In June 2012 I entered a contractual agreement to purchase an online TEFL website and marketing system franchise for US$30,000 from a Mr Jimmy Crangle of the World TEFL Association. The contract was finalized with full payment on the 15th September, 2012. This was hugely influential on my decision to move to Thailand to live out my retirement.
The franchise agreement promised a monthly revenue of US$8 to US$10,000+ after 6 months and guaranteed a full refund if it did not generate a turnover of at least US$50,000 in the first year. The franchise did not generate or produce any turnover whatsoever - zero !! Jimmy Crangle / WTA did nothing to implement the so-called Marketing Secrets, Google Adwords campaign with so-called 'proven strategies'.
Jimmy Crangle / WTA confirmed the failure of the franchise, accepted responsibility and confirmed their contractual obligations and refunding all franchise fees in their emails in March 2013. They used a very duplicitous system of using one company staff member to communicate tidings of woe to the failed franchisees while using other company members names to communicate in very upbeat terms (to potential franchisees) of the great success stories of their courses and subsequently qualifing teachers.
Jimmy Crangle confirmed in writing that he would personally refund my franchise fee. They were blatently deceitful in stating that the stated Jimmy Crangle was resigning from the company as a result of fiasco and he no longer believed that there wasany future in the 'TEFL Language business' in Thailand.
They continually offered pleadings of inability to pay the subsequently agreed installment repayments using all sorts of contrived excuses - political unrest, martial law, army takeover and unfortunate tourist deaths - yet their own website seemed to show that all their courses were fairly well booked.
Jimmy Crangle / WTA misappropriated enqueries from other franchisee websites for their own benefit. [ I did two blind email enquiries to my own website as a student looking for information and details on TEFL courses and neither appeared on my infusionsoft back office system. These enquiries were handled to their unsuccessful conclusion by Jane Openshaw on their own system.
Additionally I registered in my own name on another franchisee website and all information and condiderable follow-up came from the same Jane OPenshaw. Jimmy Crangle sold non-functioning or non-existent franchises, using false accounts, financials and budgets from then until at least 2015 still claiming preposterous potential earnings of US$80 to US$100,000.
I would allege that they used fake legal paperwork under the name of a Brian T. McGovern at Lawyers.com. I tried to make direct contact on several occasions without success. As of now this crook is still selling fake franchises by email and Face Book.
Jimmy Crangle / Jenny Hayward / World TEFL Association / ITEFL
I had the same experience as the above.
The organisation responsible is World TEFL Association. They no longer exist under this name, but can be found in their latest iterations at www.iteflcourses.com and www.itefl.org.
The people with whom I had direct or indirect contact during the period which I describe are:
Jimmy Crangle
Jenny Hayward
Jane Openshaw
Andrea Freeman
Debbie Mclean
I entered into a contractual franchise agreement with World TEFL Association in December 2012. Jimmy Crangle signed on behalf of WTA. The agreement was to market and sell online TEFL courses via a website set up by WTA. According to the franchise, WTA would pay me a fee for each student I enrolled. The initial cost of the franchise was USD $19,950, and there were monthly marketing costs to be paid of USD $1,900.
The franchise agreement included a clause where WTA promised to buy back the franchise/licence at 100% of the value paid if a turnover of $50,000 was not generated in the first year of trading.
Following a training session in Dublin, I started "trading" in early 2013. Very quickly it became clear that results were not as expected. Jimmy Crangle sent me an email on 10th March, clarifying the money back guarantee, to "put my mind at rest". In that email he added an additional condition to their guarantee, that they would cancel the agreement and refund the franchise fee if I was not breaking even on my monthly operating costs after 5 months of trading.
Between May and June I received several emails from Jimmy Crangle stating that results were lower than expected, reporting bugs in the system, and finally admitting a change in "online consumer behaviour". He gave me two options, suspending the franchise until August, pending upgrades to Google Adwords that they used to market the franchisee sites, or cancelling the franchise and refunding the fee. I chose option 1 as I still had (dwindling) faith at this point.
I, along with a t least one other franchisee I know of, asked at this point or within the previous couple of months, to see evidence that our monthly marketing costs were indeed being spent on Google Adwords campaigns as promised. Jimmy Crangle and WTA refused to provide this evidence.
On 30th August I received a further email saying that the planned relaunch of the campaign was set for 5th September, but by 17th October this hadn't happened. Jimmy Crangle told me that I should have been contacted by their legal advisor with an offer at the end of September. This didn't happen. Apparently the offer was to cancel the franchise as things hadn't gone as expected. He then proceeded to offer me a new franchise agreement for 2014!
On October 24th, Jimmy admitted in an email that the franchise program had been a disaster, and he accepted full responsibility for repaying me. He said that they were proposing sending monthly payments of $454, with the remaining balance refunded no later than March 2014. He also made a "personal guarantee" that I would receive my franchise fees in full from him, if for any reason the company was unable to honour the refund agreement.
The monthly repayments started in December 2013 and continued until June 2014. Over this period I received a total of USD $3178 in repayments. Then in June 2014 I received an email from Jenny Hayward, stating that the refund payments were being suspended due to protests, violence and the recent military coup in Thailand. Between June and November I received further emails from Jenny Hayward with a number of different excuses as to why they couldn't resume the monthly payments.
Early in 2015 Jenny's emails promised to restart the payments in March. This was then changed to April. The last email I had from her was 7th April 2015. After that she, and everyone else I tried to contact at World TEFL, including Jimmy Crangle, did not respond.
I called every number available for World TEFL many times. Each time I was told that none of the people I asked to speak to were available. I emailed Jimmy Crangle, Jenny Hayward and Andrea Freeman many times. None of my emails were responded to. Jenny Hayward's emails eventually started bouncing back as undelivered. I sent registered letters to all of the registered addresses of the company. All of these were returned as undeliverable.
To date, World TEFL Association still owe me USD $16,772 in franchise fees, plus by my calculations USDS $1750 in unpaid commissions for the few sales that were actually made through the franchise.
I have been in personal contact with two other franchisees who had exactly the same experience.
This organisation has CONTINUED to offer similar franchises since 2013. The latest one I received information about was for a 2018 franchise: https://iteflcourses.com/ebiz-lp
I purchased a 2013 iTEFL on line franchise. The company promised a guaranteed refund of the $20,000US purchasing fee if in the first year $50,000 of sales were not reached. After six months I had a total of 3 sales at $750 per sale. On top of the initial outlay I paid $2000US per month for google advertising costs.
I believe I was one of 20 franchises for that year. I received a letter from the company in July 2013 saying the franchise had been an "unmitigated disaster" and the franchise would be ended and all outstanding monies refunded. In November of that year I received a letter from the company’s lawyer saying that outstanding payment would be made in increments of $450 per month meaning that the full refund would not be reached until 2018. After that letter I received a total of 3 monthly payments. Then nothing !!!!
After numerous promises to honour their commitment all correspondence from the company stopped.The individual website all franchisees were supposed to be getting did not exist they were all linked to the company’s main website so in effect all advertising costs that the franchisees were paying for was going directly to the ITEFL site and they were taking the bookings and filling their schools leaving the franchisees with a sale or two whilst trying to keep them interested by saying "things will pick up shortly" "hang in there" etc
After many requests to see receipts for the supposed google advertising the company never produced any evidence. Every year since and still to this day they a selling the same business model to innocent buyers like me.
After many many emails to the company (between 2015-16 none of which were replied to) requesting answers as to what is happening I decided to contact IATEFL who ITEFL proudly boast as being accredited members of on their webpage. Amazingly not less than 24 hours later after IATEFL contacted ITEFL I got a reply from a Debbie McLean telling IATEFL that she was "shocked and surprised" to hear of my plight and claimed that the company has lost my contact details!! She said the company was suffering financial difficulties at the time but would endeavour to resolve the situation. They didn't! She also claimed that Jimmy Crangle was not involved with any of the financials of the company as he was no longer CEO but merely employed by the company in a marketing consultant capacity. However a quick check that day on their webpage revealed all payments for courses were to be sent to a Hong Kong bank account under the name of Jimmy Crangle!!
In the passing years since I have been in contact with similar victims like me, Ian Howard from Australia, Nick Spray. Nick Robinson and Grahame Bennett from the UK and Richard Enghi from the US all have given their permission to give you their details and are willing to tell you of their experience with this rogue company. Is also know of many others who have been scammed by this man.
The people behind this scam are Jimmy Crangle and Jane Openshaw and more recently Debbie McLean all prominant faces of the Itefl organisation. Please DO NOT EVER do any business with Jimmy (James) Crangle whatsoever he is a con artist and a theif !!!! He was the man who orchestrated this "Ponzi Scheme" which has lead to him leading a very luxurious lifestyle in Thailand at the expense of many financially crippled people. His latest business is Booster 365.com
I have had the same experience as those posting about iTEFL licence scams. As well, the names posted above are all the same.
What kind of action can we take collectively to ensure these crooks are not still running a business on the backs of innocent people who are entering business deals in good faith?
I have started a closed group on FaceBook called “Action Against iTEFL.org”. Please join for ease of conversation about how to move forward with an action plan. Thanks!
NEW facebook group that is secret to collectively take down Jimmy Crangle
Please find me on facebook and PM me directly: Michelle April of Wakefield, Quebec, Canada
There is a growing collective that is building up a case against Jimmy Crangle and his scam jobs. We are up to 19. PM me.
Thanks, and sorry if you are yet another victim. It is a relief though, to have the support that you will get by getting in touch. It is no consolation for the part where you got bilked, but I believe this collective action will be empowering.
Several reviews about tefl – international, itefl, eenglish, solicited responses from the organisation. I managed to see the content of a few before they were contested but they follow a storyline very similar to mine.
There is one common denominator, mr jimmy crangle who are indisputably linked to any number of organisations such as tefl limited, world tefl association, international tefl association Ito) or the ventures of each, such as teach abroad thailand. The legal entities are registered in different jurisdictions across the world.
Mr crangle predictably objected to reviews and filed objections; some reviews were taken down with the objections still visible. Factually demonstrated below, with references to publicly available information extracted from the company registries of the uk, hong kong and thailand, also by his own admission, mr crangle was/ is the key individual, acting either in controlling shareholder and / or executive capacity in several organisations/ ventures accountable for failed tefl franchises.
The methodology is as follows.
1) mr crangle used or still uses different company entities registered in different country jurisdictions. In my case Precise extract from the tefl license agreement) “… the world tefl association Wta) is a subsidiary of tefl limited registered in hong kong, company number: 1648199. Skye properties Thailand) co, ltd is an authorized subsidiary of the wta..." it is not clear what the status of wta is, perhaps mr crangle can clarify.
2) it should be noted that mr crangle is also the director of skye properties ltd, registered in the uk, company number sc465215, glasgow and that tefl limited registered in hong kong is known as skye holdings limited with effect from 22 november 2013.
3) mr crangle contracts with unsuspecting entrepreneurs, the franchisee pays a license fee In my case us$18,952.50) and contractually commits to uphold a minimum spend to enable on-line marketing. The franchisor Mr crangle) guarantees a minimum turnover, failing which, the franchisor Mr crangle) is contractually bound to refund the license fee.
4) in my case, a money back guarantee was offered. Verbatim extract from the tefl license agreement reads: “…. 4.1 if you follow our instructions, maintain the minimum agreed monthly marketing spend and document your progress, and you do not generate a turnover of at least usd$50,000 in your first year of trading, we will buy back your tefl license at 100% of the value you paid….”, the only conditions were to follow their instructions Which i did); and maintaining the minimum agreed monthly marketing spend Which i did).
5) in my case, turnover was $0. I repeat, not a single sale registered at all under the expert guidance of mr jimmy crangle who by his own account is an online marketing expert.
6) on 21 september 2015 mr crangle explained all the problems encountered and then proceeds to provide personal assurances, Verbatim extract from his letter). “… so bluntly, we need to make this work or we need to give you and all the other franchisees a refund. I will get back to you on or before the 14th of november 2015 with a new marketing plan…” i never received a new plan; in fact, i presented a plan in march 2016 that would use the franchise fee refund as working capital for a new focused direct marketing campaign – no reaction
7) mr crangle then, seemingly unable to honour the guarantee, starts delaying tactics Verbatim extract of notes), on 21 april 2016 14:43 “… hi pieter, thank you for your email. I need to get a release date from our head office and i hope to have this soon. I will let you know as soon as i can give you a definite date let me know if you have any questions and i will be happy to assist you. Very best regards debbie mclean support team...” no release date was ever advised.
8) mr crangle was reminded about the refund, and i also alerted him to negative consumer reports about the contracting entity wta that became public on scamion.
9) mr crangle then introduces contractual machinations and legal complexities and i received the following assurance, this time from tefl support international tefl organization Ito) on 29 december 2017 09:06 Verbatim extract): “… hi pieter and thank you for your email. I can assure you that all is in good order. As per the franchise agreement, we need to find a buyer for you. Our lawyer will send you a settlement agreement in the new year for you to sign and authorise the re-sale of your tefl licence. Let me know if you have any questions and i will be happy to assist you. Very best regards amy - support team international tefl organization Ito)….”
10) i inquired about the specific reference to the contractual clause “…per the franchise agreement…” that was invoked in email dated 29 december 2017 above No such clause exists in my contract).
11) i again followed up, and in february 2018 requested the contact details of the lawyer to engage directly Lawyer details were never provided);
12) not a single dollar was ever refunded despite assurances since 2015. I was flatly ignored from february 2018 and, despite corresponding with mr crangle in a civil and cordial manner, his personal assurances came to nothing.
13) i made several attempts to contact mr crangle to no avail. I posted an entry on a facebook page “teach abroad thailand” A facebook group for tefl trainees, the same place where i attended tefl franchise training) to inquire about the whereabouts of mr crangle and jane openshaw and i was pointed to linkedin by someone. However, my post Screen shot available) was swiftly removed and thereafter the page was closed for new entries Screen shot available). Jimmy crangle and jane openshaw are the administrators Screen shot available).
14) i eventually managed to contact mr crangle and during october 2019 afforded him an opportunity to demonstrate goodwill. At first mr crangle made no attempt to personally acknowledge receipt or to engage with me and thereafter offered to call me if i provide phone numbers He clearly did not pay attention to my communication as my invitation days before that he call me provided three telephone numbers). Mr crangle was also contacted via whatsapp, messages were delivered and read. Predictably no commitment emerged from mr crangle.
15) the narratives around mr crangle all have a similar thread of rich guarantees, failure, employing delaying tactics, invoking non-existent contractual complexities, broken promises; - all sadly conducted by the same man, jimmy crangle, who shamelessly and repeatedly persist in inducing the same plan that guarantees losses and hardship on an unsuspecting entrepreneurial world.
16) mr crangle would do well to stop threatening legal action and inference to "attack groups” orchestrated by “competitors”. Such claims are disingenuous and merely attempts to divert attention from his conduct and obligations.
17) the failure of tefl franchises clearly has been rife and losses suffered by franchisees are extensive. Mr crangle demonstrates no intention to honour any contractual guarantees. Mr crangle would do well to do the honourable thing, contact all franchisee’s I can assist mr crangle as he gave me a list of references who bought franchises from him prior to me buying my franchise in 2014). Judging by the entries on trustpilot and other sites and the list in my possession, mr crangle can expect an avalanche and no number of lawyers will be of any use any longer.
18) this is the first time ever i am going public on mr crangle In fact it is the first time in my life), and i made every effort to avoid this all along. Mr crangle was given an abundance of fair opportunities to honour his word. It is a breach of trust unparalleled in my entire life. Not breach of contract, mr crangle duly demonstrated years ago that a contract with him is meaningless. And in business losses can happen but the conduct of mr crangle factually elucidated above, is reprehensible in the extreme).
19) i am forthwith committed to support any person or group that will assure that mr jimmy crangle honour his obligations in my personal capacity and/ or as part of a group of people affected by this travesty.
World TEFL Association Reviews
In June 2012 I entered a contractual agreement to purchase an online TEFL website and marketing system franchise for US$30,000 from a Mr Jimmy Crangle of the World TEFL Association. The contract was finalized with full payment on the 15th September, 2012. This was hugely influential on my decision to move to Thailand to live out my retirement.
The franchise agreement promised a monthly revenue of US$8 to US$10,000+ after 6 months and guaranteed a full refund if it did not generate a turnover of at least US$50,000 in the first year. The franchise did not generate or produce any turnover whatsoever - zero !! Jimmy Crangle / WTA did nothing to implement the so-called Marketing Secrets, Google Adwords campaign with so-called 'proven strategies'.
Jimmy Crangle / WTA confirmed the failure of the franchise, accepted responsibility and confirmed their contractual obligations and refunding all franchise fees in their emails in March 2013. They used a very duplicitous system of using one company staff member to communicate tidings of woe to the failed franchisees while using other company members names to communicate in very upbeat terms (to potential franchisees) of the great success stories of their courses and subsequently qualifing teachers.
Jimmy Crangle confirmed in writing that he would personally refund my franchise fee. They were blatently deceitful in stating that the stated Jimmy Crangle was resigning from the company as a result of fiasco and he no longer believed that there wasany future in the 'TEFL Language business' in Thailand.
They continually offered pleadings of inability to pay the subsequently agreed installment repayments using all sorts of contrived excuses - political unrest, martial law, army takeover and unfortunate tourist deaths - yet their own website seemed to show that all their courses were fairly well booked.
Jimmy Crangle / WTA misappropriated enqueries from other franchisee websites for their own benefit. [ I did two blind email enquiries to my own website as a student looking for information and details on TEFL courses and neither appeared on my infusionsoft back office system. These enquiries were handled to their unsuccessful conclusion by Jane Openshaw on their own system.
Additionally I registered in my own name on another franchisee website and all information and condiderable follow-up came from the same Jane OPenshaw. Jimmy Crangle sold non-functioning or non-existent franchises, using false accounts, financials and budgets from then until at least 2015 still claiming preposterous potential earnings of US$80 to US$100,000.
I would allege that they used fake legal paperwork under the name of a Brian T. McGovern at Lawyers.com. I tried to make direct contact on several occasions without success. As of now this crook is still selling fake franchises by email and Face Book.
Jimmy Crangle / Jenny Hayward / World TEFL Association / ITEFL
I had the same experience as the above.
The organisation responsible is World TEFL Association. They no longer exist under this name, but can be found in their latest iterations at www.iteflcourses.com and www.itefl.org.
The people with whom I had direct or indirect contact during the period which I describe are:
Jimmy Crangle
Jenny Hayward
Jane Openshaw
Andrea Freeman
Debbie Mclean
I entered into a contractual franchise agreement with World TEFL Association in December 2012. Jimmy Crangle signed on behalf of WTA. The agreement was to market and sell online TEFL courses via a website set up by WTA. According to the franchise, WTA would pay me a fee for each student I enrolled. The initial cost of the franchise was USD $19,950, and there were monthly marketing costs to be paid of USD $1,900.
The franchise agreement included a clause where WTA promised to buy back the franchise/licence at 100% of the value paid if a turnover of $50,000 was not generated in the first year of trading.
Following a training session in Dublin, I started "trading" in early 2013. Very quickly it became clear that results were not as expected. Jimmy Crangle sent me an email on 10th March, clarifying the money back guarantee, to "put my mind at rest". In that email he added an additional condition to their guarantee, that they would cancel the agreement and refund the franchise fee if I was not breaking even on my monthly operating costs after 5 months of trading.
Between May and June I received several emails from Jimmy Crangle stating that results were lower than expected, reporting bugs in the system, and finally admitting a change in "online consumer behaviour". He gave me two options, suspending the franchise until August, pending upgrades to Google Adwords that they used to market the franchisee sites, or cancelling the franchise and refunding the fee. I chose option 1 as I still had (dwindling) faith at this point.
I, along with a t least one other franchisee I know of, asked at this point or within the previous couple of months, to see evidence that our monthly marketing costs were indeed being spent on Google Adwords campaigns as promised. Jimmy Crangle and WTA refused to provide this evidence.
On 30th August I received a further email saying that the planned relaunch of the campaign was set for 5th September, but by 17th October this hadn't happened. Jimmy Crangle told me that I should have been contacted by their legal advisor with an offer at the end of September. This didn't happen. Apparently the offer was to cancel the franchise as things hadn't gone as expected. He then proceeded to offer me a new franchise agreement for 2014!
On October 24th, Jimmy admitted in an email that the franchise program had been a disaster, and he accepted full responsibility for repaying me. He said that they were proposing sending monthly payments of $454, with the remaining balance refunded no later than March 2014. He also made a "personal guarantee" that I would receive my franchise fees in full from him, if for any reason the company was unable to honour the refund agreement.
The monthly repayments started in December 2013 and continued until June 2014. Over this period I received a total of USD $3178 in repayments. Then in June 2014 I received an email from Jenny Hayward, stating that the refund payments were being suspended due to protests, violence and the recent military coup in Thailand. Between June and November I received further emails from Jenny Hayward with a number of different excuses as to why they couldn't resume the monthly payments.
Early in 2015 Jenny's emails promised to restart the payments in March. This was then changed to April. The last email I had from her was 7th April 2015. After that she, and everyone else I tried to contact at World TEFL, including Jimmy Crangle, did not respond.
I called every number available for World TEFL many times. Each time I was told that none of the people I asked to speak to were available. I emailed Jimmy Crangle, Jenny Hayward and Andrea Freeman many times. None of my emails were responded to. Jenny Hayward's emails eventually started bouncing back as undelivered. I sent registered letters to all of the registered addresses of the company. All of these were returned as undeliverable.
To date, World TEFL Association still owe me USD $16,772 in franchise fees, plus by my calculations USDS $1750 in unpaid commissions for the few sales that were actually made through the franchise.
I have been in personal contact with two other franchisees who had exactly the same experience.
This organisation has CONTINUED to offer similar franchises since 2013. The latest one I received information about was for a 2018 franchise: https://iteflcourses.com/ebiz-lp
Jimmy Crangle Scammer
I purchased a 2013 iTEFL on line franchise. The company promised a guaranteed refund of the $20,000US purchasing fee if in the first year $50,000 of sales were not reached. After six months I had a total of 3 sales at $750 per sale. On top of the initial outlay I paid $2000US per month for google advertising costs.
I believe I was one of 20 franchises for that year. I received a letter from the company in July 2013 saying the franchise had been an "unmitigated disaster" and the franchise would be ended and all outstanding monies refunded. In November of that year I received a letter from the company’s lawyer saying that outstanding payment would be made in increments of $450 per month meaning that the full refund would not be reached until 2018. After that letter I received a total of 3 monthly payments. Then nothing !!!!
After numerous promises to honour their commitment all correspondence from the company stopped.The individual website all franchisees were supposed to be getting did not exist they were all linked to the company’s main website so in effect all advertising costs that the franchisees were paying for was going directly to the ITEFL site and they were taking the bookings and filling their schools leaving the franchisees with a sale or two whilst trying to keep them interested by saying "things will pick up shortly" "hang in there" etc
After many requests to see receipts for the supposed google advertising the company never produced any evidence. Every year since and still to this day they a selling the same business model to innocent buyers like me.
After many many emails to the company (between 2015-16 none of which were replied to) requesting answers as to what is happening I decided to contact IATEFL who ITEFL proudly boast as being accredited members of on their webpage. Amazingly not less than 24 hours later after IATEFL contacted ITEFL I got a reply from a Debbie McLean telling IATEFL that she was "shocked and surprised" to hear of my plight and claimed that the company has lost my contact details!! She said the company was suffering financial difficulties at the time but would endeavour to resolve the situation. They didn't! She also claimed that Jimmy Crangle was not involved with any of the financials of the company as he was no longer CEO but merely employed by the company in a marketing consultant capacity. However a quick check that day on their webpage revealed all payments for courses were to be sent to a Hong Kong bank account under the name of Jimmy Crangle!!
In the passing years since I have been in contact with similar victims like me, Ian Howard from Australia, Nick Spray. Nick Robinson and Grahame Bennett from the UK and Richard Enghi from the US all have given their permission to give you their details and are willing to tell you of their experience with this rogue company. Is also know of many others who have been scammed by this man.
The people behind this scam are Jimmy Crangle and Jane Openshaw and more recently Debbie McLean all prominant faces of the Itefl organisation. Please DO NOT EVER do any business with Jimmy (James) Crangle whatsoever he is a con artist and a theif !!!! He was the man who orchestrated this "Ponzi Scheme" which has lead to him leading a very luxurious lifestyle in Thailand at the expense of many financially crippled people. His latest business is Booster 365.com
iTEFL.org and Jimmy Crangle
I have had the same experience as those posting about iTEFL licence scams. As well, the names posted above are all the same.
What kind of action can we take collectively to ensure these crooks are not still running a business on the backs of innocent people who are entering business deals in good faith?
I have started a closed group on FaceBook called “Action Against iTEFL.org”. Please join for ease of conversation about how to move forward with an action plan. Thanks!
NEW facebook group that is secret to collectively take down Jimmy Crangle
Please find me on facebook and PM me directly: Michelle April of Wakefield, Quebec, Canada
There is a growing collective that is building up a case against Jimmy Crangle and his scam jobs. We are up to 19. PM me.
Thanks, and sorry if you are yet another victim. It is a relief though, to have the support that you will get by getting in touch. It is no consolation for the part where you got bilked, but I believe this collective action will be empowering.
Can you give me your names?
Hi. Me again, Michelle April. Can you put your names up so I can find you? Thanks.
Same man, same plan ...Caveat emptor...
Several reviews about tefl – international, itefl, eenglish, solicited responses from the organisation. I managed to see the content of a few before they were contested but they follow a storyline very similar to mine.
There is one common denominator, mr jimmy crangle who are indisputably linked to any number of organisations such as tefl limited, world tefl association, international tefl association Ito) or the ventures of each, such as teach abroad thailand. The legal entities are registered in different jurisdictions across the world.
Mr crangle predictably objected to reviews and filed objections; some reviews were taken down with the objections still visible. Factually demonstrated below, with references to publicly available information extracted from the company registries of the uk, hong kong and thailand, also by his own admission, mr crangle was/ is the key individual, acting either in controlling shareholder and / or executive capacity in several organisations/ ventures accountable for failed tefl franchises.
The methodology is as follows.
1) mr crangle used or still uses different company entities registered in different country jurisdictions. In my case Precise extract from the tefl license agreement) “… the world tefl association Wta) is a subsidiary of tefl limited registered in hong kong, company number: 1648199. Skye properties Thailand) co, ltd is an authorized subsidiary of the wta..." it is not clear what the status of wta is, perhaps mr crangle can clarify.
2) it should be noted that mr crangle is also the director of skye properties ltd, registered in the uk, company number sc465215, glasgow and that tefl limited registered in hong kong is known as skye holdings limited with effect from 22 november 2013.
3) mr crangle contracts with unsuspecting entrepreneurs, the franchisee pays a license fee In my case us$18,952.50) and contractually commits to uphold a minimum spend to enable on-line marketing. The franchisor Mr crangle) guarantees a minimum turnover, failing which, the franchisor Mr crangle) is contractually bound to refund the license fee.
4) in my case, a money back guarantee was offered. Verbatim extract from the tefl license agreement reads: “…. 4.1 if you follow our instructions, maintain the minimum agreed monthly marketing spend and document your progress, and you do not generate a turnover of at least usd$50,000 in your first year of trading, we will buy back your tefl license at 100% of the value you paid….”, the only conditions were to follow their instructions Which i did); and maintaining the minimum agreed monthly marketing spend Which i did).
5) in my case, turnover was $0. I repeat, not a single sale registered at all under the expert guidance of mr jimmy crangle who by his own account is an online marketing expert.
6) on 21 september 2015 mr crangle explained all the problems encountered and then proceeds to provide personal assurances, Verbatim extract from his letter). “… so bluntly, we need to make this work or we need to give you and all the other franchisees a refund. I will get back to you on or before the 14th of november 2015 with a new marketing plan…” i never received a new plan; in fact, i presented a plan in march 2016 that would use the franchise fee refund as working capital for a new focused direct marketing campaign – no reaction
7) mr crangle then, seemingly unable to honour the guarantee, starts delaying tactics Verbatim extract of notes), on 21 april 2016 14:43 “… hi pieter, thank you for your email. I need to get a release date from our head office and i hope to have this soon. I will let you know as soon as i can give you a definite date let me know if you have any questions and i will be happy to assist you. Very best regards debbie mclean support team...” no release date was ever advised.
8) mr crangle was reminded about the refund, and i also alerted him to negative consumer reports about the contracting entity wta that became public on scamion.
9) mr crangle then introduces contractual machinations and legal complexities and i received the following assurance, this time from tefl support international tefl organization Ito) on 29 december 2017 09:06 Verbatim extract): “… hi pieter and thank you for your email. I can assure you that all is in good order. As per the franchise agreement, we need to find a buyer for you. Our lawyer will send you a settlement agreement in the new year for you to sign and authorise the re-sale of your tefl licence. Let me know if you have any questions and i will be happy to assist you. Very best regards amy - support team international tefl organization Ito)….”
10) i inquired about the specific reference to the contractual clause “…per the franchise agreement…” that was invoked in email dated 29 december 2017 above No such clause exists in my contract).
11) i again followed up, and in february 2018 requested the contact details of the lawyer to engage directly Lawyer details were never provided);
12) not a single dollar was ever refunded despite assurances since 2015. I was flatly ignored from february 2018 and, despite corresponding with mr crangle in a civil and cordial manner, his personal assurances came to nothing.
13) i made several attempts to contact mr crangle to no avail. I posted an entry on a facebook page “teach abroad thailand” A facebook group for tefl trainees, the same place where i attended tefl franchise training) to inquire about the whereabouts of mr crangle and jane openshaw and i was pointed to linkedin by someone. However, my post Screen shot available) was swiftly removed and thereafter the page was closed for new entries Screen shot available). Jimmy crangle and jane openshaw are the administrators Screen shot available).
14) i eventually managed to contact mr crangle and during october 2019 afforded him an opportunity to demonstrate goodwill. At first mr crangle made no attempt to personally acknowledge receipt or to engage with me and thereafter offered to call me if i provide phone numbers He clearly did not pay attention to my communication as my invitation days before that he call me provided three telephone numbers). Mr crangle was also contacted via whatsapp, messages were delivered and read. Predictably no commitment emerged from mr crangle.
15) the narratives around mr crangle all have a similar thread of rich guarantees, failure, employing delaying tactics, invoking non-existent contractual complexities, broken promises; - all sadly conducted by the same man, jimmy crangle, who shamelessly and repeatedly persist in inducing the same plan that guarantees losses and hardship on an unsuspecting entrepreneurial world.
16) mr crangle would do well to stop threatening legal action and inference to "attack groups” orchestrated by “competitors”. Such claims are disingenuous and merely attempts to divert attention from his conduct and obligations.
17) the failure of tefl franchises clearly has been rife and losses suffered by franchisees are extensive. Mr crangle demonstrates no intention to honour any contractual guarantees. Mr crangle would do well to do the honourable thing, contact all franchisee’s I can assist mr crangle as he gave me a list of references who bought franchises from him prior to me buying my franchise in 2014). Judging by the entries on trustpilot and other sites and the list in my possession, mr crangle can expect an avalanche and no number of lawyers will be of any use any longer.
18) this is the first time ever i am going public on mr crangle In fact it is the first time in my life), and i made every effort to avoid this all along. Mr crangle was given an abundance of fair opportunities to honour his word. It is a breach of trust unparalleled in my entire life. Not breach of contract, mr crangle duly demonstrated years ago that a contract with him is meaningless. And in business losses can happen but the conduct of mr crangle factually elucidated above, is reprehensible in the extreme).
19) i am forthwith committed to support any person or group that will assure that mr jimmy crangle honour his obligations in my personal capacity and/ or as part of a group of people affected by this travesty.