Thursday, June 2, 2011

Beware of Regus Service Office!

Before you consider taking up a contract with Regus Service Office. Please be advise to re-consider your decision. Regus is well known to be Blood sucker, they look very pleasant, friendly and professional before you sign the dotted line. Once the contract is signed, you will be a piece of dead meat in no time. So, before you sign, spend 2 week to read the fine fine print........otherwise, you will join many innocent people out there bleeding to death.

So, let us help to you to see the true identity of REGUS SERVICE OFFICE and if you are also one of the victims, please share your experience here.

Many of the complaints out there are very similar to what I am facing and the advices from these people are the same. From what gathered, Regus is only keen in charging you anything and everything, reasonable or unreasonable. Goodwill is a piece of shit to them. Dollars and cents worth more. SO Avoid REGUS! They just have no morals.

Ask REGUS why is their contract terms and conditions are print in fine print? READ every single word, ask every fees they are going to charged. When you end your contract, it does not end! They will charge you 3 month Continuity Service, which NO REGUS Sales people will NOT tell you when they want to get you. ALSO ridiculous OFFICE RESTORATION SERVICE, which when your term end and moving out, they will Charge you for re-painting! so, Avoid Regus. They really sucks!

"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"

FACTS ABOUT REGUS BUSINESS CONTINUITY SERVICE

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.

If you are still unconvinced, read what a ex-employee has to say about REGUS.

I worked for HQ/Regus for nine years and I sympathize with many of you on here.

I’ll give a little background. I originally worked for HQ Global for the first half of my career in this industry. HQ was a wonderful company to work for. I was a General Manager (I think they’re now called Center Managers) at a center (and held other positions throughout my career there) and basically what happened was, at the beginning of every year we were given a budget and told to make it happen. If we needed help we would call our superiors for help, otherwise we were pretty much left to run the centers as we wished. While working for HQ, we knew the tactics of Regus and often we would have clients come to HQ from Regus because of some of the things people mention on here. During those years I absolutely loved my job.

Then Regus purchased HQ. At first, not much changed. Then, slowly but surely, we had to start adopting the policies and procedures of Regus. This was extremely difficult because we went from a bottom-up (HQ) to a top-down (Regus) organization. All the decisions came from the top, you either followed the rules, or you got out. Unfortunately I stayed for several more years. In retrospect, I should have gotten out a long time before.

The main concerns of those posting on here are: Business Continuation and Wear and Tear fees, are in fact in every agreement (yes, in fine print). When I would sign agreements with my clients I would highlight those sections before a client signed because I had so many clients get angry about these charges. Keep in mind, I had no choice but to charge them, none of the managers in any of the centers have any decision as to whether to charge them or not. Also, managers are told that these fees cannot be waived under any conditions. This is one of those top-down decisions. As for the sales associates, they are under huge pressure to close deals no matter what. Typically the sales people will not let themselves get tied down with the Terms and Conditions of the Agreement, that’s left to the General (Center) Manager.

Sometimes wear and tear fees are justified, but more often than not, it’s just extra money in Regus’ pocket. Security deposits, generally take 45 days to refund, but Regus will not refund deposits until the balance on your account is zero. Additionally, they will tack on late fees to every invoice after the 5th of each month without question – whether you dispute charges or not (also in the fine print of your agreement).

Regus is a true shame. I could have easily have had a life-long career with Regus, but it’s managed so poorly that I could not stay any longer. The concept is brilliant and works, and can work very well, for many types of industries. The problem is, upper management (from Mark Dixon, Guillermo Rottman, and others at the top) is so greedy and has no clue about how a center is run. Furthermore, Regus has lost, and will continue to lose, talented people because of their business practices. It’s such a shame because Regus really could be a great company, they just have no morals.