ABC Distributing used to be a pretty good place to order from. However, my most recent experience has been a nightmare and I will no longer do business with them....no matter how beautiful and tempting the catalogs may appear!!  
My order placed in December (5 items) was divided in to seperate orders, shipped at different times with different invoice numbers, rather than shipping together. When I complained they did remove one of the shipping charges (gave a "one time" 7 dollar credit). The final package took a month to reach me and all calls to the company were fruitless....I got 3 different stories from 3 different people and ultimately was told that the fault was the USPS mail service from FL to WA state....which is just crazy as I recieve packages from all over the U.S. on a regular basis and I have NEVER had USPS take a month to deliver! The ABC "customer service" reps kept saying the problem was with my mail carrier. My USPS rep says this is a cop out and false. The USPS does not take a month to deliver a package after shipping.  
 
Additionally, the website offers no way to email the company with a problem....a simple "contact us" button or some email addresses and customer service reps to address problems may be helpful.  
 
In this day and age of internet commerce I have found this company the least enjoyable to deal with and marginal on their ethics. I suspect the items that we order are actually drop shipped and not in a warehouse in Miami FL at all!! If they would come clean and say that up front prior to receiving orders, it might be different, but I don't have the time to play their shipping charge and waiting games.

I see a lot of people dissatisfied with ABC. I think that their shipping prices are to high. You order everything together and they ship it seperately charging shipping on each item. There is another website similar to ABC. It is www.lakeside.com. The shipping is calculated by each item and not each shipment. I haven't ordered from them yet, buy I have heard some good things about them.

I ordered an item for a Christmas 2003 present. On 10-13-03 I received an order acknowledgement for the item I ordered. I received the item on 11-04-03, along with an item I NEVER ordered and that was NOT on the order acknowledgement that ABC Distributing sent to ME. I tried repeatedly by long distance to contact someone to find out how to get them to pick up this item that I didn't order. I have since made numerous long distance phone calls, complaint letters, faxes and also a 37 page official complaint with the BBB to no avail. I finally paid for the item they sent that I didn't order, so they would stop harassing me, but I still want my money back and for them to pick up this item that they made the error on. I have bought things from this company for a long time, but if they don't do something with their poor customer service and correct this problem at their expense, I will never buy from them again, and I will let everyone I know that they do not honor their guaranty. You know, the 100% customer satisfaction they state on their website. UPDATE-- as of March 25, 2004 I still haven't had the courtesy of a response back from ABC Distributing, but I do have a letter from the BBB serving Southeast Florida, stating that ABC Distributing hasn't responded to my complaint. Guess they need to take the Christian symbol off their packages....sure doesn't sound like a Christian thing to do...cheat your customers and avoid them at all costs ! CHECKED OUT WWW.LAKESIDE.COM VERY NICE....ABOUT THE SAME TYPE ITEMS...VERY NICE....SO FAR AM A LOT MORE IMPRESSED WITH LAKESIDE THAN ABC DISTRIBUTING.  
 
LAKESIDE.COM IS A SISTER COMPANY TO ABC DISTRIBUTING....PERSONALLY, IF ABC DISTRIBUTING TREATS THEIR CUSTOMERS SO HORRIBLY I WOULD NEVER BUY FROM A SISTER COMPANY !  
 
***** 9/26/2005---after waiting for 22 months for this problem to be corrected...and it COSTING ME QUITE A BIT FOR CERTIFIED MAILINGS, ETC...I received a PARTIAL refun...and an acknowledgement that THEY did make a mistake...but no apology for their horrible treatment and lack of customer service !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
 
2nd UPDATE !!!  
 
received a letter from the BBB with a copy of what ABC had sent them...they basically won't admit fault and act like they're doing me a favor by giving me a "partial" refund after 22 months...this is a pathetic company !!!!!!!!!!!1111

This review was modified by its author, cevans1004, on 9/27/05 12:31 PM.

This company is terrible!!! I ordered an item for Chritsmas..They assured me it would be delivered in time..I even placed a follow up call ..Then wheni got nervous and called again to verify..They Said OOPS..sorry it woun't be in in time for Christmas.Thats all..nothing else just SORRY..tell that to my 4 yr old..INCOMPETENCE and NO responsibilty for their company!!!

I have had nothing but PROBLEMS with this Company. I have made past purchases from my Business Office due to Staff passing around their Catalogue. The Presentation of Products is Outstanding. They ask that you purchase a minimum of 3 of each to save on Shipping. Here begins the total JOKE. They send reply E-mails that Products are AVAILABLE. Then they proceed to partly ship the orders and Charge a Fortune for Shipping. On the last Order I went over their $100 limit, mistakingly not haven taken in the cost of Shipping as part of the Total. They had advised me that all but 1 of the products ordered were in stock. Since then I have paid almost DOUBLE for the Products due to their Idea of Shipping partial Orders. Trying to contact them by Phone is more UNPLEASANT than Open Heart Surgery. Then you get some Ill mannered person who has no idea how to deal with Paying Coustomers. I want to let other Potential Buyers to stay as far away as possible from this Company. If I recieve Future Catalogues from them I will put them to good use in the Bathroom. Because their Coustomer Policy is a Total Load Of B.S.

Very dissatisfied. No customer service. Phone number (305-944-6971) goes to static every time I call. No response when faxed. No way to email them. Packages never received. Items shipped individually with very high shipping rates for US Postal Service shipping that takes at least three weeks to arrive.

great place for online shopping had no ploblem at all people were always considerate

I am looking for another company to shop from. ABC does not take credit card or online payments which is convenient these days. Also, it's impossible to find a way to email them. The only way to contact them is to call long distance and be left on hold for 20 minutes before you reach a person. These people sound like they don't have a clue about what they are doing and certainly don't take suggestions for improvements to the company. I want a company that I can shop from online and also make my payment online. Simple. I also want to be able to email the company or at least call a 1-800 number to reach someone if I have a problem. Simple.

Gave this company a 2nd chance hoping it would be different.  
Placed my order all at once. This was early March. NONE of my things were shipped until late March. Still have yet to recieve 11 of 12 items. They shipped USPS ground which is taking up to 4 weeks to reach me. They are now calling and requesting payment on everything they show shipped to me. Now these items have not been recieved because ground service is taking 4 full weeks to reach me.  
I have explained over and over again that FTC Fair Debt collection requires that I recieve good before they can declare the entire balance past due. This company claims it is their policy not the Federal Goverments that they are following. I have reseached this and they can not call you except for the amount the is past due they can not demand payment for items you never recieved. I am forwarding complaints to BBB of Florida and the Attorney General of Florida. This company is way out of hand

This review was modified by its author, debbiedrury, on 8/25/04 11:01 PM.

Usually, I have no problem with this company whatsoever. The processing and shipping is a little slow. The tracking program is useless. No information given to contact anyone at ABC to find out why part of my order was cancelled.

I love this company! I experienced nothing but excellent service even when things were cancelled, back-ordered, returned, duplicate delivered, etc. When I did have to correspond, I found that email was definitely NOT the way to go. Hard copies in the mail (check copies, explanations, etc.) to the attention of "A.R. Manager" are expedited for processing. Credit memos are prompt and applied correctly. This is my favorite vendor and throughout my search to expand my vendor base, I keep coming back to ABC.

This company frequently requests that you pay for your order ahead of time so they'll be able to ship it promptly, especially if you are close to your order limit. Well, I have sent in a payment of $200.00 and they have failed to give me credit for the full $200.00. I had to call and argue LONG DISTANCE and still I have to fax (LONG DISTANCE) the a copy of the front and back of the check they cashed just days after. They rip you off with shipping and handling charges and now I find out that this is the way they do business. I'm wondering how many times they get away with this uncaught. I'm also wondering why they break the shipments up into so many different shipments. I ordered a book along with many other items but did they send it with the other stuff?? NO, it came all by itself. More shipping money in their pockets, most definitely.

I have had nothing but trouble with this company getting them to correct my account for errors that they have made, charges for items that were cancelled and never received. I placed two orders in Dec.2002 received the 1st shipment in full paid in full and sent a check in advance to cover the next shipment which I was told was placed on hold due to the order size and value. This apparently was my mistake to pay in good faith in full for these items. My order could not have been placed in a hold status if so I should have immediately received in full my shipment upon receipt of my check for $208.50. I did not. I did not receive one of the items at all and I have yet to receive that credit. I finally cancelled two items that I had to replace with something else. ABC shipped one of these items anyhow and I refused shipment, credit has not been given. I continue to try and resolve this issue with the company and they will not call me at the number I have provided, ignored my written communications and continually send bills that are put in a past due status. My account should be paid in full, no balance. I have taken all of my shipping papers and added the shipping charges which were not included in the $208.50 check that I sent to pay for each item ordered. I deducted the cost of the one item that I had not received and sent them a check marked paid in full, which they cashed to cover the shipping and handling charges which I owed. They still cannot get it right.  
 
I just received another statement 3/10/03 still showing a balance of $24.84 for an item which I cancelled in early Jan. due to the fact that they could not supply this in my needed time frame. I have not received this and they still are charging me. I will not pay them another dime nor will I ever order from this company again. The customer service is outragous.  
If you can get this cleared up I would appreicate it. Thank you for your attention.  
Susan FitzGerald

Slow shipping. Customer Service could improve. Takes several phone calls to get things straightened out.

IN THE PAST ITEMS WERE SENT ON TIME AND ALL ORDERS FILLED. THIS LAST ORDER DID NOT ARRIVE AND WHEN ADVISED I RECEIVED A LETTER ADVISING THAT IT HAD AND WAS SIGNED FOR BY A D. PENN. I CHECKED WITHT HE FEDEX DRIVER WHO IS D. PENN AND HE ADVISED THAT HE LEFT THE ITEM OUTSIDE MY RESIDENCE. WHEN I ADVISED ABC OF THIS THEY CONTINUED TO SEND BILLS AND REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE FACT THAT I DID NOT RECEIVE THE ITEM. I HAVE CONTACTED MY ATTORNEY REGARDING THIS MATTE AND WILL NOT DO ANY FURTHER BUSINESS WITH A COMPANY WHO REFUSES TO LISTEN TO ITS CUSTOMERS WHEN THEY HAVE A PROBLEM. I HAVE DONE BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY FOR OVER SEVEN YEARS BUT WILL NO LONGER.