| RESTAURANTS.COM sold a TON of those $25.00 RESTAURANT CARDS, to either Universal Home Services, and/or Universal Administrators, and/or FBK Products, for something like 3 or 4 dollars each.. Said "Universal Home Services, and/or Universal Administrators" is a WARRANTY COMPANY, that is one and the same.. DIFFERENT NAME, SAME COMPANY.. They sell Warranties on Home Appliances and on Septic Tank Systems.. They PARTNERED with FBK Products, who CLAIMS to have over four million satisfied customers, who are taking good care of their septic systems, by using their products.. THAT is their "LEAD-IN", to call existing customers, that have BOUGHT FBK Products, for their septic systems, and now, "Do they want to BUY a WARRANTY, to PROTECT that Septic system of theirs...?" i worked in the Warranty Department, at FBK Products, here in West Palm Beach, Florida, for six weeks.. that was all i could stand.. Out of all the Warranties i was supposed to sell, there were three in particular, that involved "RESTAURANTS.COM"... DIRECTLY.. The cheapest of the three, cost $9.95 per month, the middle plan cost $24.95 per month, and the most expensive one, cost $39.95 per month... Yet, ALL THREE of them came with the guarantee, that EVERY SINGLE MONTH, whoever bought ANY of those Warranties, was sent (in the mail) a $25.00 RESTAURANT CARD, good at PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS... The way they were SUPPOSED to work, was the people go out to eat, rack up a $35.00 tab, and then, pay just ten dollars, for a meal that WOULD have cost them $35.00.. Only that's NOT the way a LOT of restaurants ACTUALLY work that.. SOME of them REQUIRE the people to rack up something like $80.00, and then, once they take off the $25.00 discount (for the card) they pay $55.00.. Now THAT is QUITE a DIFFERENCE..!Especially when you consider the fact, that a LOT of their customers are barely getting by, on a fixed income, and who have NOT had ANY INCREASE in their Social Security or V.A., or Disability Checks, in over THREE YEARS now.. People are HURTING, bad.. FBK Products and Universal Administrators, (i.e., Universal Home Services) the company that provides the Warranty for the septic system have a VERY BAD REPUTATION, for everything from calling people on the DO NOT CALL LIST, to shady business practices, to NOT PAYING the CONTRACTORS, that do the WORK, on people's septic systems, under WARRANTY by Administrators, (i.e., Universal Home Services) to the fact, that they are in VIOLATION of FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION policies.. There was a furniture company, called "Furnishings 2000", that the FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION shut down, for doing the SAME exact thing, that FBK Products does, all the time.. and that is, the fact that they CLAIM the PRICE for the WARRANTY is on a SPECIAL PROMOTION... to get people to MOVE and BUY it NOW.. BUT that PRICE is ALWAYS the SAME..!! IT NEVER GOES UP OR DOWN.. Sure, they have a website, and the prices there are slightly higher, but they NEVER sell it at those prices, AND, the price is NEVER HALF of what they CLAIM it is.. or anywhere near that.. The whole six weeks i worked for them, i kept waiting for them to tell me the price was going up, but that never happened.. Also, they USED FEAR TACTICS, to get people to BUY, and when that SB-550 Bill came out, REQUIRING FLORIDA Homeowners with Septics on their property to have their systems INSPECTED at least once every five years, or face $500.00 a day in fines, and/or have their water and electricity shut off, they jumped ALL OVER that... They kept CHANGING things around, ALL THE TIME.. At first, they said, "You CANNOT mention the word, "GOVERNMENT", or USE the GOVERNMENT, to induce people to BUY.. but then, the next day, they turned right around, and came out with a new sales pitch, that went into drastic detail, about the people being FINED up to $500.00 a day, etc., if they didn't GET their systems INSPECTED, or if they FAILED that inspection.. and then, they PARLAYED that, into the NEED to COVER their system with a WARRANTY, just in case, they FAILED that INSPECTION.. The only problem with THAT though, was the FACT that ALL the warranties come with a PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS CLAUSE... and that means, that their system HAS to be in GOOD WORKING ORDER, at the TIME they take out the warranty.. So, if they take out the warranty TODAY, (OUT OF FEAR) and then, NEXT MONTH, they FAIL the INSPECTION, the warranty will NOT PAY A DIME..!!! Basically, the longer the warranty is in effect, the more likely it will actually PAY anything.. ever.. Is RESTAURANTS.COM "COMPLICIT"? Do they KNOW that they are being USED by FBK Products, Universal Home Services, i.e., Universal Administrators, to SELL the general public a bill of goods.. Of the top of my head, i would have to give them the benefit of the doubt, and say, "No".. But if i worked in their LEGAL Department, i would DAMNED SURE want to KNOW about THIS...!!! One KEY ITEM for them to CONSIDER is THIS... (1) FBK Products Warranty Department CALLS people on the phone, trying to sell them a WARRANTY, that is UNDERWRITTEN or BACKED by Universal Home Services, or Universal Administrators... (they use BOTH NAMES (Universal Home Services and Universal Administrators) when pitching people on the phone) (2) They REPLACE warranties from other Warranty companies, like Sears, etc.. without doing a VALID "APPLE TO APPLE" COMPARISON of the two.. In order to do that, the people would HAVE to have their warranty policies out, via VIDEO HOOKUP, and it would undoubtedly take TWO HOURS, to systematically go through ALL the COVERAGE, LINE BY LINE, before arriving at the conclusion that FBK's is better, or worse for them.. and THAT is WHY i NEVER SOLD any other warranty, besides the septic warranty.. (3) By tossing in the $25.00 RESTAURANTS.COM Card, every month, they THINK they are "sweetening the deal" for the people, but they really are not. A good majority of the people that have septic tanks live in RURAL AREAS, that have maybe ONE restaurant around, for hundreds of miles.. So what are the odds, that THOSE people are going to really USE those cards.. (4) a LOT of people CANCEL the warranty, as soon as they find that out.. and (5) a LOT of people would never have BOUGHT the warranty in the first place, if not for being ENTICED by that $25.00 RESTAURANTS.COM card.. FBK Products used "BAIT AND SWITCH" TACTICS to get me to go to work for them.. The BAIT was "NO COLD CALLING.. CALL ONLY ON EXISTING CUSTOMERS.." yeah right... a WEEK LATER, i was COLD CALLING a list of people, and only 1 OUT OF 5 of them OWNED their HOMES, and only 1 out of 3 of THEM had Septic tanks on their property.. They were TOO CHEAP to BUY GOOD LEADS, and they HIRED WAY TOO MANY SALESPEOPLE, to WORK the LIMITED AMOUNT of GOOD LEADS they DID have.. Just like they were going all out, to SQUEEZE every last drop out of the company, before they shut it down, and go on, to open up another scam somewhere else.. The MAIN REASON i cited "RESTAURANTS.COM" here, in "scam REPORT", is to WAKE THEM UP, to the FACT, that one of the SLEAZIEST, and MOST DECEPTIVE "BOILER ROOM" TELEMARKETING SCHEMES in the COUNTRY is USING THEM, as an INTEGRAL PART OF THEIR MARKETING PLAN, AND OVERALL STRATEGY... I.E., GIVING the people that BUY their WARRANTIES, a FREE $25.00 RESTAURANTS.COM CARD, to "SWEETEN a DEAL", that would otherwise taste quite SOUR...!!! They BUY those CARDS for something like 3 or 4 dollars each.. and then, they TOUT them, like they were CASH, like some sort of REBATE, even... As far as the people that GET those cards every month... If the WARRANTY does NOT STAND on its OWN, then it really isn't worth it, is it?? If I were the OWNER of RESTAURANTS.COM, i wouldn't mind a company working out such an arrangement, BUT, that COMPANY had BETTER be ABOVE BOARD and of GOOD REPUTATION.. and ALL you have to do, is go on-line, here at RIPOFF REPORTS, and there are OTHER PLACES ONLINE, where ALL the people tell the SAME STORY... 'SLEAZY.. UNDERHANDED... DECEPTIVE... DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM... YOU WILL REGRET IT.." things like that.. are EASY to FIND, about FBK Products, Universal Home Services, and Universal Administrators... RESTAURANTS.COM could NOT have picked a more SLEAZY 'Partner", to crawl into bed with... If you sleep with dogs, you WILL get fleas... If you swim with sharks, you WILL get bit.. that's about all .. for now.. |
