Abe's of Maine reviews?

pesphoto

pesphoto

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Just curious. Has anyone had any dealings with Abe's of Maine? Good, bad or otherwise. Thinking about buying something from them. Thanks!
 
You got good advice with the resellerratings.com link.

As an aside, a guy in NY went around and took pictures of the storefronts for many of the well-known internet and mail order photo stores. These pictures don't prove much about the trustworthiness of the stores, but it's interesting to compare the image projected by their advertising to the real store.

http://donwiss.com/pictures/ManhattanStores/
http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/

Abe's is a Brooklyn store.
 
Interesting to see those photos. thnaks for the links. so.im feeling that staying away from Abe's might be wise.
 
foto_mike said:
As an aside, a guy in NY went around and took pictures of the storefronts for many of the well-known internet and mail order photo stores. These pictures don't prove much about the trustworthiness of the stores, but it's interesting to compare the image projected by their advertising to the real store.
Click to expand...

It looks like this guy does his homework and has updated this page recently.

Abe's is a Brooklyn store.
Click to expand...

Ya know, I've always wondered why they call it "Abe's Of Maine" instead of "Abe's Of Brooklyn." :)
 
I've read a lot of bad things about Abes, but I bought a Lumix FZ20 from them a year or so ago, and my brother ordered a Lumix shortly after I did.. the cameras are great and I had absolutely no problem with my order.. so Abes is a legit company, as far as I'm concerned
 
JoeFriday said:
I've read a lot of bad things about Abes, but I bought a Lumix FZ20 from them a year or so ago, and my brother ordered a Lumix shortly after I did.. the cameras are great and I had absolutely no problem with my order.. so Abes is a legit company, as far as I'm concerned
Click to expand...

Glad it worked out for you. Maybe its a case of the fact that they do many many transactions and only the one's gone bad are the ones that do the reviews.
Though B&H's review is quite higher. Feel safe with B&H, but they are out of stock of what I need.
 
I bought from them years ago. A used Canon FD zoom. Things went alright. I only used them because the local camera store couldn't keep Canon zooms in stock. But since, I've heard many instances of difficulty.

Photo.net has feedback for camera stores that may be useful to you, it's an eye opener. And while it may not be entirely fair to judge a book by its cover alone, Don Wiss' photos coupled with feedback from community sites can give you a better notion of what you're dealing with than any ad.
 
I have bought from them,most all they sell is grey market stuff and also they try to sell you extras(extra battery,filters...).
Their prices in magazines seems low because its the grey market stuff they're listing.
And watch out for unreasonable shipping charges.
Kiu
 
Not only unreasonable shipping charges, but watch out for the restocking fee should you decide to return something.
 
Hi...
Living abroad, we are limited to merchants who accept international credit cards. Over the years, I've found KEH in Atlanta & BH in New York to be the most reliable.
Good luck in your purchases.
Mike
 
Ak! So I took the plunge with Abe's and placed an order for a Nikon 5000 scanner.At the time(6/21) the website said that it was in stock. Today I finally get thru after many tries and they say it is out of stock and wont be in for 4-12 days. Yeah, heard that before. I just cancelled the order. They had already charged my cc card $1000 even though it want even in stock! I wont be doing business with them again.
 
Abe's - Bait and Switch.

Abe's - Bait and Switch.

Bait and Switch.
I ordered the Tamron/Domke F-5XB Shoulder/Belt Bag from Abe's. It is still listed on their Web site here: http://www.abesofmaine.com/item.do?item=TMBAG

The bag that they sent me was a plastic piece of garbage and not the same as the item they still show on their page. I found the bag that I wanted at the same price at a different store (same price of $19.99) so I know the obvious difference in the product. I called to see if it was just an error, but they said that the bag they shipped is the bag that I ordered. I said that I would return it and asked for a return authorization number. They gave me one and we hung up. They called me back 5 minutes later and told me to keep the bag at no charge. They did credit me the $19.99 but not the shipping (2 day - $13) I have little doubt that everyone that orders this bag gets a plastic copy and many customers probably do not complain enough or not at all. I would never shop there again because they are not honest.
 
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I'm not sure what the store front photos are supposed to prove. These are mostly WEB businesses, afterall. Who cares what the so-called store-front looks like? The business is done out of the warehouse, which for all I care, could be a garage somewhere. As long as the store has a decent reputation that's all that matters. Even the photos of A-1 stores like B&H and J&R are misleading in that sense. They don't do their web business out of their storefront. They do it out of their warehouses.

/T
 
I suspect, if it is minor you might get away BUT they are known for charging the card and THEN saying they don't have it is stock etc.

Popular Photography has 8 ad rules and if the company does not comply...well Abe's agrees so Checkrated Service Department
Popular photography & Imaging
633 Broadway, NY,NY 10019 checkrated@hfmus.com

rat 'em guys, rat 'em out
 
Tuolumne said:
I'm not sure what the store front photos are supposed to prove. These are mostly WEB businesses, afterall. Who cares what the so-called store-front looks like? The business is done out of the warehouse, which for all I care, could be a garage somewhere. As long as the store has a decent reputation that's all that matters. Even the photos of A-1 stores like B&H and J&R are misleading in that sense. They don't do their web business out of their storefront. They do it out of their warehouses.

/T
Click to expand...

Most of them didn't start as "Web" businesses -- though it is hard to tell since they constantly change their names and addresses, but mail-order houses. One of the major old-time photo magazines was constantly under fire for letting these guys advertise in the magazine because they were constantly under investigation for bait-and-switch and fraud. A big point of Don's original adventure was to point out how, ummm, "mobile" these storefronts could be. Not to mention that several of them were owned by the same corporation and the names used were quite fluid. These crooks were infamous for suckering people who didn't know better into buying grey market goods without warranties and breaking up kits to sell the parts at a premium. Once they got your $$ it could be very tough to get it back if there was a problem. Especially if the store "disappeared" overnight.

No comparison with legit places like B&H and J&R -- not even close. They stand behind what they sell and do not engage in practices like kit splitting and un-marked grey market goods.

JT
 
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