Blain's Farm & Fleet - Madison, Wisconsin — Local services in Madison

This evening was the icing on the cake- I am a Blain's fan for life.

I have shopped at various of the Blain's F&F stores for years-- I'm 47 now and remember buying, with my Christnas money, my first pair of real blue jeans at the Blain's between Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls when I was age 10. My next purchase was a tire for a car at age 19.

Over the years I've bought tons of stuff at various Blain's F&F stores- chicken feed, rabbit feed, utility carts, tools, paint, fencing, two chicken coops, car tires, windshield wiper blades, rope, wire, extension cords, work gloves, steel-toe boots, socks, and shirts come to mind (probably other things also).

Anyway, on September 18 I bought a chicken coop at the Blain's on Stoughton Road in Madison, manufactured by Ware manufacturing. It broke along the roof line the first time I tried to move it. It also had other problems. Today I went to take it back and was just a bit too late; the store was closing down. The manager was willing to exchange it for me, even though the registers were already shut down and everything.

The manager's willingness to accommodate me in this fashion saved me a ton of gas and wear and tear on my vehicle (i.e. not having to come back a different time).

This is the first item, in 37 years of shopping at Blain's, that I have ever had to return something, which says quite a bit about the quality of their goods. The fact that the manager was willing to accommodate me like this says quite a bit about the way Blain's values their customers. I really, really, really appreciate that.

Also, staff have always been able to help me find exactly what I need, even when it is not their department.

By the way, Blain's also carries a lot of stuff made in the USA.

I was pretty much sold on Blain's before this, but tonight really drove home what a good place...

I have been a customer of Blaines for a little while now and normally the service is fine. Granted this was as a normal store customer (picking up some hardware, etc), in which case the service was equivalent to that of Walmart (no one asks you if you need help, greets you, etc). On a recommendation I called to have my rear brakes replaced at Farm and Fleet. Got an estimate of about $115 and 1-1.5 hours to replace the pads and resurface the rotors from their main call center. Made the appointment for a few days later. When I arrived at their service center they sent me to there tire dealer counter in the store where a young man named Dylan informed me (after going to conference with a tech in the shop) that they would have to also replace the rotors as they do not just do a "pad slap" and that it would take 3 hours. In his defense, he did offer to do a brake inspection first and then we could set another appointment. That is fine and I understand that it needs to be done before you work on the car, but if a customer comes in with an appointment for specific work and they are then informed that you don't do that work but you do something that will cost twice as much and twice as long.....no thanks. I don't care how inexpensive you might be; at least pretend like you care that I'm giving you part of my paycheck.

During this whole process it was pretty obvious that staff (there were 3-5 people behind the service desk) had little interest in helping me from the time I walked into the service center to the point where I gave up and told them that I would be going to another service center. There was no effort on staff's part to help, explain, or promote a solution. I was on the fence about giving this place my business since half the time they don't have what I need. Now....well, I'm not on the fence so...

My wife after paying $350 more than listed cost for the best tires sold says she will never set foot in that store again. Upon making appointment was told car should be aligned, and so okayed it, but after installation, they claimed no appointment for alignment had been made, could not be done, would have to come back some other day after it took over 2 hrs just to mount and balance 4 tires. She said the people in charge were just young kids. One would hope they would have a supervisor who does know what needs to be done, but apparently not, none to be found.

What we so miss upon moving to Madison is a "real" Mills Fleet Farm where everything was always done correctly, always had what was needed, had knowledgeable staff. If you have ever gone to a Mills Fleet Farm or have the chance to do so, compare the two similar stores (owned by brothers?). Once you've been to a Mills, you too would never go back to a Blaine's Fleet Farm, just be as sarcastic as my son was after trying to use the store - warned us "Don't expect this to be like you are accustomed to having. Everything is laid out logically at a Mills, there is no traipsing from one end to the other only to find they don't carry a basic item or are out of stock. If Mills is rated excellent. Blains would be rated poor to barely acceptable, if acceptable. Don't know how far to a real "Feet Farm", but whatever the distance, it's worth every mile traveled..

This is nor just my wife's and son's experience, it's mine too when stuck with going to the one in Rice Lake, WI. Strange, wherever there is one, there won't be the other. Sad for Madison residents,...