Ken Shilling feels Quality Farm & Fleet is trying to plow him under.

After receiving a $40 gift certificate for the farm supply store from his daughter for Christmas, the 81-year-old Otter Creek Township man visited the company's Hempfield Township store last Wednesday to buy supplies.

When he presented the certificate to a cashier to pay for his merchandise, he was told the store wasn't accepting them.

Financially ailing Quality Farm Stores Inc. announced last week it was closing all 153 of its stores in 10 states. The closings include its Central Tractor Farm & Country stores, which operated a location in Union Township in Lawrence County. That store closed about two weeks ago and a store spokesman said the inventory would be moved to Quality Farm's Hempfield Township and Butler stores.

What's apparently affecting gift certificates is that Quality Farm also said last week it auctioned off store assets for $104 million to Tractor Supply Co. and four other retailers, which formed a joint venture. Headquartered in Muskegon, Mich., Quality Farm had been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The venture is responsible for liquidating merchandise in Quality Farm stores and sales are under way.

"People at the store told me they didn't know they were going out of business,'' Shilling said. "It's sickening. You should know that you're going out of business.''

He was told by store employees to check back in a couple of weeks on the status of the certificates.

"By then everything will be gone,'' Shilling complained.

He's not alone.

Other customers claim the store continued to sell gift certificates through mid-December, even though it knew the auction was pending and there was little chance the certificates would be honored.

Edward Yoder, 80, said he got $95 in gift certificates to a CT Farm & Country store in Columbia County for Christmas and his birthday, only to find out they are worthless.

"They told us they couldn't honor them, and that they got notice on Saturday that they couldn't honor them," said Yoder, of Mifflin Township.

Because Quality Stores is in bankruptcy, customers who want a refund on the gift certificates must now go through the bankruptcy court to get their money back.

Hempfield Township store manager Joe Kosloski said the only thing he can do is give customers a toll-free number to file a creditors claim with the bankruptcy court. The number is: (888) 909-0100. The bankruptcy filing number is: 110662.

Consumer complaint forms can be obtained by calling the office's Consumer Protection hot line at: (800) 441-2555 or can be filed on the Internet at: www.attorneygeneral.gov