Abe's of Maine

<p>I need to buy a spare Nikon D300S body and they are out of stock @ Adorama & B&H with no anticipated arrival estimate. Has anyone ever purchased camera equipment from Abe's of Maine? Are they reputable? or is there another vendor I might use? I'd prefer a camera dealer to eBay.There is a time constraint on purchasing this.........end of April.<br>

Thanks,<br>

Steve</p>

<p>A good place to check is resellerratings.com. You'll find Abe's at http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Abe_s_of_Maine . You'll see they don't rank as high as B&H or Adorama used to, but not awful ratings either.</p>

<p>Some places, and I am not hinting about Abe's, will report "in stock" when they really aren't. So make really sure before you actually order no matter who you go to.</p>

<p>I cancelled an order once at Abe's, because I'm in Jersey, and they're, uh, not in Maine, but in Jersey, so I'd have to pay sales tax. Abe's of New Jersey....<br>

EDIT: some not-so promising reviews...<br>

<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/abes-of-maine-edison">http://www.yelp.com/biz/abes-of-maine-edison</a></p>

<p>No big deal, but there used to be a bunch of New York area stores that used the tag "of Maine" even when they were in Brooklyn. One or two of them might actually have been in Maine in the 1930s or so.</p>

<p>Hunt's Photo and Video (800) 221-1830 as for Gary Farber...great service.</p>

100% satisfaction with www.keh.com

<p>You can find a lot about "Abe's" here - <a href="../neighbor/view-one-about?id=2&about=Abe%27s+of+Maine">http://www.photo.net/neighbor/view-one-about?id=2&about=Abe%27s+of+Maine</a></p>

<p>Before putting too much stock in positive reviews you find for them around the 'net read down through the postings and you'll see where Abe's actually paid people to leave positive reviews. That alone would make me shop elsewhere even if they had an otherwise clean history - which they don't.</p>

<p>Based on an experience a close friend had with 'Abe's' some time back, I wouldn't do business with them. They apparently tried a bait and switch, and when that didn't work and he canceled the order, it took a very long time and some legal threats to finally get a credit. Caveat emptor.</p>

<p>I agree that B&H is by far the best people to do business with, Adorama is ok, but no one is better than B&H. I ordered a lens years ago from Abe's of Maine and had a problem with it and even though they eventually did the right thing, it too a lot of work to get them to do it. </p>

<p>If it's not in stock at B&H or Adorama.....it's probably not in stock at Abe's. Careful if you order there and you really need the camera.</p>

 

Thanks everyone for the great info. I think

I'll pass on Abe's and look elsewhere. I agree

that B&H are the best but I've also been very

satisfied with Adorama.

<p>On a Leica, they held my order for two weeks. After inquiring as to why it wasn't shipped yet, they were basically just trying to upsell crap to me.</p>

<p>Steve talk Helen Oster at Adorama she drops in from time to time at least she might get a answer as how long you would have to wait</p>

<p>I live near Abe's and I go to their retail store. The retail store is very low key with no hard selling. I did order on their website once and they called me to ask if I needed a filter with the lens. I said no and they didn't try to push one on me. B&H and Adorama have never done that. B&H is still the best to deal with. Adorama is good also. I didn't like Abe's calling to sell me a filter, but since they didn't push it, I would would use them again. If anyone is in the area of their retail store in the Raritan Center in NJ, it's worth trying them out.</p>

<p>I always call before going to their store to be sure the item is in stock and they've never lied or tried bait and switch.</p>

<p>There was an "Honest Abe" well before the Internet age.<br>

I guess Internet caused the name change ? Or perhaps this is a different Abe ?</p>

 

Honest Abe lived in Illinois, but there are no honest politicians there anymore. They apparently have moved to Maine. Or

to New Jersey, mainly.

<p>Frank, you mean the 'Honest Abe' you used to see with a fine-print ad in Pop Photo, like 30 years ago? I think I may have even bought a flash unit from them in 1979 . . . </p>

<p>Guy used to have his picture printed within a silhouette of Mr Lincoln, which is sort of audacious. (Hey, maybe I can have my head photoshopped onto Michelangelo's 'David'. But I digress.)</p>

<p>IIRC, they were just Abe's Camera back then, and I think it's the same outfit as Abe's of Maine now, but of course the company may have changed ownership or management.</p>

<p>Photo.net denizens seem to have a short collective memory. Several years ago there were two or three threads deriding Abe's of Maine, and their business practices. They were considered a place to stay away from, but maybe they've changed. Famously they used to pay customers $5 a pop for good 'reviews' on photo.net!</p>

<p>I bought a Maxxum 600si from Abe's years ago and they shipped me a Dynax 600si--a gray market camera. I ended up keeping it but was not happy about the bait and switch. I have never had a problem with either B&H or Adorama so I limit myself to those two vendors now. </p>

<p>You might give Kenmore Camera a try. There are two (2) used bodies listed. Both listed as, EX-.<br /> I've had good luck with Kenmore in the recent past. They have a 60 day warranty.</p>

<p>http://www.kenmorecamera.com/c-1696-used-digital-cameras.aspx?pagenum=2</p>

<p>I made only one purchase at Abe's of Maine, but despite negative reviews I had no problem (bought a Tamron 24-135 and didn't like it, sent it back for a Canon 28-135 and had no trouble with the exchange).</p>

<p>I do most of my camera shopping at Cameta since they are local for me:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.cameta.com/index.cfm?fa=display.search&page=1&keywords=Nikon%20D300S">http://www.cameta.com/index.cfm?fa=display.search&page=1&keywords=Nikon%20D300S</a></p>

I've bought stuff from Abe's of New Jersey and never had a problem. I never bought a DSLR body from them, but

aren't they an authorized Nikon dealer? Are they really a problem dealer or are we seeing sample bias - where people

who have had a bad experience are far more likely to comment than people who have had a good or normal one, so

you get comment pages with the 10 bad reviews but nothing from the 990 people who didn't have any problems?

 

Btw,

Trying to sell you accessories when you buy a camera or lens: normal retailer practice.

Requiring you to buy accessories, making you pay extra for the battery, etc.: bad retailer practice.

 

It's my impression that Abe's is in the former category, which includes most of the brick-and-mortar shops I go to. E.g.,

at Calumet you buy a lens and they show me a UV filter you might want, at Best Buy you buy a blu ray player and

they try to sell you an incredibly overpriced HDMI cable. Okay, that's a bad example. But I have the feeling that if you

bought a camera kit from a shop with a great reputation, and they called and asked if you had certain items already or

would like them to recommend some, people would call that customer service.

<p>Abe's of Maine ,of Brooklyn fame, were notorious thieves. I would run from anyone using the name.</p>

 

<p>The old "Abe's of Maine" was bought by Cambridge Camera Supply quite a few years ago. I'm guessing that Cambridge did it to get the "Abe's" name because the "Cambridge" name had gotten such a poor reputation over shoddy practice. Since they are the same people they didn't waste any time running the "Abe's" name into the ground either. You will wish you had used B&H or Adorama.</p>

<p>I'd also offer a suggestion: Roberts, in Indianapolis. I bought my D300 there a few years back, when they were still so hot that B&H had trouble keeping them on the shelves. I shop the store whenever I'm back in my hometown. They're great folks, and you'll get competitive prices and excellent service.</p>

<p>http://robertscamera.com/</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Are they really a problem dealer or are we seeing sample bias - where people who have had a bad experience are far more likely to comment than people who have had a good or normal one, so you get comment pages with the 10 bad reviews but nothing from the 990 people who didn't have any problems?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Why then are there so many positive reviews for B&H, Adorama, etc. with a minimum of negatives? Also, when there is a negative on a 'reputable' dealer in many cases a representative of the company will respond. I've never seen any response from 'Abe'.</p>

<p>Take some time to actually go through the reviews on Abe's and you see that a significant portion of 'positive' reviews are made by people who joined P.N that same day and is their only contribution. This happened because 'Abe' was paying them for positive reviews. I would not be a bit surprised if I found they were directing them here because of the number of 'negatives' - why else would the 'happy customer' take the time to search out and join P.N. That's a bad sign if you, as a retailer, have to stoop to the point of paying stooges to beat your drum.</p>

<p>The situation got so bad for a while that I believe P.N administration did some work to cull, or at least curtail, the 'paid positives' from the system.</p>

<p>I've never heard of anyone, anywhere even suggesting that B&H, Adorama, Hunt's, etc. had to resort to those tactics. If you want to deal with a company that resorts to those strategies you're welcome to - myself, not.</p>