Blain's Farm and Fleet Blain's Farm & Fleet Insider tells all Janesville, Wisconsin
Blains Farm & Fleet in Janesville operates in a very sly way. They will try to sell you an extended warranty plan on your purchases, which really isn't necessary for a huge majority of items. These plans = big $$ for the managers and corporate people. Do you really think that when the manufacturer warranty runs out in 3 years something is going to happen to that pooper scooper? Do you really think you will still have the receipt and warranty brochure after such a long time? But guess what? That warranty you just bought doesn't kick in until AFTER the manufacturer warranties end.
It's just a way they steal your hard earned cash from you. And they threaten to discipline (leading up to termination) cashiers who don't sell enough of these warranty "B.E.S.T." plans to vulnerable customers. And as if it's like a cashier can force a customer to buy one of these warranty plans. Oh, they will tell you it's not a warranty; but will tell you that its a replacement plan or a service plan. So lets play word games with our beloved customers now. Sounds like a warranty to me, and probably most people out there. You should see the nasty notes and memo's management sends downstairs when too many customer's said heck no I don't want to waste my money on that.
Very interesting that employees who work in the departments are never threatened with their jobs or raises like the cashiers are. (They are never given memos saying such on a daily basis.) The department employees as well as management rarely sells one of these warranty plans. (B.E.S.T. plan.) The department employees are never given the same nasty memos from management that the cashiers get when they don't sell enough plans in a day. Hmm.. maybe the EEOC would be interested in some of this--especially if someone gets fired or demoted for something out of their control, which would be a customer saying NO I DONT WANT TO BUY A BEST PLAN.
The next thing is they have to try to talk you in to signing up for their credit card which has a 29.9% interest rate for standard purchases. They go to the desperate measure of having a poor cashier (always a female....) stand at the front doors and offer the card to people coming in to the store. How demeaning. They also threaten to discipline and terminate jobs if not enough completed credit cards applications are sent upstairs.
Pretty soon the store will be operated by part time employees. They know full time costs them more in benefits, so they seem to be hiring an awful lot of part time help while cutting full timers hours. Only full timers you'll see there will be managers.
Where does this madness end? Yes, everyone wants to be profitable, and everyone wants the store to be profitable, but when you have to resort to what is in my opinion greedy, desperate measures to get your profits, its just plain sad. What happened to the good, honest values this company formerly had?? Trust me, the cashier doesn't enjoy asking you any more than you enjoy getting asked for your zip code, if it's going to be on a 29.99% rate credit card, and if you want a replacement plan on the lawn mower you just bought..(that the guy in seasonal just told you was a great product)
4 Updates & Rebuttals
james
Wisconsin,United States of America
Clarification
#5Author of original report
Sat, September 03, 2011
Blains Farm & Fleet really is very honest company. I want to make clarifications about what first was wrote. They do treat workers very fairly but they do push the credit card and warranty plans really hard on cashiers. I was not saying or implying that the warranties they sell are rip offs because they are valid purchases plus they do honor them. They are not rip offs. It is a opinion that they probably are not necessary for most items. Where the madness ends is meant for all retailer stores because they all have credit cards and extended warranty plans. and by always a female doing credit cards, all that was meant is that a female is always at the entrance doing credit cards because it is her primary job so in case you go in the store you will know it is a true statement that a female is there offering credit cards. Nothing else should be implied. and by the values I feel they once had I mean that they never seemed like the type that would offer credit cards and try to sell extra warranty. They are definitely a trustworthy company though. Hopefully no one would imply that they should not shop there. You will not regret spending your money at Blains Farm & Fleet. The products they sell are top quality
james
Wisconsin,United States of America
Clarification
#5Author of original report
Sat, September 03, 2011
Blains Farm & Fleet really is very straight up. Some of what was written could get taken different ways so I need to make clarifications. They do treat workers very fairly but they do push the credit card and warranty plans really hard. I was not saying that the warranties they sell are rip offs because they are valid purchases and they do honor them. They are not rip offs. It is a opinion that they are probably not necessary for most items sold. Where the madness ends was meant for all retailer stores because they all have credit cards and extended warranty plans. By always a female all that was meant is that a female is always at the entrance doing credit cards because it is her primary job in case you go in the store you will know it is a true statement. Nothing else was to be implied. And by the values I feel they once had I mean that they never seemed like the type that would offer credit cards and try to sell extra warranty. Hopefully no one would imply that they should not shop there. You will not regret spending at Blains Farm & Fleet. The products they sell are top quality and you cant beat their price.
mr rik
miami,Florida,
USA
I remember
#5Consumer Comment
Fri, September 02, 2011
being asked to buy a $50 warranty on a $40 air tank once. I didn't know whether to laugh or feel sorry for the cashier.
I told her if the air tank "wore out" I would just buy myself another one and treat myself to a $10 lunch.
Thanks for the insight.
chaosflamespirit
USAUnfortunately
#5Consumer Comment
Thu, September 01, 2011
good, honest values are hard to come by these days. Everyone wants money now, and don't really care about the employees. Also, the Farm & Fleet in Madison is the same way. Both are now building expansions to their stores.