AWESOME ENTERTAINMENT - WOULD YOU PAY ALLIED BRANDS $2500 FOR A THOUSAND DOLLAR TV??

Awesome Deal? Or Awesome embarrassment?

In addition to the many franchisees of the struggling Baskin Robbins chain who have written for the blog, a franchisee from Awesome Water & Entertainment wrote in to the blog with his tale of woe. Awesome Water & Entertainment is a company bought by Allied Brands (ABQ) for $7.1 Million.

They sell home delivered water. The franchisee rightly noted that this business has taken a huge shot - with Brisbane water now mostly plentiful again, and consumers being squeezed by higher prices, home delivered water is the first "luxury" to get the ax. And with increased operational costs, it hasn't been any joy for the franchisees either.

The Awesome Water franchisees were told that the company's expansion into "entertainment" would save them. However this "expansion into entertainment" has become an overpriced LCD television rental scheme.

This is "Awesome Entertainment"? It's a cruel joke for both franchisees and consumers.

It seems the "cash" price for the TV (which franchisees are encouraged to NEVER sell or offer) is about $700 more than Harvey Norman or Clive Peeters price. The RENTAL price however runs out to about 2 1/2 times the cash price of the same TV at any of these TV discounters! Many would say that consumers this stupid are preyed on every day by greedy companies.

What executive decided that "home delivery" of a TV would be a big winner for a company that delivers water? It's a laugh!

The sad part about all of this is the Awesome Water franchisees who are now riding a down wave, and the clear credibility loss this kind of business has for all the franchisees. Many would say that stupid consumers are preyed upon by greedy companies every day of the week. However you've got to wonder if Allied's parent company, Dunkin Brands USA, has any idea what kind of gutter sales techniques are being used by their Australian partners.