Comments on: Abe’s of Maine High Pressure Post-Sale Tactics

By: GreatfulConsumer

GreatfulConsumer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:54:08 +0000

Wow… thanks for all that feedback… i live in Canada and noticed that Abe’s offered free shipping up here (which is unheard of!) so i was about to order a TV… if you guys are having trouble with cameras i shudder to think what might have happened had i gone through with my order… thanks so much for the info… you guys are life savers!

By: Joe F.

Joe F. — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:19:19 +0000

Obviously, it was more than two days from my post here that I ordered from Abe’s. Don’t know why I wrote two days, but I reordered from 17th Street Photo and they sent the camera out the same day.

Joe

By: Joe F.

Joe F. — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:25:26 +0000

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

By: Beware - Amazon.com Offers NO Price Protection! - One Man’s Blog

Beware - Amazon.com Offers NO Price Protection! - One Man’s Blog — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:12:30 +0000

[...] 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. [...]

By: RainyDayMagazine

RainyDayMagazine — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:40:00 +0000

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

By: John

John — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:47:18 +0000

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.

By: JFK

JFK — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:08:59 +0000

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.

By: Thomas from Minnesota

Thomas from Minnesota — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:10:26 +0000

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.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:31:52 +0000

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.

By: Cade

Cade — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:59:43 +0000

I have been trying to contact someone at your store concerning a DVD drive that I ordered three weeks ago. It still has not arrived. However, all I get is either voice mail that says all operators are helping other customers or voice mail that gives me office hours then says good by. And, yes, I am calling during office hours.

By: very unhappy mother

very unhappy mother — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:25:05 +0000

“It is interesting how these â€˜positive reviewsâ€™ 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…

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 04 May 2008 05:40:34 +0000

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.

By: Rolf Ernst

Rolf Ernst — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:30:44 +0000

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.

By: very unhappy mother

very unhappy mother — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:34:23 +0000

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.

By: Abes of Maine

Abes of Maine — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:36:52 +0000

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.

By: very unhappy mother

very unhappy mother — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:24:47 +0000

Exactly Rolf and look what I found on the web about the BBB since you said I should look it up.

Name: Abe’s Electronics Center, Inc.
Phone: (732) 225-1777
Fax: (732) 379-5026
Address: 5 Fernwood Avenue
Edison, NJ 08837
Website: http://www.abesofmaine.com
Original Business Start Date: January 1979
Local Start Date: October 2000
Principal: Mr. Abe Mosseri, President
Customer Contact: Mr. Abe Mosseri, President – (732) 225-1777
TOB Classification: Electronic Equipment & Supplies-Dealers
BBB Accreditation: This organization is not a BBB Accredited business.

Additional DBA Names
Abe’s of Maine

Customer Experience
Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB due to a pattern of complaints and has failed to correct the underlying reason for the complaints.

The current search results for ‘abesofmaine.com’ with the BBB only shows two results. The above file in Edison, NJ and the original file in MA which states,
Mail sent to the company on 12/23/2005 was returned by the U.S. Postal Service as Undeliverable as Addressed.

The address once listed by the BBB for ‘Abe’s of Maine’ in NY no longer appears in the reports or the record searches.

However, Whitepages.com still shows a business there,
Family Photo & Video
1959 Coney Island Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11223-2328
(718) 645-1298
Company:
Family Photo & Video

This address at ‘1957 Coney Island Ave. Brooklyn, NY’ no longer appears in the BBB records as I stated above. So per BBB records these two businesses, ‘Abe’s of Maine’ and ‘Family Photo & Video’ do not appear to be affiliated.

Care to explain Sarah? Thats an old finding , I found nothing with the BBB New jersey site for any Abes of Maine today.I’m trying to give you the benefit of the doubt I really am thats why I’m doing my research. So can you explain this and explain why you guys do up sales? Many people report being tricked into buying “extras” that the camera already comes with or warranties that are crocks, I cant say whether or not this is true its just what I’ve been reading,I can vouch for the up sales though.Hey you gave someone here 250 off the things he was up sold, but how can you possibly take that much money off of those items unless the prices on these items are already incredibly inflated? How can you guys afford to take such a hit and be able to continue to sell items so much cheaper than any reputable company,it just doesn’t add up Sarah,I’m sorry it just doesn’t and why aren’t you responding to Rolf? He seems to know his stuff yet keeps being ignored.

By: Rolf Ernst

Rolf Ernst — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:05:42 +0000

Puleease…

Best Buy and/or Circuit City *never*, *ever* call you back after an online order to peddle other gear.

By: Abes of Maine

Abes of Maine — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:58:13 +0000

Thank you For your input maam. I appreciate it. I have forwarded every complaint and these issues ARE being addressed. I am not trying to silence you OR this blog. And I work Every day on customer policy/salesman training/personnel managment.

As for your “false Billing” problem. We Used to be in NY. our invoices still read NY. But look up the BBB, In fact, Don Wiss has a photo of our now closed storefront On coney Island Abe. our offices are in Edison, NJ.

You had an unfortunate experience. i am not denying that. however at this point, it is resolved. You have admitted that yourself. I am not trying to be rude, but i am trying to Balance out this situation. if your problem was not resolved, i understand your anger. At this point. Its taken care of. And you have more than “alerted” people of your ideal.

I want to Reiterate again- that Your issue was resolved. As were many of the people i have spoken to.

In addition. Paying people to post positive reviews is Completely Illegal and fraudulent. Abe’s of Maine does NOT utilise such practices.

Just on a side note, have you looked up reviews on best Buy or Circuit City? “The Squeaky Wheel gets the Grease.” Not to say that We are any better or worse, but taking into account the sheer volume of orders placed, it is Understanable to have a few customer service complaints. It should be read and taken as a BALANCED account of a company.

Thank you,
Sarah M.

By: very unhappy mother

very unhappy mother — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:25:17 +0000

I have to apologize for saying I was being blocked,it must have been something I was writing rather than some mysterious reason, I was suspicious of. I do apologize for that.

By: very unhappy mother

very unhappy mother — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:21:16 +0000

I’am being blocked Sarah,the only way I’m getting through is putting up different email addresses and this is what I originally intended to write to you:

Why would I be trying so hard to get the truth out there if I’m lying? For the fun of it? I’m a mother and wife I have better things to do with my time. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. My response wasn’t angry in any way shape or form so whats up with the “please ma’am calm down?”I’m not angry my bank account was refunded and my cc canceled because your manager Jason said he would re charge it if I called you guys again.Yes I did call you guys a lot of times I also know others that called. They did so because they saw me crying and upset that I was given the run around by you guys.When I called to ask why I received a shipment email after a cancellation email I was told “thats not my problem I’ll transfer you”I was then put on hold for 5 mins plus and then mysteriously disconnected 3 times in a row! only after people called asking why you would do this to a one income family on a budget by numerous people did you connect me to someone. The person I talked to called me slow for calling and told me “you must really need this money” in a very condescending tone. But why am I telling you this Sarah? You already know since you heard all the conversations right? I don’t get how you could be anything but apologetic to me after hearing the phone conversations,and the thing said about satisfied customers don’t bother to leave good reviews…look up reviews for b&h, people leave good reviews, I know I do.They also leave bad reviews,I completely agree no business is going to have 100% good reviews but your lifetime rating on resellerrating.com is at a 6…and the address thing…oh boy don’t get me started on the address thing… you are either in Brooklyn or you gave me a fraudulent cancellation email with this address —

Abes of Maine
1957-61 Coney Island Avenue
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11223

Which one is it? because both are bad, which are you going to fess up to?… there are hundreds out there Sarah, that would love to be able to talk to you, why are you here on me? you want to fix customer service help at least ONE of the hundreds of people that said you defrauded them. ONE just ONE. Look up Abes of maine complaints Sarah, there are people out thousand because they were sold broken TV’s,not just one either I’ve read at LEAST 30 stories about this happening, help them, don’t you feel bad for them? I know I do.

Dont worry about me, ,I wont agree with you,go help the people out there that want some customer service that want their money back after they say they were swindled help the people on resellerrating.com just click on the low button you’ll get lots of people that would love to hear from you Sarah. Please thats all I ask of you help the people who I’ve read about that have lost thousands after being sold broken tv’s and other electronics or tricked by your company’s upsales,help them, wouldn’t you much rather make sure your past customers are satisfied rather than making sure your future customers don’t believe me? I would certainly hope so,I mean you claim to be a good upstanding business.Why are they not being helped?

UPDATED: I tried weeks and weeks ago to post this to no avail,now I’m using different emails to get through, because I am mysteriously being blocked. I am not making personal attacks at you and I’m sorry if it came off that way,I don’t know you so I wouldn’t do that, I’ am responding to your false claims…the two are different.I don’t know why you keep saying I’m attacking you because that is the farthest thing from the truth I just cant stand the thought of someone reading this and believing you and then in turn having to deal with the customer service at Abes. The people here are being helped, because this blog comes up the first page if you look up abes of maine, so this blog has to stay in good standing, thats the only reason why your helping these people. Why haven’t the other people that are rude been fired yet Sarah, you said that was being taken care of. I got a call from you guys to “settle” the dispute I made against you with the bbb when I was going through a situation EXACTLY like Bills, when I called back I got none other than Jason and he was rude as ever, listen to the phone call Sarah. Why are these people not being fired for what there doing? If you listened to the conversations you would know that he was demeaning to me and cursed and everything, why is he not out of a job? I know any reputable company trying to clean up their act trying to get rid of such shady characters would be quick to fire someone like that, yet hes answering customer service calls? Doesn’t make sense to me.

And yes everyone my dispute has been solved, but I keep coming back because of the hell I went through, because of the hell others have and are still going through.Its not illegal or wrong to alert people of what I had to go through.