 "Photo: Dave Hochanadel")
Ashley Wisecup entered a contract with University Painters hoping to earn money selling house-painting services to fulfill her school's internship requirement, but she ended up owing the company $4,500 instead.
Earlier this month, Jim Petro, the Ohio attorney general, responded to student complaints by suing Maxco Development Inc., who does business as University Painters, charging 14 violations of Ohio law, according to the suit.
The charges allege University Painters pushed students into signing contracts with unreasonable sales goals and little chance of profit, racking up thousands of dollars in debt that sent students to collection agencies, according to the attorney general's office.
Among the charges were providing false estimates to purchasers, failing to disclose details of their business, using illegal clauses in their contracts and not providing a 10-day period prior to contract signing or the five-day right to cancel, said Mark Anthony, a spokesperson for the Ohio attorney general, in a prepared statement.
If a student quit or was fired for failing to reach sales goals, the contract would terminate and a "liquidated damages" clause would require a payment of $3,000, according to the suit.
Another clause, the "confession of judgment," stated if Maxco Development Inc. needed to take a student to collections, an additional $1,500 would be billed for legal fees.
The suit said University Painters also strongly encouraged students to pay about $2,905 for marketing materials that could only be readily obtained from one company, Cusick Marketing.
Petro is asking for reimbursement for the 13 students who filed complaints - more than $300,000 in civil penalties - and an injunction against the company, according to the attorney general's office.
Joshua Jablon, president of University Painters, declined to comment.
University Painters' legal troubles extend into Maryland and Illinois, and they are recruiting in Ohio, Anthony said.
Wisecup, a senior majoring in sociology at Miami University (Ohio), worked for University Painters for three months in 2004 as an outlet manager, she said.
"After the first training session, I knew I was over my head, and it wasn't going to turn out pretty," Wisecup said.
The sense of foreboding worsened when she was later shopping at a drug store for a map of her territory and an employee, spotting the company logo on her clothes, sent a warning her way: "Be careful, they screwed me over last year."
Her training, held in February and April, consisted of two sessions each lasting two days, one of which was in Washington D.C., Wisecup said.
She paid all of the travel expenses, and neither session was particularly informative or helpful, she said.
As a manager, her duties included hiring painters, overseeing worksites, making estimates and soliciting her business, she said.
"With all the insurance policies and paperwork, it was a lot more difficult than it was portrayed," Wisecup said.
To avoid being fired, a quota of $40,000 had to be met in May, which left Wisecup little time to reach her goal, she said.
"Pretty much one month to get it done - which was pretty unreasonable," Wisecup said.
Originally, Wisecup owed $3,000 for advertising material and $3,000 for the loss of territory or the "liquidated damages" clause, she said.
After a complaint to the company, she was told if the advertising costs were paid, the other $3,000 would be split in half.
Her mother assisted her in paying off the bill, and two years later, Wisecup said she is almost done repaying her mother.
Ryan Murphy, the Student Manager of the Year in 2004 for Ohio, defends University Painters, contributing the failure of the complainants to bad decision-making and laziness.
"The first words I saw from the company were, 'This summer, don't just get a job, get a business,'" said Murphy, a licensee of University Painters and a senior majoring in music at Duquesne University.
He took a loan offered by Cusick Marketing to pay beginning costs and had no troubles paying it back, he said.
"You have to decide whether you want to go out and do four hours of marketing or stay inside and play Nintendo," he said.
"The people who fail at it don't want to work at it," he said.
"The consumers who get into this instead of getting a learning experience, they get into a collections experience and a legal experience," said Richard Eppstein, president of the regional Better Business Bureau.
"Don't rely on [companies] to tell you everything," Eppstein said.
Although a contract or a business always has the possibility of ending poorly, Eppstein recommended taking a contract to an attorney, talking with other franchise holders, checking the validity of the business model and researching through the BBB or similar Web sites.
Eppstein said don't delay in sending complaints and document every pertinent call or letter.
Before students sign contracts, they can bring a copy to Student Legal Services for review, a service covered under the student legal fee, said Robert Doty, attorney for Student Legal Services.
In years past, Doty negotiated a settlement for a similar painting company that promised students $8,000 to $10,000 for a summer's work, he said.
A younger workforce with summers available, a ready need for money and lacking sophistication in the world of business, college students seem like good targets for these companies, Doty said.
"They're not designed for students to make money," Doty said.
"Use your own common sense," he added. "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
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