We noticed that Island TEFL recently made a sale to someone in Koh Pha Ngan. See the website - http://thailand.businessforsale.com/buy/koh-phangan-established-tefl-training-opportunity-business-for-sale. We wish the new "owner" or franchisee the best of luck.
What concerns us about this one is the reasons Mr. Dunne gave for selling, being that "Island TEFL has exercised its right to terminate its business agreement
with the previous "owner" of Island TEFL Koh Phangan because of breach
of contract". In our view this indicates the importance of research before making a deal. We would want to know more about that before buying. The full details, in fact. There are several worrying features. Firstly, if he has terminated before he may well do it again. In fact, Philip Dunne has a well known track record of doing precisely this. So, as suggested in our previous blog, why risk putting yourself in this position when in reality it is quite possible that you will function as no more than branch manager anyway. Effectively, you may be giving someone $20,000 simply to be your boss. And a boss who may terminate you at any time and relieve you of all of your investment. The use of the word "owner" in inverted commas is also interesting in that it suggests that you will never be the owner in the true sense of the word. Philip Dunne is unlikely to relinquish his claim to that title.
On the subject of breach of contract and termination, it can never be just at the whim of the owner. An owner may feel omnipotent within his own company. Nevertheless he still has to abide by the law. Any breach of contract or termination notice needs to be ratified by a lawyer, and you have the right to appeal against it. This is why it's important to have the contract checked by a lawyer beforehand and also for your lawyer to establish communication with the owner's lawyer too. You need to be certain that he has a lawyer, particularly if he's living abroad, as in the case of Philip Dunne. Remember, Island TEFL has no established or fixed headquarters or base in Thailand. As far as we can ascertain it is not a registered company in Thailand.
However, this all brings us back to the point we made in our previous blog, that in Thailand any legal action will be laborious, expensive with the outcome difficult to enforce, which is why we do not recommend the franchise approach to doing business in Thailand. We would only recommend a full purchase lock, stock and barrel and, at that, only if it's a properly established company with a physical base. If the seller is still keeping a controlling interest, we would suggest setting up independently as a better option.
We hope this is helpful to potential buyers.
Good luck,
Mark Gilchrist (co-founder, TEFL Businesses)
Disclaimer: Please note that the above comments are simply the views
and opinions of "TEFL Businesses" and in no way represent
incontrovertible truths. All information should be checked and verified
by the reader before being acted upon. We also take no responsibility
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I’m impressed by your assessment of Island TEFL. I used to be an Island TEFL franchisee and I lost altogether about $25,000 to Philip Dunne. There’s little chance of getting any of my money back either, as he’s not even in the country most of the time. From what I hear he’s done this to three or four people now. He tried putting me in breach of contract right from the beginning, often for the most twisted and spurious reasons. I never had any direct contact with his lawyer. I'm not even sure he has one. It felt like he was just making it up as he went along. He always blamed me for anything that went wrong. I certainly never felt remotely like I was my own boss. He’d often just make decisions above my head, and I had to swallow it. It was a complete nightmare really. He got really insulting too, and in quite a personal way. I would recommend anyone to think very carefully before doing any kind of business with Philip Dunne.
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DeleteI am doing IslandTEFL to teach english in Thailand with the placement T program, i was wondering what your thoughts are on this? were people unhappy? ive never been to Asia but i just want to be taken care over there like if there were any problems, are the schools reputable? is Philip helpful to his teachers? I am paying a good amount for this program. He did kind of insult me becuase i was asking so many questions and he said i was "bording neurotic" and that i would last long in thailand if i couldnt go with the flow. I am going to be okay ive traveled a bunch but im going to be so far from i need reassurance that Philip will be helpful/get me in touch with reputable schools etc. Thoughts?
-Nervous
I had the unfortunate experience of dealing with Phillip Dunne last November 2013. Long story short. We paid a deposit, arrived in Thailand to find that the school had closed two months earlier. Of course we were angry but wanted to get on with things so flew from Chang Mai to Phuket to meet Philip and see his school in Phuket. There was no school, he very ‘generously’ as he said, offered to do the course in our hotel bedroom or a beach bar. There were no other students. Needless to say we were fuming. Of course he refused to give our deposit back. He is a gangster, incompetent, unprofessional, sly etc. The only thing he is good at is fooling people. Since then we found and met various people who have been treated awful by this ‘man’. My advice is keep clear. But if you have paid a deposit I’d say don’t pay any more until you’ve been in the school, met the other students and fully completed the course. I have received ridiculous email correspondents that he sent to justify his actions. I know you don’t want to hear this now, but if possible keep clear. I’d be happy to give you further info if you wished.
DeleteI had the unfortunate pleasure of working with him before he got involved with island tefl. Not a nice person at all. Often drunk in class and eventually was eventually sacked for hitting on female students. Go figure.
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