyone! most are unaware and absorbed the cost to cure because regus told the clients the post office was in error. I found it and was terminated!

Regus loses mail
Regus is awful to deal with
Regus doesnt care about client service
Regus told our clients we werent there, didnt have a real office etc
Regus told our clients they had th wrong number!

Watch out for regus group!
>
Hq.com/ regus group business center
2911 turtle creek blvd. suite 300
Dallas, tx 75219 map
District: turtle creek
About hq.com/ regus group business center
Consumer warning: this service is a complete rip-off.

Dallas.com has used this service and determined that it cannot be recommended.

The company provides customers with an agreement that autorenews annually, and they don't acknowledge requests for cancellation, nor do they notify customers of renew dates.in our opinion, this is an outrageous business practice.

So unless you want to spend $100 forever just to have a mail address, we recommend against using hq.com dallas turtle creek, which is part of the regus group.

There are other less expensive services available, and until they develop a customer-centric focus, we advise dallas business owners to go elsewhere.
>

Egregious regus unofficial site
1000 locations. 450 cities. 75 countries. one call. no service.
Regus group and hq global workplaces provide office space, virtual offices, meeting rooms, mailing addresses, receptionist and other services etc. the concept is to work smarter perhaps at a reduced cost. but at what real cost?

Here is the problem...

Regus terminated my agreement after several years with them. the area director, michelle prentiss, had promised to provide better service and stepped into assist with some issues at the center and unfortunately there was no resolution.

After paying for about half of my expenses related to regus improperly publishing and issuing the innacurate address, they terminated the agreement thus leaving me to front the cost of changing my address again on everything just 8 months later!
Regus has a high turn over rate at the front desk if you enjoy:

Mail being returned due to improper address used by regus (prior 4.08)
New hires constantly and/or temp personel
New hires/temps sending calls to the wrong extension
Being over billed for long distance you never had (we have years of this)
Clients turned away because their money order wasn't in an envelope
Mail forwarding not done for 3 weeks
Front desk telling your clients you really aren't real as you have no real office
Front desk telling clients that regus is just an answering service and we do not have an office there
Personal calls going to other clients within the building
Front desk confusing your phone number with another number and telling your clients you are no longer there and they have the wrong number and then do nothing for you. no apology... nothing!
Publishing the wrong address and having you pay for the changes on your letterheard, business cards, brochures, etc., then you will love regus.
Retaliation? you decide...
I had been experiencing mail issues for over a year. the post office blamed regus for not publishing and sharing the proper address with their tenants. I alerted the regus local manager about the mail problem and was ignored. I was labeled a "problem" and could not understand why. I discovered that regus liked to use a more impressive address and mail wasn't always an issue until the post office upgraded hardware and software randomly throughout the country. more to come...
Regus - hq
I have to fund the reprinting of all cards, brochures, contracts etc. if regus does not perform and you prefer they do, they may terminate your agreement! the time spent with all the new people was costly. I lost two clients due to regus unprofessional handling of my front office.
5.12.09 - lost another client because josalyn ramirez instructed the front desk to tell our clients we were no longer there and have the wrong number! watch out for this general manager if you are leasing in at 8001 irvine center drive.
When I notified josalyn of the error she would not respond although at the center. josalyn had confused numbers and even after alerting her of the error, she continued to harm our firm. it has been repeated issues like this that has been the catalyst for this site. if not for marion, we would have lost more clients.
Concerns
Regus claims to reserve the right to change the "house rules" whenever they like. beware. I am now fighting for costs to change all marketing material, cards, letterhead, brochures etc. why, because regus published it inaccurately and kept the address issue confidential for about 5 years and allowed many of us to suffer while trying to find our checks and mail.

Did you recently have to change your address? regus sent a memo the end of 2007 and blamed the post office for an address update. fact is, I discovered that regus in irvine, ca had been told for years that they had been using the wrong address. I personally feel that regus is responsible for all expenses incurred by each client at 8001 irvine center drive, suite 400, irvine, ca 92618.

Regus is also responsible for any issues that occurred as a result of the address being published inaccurately. any mail returned leading to a default judgment, client loss, etc.

Do share holders know that several buildings involving potentially hundreds of people could lay claim to reimbursement?

I am now fighting to take the local number I was assigned and has my name in the phone directory. be aware that regus wll hold you hostage.

I can not get a copy of my contract or agreement. I have asked 11 times since the summer. they fax me someone else's agreement.

Regus 8001 irvine center drive 4.21.09 no phones answered
Dial 949.754.4000 there is a recording. happens often...

Regus reply - we were having some technical difficulties with our phone system, but they are fixed now. thank you for alerting us to this.
This has been occurring as long as I been there.

I had calls sent to other tenants. this was common enough even though I had instructions on where to send calls. new people are not always as careful or care. they are temporary!

Want to use the conference room? think again. I quit having conferences as the turn over is great and the new hires do not know how to set up connectivity.

Do not worry about negotiating special pricing. since "house rules" change, regus changed all of my special conference pricing.

This isnt the image you want for your company. I was promised for a long time that things would change. if you ask for service you may be terminated. obviously I learned alot and feel the need to share. regus cost me money, a few clients and the image is not professional. you look virtual!
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Regus group are defrauding tenants. regus gave me a lease with the amount I agree to pay. however, after locking me into a lease they show up with a new bill for twice the amount. there were all of these hidden cost and to top things they charge me what they call state and federal taxes on the furniture inside the furnished office I rented. example of hidden cost, they charged me $66. plus tax a month to use the telephone which comes with the office. they charged me tax on the furniture inside the office. the charge me $31. plus tax a month on the phone line coming into the phone. they charge $36. plus tax a month for the receptionist answering the phone. they force me to pay for kitchen amenities even though I told them I do not need to use the kitchen. that fee is $30. plus tax a month. they even charge $10. a month for me to have my phone number listed with the phone company, a service which if free by the phone company. so in reality they are making $10. a month on a service the phone company is providing. they list in their proposal that the moving cost is $75. however, when I got my bill, not only was my rent doubled, but the moving cost had now increased to $99. for them to hook up the internet. $75. set up fee for office products, which amount to a very small desk, a chair and very small filing cabinet. mind you all these items were already inside the office when I viewed the office. they charge $49 for telephone line installation. I am sure the phone lines were already installed since it was a fully functioning office. $99 telephone set up, meaning to hook me up to voice mail and then placing the phone in my office. the will not allow me to bring in my own phone, they instead says I need to rent a phone from them for $66. plus tax. on top of that I have a phone bill coming. the list goes on and on. I know I am being defrauded by the regus group. the problem is if I do not pay they will lock me out of your office. I know what they are doing is illegal, however, what can I do?

Avoid doing business with regus at all costs! this is a dishonest company with an extremely high turnover of personnel. even if you follow the fine print within the contract, be aware that the persons whom you deal with may not be there in 2 or 3 months! we leased a small office in houston, tx and gave notice of departure as per the contract terms and are still being billed 4 months after leaving.

I have called and written numerous times and the company does absolutely nothing! they will not stop billing me! there is even another company occupying the space and they are still billing me!

In my opinion this company is fraudulent and should be slapped with a class action lawsuit! I am a very honest individual and the business practices of this firm are the worst that I have ever seen in the united states!

Please beware and seek other options!

We are a small media company that needed an office so that we can conduct our business in a professional manner. regus offered us a virtual office plan with 5 hours of conference room time as well as mail handling and voice receptionist for $220 a month. also, by contract, we were told that they would include our name in the business directory at no charge. initially, after the first month of billing, they charged us for the business directory fee and began charging all these other fees that were not stated in the agreement. they also told us that they would never tell our clients that they were a virtual office, but a part of our company and I heard from several sources that they in fact told our clients that they were an answering service. also, they did not answer the phone as they were supposed to on a regular basis and a couple of times all my voice mails were wiped out. after this happened, I started directing my clients to reach me at alternative locations and reduced the amount of mail handling that would come to the office. nevertheless, we were charged about $500 a month for fees that did not exist. if we were late on payment for a week, they would shut off the service and voicemail theatening me and charging a $45 late fee. I have never experienced this and feel extorted as a small business and am very angry and distraught by this. I want people to know what happened so that this doesn't happen to you. if you are in need of a virtual office, stay away from them! they are crooks, criminals and liars!. god help you if you sign with them.

I feel for you and am sorry this has happened. The address which I signed on for regus was 4660 la jolla village drive #500, san diego, CA 92122. I feel that others need to hear about this so that they don't get defrauded as well!

Agreed! I am dealing with this with them right now. it is a disgrace how they take advantage of busy small business folks, they should be ashamed of themselves. I am dealing with some woman jackie brokenborough who is a general manager. I have yet to get a clear invoice and they will not tell my what my final bill is, I want out! do not deal with regus, they are scam artists!

I agree, what is involved in getting together a class action suit. they should not be allowed to continue with these bait and switch tactics.

Hi. I am in reston, virginia, everything that i've read has been my experience as well. I did the virtual route and also the office lease route. there are many hidden charges. I asked if there were any additional charges at the time of signing and they said no. then the bill came... you know the rest - same experience as everyone else here. with the virtual office situation, I was told that if they have no day office, I can go into a conference room if it is open w (ith no charge). that happened to me recently and I was immediately billed $54 per hour. they are rude too — which does not become apparent until after you sign the lease. when asked about the charge which is different from what was conveyed to me, they said that's policy to charge. I said it's not my fault they overbooked the rvo rooms. they said they go by the book. I asked what book and where is it so that I know what they are going to do next. no answer. by the way, I called their 800 number as if I was a new customer and asked if rvo rooms are fully booked but conference rooms are available what is their policy is. the guy on the phone said they do their best to accommodate their clients (yeah right - they don't know the meaning of customer service) and that they'd put me in a conference room free of charge. when I told him that I am already a client and that that's not what happened to me, he backpedaled and told me I misunderstood him and got rather heated with me. oh, yeah, he realized I was already a client so he did not need to be polite anymore. they are crooks, liars, and completely without any moral compass. run away from them as fast as you can. they will promise anything but bottom line, you are stuck in their fiefdom and you are the serfs as they bully you and reach into your wallet. the reston, va, location is pretty bad.

I signed up a year ago with regus wanting a small private office which I needed to run my new business. I was offered a fantastic monthly rate and signed a year long contract for £700 per month (uk). the contract is coming to an end and I have notified my the new general manager that the office had been missold to me as a "campus office" which means that have the right to move me into any office available (even on a monthly basis) so long as they are providing me a desk. that is not what I asked for when I signed up, and would never have signed up to an office if I knew that is what it was.

Although this was not my fault, and with the fact the office building I am now in is nearly full they want to increase my rent from £700 per month to a massive £1300.00 per month for the same office I am currently in. this is a total scam!

Please be very careful as I think the general manager will do anything to get a sale as they want your money.

Mark Dixon's email address is mark.dixon@regus.com. I am awaiting resolution of a refund due my Company ; and sent my e-mail complaint to him, attached with with my trail of e-mails of back and forth communications with one of their managers. These which had resulted in no closure. Within an hour or so, I was contacted by a young lady who stated she was a regional director and was in the process of rectifying this and we will have our money owed us with a couple of days. I sincerely hope this brings closesure. You may want to try writing to Mark Dixon - once again- mark.dixson@regus.com

Mark Dixon e-mail - CORRECTION - mark.dixon@regus.com

I worked for hq/regus for 6 years. 6 years ago was a different time. many companies had money to spend, many companies didn't mind the invoices and hidden charges. but the world has changed after the economic meltdown. many jobs were lost, companies have started to closely watch their expenditures. I was one of the managers at one of their properties for 6 years. 2009 was a difficult year. the agreements are 1 page. but the fine print is extremely small 90% of people signing rarely look through them. the biggest things were: (1) after your agreement ends, you are automatically entered into a virtual office agreement at market rate which is anywhere between $249-$349 or even more. they say this is helpful for the clients during transition. incorrect! this is just another way to trick them into another lease. (2) late fees: payments are due on the first of the month. if you give them your check on the 2nd, they will charge you 5% of your total balance due. so if your monthly rent was $2000, you would have to pay them $100 for being late just 1 day. (3) wear and tear fees: they say it's not that much as it's only $2 per square feet. but once your agreement ends and it doesn't matter if you left your office in good condition, they will charge you $2/per square feet. if you have 1000 s. f. with them, expect a $2000 wear and tear fee. (4) installation fees: ok folks, this is when you sign the agreement, your hyped up about getting an office in an amazing building then you get your first bill that says you owe $972 in installation fees for 3 people. don't believe me? i'll break it down for you. $99 for internet installation; $99 for telephone installation; $49 for telephone line installation; $75 for setting up your area per person, multiplied by 3 people = $972. (5) kitchen amenities fees: folks, if you have 20 people in this suite working for you, I think this fee is enough to pay rent to another commercial office provider. their kitchen amenities fee is $30/per person. if you have 20 people (part time or full time) this is $600/month! (6) early-out on agreements: don't even bring it up with them, there's no point because it is not an option. they will ask that you pay the full amount right away and they can lease your office to someone else while you are paying rent for your office. this happened so many times while I worked there with the approval of the corporate office. (7) other miscellaneous fees: whenever you ask for help, talk to them, it costs $32/hour and up to $150 for more technical questions. do you really want them to punch in on your payroll. they'll charge you for opening the door for you when you forget your keys, making a copy for you during your meeting, looking up directions for you, anything that requires them to give you attention best believe that the clock is ticking. the area sales managers look great, hot, they'll pretend to be your bestfriend until you sign that contract. but once you sign it, your just a complaining customer to them whenever you talk to them. please think twice before signing an agreement with them.

For many of us, we are reading these comments and saying “yes, this is exactly what happened to me.” the problem is that we are reading about it after the fact. my question is, how do we alert more people to these unethical, unprincipled dirtballs? I really, really wish I had read these comments before getting involved.

One idea that came to mind is to complain to the people that partner with regus. I received some materials from amex about regus, so I am going to complain to amex about partnering with this type of company. amex has always been good to work with and I get the feeling that they listen to their cardholders. might be worth a shot.

A bunch of 'thanks'.. I have a meeting with a regus salesperson tomorrow pm and this helped me a lot... I will not put my hard earned money under the paws of these scammers... I will not even meet with them tomorrow... thanks for sharing your experiences.

Totally agree. regus=scam

I had a similar expirence. at least in the us we call all organize an initiate a class action law suite. ps: remeber bait and switch is a federal felony...

Regus and my encounters with them are very similar to the ones described above. if the company directors care they should do something about it. I have searched hard and had have not been able to find the address, telephone number, fax number or email address of the ceo. anybody know if is such a thing exists? please help.

Regus and there staff are the rudest people my company have ever spoken to. I will never use there offices again for my company. and to try to speak to a director for help. took four days to try, giving up after spending aprox £100.00 on telephone calls
And talking to idiots. never again!

Regus is a rip off company. my company contract ended on september 30, 20ll. I informed the manager of the building that I wouldn't be renewing my contract for the office space. I kept all my emails showing that I didn't want to renew my contract. I turned in all my keys. I later started receiving billing statements that were 5 times more than the cost that I was previously paying for the office space with regus. I sent 2 emails, and still not resolved. regus has been harassing me with their phone calls that my company owes money. I finally answered the phone, and informed the rep of the incorrect billing issue. the regus rep started saying i'm being charged for telephone service, and for mail. i've never received mail there, and never had phone service. regus reps fabricate the truth, and try to make you pay fees that are incorrect. this company is bogus, and the customer care is terrible. i'm looking forward to doing something about this issue.

I agree with lots of what is being said above.
Beware people, read your contract.
Do not trust anyone.
Expect to pay 20% to 100% over what they quote you.
Please do not fall for it, learn from our costly mistakes.

Although I will not identify my affiliation with regus, I must say I
Agree with most, if not, all of the comments. regus will use their
Both their clients and employees. i've spoken
With plenty of regus's employees and I must say I am
Shocked by their frustrations. if you think the profits regus collects
Then think again! some haven't received raises in over
Six years. many are upset with the constant changes and the going
Above and beyond without ever being recognized for it. did you know
Regus implemented a new dress code for it's staff and makes the
Employee pay for it out of pocket? I will never refer anyone
To regus. go with their competitor!

There is a very fine print in a regus contract that says something about them charging vo services past your lease expiration date. that is the biggest rip-off you will ever see. they will charge you for 3-6 months after you have moved out for this so called vo services which provides nothing.

Regus is very deceptive and cannot be trusted. My partners and I are a small start up company that came to Regus for a temporary solution while we got our feet on the ground and found a more permanent solution for our office space. We specifically told Regus we only wanted a 3 month lease. I should have known from the day we moved in it was going to be trouble with them.

When we signed our 3 month lease, that expired today, August 31, 2012, they had originally showed us the "exact" unit we would be renting with all the furniture to come with it. The day we actually moved in, they had leased that unit to someone else, had to scramble to find another unit of the same layout. The furniture they gave us was of poorer quality than what we were told we were going to get. But that is besides the point.

The day we turned in our keys, they tell us that we are in a contract with them until November 2012! They told us our lease automatically renews if we don't give them 3 months notice that we are leaving. We only signed a lease for 3 months. Period. A month prior to moving out we went to the management and asked if we needed 1 additional month to find a new office space, would they let us rent 1 additional month onto our contract. We spoke to two managers and a salesman there about this issue, and we came to a verbal agreement that if we chose to, we could stay for one additional month. That was it. Not once during all of this did they mention that we would have to give them 3 months notice if we were moving out. When we signed the lease they should have told us that in addition to signing our 3 month lease, we would also have to sign, the same day, a 3 month notice to vacate...which doesn't make any sense at all!

These people are frauds and should be put out of business. They are now threatening that their attorneys will get involved and that even though we have already moved out, they are billing us for 3 more months... that's over $6000.00. Plus they have our $1500.00 deposit that they refuse to give back now. Even though all our invoices are up to date as of August 31. Per our 3 month contract.

We will be taking them to court.

Just want you all to know that I had made an appointment with a regus sales person to go look at office spaces a couple days from now. based on this site, I will be cancelling tomorrow. i'll also refer this site to them when they want to know why i'm cancelling and not going through their company. thank you to everyone who has written their personal experience with this company. you saved me!

I hate regus. horrible space in the physical office I rented. I have made a huge mistake, and here's what really upsets me. everything is extra. like you must pay $30/mo for coffee/tea service even if you don't use it at all. phone service is $100 extra, the number you call out from cannot be called back! does not look good for customers whom you have to explain that too, especially when you have an established number you want to use. internet is also an additional $100/mo... so on top of their ridiculous rent, nasty carpet, so-so location (in my space)... you have all these additional fees after you sign the contract. I could just slap that lady in nj for not telling me everything is extra, while before I signed she kept talking about how inclusive the rent is. regus sucks!

I wish I had read this before I signed a contract in San Francisco. So far all I have is four months of bills and still no way to access any of the promised services. When I contact the main office they tell me to contact my "account executive" and when I try to contact him he is no where to be found. It is clear all they want to do is get people to sign contracts and collect money without providing any services. without a doubt this is one of the biggest scams around and yet nothing seems to happen to them.

September 2013 - I rented the office at Regus for 1 year and 6 months. In that time, I found the reception staff unable to care for my basic reception needs without many errors. I even had to have my computer replaced as they didn't wrap it properly and it broke on the floor from the courier. My patients were continually upset at the administration errors, with people showing up at wrong times and the experience was negative on my business. Now that I moved out in frustration, they are making it very difficult to get my bond back by giving me vague time frames as to when I will get it after a lengthy time of waiting already. I find the contract to lack transparency. I will never use this company again, and many of the tenants on the floor expressed the same frustrations.

A business is an organization involved in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers or

To other businesses. however, what will convince a consumer spending their money on your

Product?

The answer will be trust.

Regus is the company I trusted when I just came to the u. s. as a foreigner, I choose to trust

What rehus’s agent had told me about their product and I signed contract with them.

Things change afterward; I cannot get my deposit back after returned the office I rent. it is an

Unethical behavior when doing business, especially for big company like regus.

I am furious because when I signing the lease with our agent, he told me I can move out anytime,

But I have to let them know 3 month earlier. I did so. I let them know three month earlier and

They approves it. but thing end up with no deposit back and they said I am not qualify with their

Deposit return clause. what their agent sales and what their contract says are totally different;

This is what I learned from regus, stay away from regus as soon as you smell it ~

I agree, I have the same problem in Los Angeles. A lot of double billing and no one wants to discuss it with me. I spend a lot more than I signed up for and spend a great deal of time going over bills in which I find numerous "mistakes". They overbill, and there are hidden fees. This can't be right and I would like to see the company be held responsible for once after seeing that they have been doing this to people for years. And we are people trying to manage small businesses. We should not have to worry about this.

I bought a virtual office plus package with regus pune, india in year 2013.in the year 2014 they renewed the account without my
Permission. when I asked them for all the details like until when this renewal period is valid, they did not mention that. after several email transactions with their staff (after 3 months of renewing my agreement) they said that it was renewed for 1 year. since that time I am asking them to close my account with them, but they say that due to pre-termination of contract they will charge me 50% of the remaining time rental.

As a matter of fact during this time also they did not established proper communication with me. above all regus was unaware
That there was some fake company which was using regus board number and that number was assigned to my company. due to such unprofessional attitude of regus my company had a bad name in the market.

Even after I escalated my concerns with regus center manager and zonal manager they are unable to do anything and neither they are ready to end my agreement without further charges. regus is very unprofessional business center and they do not maintain transparent agreement with their customers and force them to continue till that agreement reaches end dates. such companies should be banned in india. can anyone tell me how can I take legal against regus, pune, india.

Please avoid this business

Regus ballance sheffield, uk - unbelievable experience

I would warn anyone about the issues we've had with regus in sheffield.

We we're initially given promises by the sales rep prior to signing the agreement which were purely to meet monthly sales targets within the building. we we're assured of a monthly cost but beware there are many hidden costs which were only disclosed once the agreement was signed. we we're told by the sales rep our monthly bill would be in the region of £750.00 but with hidden extras such as additional data charges the monthly cost was £1100.00 - £1200.00. subsequently that sales person left the business.

We also had tenants in the office next door who for 5 months played music full volume and shouted to each other during sales exercises for 2 hours every morning. we made several complaints but nothing was done about this. regus are clearly incapable of enforcing their house rules. initially before we signed up we asked on 2 occasions if we could view the office in the morning but we were told that it was only possible in the afternoon which was clearly down to the noise every morning.

There were more than 5 incidents of people flying round the corridors on electric segway boards carrying hot drinks. again little was done about this. on one incident we had clients nearly hit by someone flying down the corridor as they stepped out of the office door.

The office cleaners come in to clean in the morning between 9-10 which disrupts the office during this time.

The front desk receptionist failed to acknowledge our company existed in the building even though he had been told on many occasions. even to the point of arguing with clients that our company was not in the building.

Very poor customer service and lack of response to emails was very frustrating.

Also beware of the auto-renewal as this caught us out. the reminder email comes through 3 months before the lease ends and then auto-renews for the same period again. unfortunately the auto-renewal email had gone into a junk email folder and as a result we had missed it and were locked in for a further 6 months even though we have left the premises.

We asked regus for a show of good faith to see if there was any movement on the period of auto-renewal but there was nothing even after everything we had endured during this period.

Being at the regus office has affected relationships with our clients due to the various incidents and has affected productivity within the company.

An extremely bad service overall.