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Calling for experiences from Fresh-O-Matic distributors.


JamesK

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Hi,

I was hoping to connect with some of the Fresh-O-Matic distributors and seek their experiences about their tie-up with the company. I had the following findings and some questions follow -

1. They seem to be reselling a slightly modified version Seaga HF3500 and their asking price is a HUGE premium over what seems to be a fair value of a new HF3500. They are selling each for anywhere between 8K - 10K.

2. It seems like a genuine company as they don't have negative comments floating around on the internet and have been in business for over 15 years.

3. Their selling pitch for new entrants is that they 'coach' you for life in this business as long as we keep reordering from them.

Questions -

1. Do they deliver what they promise about the coaching, and the support?

2. Due to the huge cost difference, the break even time will be long and touching profitability will be a distant dream?

3. Are their training DVDs etc. any good? Or similar stuff is available from other companies over the internet for lower prices?

4. Is there a way out of a contract with them or we are stuck with ordering initial lot of machines from them?

5. Is it worth partnering with them at all? I doubt it is worth but I maybe missing some good aspects of the company.

Your insights and comments based on your experience is highly valued.

Many a thanks,

James

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I don't know anything about the company, but I'd say any vending machine that costs $8k is going to have a really hard time earning you a return on your investment. You could probably get more valuable coaching and other information for free right here on this board and save yourself a boatload of money. Unless you're so wealthy you can risk this kind of money on something that your own common sense is telling you is fishy, I'd run away from it.

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Hi,

I was hoping to connect with some of the Fresh-O-Matic distributors and seek their experiences about their tie-up with the company. I had the following findings and some questions follow -

1. They seem to be reselling a slightly modified version Seaga HF3500 and their asking price is a HUGE premium over what seems to be a fair value of a new HF3500. They are selling each for anywhere between 8K - 10K.
2. It seems like a genuine company as they don't have negative comments floating around on the internet and have been in business for over 15 years.
3. Their selling pitch for new entrants is that they 'coach' you for life in this business as long as we keep reordering from them.

Questions -
1. Do they deliver what they promise about the coaching, and the support?
2. Due to the huge cost difference, the break even time will be long and touching profitability will be a distant dream?
3. Are their training DVDs etc. any good? Or similar stuff is available from other companies over the internet for lower prices?
4. Is there a way out of a contract with them or we are stuck with ordering initial lot of machines from them?
5. Is it worth partnering with them at all? I doubt it is worth but I maybe missing some good aspects of the company.

Your insights and comments based on your experience is highly valued.

Many a thanks,
James


A link would be helpful?

Even without it, for that kind of money its pretty apparent that they are targeting people who know little or nothing about the vending business because anyone that has 30 days experience knows that this is a bad deal for any number of reasons. If it was such a good deal don't you think that they would be advertising all over the place to existing vendors that have a idea on how to run vending machines and a vending business?

 

It's not illegal or a scam to target a specific market or demographic, advertisers do it all the time, but, for me at least, if I were to deploy a business model such as this I'd probably not sleep well at night.....

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Thanks all for your feedback. Going forward, I am stuck with them for a while but what surprises me is there are NO or maybe one or two posts floating on the Internet about them. Maybe they do provide value ..... will know in the next few months (I seriously doubt it tho.).

Google search on their name will list their website on the 1st page.

Thanks again.

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What makes it a scam? Just wondering just because a company sells you a product at a crazy profit doesn't make it a scam. If you buy a new car its not worth nearly what you paid for it no matter what great deal you got. It cost Nike like 6 bucks to make a pair of sneakers but they charge 60 and up for them. Not every company that sells vending machines for a profit are scamers.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

The reason that 80% of the business market is untapped by the existing industry is that these business locations are considered to be too small for a large vending company to make a significant profit. The bigger companies have high operating expenses and therefore only focus on large locations such as airports, supermarkets, hotels etc.

Fresh-O-Matic operators have discovered that by keeping their operations small, under 100 machines, and focusing on this untapped part of the marketplace, they can operate a very successful business with many places to put their machines.

In addition to the smaller companies (5-75 employees),

That is all pretty much a lie, put that machine in an acct with 5 ppl u wont ever pay it off, put it in an acct

with 75 people and ,...well dont worry u wont ever get a 75 person acct with that kind of machine LOL

even a 25 person account u will be filling it way too much and at $8,000 per machine you could have

8+ solid industry-standard full size machines. As others have said it may not be a scam in the exact legal definition (meaning they arent promising specific revenues) but they are definitely targeting people who do not know any better and selling them

on an unworkable business model. if thats not the definition of a scam its certainly the spirit of one.

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I'd like to know where this 80% untapped market is. In my area, the big companies have such a huge inventory of machines, they'll stick them anywhere. I saw three brand new soda machines the other day sitting outside a small tire shop, all of them belonging to a major bottler in our area. I know that this shop couldn't possibly be such a huge gold mine that it would support three brand new machines. The big companies know that their machines will make more money for them sitting in lousy locations than they will sitting in a warehouse. That is the competition you're up against as a small operator. The big guys can afford to put very nice equipment in low revenue locations because they have so many of them.

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I'd like to know where this 80% untapped market is. In my area, the big companies have such a huge inventory of machines, they'll stick them anywhere. I saw three brand new soda machines the other day sitting outside a small tire shop, all of them belonging to a major bottler in our area. I know that this shop couldn't possibly be such a huge gold mine that it would support three brand new machines. The big companies know that their machines will make more money for them sitting in lousy locations than they will sitting in a warehouse. That is the competition you're up against as a small operator. The big guys can afford to put very nice equipment in low revenue locations because they have so many of them.

visibility/marketing factors in, low revenue locations with high visibility (like outside on a major street, supermarkets,etc...)

its like a giant billboard for the product.

same effect as like the levi's store in times square. every month the store loses money hand over fist but the company looks

at it like advertising.

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I don't seem to have the option to edit my own post.

To maintain forum integrity, we only allow a 60 minute window to edit posts.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

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  • 8 months later...

Well here goes.

I signed up with Fresh-o-Matic Canada Dec 6 2012 and am expecting my first 4 machines Jan 23 2013. Thought I had researched the crap outta this before signing up, however, be that as it may, I now own a piece of a "biz-op". you can only research what you can think of to search. "if you look for it, you WILL find it".

Lesson learned I guess.

Now, networking has already kicked in. I have 3 high traffic locations from family and friends already lined up and thats before I even have the machines!

I will start posting on the "Revenue" thread just as soon as I can.

Heres hoping this is my retirement job! (really want to quit working for someone else)

Anyway, you guys have been a wealth of information and that should lead to many success stories in the future!

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As i former owner of several seaga combination machines HF3800 i cannot understand anyone buying these machines at all at any price. They are of extremely poor build quality to say the least and may well qualify as one of the best rubbish combination vending machines of all time.

I bought a few only because i wanted to buy the sites they were on, i changed the machines to glassfront Dixie Bevmax Combos and my weekly turnover incred in excess of 100%!.

Why buy Seaga when you can buy premium quality vendors from the likes of AMS and USI?

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  • 11 months later...

it is about average price for a new coffee machine.

but like the others have said, it will take a long time to pay it off,

and coffee machines take a lot of regular maintenance.

plus, maybe the stock recipies are not popular in your area.

can you reprogram and test each one?

I wonder what mods they made to it thou,

I had a chance at a rebuild AP 213 out here once

with the rebuild and all it would have cost me around 6700.00

and I don't have a account that would make it worth it.

and it was about 8900 new. it was a fresh grind with all the extras and expantsions.

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