best buy doesnt call you to ask if you want to add things you may have missed. We do. We do not condone lying or depcetion to do so.
I am not in the position to defend every attack made here. i am just tryign to balance things out. I am also giving John P’s Readers an opportunity to contact me if nessesary. I dont want to continue this back and forth. I am sure there are MANY reviews, both bad and good you can find.

We are Listed in the BBB- we are not members, because there is an Incubation period after we moved to NY. We did not have acess to our website and the BBB logo was displayed incorrectly. The “pattern” of complaints that the BB is referencing are all over 1 yr old. The amount of complaints, compared to the Volume of business we do, is far. The fact that most, if not all of the complaints made via the BBB are resolved ASAP once again proves that we DO CARE. Again, i IMPLORE you to look up Don Wiss’s Images of our CLOSED brooklyn store front.

The Discounts given BY ME are generally at a loss for the company. but i do it to satisfy customers. i have permission from the managers to do so when the situation warrants it.
We Contact the customer to see if they forgot to order an extra battery or a case. We do not seel you things that already come with the camera. that is a tactic of the Shadier/Bait and Switch Companies out there. our policy is not high pressure, and we do try and train our employees as such.

In addition. We have been in business for over 30 years. We do sell our products at low prices, but we do not lose money on every sale. we have opened MANY new departments in the last year, with None of the stigma that “mail order cameras” have had in the past.

Unhappy mother, I am doing my best to give you any information you need, but this back and forth is best suited for email, Not Blog comments. The blog is well aware of your situation and the others that have posted before you. if you have any Questions, Or want to discuss this further, email me.

Sarah M.

An incubation period of 8 years? Ive never heard of such a thing according to the bbb report you guys have been moved since 2000 you say 2006 but even a 2 year incubation seems like a long time, excuse me if I’m wrong, I get that you cant reply to every person but you keep replying to everything I say…within minutes of me writing anything again I ask why not Rolf? Theres no need for me to email you , I have nothing that needs to be solved privately,I am publicly asking for an explanation of things that I am finding out about your business, I’m sure people want to know the explanation, and with you wanting to uphold the name of the company you proudly work for you should have no problem defending them publicly.You brought up the BBB did you not?

The thing about you guys calling to “make sure” the customer hasn’t missed anything is incredibly flawed.First off when someone places their order online and choose expedited shipping you guys don’t even process the order until you “call to make sure”, but theres a reason why people get expedited shipping, they need there stuff! they don’t want their order sat on and wait for you guys to call to “make sure”, and then theres the fact that the consumer isn’t stupid. I know, I know the camera I choose to buy doesn’t come with a memory card or an extended warranty, I don’t need a salesman to come “make sure” I know this. Not to mention the practice of calling after an order is made is KNOWN to be what shady businesses do to try to upsale you, so why on earth would you want to do something that is tied to such terrible business practices? The back and forth will continue on my end because I want people to know the answers to these questions, as well as me wanting answers, because the thought of you guys continuing to do this to people sickens me. I want to believe that you guys are a good business and that my experience was a once in a blue moon occurrence but its not looking that way Sarah, people keep coming with new stories very similar to mine only worse I think, people like Jason are still working with your business… so I have a hard time believing you guys are on the up and up and trying to fix things.

You know, this ‘calling back to make sure’ is indeed an insult to every order placed online over the Internet. Gee, if everybody that I ordered something from online would call me back, I would not get off the phone all day. I ordered some vitamins yesterday, do you think they should make sure I got all the vitamins I need? Or the good people at Dell that I order a custom computer from – they certainly should call back as this is a delicate matter?

And then you are telling me ‘you do not have access to your web site’. You are kidding me, right? How else would you update the product information?

Finally, displaying the BBB logo without their permission is fraud.

Bizrate.com may give you a smilie but I encourage everyone to read the reviews there – about half the customers gave you a thumbs down – Not sure how you can still wind up with a smilie but compare this for example to Beach Camera that also has a smilie with maybe one in 20 unhappy campers. (BTW – your Bizrate link is broken)

In addition, to post ‘CNET certified’ or ‘ShopWiki’ is misleading. These are your affiliates.

Resellerratings has some interesting info on you as well. I would encourage potential customers to have a look there. The first one to spot the bogus and real reviews gets a cookie. It is interesting how these ‘positive reviews’ directly address all the complaints against you. And you are telling me you are not rigging the reviews?

Gee, I have written positive ratings before but here are some quotes:

“Abe’s will be the first place I look next purchase.”
“I love the store….Ever since I discovered it….I will now go there and buy certain things. Shipping prices are good and most of the time it may come a day early. Never a problem. I am a very Happy customer and will continue to shop with Abes and I will tell my friends & family” (Ok, which ‘certain things?’)
“You can be sure that I will choose Abe’s for shopping online”
“The delivery is way too quick. ” (Really? How quick is too quick?)
“My order was taken quickly, and there were no pressure tactics to buy accessories for the camera.” (Why would there be pressure tactics?)

Sounds like a commercial!

Ok, enough of that. I’d suggest to the guy that writes these reviews for you that ‘definitely’ is spelled ‘definitely’ and not ‘definately’. He/she keeps getting it wrong.

You guys are scammers with methods that are outrageous. Considering that some of the gear (take the XH-A1) is hardly cheaper than a certified reseller with a factory warranty, I cannot possibly imagine why someone would fall for you.

The “call backs” sometimes serve a purpose. The intention motivating the calling is important to consider. A good company should be concerned, interested enough to sell a customer what that customer really wants and sometimes the buyer doesn’t fully understand what they’re purchasing or what they need – in the way of accessories – to make their purchase work properly or to their expectation. It’s a fine line – when to ask and when not to. Most companies I’ve dealt with want to build customer loyalty, not only because it’s the “right” thing to do, but because it’s the easiest way to build a repeat-customer base.

I worked at Circuit City once and we were trained to “qualify” our customers, many of whom were – it was repeatedly deomonstrated – not fully-prepared for their purchases. People didn’t know that their purchase would work best or better or not at all unless they purchased certain accessories. We seriously wanted people to buy what they really wanted, what they needed – and we didn’t want them returning purchases because they later determined whatever it was they’d purchased didn’t meet their expectations. Returns are often sold at a discount and the seller earns less of a profit reselling the products. So I think there is justification for the further qualification of internet purchasers. A fine line, yes – between salesmen trying to truly assist a buyer and one who seeks to pile-on accessories (including extended warranties) because of spiffs or other higher-commission-paid accessories in situations where a buyer is uninterested.

“It is interesting how these ‘positive reviews’ directly address all the complaints against you. And you are telling me you are not rigging the reviews?”

Did anyone notice all the reviews up now out of the blue on both sites that praise Jason? Right after I say what a terrible guy he was. They must really take their customers for idiots, its pretty insulting if you ask me. Just one thing Abes, just like you spelling words wrong on your praise comments, you also have to watch your dates, how a comment from March is put ahead of an April comment on reseller rating is beyond me, but I guess you guys didn’t think your customers would ever notice the discrepancy. I’d go fix that now if I were you.

And Bill, I completely agree with you and know that if I went into a place like say circuit city, they would say your going to need such and such, for your camera, my husband and I had a customer service rep from I think it was best buy help us with our purchase of a kodak easy share a while back he told us, the cameras going to need a memory card, which it did he then pointed us to the memory cards and gave us his recommendation, there really wasn’t any pressure, but if you look at Johns original post he states how he was pressured and lied to by Abes, as well as many others, I’ve read so many reviews that state that Abes tells them that the battery the camera comes with is a “demo” battery and that they need to upgrade which is a TOTAL lie, or them saying that the warranties are only 90 days (john can also vouch for that lie) its obvious if you take the time and research that Abe’s lies to get you to buy over inflated items that you don’t need in the first place.But Sarah said they are handling these salesmen immediately, how people with similar horror stories are still posting after all this time is beyond me…

Well, I haven’t finish reading all the complaint here, but I am 100 percent agreed with the first post as it describe the frustration I went through with their sale department today. If I wasn’t rush to get my thousand dollar camera I could have done more research before dealing with this company!

At last, If I don’t see my order ship by tomorrow, I will definitely cancel my order. I hope Abes’ Maine hear this.

Just another GRRREAT experience with Abe’s of Maine. I have to admit I’ve heard of them and will NEVER purchase from them again. They pressured me into every accessory there was on the video camera I purchased, at least tried. i’ve used cameras before and I know what it good and bad and what cuts down on performance of the factory lens. That being said, the guy (Ted, salesman) is pushig me into purchasing a $29 lens to ‘protect” my camera lens. I purchased an Hd camera and would like to get as much quality out of it as possible, not degrade the OEM lens by putting junk glass or platic in front of it! Then the warranty sell, just like the author of this post..bad news. After Ted told me the BS benefits of the plan such as, they would stop out to my house and pick it up from me, he would not stop of selling it but sure came down in price by 40% in a hurry. I ended up rwith a warrantly plan for computer peripherals, NOT a video camera. I then called Repair Tech..they sent me back to Abe’s, that’s fine, not their fault. Once I get through to customer service, after 8 mins of hold, I am told that i should send it back in for an exchange. I lost it and told him NO, send the new one to me so I don’t miss the 30 day window of getting it registered with Repair Tech. CS Rep tell me don’t worry then will offer you an extension. I obviously raise my voice and ask him how he can speak for a company that he does not even work for. His answer is that they’ve been doing this for 10 years, they offer extensions all the time. Does this mean they have been attempting to shaft people over for 10 years and I’m lucky i caught it before I received the shaft? To go on, they CLAIM they are sending me out the new one and an RMA to send it back…as I requested earlier with him.

Saved $15 for all of this on a $595 camera that I just should have purchased via Amazon like I do most other things. If it’s cheaper at Abe’s do yourself and favor, search these notable online dealers and pay the extra money! Amazon, NewEgg, Buy, BHPhotovideo (awesome for camera stuff), Overstock.

We’ll see if I ever get that warranty and how many more times and minutes I will spend on the phone with Abe’s before I clear this up.

More to come soon…hopefully.

I’m probably in the minority here but I’ve been dealing with Abes of Maine now for about 2 years, I’ve ordered both via the web and been to the retail store in Edison NJ and have had very positive experiences.

Yes I was called back on each of the Internet orders (camera lenses) and I was asked to verify my address and then asked if I needed any filters, my response was “no thanks I have filters from other lenses that are the same size” and that was the end of the conversation.

I purchased my Nikon D80 from them in the retail store and again I was asked if I needed any accesories or a warranty, I explained that this was replacing a D50 so all my old accesories would be compatible and again that was the end of conversation, no hard sell, nothing just have a nice day and that was it.

This stuff happened to me a couple of years ago and I’ve since been astonished by the reputation Abe’s of Maine has online. They are aweful. Giving them your credit card no. is like handing your checkbook to a criminal on the street corner and hoping for the best. They “take your order”, then depending on how much more cash they can haggle out of you on the follow up call, they will either find the item you ordered (stolen,refurbished, whatever, but usually not in stock when you order it), or they will just never send you anything at all!. If you want your item or your money back, you have to go through the BBB and your bank etc. I actually got the follow up call and then was so turned off that I cancelled my order. They proceeded to charge my credit card hundreds of dollars anyway and when I called, the representative tried to offer me cash to keep the item and not return it. Once I got the item that I had canceled, I sent it back having photographed it and documented everything with my bank. Once the post office confirmed that Abes received it I got *some* of my money refunded. Then I had to go through my bank to get the rest of it put back. These people will literally steal your money, ignore your calls, lie to you, not send you the item you ordered (based on what I’ve read) and anything else you can think of. They are absolutely aweful. In fact, I got to know some of their names in this process and I can tell you that a lot of the positive reviews you see online are actually fake reviews put up by Abe’s employees. I am surprised these people are still in bus. I’d have thought based on everyone’s experiences that I’ve read, that they’d be gone by now…too bad.

Wow…was going to order a D90 from Abe’s of Maine because they were cheaper, but have decided to go back to Cameta instead.

Thanks for saving us some grief!!!

Sincerely,
RainyDayMagazine

[...] This is the worst experience I’ve ever had with Amazon, and is second in “badness” only to my miserable experience with Abe’s of Maine. [...]

WOW! Looks like Abe’s hasn’t changed! They seemed reputable, so two days ago, I ordered a Panasonic ZS3 camera and a 16GB card. The next day, they called “To make sure my experience went well” and left me a message to call them back. I called and left a message, asking them to email me if there was a problem with my order. I then emailed the rep. back, and the emails were undeliverable. I emailed them using their information email and was ignored. Five days later, I noticed they had delayed sending out my order, so I called and cancelled. I got a bit nasty. They had wanted to sell me a faster card and a spare battery, both at double the price of the competition. I reordered off ebay, saved money and got the card and camera shipped out immediately. Abe’s will give you the hard sell and you will not save money buying from them. I recommend against buying their products.

Joe