Charlie or Lee

[bombay_43]

Please reread my Agricore posting, and answer my question, about who Agricore United answere to. Thanks

[TOM4CWB]

Bombay_43,

If you believe you have a valid grevence, you can:

Go to the CGC for a mediation;

Take your issue to a lawyer;

Work it out with your AU rep... to minimise your losses and compromise in a reasonable manner which resolves this issue.

We had a small amount of Canola heat that was 8.5 moisture... turning bins does wonders to stop heating! I hope you don't blame the heating Canola on AU!

[charliep]

Would agree with Tom's thoughts.

I would make sure I had a pretty frank discussion with the territory manager and outline your grievances (you may have done this). The next step may be the legal one - they will have to take action to collect and from there show damage. It may be enough to get them to back off when they find they are prepared to fight. You may also want to have a discussion with the Farmers Advocate (AAFRD Edmonton) and they may have some ideas.

[bombay_43]

Tom, I had no intention of blaming AU for my canola heating, and don’t be worried, this canola got turned over more times than I care to recall!

Life is not just a blame game. I can’t move my canola, so do I blame AU, just as they are blaming CN? Or after pissing around with them for a month, do I find another market myself, before the rest of my assets spoil?

My problem lies with the fact that both I and our trucker, were led to believe the canola would move ASAP! I don’t find that a month is “ASAP”, and being sent a bill for over 4 grand for “contract buy out”, when no contract was signed, is not acceptable business practice!

We have already lost more than enough money on this deal. AU has to move our canola by truck, as our rail line was taken out several years ago, and whether it stays on the truck for 2 hours or 2.5 hours in another direction, makes no difference! If other companies can move canola, what did my AU reps do in our best interests?? When we had found an alternate market, I told my local AU man what I thought of their service. He obviously did not like what I had to say!

We do have shares in Agricore United, but we were never big fans of it. It is not AU in general, it is the people we deal with. They don’t seem to provide us with too much service, and a company is only as good as the people it employs! We tend to take most of our business elsewhere, and these boys in town don’t like us for it! Several years ago, we took soil sample results in, and asked them if they could make us a blend. The comment we got was something like, “If this was mine, I would go home and hang myself!” Needless to say, we purchase our fertilizer elsewhere!

As no contract existed, I feel, our bill needs to be wiped out ASAP, not a month from now, and an apology is due! This is blatant harassment.

I don’t feel that we should have to contact the Canadian Grain Commission, as that is overkill. This is simply a conflict of personality with the boys we deal with. A total lack of professionalism!

How do I find out who the territory manager is? I can find a whole lot of information on the board of directors, but nothing with regards to contact information. There must be someone higher up than the boys in town! Thanks!

[wedino]

bombay_43, If I were you I would do nothing. You didn't sign a contract. You have no obligation to AU. Looks as if you need to find another grain co. to deal with.

[ALLFARMER]

I'll second that last post, you did have a verbal contract but only for the original delivery date. AU failed to accept it at the original terms. A judge would say that if AU wanted to complicate matters & delay accepting that should have been specified in writing done with a simple fax. I wouldn't bother going to a lawyer until they get allot more serious than sending you a bill. If they wanted to sue you over it what would they take to a lawyer? a he said she said? A grain company let me out on a written delivery contract once after my crop froze. My assertion was I was agreeing to sell to them not another grain co and by there being no crop the contract was void, the contract did not specify delivery in the event of a crop loss. At first they wanted to be paid out but I did nothing and eventually the manager said they had filled the contract with other grain.

Someone on this board (I think cowman)had said his son told him all he learned in college was to drink beer and screw girls. I also learned tort law (contract law) in Collage.

Empty your mind of worries by filling it with knowledge. Keep in touch!

[rain]

I my mind the verbal contract is still binding until the grain company changed the delivery date and you say no. If the company changes the date and you go along with it the deal is still good.

[charliep]

General information about elevator staff can be found at:

http://www.agricoreunited.ca/cgi-bin/bvsm/AU/Home/Locations/index.jsp

No specifics about responsibilities but it does include the general email address. You can also call directly and ask for the territory manager.

[TOM4CWB]

It may also be advisable to talk to your local elected AU farmer rep. that person might be able to help.

[Vader]

Judging by how sensitive Incognito is to comments about AU I would say that you have the inside line to the company right here.

[Incognito]

Good to have you back this week Vader.

How was Winterpeg?

[bombay_43]

Well I just had a yelling match with my territory manager! He knew all about my problem, as he had spoken to the boys in town. Funny, if he knew we had a problem, why did he not contact us? He told me that I was lying to him, when I said that Agricore United was plugged in November 2004, when we were harvesting our tough canola. He says that is absolutely not true!

He claims that I do have a contract, but did not come in to sign it, and that the end date was March 31, 2005! All this still without me seeing or signing any contract! I wonder how many of you would be keeping canola that AU tested on February 8, 2005 until March 31 when it showed it had 13% moisture!

I am really pissed off with the treatment AU is handing out. This territory manager is the 4th person that I have spoken to regarding this matter, and I finally yelled back at this boy, “YOU DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO COLLECT THIS BILL, AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH. YOU HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL TO DEAL WITH!” For those who don’t know by now, I was talking with tongue in cheek!!

I have been getting quite an eye opener regarding wages paid to Directors, and Chief officers with the company. Can someone here confirm that the top paid officer, received a salary of $737,779 and $73,779 in other compensation in 2004? Perhaps I am reading these charts wrong. Definitely time to get our shares out of AU!!

[Zaphod]

I worked for AU for quite a few years and can honestly say that ADM had virtually no input into the way the operations of the company or its policies. And I was involved enough to know if ADM was part of the decision-making. Essentially, the board members from ADM would show up for a couple of days per quarter but there was almost no contact otherwise.

On the other issue, if a contract is not signed, the company would have no leg to stand on in court. AU was constantly telling its front-line reps that it was their job to get a signature on a contract because the contract could not be enforced otherwise. The only caution I have is that they may have recorded the conversations when the contract was agreed to over the phone. They would sometimes do that to avoid getting the signature, especially if you live farther away from the AU location. If so, you may have a tougher time.