I got a call today from Abe’s of Maine that was quite disappointing. But let me start with a little background info…
At 1:30am on Tuesday morning (4/10/2007) I ordered a new $3,379 Canon XH A1 Prosumer Camcorder from Abes for two reasons.
- First, I’ve purchased from them in the past (about 2.5 years ago) and things went OK, although the extremely high end Sony Receiver I bought from them ended up having problems and needing service I felt I couldn’t hold that against Abe’s.
- Secondly they were offering the Camcorder for about $100 less than Amazon or NewEgg.
Now, the problem started today around 6:30pm CST when I’m shopping at a retail store and I get a call on my cell phone from a “customer service” (732-225-1777) representative from Abe’s “…just wanting to verify my shipping address”. He asks me if I’ve ever purchased from them before and when I say yes, he is surprised and “can’t find me in their system”. After he “verifies my address” he begins pressuring me to purchase all sorts of add ons. And remember, this is a three and a half THOUSAND dollar purchase.
First he tells me the camcorder only comes with a 90 day warranty, so I should buy a $200 extended warranty. When I say “no thanks” he says that because I’m a “repeat customer” he can give me a 25% discount and sell it to me for only $150. At this point I inform him that Canon clearly stated that the unit comes with 1 year parts and labor and that Abe’s claims that their products include the full manufacturer’s warranty, and that my credit card doubles it.
So then he tells me “technically” that’s true, but the “boards” in the camera are only warranted for 90 days. (What?!?)
After refusing a third time, he then proceeds to try to sell me an extra battery, telling me that the camera only comes with a 30 minute “demo” battery from Canon, when I know damn well it comes with a BP-950G that reportedly lasts for 4+ hours.
After multiple refusals, he moves on down the line trying to sell me a soft case, a hard case, a tripod, a 72mm lens filter, and tapes. I might be forgetting something, but for sure he offered – actually pushed – all of those things. I kept telling him repeatedly that I didn’t need anything else.
After saying no about 30 times, he asks me “so, you’re OK with not getting the camcorder for a few weeks then?” I say, “What?” and he proceeds to tell me that if I don’t pay for upgraded shipping he intends to ship the camera via the normal United States Postal Service, and it will take at least two weeks.
We should keep in mind that they sat on this order for 2 whole days by the time I got this call, which means that had I ordered it from NewEgg it would have been arriving the next business day (tomorrow) because of their free 3 day shipping, and Amazon would have actually delivered it today.
At this point I just want off the phone with this bitter little man. I don’t trust him, I think he’s lying to me, he is not being at all respectful or slightly grateful that I’ve given them thousands of dollars, and more importantly now I feel I have no reason to trust Abe’s of Main. After all, their web page says:
Condition: All products include every manufacturer supplied accessory and USA Warranty unless stated otherwise.
Well, this guy on the phone is “stating otherwise”, and if I allow them to ship this sub-standard product to me, then open it, they’ll claim I can’t return it because it isn’t “factory fresh”.
In addition to all of that, there is a $250 rebate on this camcorder which is only valid if it comes from an authorized reseller. I have to assume that if they are going to sell the product with a 30 minute “demo” battery and only 90 days of warranty that they are not indeed authorized and that will cost me an extra $250.
So when I get home I try to call Abe’s back to cancel the order, which I know damn well hasn’t shipped yet and I get the following message when I try to reach customer service:
Abe’s Customer Service
So, this guy calls from customer service to rake me over the coals after 7pm their time, but when I call customer service is closed at 6pm, thereby making it impossible to call back and cancel the order. I then try to use their online “Track Order” page to find out any information possible, but it literally yields nothing. All it does is pull up a copy of the receipt with no shipping status – or even area for it – anywhere visible. Nice racket they have going there.
By this point I have lost 100% of my confidence in their ability to deliver a $3,500 order as promised, so my intention is to ensure they cancel the order and do not ship it. I sent them an e-mail to cancel the order, then I called my credit card company to share the story with them and was told that the charge hasn’t even yet come through!
Wow! How is that possible? It was an e-commerce order placed online and it’s been 48 hours without the charge coming through?
Tomorrow I’ll call them as a follow up to the e-mail cancellation, and then my next move will be to order the camcorder from either NewEgg or Amazon. Most likely I’ll do Amazon and try out the free two day shipping via the Amazon Prime offer. I’ll provide updates to this story in the comments as things progress.
Hi
This has to be the worst company in the world! I placed an order with them. I never got my order. and now it looks like they filed to bankruptcy and reopened show in a different state to avoid there responsibility to there customer of delivering the products they got paid on. I have tried to call them and email them and all I ever get back it a default email saying.
Thank you very much for shopping with Abes Of Maine
Please contact our customer service department at 1-800-992-2237 and one of our representatives will gladly assist you.
Your business is greatly appreciated and we look forward to hearing from you soon and resolving the issue!
Sincerely,
Abes Of Maine
They never care to forward my email to the correct person.
If it’s true they filed for bankruptcy how is it that they are still using the same domain name and adverting? This is very misleading to customers.
I’ve had a similar issue with a company in that same NJ area. I don’t know what ist is with these businesses in that vicinity, but they seem to have no customer service savy. The company that gave me a fit was Eastcoasttvs.com. Waited for my order to be filled after I made the credit card purchase and two days lateer they call me on the phone. I never get a call from Amazon or others to verify. Why do they think they have to call me. Then they say-Oh it will be there in 5 days. I don’t see the package for the two large flat screen TVs and then I call back and they say, Oh yeah they will be there in another ten days. What-these idiots don’t know how to count or have the sense to tell the truth. I cancelled the purchase and ordered from Amazon and Walmart. Forget about the little $100 savings tthat you think you will save. When it comes down to it, it is not a savings. It will save you the frustration in dealing with imbecils if you deal directly with reputable companies.
Oh! Wanted to add that the battery isn’t the best. It really doesn’t last a whole lot of time. But it also doesn’t take that long to charge up. when I can afford it I’ll be ordering a second battery and a memory card. Abe’s should DEFINITELY be selling those 2 items with these cameras. Maybe the call back isn’t the best method. Most online companies will have those 2 items pop up as a suggestion as you are ordering.
My camera arrived in a timely manner. Everything was as ordered. I have been getting A TON of email advertising from them. But that can be stopped in many ways. Nothing I experienced from Abe’s, outside the call back trying to sell me stuff, has made me think I wouldn’t order from them again. Based on others experiences, I’d probably not order something very large from them, like a huge appliance. But a small camera…? No problem.
Pretty good camera I got, and the price was very close to amazon. I was also able to use BILLMELATER, something amazon would not let me do… (I accidentally put the wrong yearly pay and it never would let me apply again through the company amazon uses. lol ) I needed to pay over time, and I’ll have it paid off in time to avoid interest.
Same thing as others – got a pressure-sale phone call afterwards claiming to want to verify shipping information.
When, after 5+ minutes of this, I mentioned that I was sorry I couldn’t offer any extra profit for them, he said something like “Have a nice day” and forcefully hung-up.
Now it’s been 5 business days and my TV hasn’t shipped. Their “order status” webpage lists nothing about when it might ship. Nice.
My original comment didn’t go through but the followup did. odd…
Just to clarify, I got a “please call us” on my machine, called back within 3 minutes on a fri and they were closed. Was just going to suggest they not do that. No info message makes you think there is something wrong.
Other thoughts: Everybody here just wants the item they ordered without the hassle of talking to a pushy sales person. And to think that people in this company out and out lied about items being required or better than what is in the box…? I hope they didn’t… ..was just reading that the battery that comes with the camera I ordered is actually a 2 hour battery, not 1 hour. I guess these things can vary. It might be better to just suggest a second battery since 2 hours ain’t so much anyway. If I hadn’t spend my limit I would have ordered a battery and mem card , bag too. Just broke…
(Following up)
Got a call back from them. They said the order went through fine. Got the sales pitch everyone else got. No big deal really… I was told the battery that comes with the camera, PJ260, is a one-hour battery. I’ll do my own tests on that. I plan to use this camera indoors for the most part. It plugs into a wall outlet for power too. So that’s all I need.
will update again once I get the camera and use it. So far, I’m not having any problems with the process of ordering through them except for the hasty call before with no info, and asked to call back when they were closed. lol
Buy from B & H…. end of the story. No other camera stores in U.S is legit.
the name says it all….they are not even located in MAINE! that would be the first lie….apparently it gets better from there……
Typical NY/NJ semi-scam store. If you stand your ground and have time for the games, you can still get a decent deal. I prefer B&H (upfront, honest prices) or just local stores when the difference is not large.
If you place an order for a large TV, for instance, you will get a call back trying to sell warranty, better shipping, upgraded mount, etc.
My experience:
1. Shipping – they offered ‘white gloves’ for extra $’99. Alleged that the ‘free shipping’ wasn’t palletized, would be dropped at the curb. Well, I didn’t accept and loa and behold it came in a pallet, white glove, apparently the free shipping already included that, they were just trying to push the free shipping for more money.
2. Upgraded wall mount. They include a free wallmount, and try to sell, for a mere $149, the ultra slim, the stronger, etc. Stay away from that. Try monoprice.com for tons of cheap mounts, all $10, $20. Even brand name cable ones can be had for $70 online.
3. Warranty. No problem with them pushing the $249 extra 2 yr warranty, but they shouldn’t say the manufacturer’s one doesn’t cover labor beyond 90 days and other lies.
Again, buy here when price is really lower, say no to all upgrades and ‘deals’, and call to cancel a few days later if your ‘in stock’ item hasn’t shipped. If you have the stomach but not the money. Otherwise just go to Amazon, pay a bit more and value your time. Life is too short…
Wish I had seen this website and the post from fellow buyers….
I had the exact same experience in June 2012. I ordered a Samsung TV (~$2500) and they pulled the same stunt on me. Finally they came up with delayed shipping as I was using the free shipping offer. I waited for few days and cancelled the order because it had not shipped. BTW their website claimed “In Stock” when I ordered. Once cancelled, I did not get a confirmation for several days and I had call them to send me a cancellation email.
Well, it’s 2012 and Abe’s of Maine is still practicing its deceitful sales. I ordered a $1,000 Bosch dishwasher from Abe’s of Maine for my kitchen remodel. I received the ubiquitous phone call from Abe’s after I placed the order. They offered a $25 Abe’s coupon with the sale of this dishwasher and the guy said that they would apply that “coupon” to shipping and I would only owe an additional $79 shipping. Well, since the website said “free shipping”, you can understand my confusion. He said that the “free shipping” was for standard UPS and that UPS is always causing damage in shipping. I said that paying shipping would make this purchase from Abe’s more expensive than other sites that I was looking at so, no, I didn’t want their “personalized” shipping service (which is probably UPS anyway). I also told him that UPS has an excellent insurance and they’ve always made good on any shipping issues.
After a bit of back and forth with him he finally said “so you just want the standard shipping” and I said “yes” and he practically slammed the phone down without even saying goodbye or anything.
When the dishwasher arrived, it was extremely well-packed, on a pallet, and with pristine, undisturbed bubble wrap surrounding it. I was relieved. It wasn’t in a full manufacturer’s box, however, which seemed odd. It had a box top and box bottom but the middle was not boxed — it just had the bubble wrap.
Well, the remodel took a little longer than normal and, stupid me, I didn’t uncrate the machine. I mean, there was absolutely no damage from shipping. When we did uncrate it, though, what a surprise! The sides were dented up and it looked like something rather large and heavy had been dropped on the back left side top. It was so bad that the INSIDE back corner of the dishwasher was crushed inward! I called Abe’s and they refused to accept that it was their fault, even telling me that they ONLY ship in full manufacturer’s boxes (as though maybe I didn’t remember who I’d ordered from?). I said this one didn’t ship that way and the damage was OBVIOUSLY done at Abe’s and not via shipping because the shipping materials hadn’t been damaged at all. A blow this hard would have at least dented the box top but the box top on our machine had no such evidence!
Abe’s basically refused to do anything whatsoever and, honestly, I doubt if I had noticed the damage sooner that they would have done anything either. We’re installing the dishwasher today and I just hope it works okay — it was the top of the line Bosch with very good sound dampening but, with this damage, I’m not sure if that will still be the case. My husband had to bang the inside corner out just to get the upper tray to slide in properly — which is another clue — the upper tray wasn’t damage at all even though it shipped in place. Abe’s obviously shoved the tray into the already damaged unit.
We can’t afford another $1,000 to replace this thing so I really hope the damage is cosmetic only.
Oh, and if you try to write a review for Abe’s at their site, they screen them. If you write a bad review, they just toss them out!! No wonder they always look good ratings-wise! Unbelievable! Abe’s of Maine truly gives internet buying a bad name. They should be taken down; their business practices are outlandish. How can anyone with a conscious ship a damaged machine to a customer just because that customer refused to “expedite” shipping?
Who should we complain to regarding these outrageous practices by Abe’s of Maine! They’ve obviously been doing business this way for years. They look good with ratings because they refused to publish any bad reviews!
Wish I had found this blog before my nightmare with “Abes”! Same Exact Experience. Ordered a Nikon Digital Camera From Abes. Shortly thereafter a high pressure sales guy calls. Same spiel as you outlined. Pushing hard for extended warranties. Then I find out they don’t have the product I ordered….. but they charged my card anyway. More than 2 thousand bucks. This raised the fly by night flag as I have never run into this before. I cancelled the order. The next day, they charged my card anyway. I’ve called twice since and both times am told the order is cancelled but as yet..no email confirmation and most importatly, no credit to my card. I will probably have to file a complaint with my card company. My advice..don’t be fooled by the free shipping offer and if you do buy from these people….don’t use cash!
I’m sorry to say that Abe’s has not changed their tune. I experienced similar high pressure tactics regarding the purchase of a refrigerator from them and I actually relented to a shipping upgrade because they said I could have the fridge brought into my house for an extra $109.00 and that they’d throw in a $100 gift certificate. They said my 3 shipping options were 1) leave in driveway for free 2) have it brought into house for $109, or 3) have it brought in, unpacked and setup for $220 or so. I declined any offer at least 3 times until they threw in the gift certificate and guess what. The fridge was left in my driveway and I have yet to see any sort of gift certificate of any kind.
Ordered a lenovo thinpad e520 on monday or tuesday 9/19 or 9/20 and got a call two days later from Roy Rivers I informed him I am at my limit and cannot spend anymore than what Ihave already paid. He said okay and he would begin processing my order. The charge on my card posted a few minutes later on 9/21 then I started to read all the feedback on this website and others. It’s now monday 9/26 and the shipping status is still “Sent to warehouse” and i have no tracking #. I will place a call tomorrow and try to see what is going on. I just want my laptop in one piece that’s all. I need it for school badly and am worried I’ll be without it when I need it most. (will try to update tomorrow) Thanks for reading.
Really hate to do this, but just so you know, my status said “sent to warehouse” FOR 15 DAYS ! Then it finally changed to “picked up”.
After that long (and to this day (26th) it still hasn’t been delivered) you stop caring about the delay and are just glad you might actually get it. That is no way to do business.
(Update) I called customer service asked them what was going on. Kobe told me that it was out of stock but they were getting my it in tonight and shipping tomorrow. I told him I was worried about not getting it in time and he said he would upgrade my shipping. I said okay that works thank you. So, I checked my email today and to my surprise ups sent me a tracking # for my package and it estimates delivery on 9/28. Fingers-crossed! I will update when I get the package and make sure it is what I ordered.
Oh boy !
Like everyone else I got suckered-in because of the low price, how stupid I feel for trying to save $200 on a $1700 TV.
So anyway, I found them through Cnet and thought, well they have to be good !
Ordered the KDL55NX720 Sony Bravia on the 5th. A few days later, I got “the call”, The guy wasn’t pushy per say, but I do understand that some might feel “guilted” into accepting their offers.
Luckily I’m an unemployed student, so I just said: “look man, that was absolutely all my money, I literally have 12 dollars left in my checking account (no lies)” so I flatly refused the $88 “faster shipping” as well as the $150 HDMI cable without which he tried hard to make me think I wouldn’t be able to use the 3D capability of my TV (absolute lies BTW).
Then it began … A week later (13th), the shipping status hadn’t changed, so I call the shipping company (iCat), they tell me they never even got it and that I should call Abe’s.
So I call Abe’s, they say it’s been shipped, I repeat what iCat told me, they say they’ll look into it. 25 “on hold” minutes later (call duration on my iPhone) he finally comes back and admits they don’t actually have the TVs, they get Sony to send it directly to iCat, but that it was getting late and he couldn’t get in touch with a Sony rep. but that he would tomorrow (14th) and call me back with the updated situation.
The call never came, so the day after that (15th) I call back, explain everything and the guy say “he’ll look into it, because it seemed nothing had been noted of the previous call”. I’m put on hold for another eternity (probably only 10 minutes, but still …). He gets back on and says: “Yeah, Sony, blah, blah, inventory issue (or something similar), three other customers in the same boat, blah blah, but will ship for sure Monday (today) and that I should be able to track it. He then adds on free “express shipping” for the trouble.
So today (19th) I frantically spent every hour hitting refresh on the tracking page, only to be disappointed by the same exact status I’ve seen for the past two weeks now. If you thought waiting for a package was hard, try waiting for it while being unemployed and “it” being you main source of entertainment. I’ll call tomorrow and see what’s what, then update.
I don’t know what to think, I’m getting really suspicious as to if the “free fast shipping” wasn’t just some tactic to get my hopes up.
Abesofmaine, WOW
This is 2011 and angry customers are still posting. I was just gonna buy a lenovo for $500 but now forget it. I will add even 50 bucks and get it elsehwere than be disappointed. People, I have seen this kind of scam first hand and lost $300. Thanks to God for this website and all ur posts. Sorry for ur frustrations but in the future, posts like these just help us all. I wish we could extend it to include other companies so we consumers are safe from scam and fraud.
My experience with Abe’s dates all the way back to Christmas 1985… when they were “really” located in Maine (Old Orchard Beach to be exact). My father wanted to buy our first VCR and heard from a coworker that great deals could be found in the back pages of Popular Photography. He gave me his credit card and said to start calling. I called Abe’s… they had it in stock at a super low price and ready to ship. I waited on the UPS truck for weeks to deliver… and, of course, never showed. Finally called Abe’s about a month later and was told they tried to call me every evening (a lie) to inform me it was on backorder (another lie). The credit to the card took three months to go through.
Even at 15 years old… I learned a valuable lesson from this experience never to jump at the lowest price and spend a little more to buy from reputable dealers. We ended up paying $100 more and bought the VCR from a local electronics retailer. I still have that VCR and it works like new almost 30 years later.
It just blows my mind that many of these same “back page” retailers are still in business, in one fashion or another, and pulling the same tricks exactly like they did 30 years ago.