Records Show Franchisee Was Offered Thousands in Work Before Calling Company a Fraud

Documents reviewed for this story do not show a company taking a franchisee's money and refusing to provide work. They show a former Christchurch cleaning franchisee was trained, offered more than $7,000 a month in sites, started for one day, chose to exit by sale, and then allegedly made that sale harder by attacking the same business online, contacting other franchisees and reporting the sale listing as fraudulent.

Emails, screenshots and communications reviewed for this story show Maureen Singh and her husband, Rajnesh Singh, bought into Candoo, a commercial cleaning franchise network that gives franchisees access to cleaning sites, systems, training and customer work.

For readers unfamiliar with franchising, the basic model is simple. A franchisee buys the right to operate under an established brand. The company provides support and work opportunities. The franchisee then carries out the work and pays fees or royalties under the agreement. If the franchisee later wants out, the business usually has to be sold to another buyer.

That is where the Singh situation became unusually difficult.

The email trail shows Candoo offering work, then offering two ways forward, then trying to manage the fallout after the person seeking money from a sale allegedly began damaging the thing being sold.

Singh had alleged Candoo was a fraud company and said she had paid $65,000 without receiving the business she expected. The company rejected that account and said Singh barely commenced the business before deciding she wanted out.

In a statement, the company said Singh and her husband were trained, offered work and given more than $7,000 a month in cleaning sites to start on. The email trail and company material say they attended sites for one day, then said they were sick, returned keys and did not continue.

"Unfortunately she got so caught up in gossip that she didn't even give her business a shot," the statement said. "We actually gave her over $7,000 a month in sites and she claimed to be sick and gave the keys back. Then two weeks later said that we were a fraud company. I said to her that she could have all of this work and she said she didn't want it and wanted her money back, and then started calling us fraud everywhere."

The "gossip" referred to a wider breakdown inside Candoo's Christchurch network. According to material supplied for this story, the Christchurch regional master franchisee, Lex, had turned against the company and later aligned with an ex-Candoo person. They allegedly took sites from Candoo, created instability in the local network and began contacting current franchisees with false claims about the business.

One of the franchisees allegedly contacted during that period was Singh, who had only recently bought into Candoo and was preparing to start operating her own sites. The records place her at the beginning of her business, not at the end of a long-running failed operation.

That timing helps explain why the dispute escalated quickly. Singh entered the business while the local network was unsettled, but the records reviewed for this story show ongoing communication with Singh and Rajnesh Singh, along with repeated attempts to give them a pathway forward.

The evidence trail shows the couple were given training and site information. It also shows Candoo sent handover details, monthly figures and scheduling support. The company says they were expected to commence on cleaning sites, but stopped after one day.

When Singh indicated she wanted to exit, the options were put in writing.

One option was to start on sites.

The other was for Candoo to assist with selling the business.

Singh chose the sale option.

In an 18 February email screenshot reviewed for this story, Singh was told a final decision was needed because she had been "requesting to exit while also asking for sites." The email said the business could be placed into a sale process if she no longer wished to continue, or sites could be sent through for commencement the following week.

Singh replied that she wanted to go with option one. She asked for the business to be sold and her money returned.

The email trail then shows the sale process being confirmed. Singh later asked for an update.

On its own, that would be an ordinary failed franchise relationship. A buyer comes in, does training, decides the business is not for them, and asks the company to help with an exit.

What followed was not ordinary.

Communications reviewed for this story show Singh continued asking where the sale was up to while the business was being advertised. At the same time, the material supplied for this story says Singh and her husband were making negative online comments, contacting other franchisees and damaging confidence in the very business they wanted sold.

Screenshots sent in say Singh found other franchisees' phone numbers, added them to a WhatsApp group, and began telling them Candoo had wronged her and was a fraud company. For a franchise network, that kind of allegation carries commercial consequences. The business depends on trust between the brand, its franchisees, its customers and prospective buyers. Telling other franchisees the company is fraudulent while also asking the company to sell your business creates an obvious problem.

The Trade Me records show a similar contradiction.

After Singh chose the sale pathway, Candoo placed a listing on Trade Me for the business. Communications reviewed show the listing was reported to Trade Me as fraudulent from an account linked to Singh.

That meant Candoo was being asked to find a buyer while the seller's side was allegedly undermining the listing, undermining the brand and raising doubts among the very market that would need confidence to proceed.

The same pattern is described in the social-media material. Singh was asking where her money was while negative comments appeared on Candoo posts calling the company a fraud. The recovered WhatsApp trail shows internal discussion about online attacks and attempts to work out who was behind some of the activity. Some recovered screenshots relate to other people, not Singh, so they do not prove Singh controlled every page or comment suspected at the time. The direct documentary evidence against Singh is strongest on the sale-choice emails, the Trade Me material and the communications around other franchisees and customers.

The customer threat was also serious. Communications reviewed show Singh threatened to approach Candoo customers and tell them not to work with the company. By then, Singh had already been introduced to sites and had access to customer and site information.

That raises the most damaging part of the dispute.

Candoo was not refusing to deal with a former franchisee. It was trying to preserve enough confidence in the business to sell it. But the person asking for the sale was, according to the records and the account supplied for this story, also making the sale harder by warning people away from the company, contacting other franchisees and attacking the brand online.

The motive is not proven. The company believes Singh wanted her money back immediately rather than waiting for a buyer. Another possible explanation is that Singh no longer wanted to operate inside the Candoo system, pay royalties or continue under the franchise model after seeing the sites and client information.

What the records show is simpler and harder to explain away.

Singh and her husband bought a business, completed training, were offered cleaning sites and began. They stopped after one day, saying they were sick. They did not return to the sites. Singh was then given a choice: start work or proceed with a sale. She chose sale. Soon after, the company was dealing with reports to Trade Me, allegations of fraud, contact with other franchisees and threats involving customers.

For any business, that is a difficult position. For a franchise network, it is especially damaging. A franchise sale relies on the buyer believing there is a stable brand, a reliable customer base and a workable relationship with the company. If the outgoing franchisee is simultaneously attacking the brand, a buyer has every reason to hesitate.

Singh was asked by this publication for evidence supporting her allegations. She did not provide records comparable to the emails and screenshots supplied for this story. She did, however, send strong messages about the company, including telling Candoo it was "going to hell."

This is not a story about a company ignoring a franchisee or refusing to provide work. The documents reviewed show a company offering work, offering support, offering an exit process and then facing a reputational campaign while trying to sell the business.

The hard question is not why the sale took time.

The hard question is how anyone expected that sale to happen quickly when the person waiting for the proceeds was allegedly helping poison the market for it.