Franchise complaints in Australia: what the ACCC data shows

• About 300 franchising contacts a year, around 75% of them from franchisees (ACCC, September 2023).
• Most contacts are one-offs: the only contact the ACCC receives about that system that year.
• About 15% of franchising contacts in the four years to 2023 raised marketing and advertising concerns.
• From January 2015 to September 2023: 15 public enforcement outcomes, plus 54 compliance checks using compulsory information notices.
• The ACCC doesn't resolve individual disputes. The small business ombudsman, ASBFEO, runs dispute resolution under the Code.

The ACCC says the same three issues consistently top its franchising contacts, followed by a regular set of others.

• Failure to act in good faith, one of the three most common issues.
• Misleading or deceptive conduct, also in the top three.
• Disclosure problems, the third of the top three.
• Misrepresentations before purchase about earnings, profits and business viability.
• Concerns after purchase that a franchisor's actions have significantly reduced the franchisee's income.
• Marketing fund issues: about 40% of marketing fund contacts raise several issues at once about how money is collected, kept, spent or reported.
• Unfair contract terms in franchise agreements.

The ACCC has counted complaints, direct reports and contacts in different ways over the years, so compare the direction of travel rather than the exact numbers.

1. First half of 2015, after the previous Code took effect on 1 January 2015: an average of 52 franchising complaints a month.
2. End of 2016: down to 32 a month, as fewer franchisees reported issues after the Code's introduction.
3. September 2018: the ACCC told a parliamentary inquiry it received about 400 direct reports a year about franchises, out of about 250,000 reports overall.
4. Around reviews and inquiries: the ACCC says contacts generally rise when the Code is reviewed, amended or examined by an inquiry.
5. From 2020: contacts fell. The ACCC said the reasons were unclear, but fee reductions or freezes, rent relief and COVID-19 support may have eased pressure on franchisees.
6. September 2023: around 300 contacts a year, about three-quarters of them from franchisees.
7. By 2023 the ACCC had stopped its regular six-monthly small business and franchising statistics, and the review suggested reinstating them. We found no newer franchising-specific count.

Reporting to the ACCC is useful, but most reports don't lead to action on the individual matter. The ACCC prioritises conduct that causes widespread harm.

• The ACCC focuses on matters that cause widespread consumer or small business detriment, affect vulnerable consumers or harm the competitive process.
• In 2023 it said most franchise matters don't meet its priority factors, including conduct confined to one or two states that affects few franchisees. One in four franchisors operates in only one state, and half have 20 or fewer franchisees.
• Only about 1 in 5 contacts concern alleged misconduct by a larger franchisor (roughly 40 or more franchisees) affecting several franchisees in the last three years.
• Public outcomes from January 2015 to September 2023: 3 franchisors paid infringement notices, 7 faced court proceedings and 5 gave court-enforceable undertakings.
• The largest court penalties in that period include Jump Loops ($23 million, 2021), Geowash ($4.2 million, 2019) and SensaSlim ($3.55 million, 2016).
• Recent infringement notices focus on Register and marketing fund duties, such as the $59,400 Venue Smart paid across three notices in August 2026. Paying a notice is not an admission of a breach.
• After you report, the ACCC says that in most cases you won't hear from it; it uses reports to target the issues that will most benefit small businesses.

• In the Treasury review's 2023 franchisee survey, 126 of 381 respondents had a serious dispute with their franchisor in the previous 12 months, and only 12 said they resolved it effectively.
• 63% of those respondents knew the ACCC regulates the sector, but they rated its effectiveness 3.9 out of 10.
• The ACCC's 2019 check of 12 food franchisors found about one in three didn't consistently give useful contact details for former franchisees; only 4 of the 12 consistently supplied personal emails or mobile numbers.
• The same check found nearly half of prospective franchisees did not get independent professional advice before buying.
• It also found about a third of those franchisors didn't adequately disclose ongoing costs that franchisees can't avoid.
• ASBFEO's franchise dispute caseload rose from 27 new case-managed disputes in the December quarter of 2023 to 68 in the June quarter of 2026.

1. Write down what happened, with dates, and keep emails, texts, invoices and the documents you were given before signing.
2. Raise it with the franchisor in writing, using the complaint procedure your agreement must contain. If it isn't resolved within 21 days, either party can ask ASBFEO to appoint a mediator.
3. Report the conduct through the ACCC's online form, 'Report an issue affecting your business or franchise'. Describe the problem and who you are having it with, and keep a copy.
4. Expect no individual reply in most cases. The ACCC may contact you if it needs more information or wants to explain your legal rights.
5. If other franchisees are affected, say so. The ACCC prioritises widespread harm, and the Code protects your freedom to associate with other franchisees.
6. Get independent legal advice before withholding fees, stopping trading or walking away, because those steps can put you in breach of your agreement.

• Take the ACCC's free online course, 'Is franchising for me?': six modules in under 90 minutes. It had over 2,300 enrolments from November 2021 to September 2023, a third from people just starting their research.
• Search the ACCC's media releases and its public register of paid infringement notices for the franchisor's name.
• Read item 4 of the disclosure document: current proceedings, plus convictions, civil judgments and insolvency events involving the franchisor, its directors and associates.
• Check the franchisor's Register profile answers on convictions, civil judgments and insolvency.
• Ask former franchisees, whose contact details item 6 must include where available, why they left and whether they complained anywhere.
• Get independent legal, accounting and business advice before you sign.

• Which Code applies: the 2014 Code or the current one, depending on when the agreement was signed, renewed, extended or transferred?
• Have you given the franchisor written notice of the dispute?
• Is the issue a private dispute about your agreement, or conduct that affects many franchisees?
• Do you have documents showing what you were told before signing?
• Have you contacted ASBFEO about mediation?
• Have you had independent legal advice?