Immigrant franchisees cry foul over broken promises

Savio Laban, a married hotel worker with two young children, thought Mr Green cleaning would give him a start in business. He borrowed from his social group and paid Dean Smith $15,000 in March for a customer list expected to return $1000 a week. He did not realise Mr Green Property Management Ltd had been struck off the Companies Office register in January.

The pattern was repeated. A customer list failed to materialise and Laban, originally from Mumbai, last month asked for his money back. Emails from Julian Smith to Laban said he was going to put pressure on his brother to repay the money.

"Dean always had some excuse why he couldn't give our money back. We don't know what to do. We made a wrong decision in trusting Mr Green. We came to New Zealand to work hard and make a better future for our two kids and all our hard earned saving is down the drain," Laban said.