Quickflash wrote:
Hi and happy holidays to my friends here on UHH....
Dave
Hi Dave and happy holidays to you too!
Sorry you had to learn about Abe's of Maine the hard way.... If you had searched online and here on UHH and in other photo forums you would have found a lot of complaints about their "bait n switch" tactics and warnings to "stay clear".
I did a quick search just to see... What surprised me was that many of the business review websites showing them with a reasonably good reputation. Abes also has highly positive ratings on eBay and Amazon.
That's
NOT been the experience of most users I'm aware of... There have been WAY too many stories like yours. So much so that this makes me trust the "trustworthiness" websites and the ratings on eBay and Amazon a lot less... It does
NOT encourage me to trust Abes more.
Other websites like Canon Price Watch and most photography forums have clear warnings about Abes, urging buyers to avoid it.
The Better Business Bureau states that Westpark Electronics LLC, dba Abe's of Maine, is
NOT accredited by the BBB and gives them a "D" rating for high number of complaints and failure to resolve underlying causes of complaints.
The original Abe's was a family run business in Maine. They were an authorized Canon dealer and were aggressive in their pricing competing with the "big boys" at Adorama and B&H, and were reasonably reliable.
That business model must not have been very profitable because they deteriorated and finally went bankrupt some years ago, after which they were purchased by the current owners.
Abes is no longer a Canon authorized dealer. They are "gray market" sellers almost entirely, though they disguise it by referring to things as "imported". They are also bait n switch.... every sale is followed up by a phone call informing you that you need to buy a warranty or some of the normally-included items (which they must have removed from the original packaging). Buyers will often end up paying more than if they had bought a USA warranted item through a reputable seller. If a buyer continues their purchase through Abes, they still aren't out of the woods... Because it's always a real crap shoot what you'll actually receive and they make it as difficult as possible to return items and get a refund, as you've discovered.
No one named Abe has worked there in years and the store is no longer in Maine. They're in New Jersey. If the first thing that comes to mind when you hear New Jersey is "The Sopranos", feel free to apply the mob/shyster/sleazeball/cheat-your-grandmother-for-a-dollar business model image to Abes. Actually, Tony Soprano might have higher morals.
Adorama will do right by you. So will some other reputable stores.