Abes of Maine run away as fast as.....

[Lara RR]

Originally Posted by usapatriot

I placed a negative review on this site but it was removed. Read why below.

Reseller Ratings only allows reviews from "purchasing" customers. That means that if Abes doesn't ship your order, or if you cancel your order because of all the BS that Abes puts you through, YOU CANNOT SUBMIT A RATING. I suspect that Abe's ratings are higher than they should be due to this fact. Abes specifically looked into my negative rating, discovered that my order was not shipped, and consequently used this loophole to have my negative rating removed by requesting such from the site. I think this is a serious shortcoming of the ResellerRatings system and I hope they will consider revising this policy.

We don't allow reviews to be submitted by non-customers because that would allow anyone with any level of experience with a merchant (even if they just "heard" something bad about a merchant and wanted to post it, never having bought anything from the merchant) to write a review. That doesn't help anyone.

By defining "customer" as a person that completes a purchase transaction with a merchant, we can be certain that all reviews reflect real experiences with merchants.

We give non-customers (and customers alike) a place to share their opinions of and experiences with merchants in this forum.

[usapatriot]

Thanks for the reply Lara.

I understand the difficulty of allowing non-customers to leave a rating. It would not be desirable for just anyone to leave a rating.

What about allowing those that have placed an order, whether it was fulfilled or not, to leave a rating? I have an order number for the order that I placed (but was not shipped) by Abes. Requiring that raters submit an order number would seem to solve the problem. This would allow people to submit a rating if the retailer jerks them around and cancels their order - the problem with Abes. I believe there are a number of other retailers that do the same thing.

[Lara RR]

Whether to allow unfulfilled orders to be submitted as customer reviews has been discussed by staff before, and we always come back to deciding against it.

The overriding factor continues to be that fraudulent review submissions would skyrocket. Merchants wouldn't have to process transactions - just take orders, assign numbers, then cancel them without credit card processing, shipping, etc. - thereby giving them great latitude and incentive to have their staff and others submit bogus reviews from various machines and locations. We'd have no way of knowing or confirming whether any review was legit.

Your reasoning is valid because you do have an experience with the store - we understand that - it's why we provide you with this forum. It's just not feasible for us to deliver the most accurate reviews and ratings unless the customer is really a customer - i.e., one who has paid for services or goods. Only then can we can get a copy of the invoice - or statement of charges - to confirm it's a legitimate review if needed.

[usapatriot]

Your explanation makes good sense, Laura. Unfortunately it seems that a loophole is opened up if you allow submissions from those with an order number only, and a different loophole is opened up if you disallow submissions from those with an order number only. It's too bad - the forum is useful, but not succinct like a rating out of 10. In fact, I've used resellerratings numerous times to check up on stores before I ordered and yet didn't know a forum existed until I was pointed towards it by you in an email. The rating out of 10 only tells part of the story of a retailer, even though it gives the vast majority of consumers the impression that it tells the whole story.

Anyway, I won't clutter up this thread on "Abe's of Maine" any more. In a nutshell: Abes' rating is positively inflated by the fact that they review negative ratings and have them deleted if Abes has not fulfilled the order.

[Lara RR]

Your claim that Abe's ratings are "positively inflated" is simply not true. Their reviews and ratings are submitted by actual customers and are what they are, for better or for worse.

Merchants do their best to have valid negative reviews removed but we do not remove reviews that meet compliance with the 16 policies listed on our terms of use page - #10 being the case in point here. (http://www.resellerratings.com/terms.pl).

This policy is nothing new, by the way; it has been our policy since the origin of this site in 1995.

[celebrityj03]

Well their overall rating is at a 6 so the reviews cant be too badly inflated, but I know for a fact they have people posting fake reviews,I can say this because whoever it is keeps spelling definitely wrong, kinda odd that every satisfied customer keep spelling the same word wrong...and the dates are all out of whack, take a look, theres a post from 3/17 put above a post made in April, and I know why, its because in another site I personally said that the salesman Jason was a sheister and was demeaning to me and cursed at me, which he did, now if you go to this site and bizrate all of a sudden theres reviews that single this salesman out saying hes a good guy, coincidence? I don't discredit this site and I do come here to get reviews all I'm saying is Abes of maines may be taking this site, much like their customers, for a ride, take a look at the dates it just doesn't add up. Watch them closely their a slick bunch.

[SteveEisenberg]

On April 6, I ordered from abesofmaine.com a Frigidaire washing machine recommended by Consumer Reports. Abe's price was quite close to the lowest I could find, and, on top of that, they offered a free extended service contract. It seemed a safe choice because Abe's had a fairly high (now 8.77) six-month reseller rating.

According to the web site, the machine was, and is today, "Available" and should have been delivered in 7-10 business days. Some waiting was fine, because our old machine still works. But at this point, 30 full business days have elapsed since my order, and I have no Frigidaire.

About once a week, I call Abe's, and am politely told that it will be a few days more. Once I was told that a truck with 167 units is on its way to Abe's. The next time it was 164 units. Once it was explained to me that they keep on telling me that it will be a few days because they do not know when it will come in.

According to abesofmaine.com, "Abe's of Maine is an authorized FRIGIDAIRE Dealer." But dealer search at Frigidaire.com fails to find them. Perhaps Frigidaire does not list internet dealers in this search, except that Abe's has a storefront/warehouse in Edison New Jersey. It could be a Frigidaire web site bug or confusion, but this does raise an alarm.

Yesterday went to our local Lowe's, and the model is in stock.

Those are the facts. I'm not going to throw around any wild charges, since I don't know what is really behind this delay. And I doubt I will have any problem if we cancel the order. But, at a minimum, Abe's needs to improve the accuracy of the estimated delivery information on their web site.

P.S. Abe's, if you are reading, I'm easy to deal with. But my lovely wife is tempted to take a drive up the turnpike, see if you are a real Frigidaire dealer, and give you a piece of her mind. I advise you to reconsider your tactics

[celebrityj03]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

On April 6, I ordered from abesofmaine.coma Frigidaire washing machine recommended by Consumer Reports. Abe's price was quite close to the lowest I could find, and, on top of that, they offered a free extended service contract. It seemed a safe choice because Abe's had a fairly high (now 8.77) six-month reseller rating.

According to the web site, the machine was, and is today, "Available" and should have been delivered in 7-10 business days. Some waiting was fine, because our old machine still works. But at this point, 30 full business days have elapsed since my order, and I have no Frigidaire.

About once a week, I call Abe's, and am politely told that it will be a few days more. Once I was told that a truck with 167 units is on its way to Abe's. The next time it was 164 units. Once it was explained to me that they keep on telling me that it will be a few days because they do not know when it will come in.

According to abesofmaine.com, "Abe's of Maine is an authorized FRIGIDAIRE Dealer." But dealer search at Frigidaire.com fails to find them. Perhaps Frigidaire does not list internet dealers in this search, except that Abe's has a storefront/warehouse in Edison New Jersey. It could be a Frigidaire web site bug or confusion, but this does raise an alarm.

Yesterday went to our local Lowe's, and the model is in stock.

Those are the facts. I'm not going to throw around any wild charges, since I don't know what is really behind this delay. And I doubt I will have any problem if we cancel the order. But, at a minimum, Abe's needs to improve the accuracy of the estimated delivery information on their web site.

P.S. Abe's, if you are reading, I'm easy to deal with. But my lovely wife is tempted to take a drive up the turnpike, see if you are a real Frigidaire dealer, and give you a piece of her mind. I advise you to reconsider your tactics

if you want to get your problem solved I suggest you post your story on review websites, they dont like people to be out spreading the word that abes is shady... the best working one seems to be Abe’s of Maine High Pressure Post-Sale Tactics - One Mans Blogthis one

you can also try to contact Sarahm@abesofmaine.com and see where that gets you post your story and say you want your fridge post it on all the sites they say they are in good standing with bizrate Abe's Of Maine Reviews and Store Ratings at BizRate
and here at resellerrating
Abe's Of Maine Reviews and Store Ratings at BizRate
anywhere you can if you get your story out there and show them your not to be messed with they are more likely to help you out rather than if you just give up.And I wouldn't trust that they are authorized dealers, and if they are I'd be calling Frigidaire to report them, a whole month to receive your merchandise and you acting so politely? You've got a lot more patience than me I can tell you that.

[subucv]

Hi,
Just wanted to share something with you guys.
I ordered HC9 Camcorder from abe of maine. came for 752 (other places sell for around $900-1000). He definitely tried to do the pressure tactics to sell for batteries saying it will last for only 30 mins and stuff. But I said no, and give me just the product (HC9) that I asked for. and he placed the order and hung up.
I would like to thank you website coz of which I was armed with information
and I called them back and I got a good Customer Service Rep and I told him I dont want any trouble or hassle with returning back or having to cancel the payment from Amex if I feel you guys are cheating. He said everything is going to be fine.
The Camcorder arrived in 2 days and its in good shape. havent used it yet. But everything he promised, I got it (including the free camcorder bag). I am not a sales guy or neither I work for them. I am just sharing my info, coz I owe it to this forum to give me loads of information abt this store.

[Peter Cornstalk]

I would like to follow up that the BBB has rated them UNSATISFACTORY now.

Abes of Main BBB report