Abes of Maine - update on original topic

[HTnewbie]

I thank all those who furthered my understanding of the intracies of electronics retailing, sourcing and pricing.

As for my original rant against Abes, the original (used & damaged) RX-V2500 was picked up on Friday. Abes told me this morning that a replacement was going out today and they would have a UPS tracking number available for me after 7 this evening. Since I drove into the NYC today, I offered to save them the shipping cost by coming to Brooklyn to pick it up personally. That seemed to flumox the guy and he said that would not be possible because it was already in processing. That surprised me given I thought they would like to save the $25-30 shipping cost to hold up margins. Stay tuned.

 

[sjdgpt]

I thank all those who furthered my understanding of the intracies of electronics retailing, sourcing and pricing.

As for my original rant against Abes, the original (used & damaged) RX-V2500 was picked up on Friday. Abes told me this morning that a replacement was going out today and they would have a UPS tracking number available for me after 7 this evening. Since I drove into the NYC today, I offered to save them the shipping cost by coming to Brooklyn to pick it up personally. That seemed to flumox the guy and he said that would not be possible because it was already in processing. That surprised me given I thought they would like to save the $25-30 shipping cost to hold up margins. Stay tuned.

I have never been to their store or have done business with the firm, so I can't properly speak about their business setup, however, I suspect that UPS goods are filled out of the back of the warehouse, whereas, over the counter sales are handled through the front of the store.

This is common practice for many vendors in many industries.

The important thing to remember is that the back warehouse does not have to be physically connected to the front store, and each vendor, especially large vendors, may have several warehouses.

Thus, it would be disruptive if you were to visit the front store trying to process a back warehouse operation.



PS: this is assuming they are filling the order from their warehouse, not being drop shipped from another vendor.

 

[HTnewbie]

Yes, if I were in a more confident mood, I would have acknowledged that as a possibility.

They open at 10:00 this morning and I will be calling for my UPS tracking number at that point.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Good luck - I wanted to point out that I have ordered from Abe's Of Maine before - about 6 months ago I bought my wife's digital camera from them. It showed up in a few days with no problem, brand new in the box exactly as it should be.

Not sure why you ended up as an unlucky one, but I would expect that some warehouse flunkie didn't do his job correctly and it bit you on the butt this time. Hopefully, someone decent will be overlooking the fix for you.

 

[HTnewbie]

Closer to resolution

They provided a tracking number and it is indeed out for delivery right now. I won't get a chance to see it until tonight but my wife may oblige me and open it on delivery. I must say that the Abes folks have been nothing but cordial and responsive since this arose. As I said previously, a factory new unit tonight will have me retracting my original rant and then some.

 

[PhillyDan1969]

Abes...

While I am glad to see things are on the right track to a successful transaction, I will have to say that I would personally never do business with them.

I have never personally purchased Home Theatre Electronics online, I am however a seasoned online shopper. I have built several home PCs over the last couple of years and I have always purchased all the components online off Newegg.com. I have never ever experienced any problems with this highly reputable company. After reading all the negative feedback scores I have seen about Abes while I was shopping for my Denon AVR3805 I pretty much came to the conclussion that "if the deal looks too good to be true, it probably is".

Bottom line is that the internet provides the consumer plenty of information to avoid companies such as the one you are dealing with. In no way am I insulting to you, but I suggest everyone do their research before buying from a place such as Abes to save yourself from potential headaches. While things can happen to just about any company working through online sales and shipping vs. the brick and mortar retail stores, it is best to keep in mind that 1 out 5 or even 1 out of 10 customer complaints is a fairly obvious pattern of incompetence.

By the way, I recently bought from interconnects and speaker wire from impact Acoustics. I order them on February 28th (a monday) and I recieved them on thursday, despite the fact that Impact Acoustics didn't email me the tracking number and that UPS actually delivered my package to the wrong house about 2-3 blocks away. The phone service I recieved from Impact Acoustics, however, was absolutely outstanding and I love my new cables.

 

[HTnewbie]

PD:

No offense taken as I should have spent ten minutes with Google rather than use memories of Abes from the 1980's for comfort.

Update:

Well, I thought it good news that the replacement was delivered this morning. Unfortunately, my wife opened the new box and says the inner Yamaha box had been previously opened (staples not intact and retaped). I did not have her go any further and it will have to wait until I get a chance to look at it.

Two things are possible. The optimist in me says that Abes got this as "excess stock" from authorized Yammie distributor and had to open the box to get the serial number because the distributor cuts off the manufacturer's label before sending to Abes (yes, I confirmed that Abes handles the box and that it is not dropp shipped from the distributor). The pessimist in me has me feeling ripped off again. The two will battle it out until I get home.

I called Abes with the news and the manager continued to be as helpful as I would expect. I could sense his frustration as he said he noted in the file that his had to be a "factory sealed and fresh" box. While I appreciated that notation, I would have expected all of their packages to be shipped that way.
He offered to have UPS pick it up again and refund me 100% of my money without penalty nor restocking fee. I told him to hold off until I see it tonight (the optimist at work).

 

[JeffreyDJ]

It's really unfortunate you're having these issues. I was lucky enough to not have any problems whatsoever. (The compnay I ordered from the box was intact with serial number still on the side, etc.) Hopefully it works out for you.

 

[mkossler]

Well, good luck with Abes. I purchased some speakers through them in the past year, and did receive them previouly opened but undamaged - after resorting to threatening them with action from the Connecticut State's Attorney General.

I have subsequently been presented with anecdotal evidence that they were one of several online businesses discussed on a news show - that they are actually a New York / New Jersey -based store that basically consists of an address, a big storage area, and a handful of employees. While I want to make it clear that I have no basis to provide proof of this, and really it doesn't by itself make a case for not doing business with Abe's of Maine, I for one would never again take the chance.

My .02, FWIW.

Cheers-

 

[HTnewbie]

Redemption of Abes

Well, I have finally put the soap box away. I arrived home this evening and examined the package from Abes. Contrary to my wife's initial thoughts, this was indeed a factory-sealed box complete with intact staples.

All the plastic bags appeared to be unopened, the USA warranty card was there (useless as it may be in this case), and all the accessories were intact.

The foam wrap around the receiver was untouched and the unit itself was immaculate (no scratches, dust nor dog hair).

I attached the power cord and the display lit up was expected and I was able to scroll through inputs with the display reacting. A more thorough test will have to wait but for now it is not DOA at power up.

So, my hat is off to Louis at Abes who handled this for me. He was calm, cool and professional and handle me with a level of courtesy I was not anticipating. So, I retract my original rant. While my experience and those of others I was able to find via Google was not anxiety free, Abes made good and that's all I could hope for at this point. If you sense that this is not an unqualified comment that I would use them again, you are not far off. Next time I will delve a little deeper and ask fine folks like you for opinions.

Thanks to all those who wished me luck and offered words of encouragement. Also to those who elevated my understanding of how the unofficial dealer markets work.

Later.

 

[WooHoo]

Congrats HTNewbie! Glad it all worked out in the end. With persistance it usually does. Now sit back and enjoy your 2500. One heck of a fine piece of audio/video bliss!