franchise consultant ‘left string of unhappy clients’

The Herald on Sunday article, published  on 18 March, uncovered at least six business owners who say they signed up to deals with Base Franchise and lost their money after the company failed to deliver on promises. But Spencer says he is the victim and has won a string of cases to make people pay up. Read the article. 

Earlier this year, Spencer pleaded guilty on charges of breaching a three year ban on acting as a director under section 385 of the Companies Act 1993, and of making a false statement. Although the Ministry of Economic Development sought a deterrent sentence on the charges, which carries a maximum penalty of five years’ jail or a $200,000 fine, he was fined $5,000 after the judge accepted that the offending was at the lower end of the scale.

The MED enforcement unit also provided victim impact statements from parties involved in civil litigation with Spencer or his company, Base Franchise Ltd, but Spencer’s defence counsel, Rob Hucker, argued that the civil cases were between Base and third-party clients of the company and were nothing to do with the offending the defendant has been engaged in.

Campbell Spencer’s previous franchising companies prior to Base Franchise Ltd included Team Maddison Ltd (which had a number of associated companies) and Stonehead Management Services Ltd. Team Maddison Ltd went into voluntary liquidation in February 2006 ahead of a court-ordered liquidation applied for by the Franchise Association of South Africa after a dispute involving copyright issues. The shareholders of Team Maddison, Neil and Campbell Spencer, threatened to sue respected journalist Bob Dey for defamation after he commented on the matter.