Complaint Review: Farm Business Consultants Inc

Guy smiley, I can certainly relate to every word you're saying.

Also, you're right that they were going to huff and puff and blow my house down with all that talk about a law suit. After I substantiated every word of my previous posting with irrefutable facts they've decided it would be best if they go blow something else. Would be hilarious to be a fly on the wall to watch the look on Gary & Steve's faces as they read this stuff on public postings. I've seen it so many times over the years where they're oh so tough at first. But they're not so tough when the facts hit the table.

The biggest thing I ever knew about that was rock solid illegal was when I was in the manager-in-training program and my boss told me it was firm unofficial policy to hire one more employee than required so they could be fired in a public way to let the other employees know they are expendable. I thought back to my years and I knew exactly what he was talking about. Suddenly several past employee firings made sense. 

Another unofficial thing was to pick on one employee who had lower numbers or one you just wanted gone but had no grounds to fire and basically maneuver as many of the firm's mistakes, errors, memberships that go NG (no good, or terminate membership), low numbers, etc so they ended up on his stats. Basically mis-allocate as many bad numbers as possible so that only one person has to get fired or take heat from above. Essentially, create a sacrificial lamb. A few astute employees would pick up on the fact that they were assigned a disproportionate number of clients with a difficult history and who were likely to NG based on goof ups the previous year, or clients who had a history of late payment, or who were notorious for hassling reps, but most marked men were just worked so hard they hardly had time to notice.

If you're an employee and think you might be this year's sacrificial lamb you may as well just start looking for other employment. Once you've been marked it's very difficult to get unmarked. The best you can hope for is to have a great week at getting new business. If you bring in 3 or 4 in a week you might stand a chance they will start looking at someone else. Management is very easy to distract with new business. You can do sloppy work from January to April, but if you've got a great +/- that's all that matters. The checkers can mop up your mess for $12/hr, right?  

I think it just proves the point enigmale was making. Bullies! Why not respond with customer testimonials or examples of work well done? I suspect this suit went nowhere because all he had to do was prove his comments weren't fabricated. There is a common thread in all these FBC articles that I would find absolutely alarming if I were management. Focus on those problems rather than kicking a man you have clearly already stepped on.

Please take notice that Farm Business Consultants, Inc. ("FBC") has initiated a lawsuit in the Superior Court for the State of Arizona, Case No. CV2012-050544 on the basis of the allegedly false and defamatory statements made by you under the pseudonym "enigmale - Calgary (Canada)" (the "Lawsuit").  In the Lawsuit, FBC seeks to subpoena the records of Xcentric Ventures LLC for your identity and contact information in relation to statements you made about FBC and its principals, employees or agents on or arount February 9, 2011, which were posted on ripoffreport.com under the pseudonym "enigmale - Calgary (Canada)."

If you do not respond in writing within 3 business days with your true and correct contact information we will subpoena the records as outlined above.  Please respond to FBC's attorney, Christine Burns, Esq. at christine.burns@quarles.com, or fax (1-602-417-2937).

This serves as notice to you of FBC's pending discovery request to Xcentric Ventures LLC.  You may have a right to file and serve a response to the subpoena anonymously.  If you intend to file and serve a response, please do so, or notify us of your intent to do so, on or before February 16, 2012.

Christine Burns, Esq.

In response to the views expressed by the individual, we would like to clarify a few points.



Our organization has a rigorous hiring process to ensure that the team members that join us have the skills and competencies to meet the needs of our Membership.  We conduct multiple interviews and utilize hiring tools to assist both our organization and the candidate in making strong hiring decisions. 



Once on board, our team members receive rigorous training and support.  We have carefully designed training programs consisting of in-house training, third party training and ongoing support to help our team members grow in their role and enjoy successful careers with us.



Our organization has a proud history of looking after the interest of our Membership with best-in-industry services and team members. Collectively our 300 employees work every day to provide a positive work environment and deliver the highest value possible to approximately 50,000 Members. 





We believe strongly in improving each day and getting direct feedback makes this possible. If you have feedback for us we want to hear it.  Please contact us directly at corporatecommunications@fbc.ca

 



Best Regards,



Don Latchford,

Director - Marketing and Communications, FBC

email: dlatchford@fbc.ca

I am a spouse of a long time FBC employee. Let me begin by saying that I believe in the services and products provided by FBC, as does my spouse. We have always supported the companys efforts to provide better service to the companys members and staff through innovative products and programs. It was once a positive and productive workplace that fostered not only excellent workplace, but also personal, relationships. In recent years, however, there has been a marked change in the environment at FBC that seems to start from the very upper levels of management. MSRs and office staff were always motivated and co-operative and often exceeded their own personal and office targets. They had regular check-ins, facilitated by willing and able managers. That is no longer the case. While I appreciate that every business has its challenges and every GM may approach business with their own management style, I can say with the utmost confidence that, under the current "leadership" the morale has been on a steady decline, and is now adversely affecting the personal relationships and quality of work of those employed there. 

Employees are expected to work long hours (my spouse regularly works 16 hour days), are often away for long periods of time, driving through dangerous road conditions for long hours, at great personal riskall to meet the needs of FBCs membership. It is a sacrifice that my spouse was happy to make, provided that he received support and adequate compensation from his employer. 

Over the past few years, my spouse, and others employed in the office, have shared with me some of their concerns regarding the actions and leadership of FBC and their unrealistic expectations of work hours and productivity. There is little training, and what is provided is inadequate. Managers are unable to assist road reps because of their own lack of knowledge/training. Repeated requests for training go unanswered by Head Office. Employees are rewarded for their personal sacrifices and hard work by having managers arbitrarily impose policies that penalize employees earning potential when it is direct violation of Schedule A that is used to correctly calculate an MSRs pay. Repeated commitments to bonus and incentive packages are made that never materialize.  

The tolerance of workplace harassment is absurd. For a period of over a year several employees, including a manager, repeatedly made victims of their staff and co-workers, in clear violation of labour law and the Human Rights Code and NO ONE did anything about the numerous complaints from several staff members.

Annual (supposedly anonymous) "engagement surveys" are used to allow employees to evaluate their managers/supervisors performance and their feelings about the company and their jobs but the results are largely ignored. A manager recently received terrible reviews from his staff that, in most businesses would have resulted in his firing, instead FBC sent him on a Hawaiian vacation! Concerns of fraud and financial mismanagement are swept under the rug and the shortfall comes out of employees payacheques!

FBC has a great core business model, but they have lost sight of how (or the desire to) maintain it! My spouse, and many others, are seeking employment elsewhere. FBC seems unwilling to do what is required to weed out the bad apples and maintain a strong, effective, and LOYAL workforce to serve their membership. As the company stands right now, I would not recommend pursuing their services or employment with them.

I worked for FBC for 4 1/2 years. This was quite an enlightening time for me. What you are saying is true. The training was inadequate. We were treated like slaves. The working and driving hours were far beyond what truckers would be allowed. But I was desperate and needed a job. Not to completely slam them, they allowed me to have a roof over my head and food in the refrigerator over this time. At first I had these grand ideals of corporate advancement but eventually realized that this was a pipe dream. They only promoted "yes" men - not people with a backbone. So I quit and started my own tax business. Upon leaving they were very mad and tried everything in their power to destroy me - law suits, false allegations. They even went so far to tell their own clients that if the client gets me to do their taxes next year that they would be getting their taxes done from jail because I am a criminal and they have me up on criminal charges. By this time next year I will be in jail. After one of their representatives showed up at their client's house drunk for an appointment mouthing off like this, I took the upper hand on the situation and put them in their place. They are driven by one thing - greed. When it comes to making money, their end justifies their means. The Ibbotsons are the very worst people I have ever worked for. Absolutely disgusting. I have never seen a family like this that will stop at absolutely nothing to make money and try to ruin the lives of other. Barb is a fantastic woman, as is Jane. But the rest of them will rot in Hell.