paquette@.ucalgary.ca (Trevor Paquette) (09/28/88)
I would like to hear from anyone that has dealt with Abel Supply in Tennesse. I would specifically like to know if you have had any hassels with them and if so have they corrected any problems that you had. I ask this because I am having ALOT of trouble getting certain things straightened out with them. aTdHvAaNnKcSe, Trev ============================================================================= Trevor Paquette - GraphicsLand, U of Calgary[Home of The Great Train Rubbery] Email:paquette@cpsc.UCalgary.CA ICBM:51 03 N/114 05 W Luminous beings we are, not this crude matter. *** Don't worry, be happy
paquette@.ucalgary.ca (Trevor Paquette) (09/29/88)
I just realized that I put my OLD Email path in my message. I am including the original message with this posting and my NEW mail path as well. This should clear up some of the trouble that some of you may be having in reaching me. Sorry for the inconvience. > I would like to hear from anyone that has dealt with Abel Supply > in Tennesse. I would specifically like to know if you have had > any hassels with them and if so have they corrected any > problems that you had. > I ask this because I am having ALOT of trouble getting certain > things straightened out with them. > > aTdHvAaNnKcSe, > Trev > >============================================================================= >Trevor Paquette - GraphicsLand, U of Calgary[Home of The Great Train Rubbery] >Email:paquette@cpsc.UCalgary.CA ICBM:51 03 N/114 05 W > Luminous beings we are, not this crude matter. *** Don't worry, be happy Note the NEW UUCP path below. Use the NEW one instead. Thanx. ============================================================================= Trevor Paquette - GraphicsLand, U of Calgary[Home of The Great Train Rubbery] UUCP: ...!{ubc-cs,utai,alberta}!calgary!paquette ICBM:51 03 N/114 05 W Luminous beings we are, not this crude matter. *** Don't worry, be happy
Doug_B_Erdely@cup.portal.com (09/30/88)
I have dealt with Abel so many times I can't remember, I have only had 1 proble m with all the order I have placed. They accidently shipped Telewars instead of Telegames. I called and told them what happend, they shipped the correct title out right away without waiting for the title I had... they told me to send it in when I got a chance!!! That is the only problem that I have ever had! And NOBODY beats (let alone matches) their prices. - Doug - Doug_B_Erdely@Portal.Cup.Com
Ernie@egami.wimsey.bc.ca (Ernie Gorrie) (10/01/88)
I, too, have been having problems recently with Abel. I ordered some software from them about a year ago and had no problems at all. This time has been a real pain in the patoot. I ordered DPaint II, FACC II, Deluxe Art Parts 1 and 2, FS II, and an AmiGen all in one order, at the beginning of September and specified UPS 2nd day air delivery. I have not received delivery of any of them yet. From what I can figure out, here are some of their problems: 1. They must have few items in stock. They claim that they have shipped the FS II (Sept 14) and the AmiGen (Sept 19). They will ship the other items, "when they are in stock". I don't think any of the listed items should be a special order, do you? 2. They don't have the ability to send orders as a single shipment. In my original order, I asked that they ship everything together. I received E-Mail from the Abel Sysop who advised me that that really was not feasible. He said that they had no way of setting items apart for shipment together. They just check availability of items each day and ship what they have available. If I wanted it to come in a single order, it would wait until one day when they happened to have EVERY item available on the SAME day. (My sense is that hell might freeze over first.) 3. They have very poor customer support these days. I have spent over $30.00 so far in long distance charges trying to find out what is going on with my order. I have left E-Mail enquiries and have not received replies. I have called voice. They have taken my daytime number, presumably to call me back with info. I have not heard back from them. I have even been unable to get the UPS shipping numbers for the items that have been shipped. I can't have UPS trace those items without the shipping numbers and Abel hasn't come through with supplying them to me. The implication of all of this is that what started out to be the cheapest way to order my software is quickly becoming much more expensive. Not only do I not have the items, I have big phone bills and I will have multiple UPS shipping charges. Now here's the kicker....I just ordered a 60 Meg SCSI hard drive system from them! I can't believe myself sometimes. (I can hear you all snickering right now about somebody being born every minute.) -- Ernie Gorrie 9431 McBurney Drive, Richmond, B.C. CANADA, V6Y 3C5 or; ernie@egami.wimsey.bc.ca {ubc-cs,uunet}!van-bc!egami!ernie
whitcomb@unicorn.Berkeley.EDU (Gregg Whitcomb) (10/01/88)
In article <9578@cup.portal.com>, Doug_B_Erdely@cup.portal.com writes: > > I have dealt with Abel so many times I can't remember, I have only had 1 proble > m with all the order I have placed. They accidently shipped Telewars instead of > Telegames. I called and told them what happend, they shipped the correct title > out right away without waiting for the title I had... they told me to send it > in when I got a chance!!! That is the only problem that I have ever had! > And NOBODY beats (let alone matches) their prices. > > - Doug - > > Doug_B_Erdely@Portal.Cup.Com I had just the opposite experience. I've dealt with them once (and it will probably be the last time). I ordered about 5 items simultaneously (digiview, stand, camera, etc). They didn't have any of the items in stock at the time, and thus the 2-day UPS was almost worthless. Not only that, as soon as a product arrives at their site, they send it off. This of course means that I paid 2-3 times the shipping costs because my 5 item order arrived in 4 packages. Of course, getting a camera by itself is worthless. Not only that, their product list shows an item labelled "ABCD Parallel data switch" which I interpretted to mean "compatible with the Amiga parellel DB25 port"... it wasn't. It was instead, a switchbox for Centronics cables---AACK! I sent it back immediately (about 1 1/2 MONTHS ago) and have not received the correct item yet (on backorder, of course). If you still think that the slightly better prices they offer are worth the risk, I suggest that you confirm that the products are in stock before ordering and double check that what they have in mind are what you want... of course, the ordering people won't know a DB25 connector from a Centronics so good luck. -Gregg Whitcomb BTW, I warned them when I returned the data switch that I'd be sending this message out... it didn't seem to help me get the replacement any faster.
nsw@cord.UUCP (Neil Weinstock) (10/02/88)
In article<6083@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> whitcomb@unicorn.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP writes: >I had just the opposite experience. I've dealt with them once (and >it will probably be the last time). I ordered about 5 items simultaneously >(digiview, stand, camera, etc). They didn't have any of the items >in stock at the time, and thus the 2-day UPS was almost worthless. Not > [ . . . ] > >If you still think that the slightly better prices they offer are worth >the risk, I suggest that you confirm that the products are in stock ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >before ordering and double check that what they have in mind are what ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >you want... of course, the ordering people won't know a DB25 connector ^^^^^^^^^^^ >from a Centronics so good luck. > >-Gregg Whitcomb YES YES YES YES YES (etc.) You should always do this, and not just with Abel. If you expect to get what you order in a hurry, you had *better* ask the person on the phone to go and check that the item(s) in question is in stock. Then, tell him to check again. Then, tell his manager to check. Then, tell his mother. Only if they all come back with "Yes, item x is in stock, we have it now, if you order it now we can send it out tomorrow" should you expect to get it within the next year. This is a basic fact of mail-ordering that I have learned from hard experience, and again, is not specific to Abel. As for the second point, I would personally consider it unwise to ever order something on the basis of its name in the catalog (which, in Abel's case, doesn't include an elaborate description or anything.) It is incumbent on you, the consumer, to research the products before you order. If not, you're asking for trouble. I should also mention here that this particular problem is not even specific to mail-order places; I know of many instances where people bought items from stores, assured by the salesmen that they would work with their setups, only to find that the salesmen were, shall we say, "misinformed" (to put it extremely charitably). Certainly, Abel deserves blame for giving poor customer service in this instance. However, I must say that I am not aware of a single cheap mail-order place which has not had its share of screw-ups. I for one have been happy with Abel. Golly, they are *cheap*. I've saved enough money from buying from them to pay for an awful lot of long-distance. .- -- .. --. .- .-. ..- .-.. . ... .- -- .. --. .- .-. ..- .-.. . ... | Neil Weinstock | att!cord!nsw | "I think my cerebellum just | | AT&T Bell Labs | nsw@cord.att.com | fused." - Calvin | .- -- .. --. .- .-. ..- .-.. . ... .- -- .. --. .- .-. ..- .-.. . ...
blgardne@esunix.UUCP (Blaine Gardner) (10/03/88)
From article <14@cs-spool.calgary.UUCP>, by paquette@.ucalgary.ca (Trevor Paquette): > I would like to hear from anyone that has dealt with Abel Supply > in Tennesse. I would specifically like to know if you have had > any hassels with them and if so have they corrected any > problems that you had. Abel Supply has been plenty able in my book. Many moons ago I ordered Facc, Firepower, and Alien Fires from them. One was in stock, the others expected in 2-5 days. They arrived as promised over a week's time. Recently I bought Microfiche Filer and a flickerFixer from them (two seperate orders about 2 weeks apart). The software was in stock, and in my hands within a week. The flickerFixer wasn't in stock. They told me it would be 2-3 days to order it in. I told them to go ahead, and it was in my hands within 10 days. > I ask this because I am having ALOT of trouble getting certain > things straightened out with them. Sorry to hear that, but they've done right by me. -- Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland 580 Arapeen Drive, SLC, Utah 84108 UUCP Addresses: {ucbvax,allegra,decvax}!decwrl!esunix!blgardne utah-cs!esunix!blgardne usna!esunix!blgardne "Nobody will ever need more than 64K." "Nobody needs multitasking on a PC."
Doug_B_Erdely@cup.portal.com (10/03/88)
Gregg, All That I can say is that I have ordered hundreds of times from Abel with only the ONE small problem that I mentiond before! Infact, I ordered my ENTIRE Digi-view system from them... it came in ONE LARGE box. And I always ask if it is in stock, ALWAYS! And I ALWAYS get the truth out of Abel! Something that Computer Mail Order loves to lie about!! As for a "Small Price Difference", Hardly! I have NOT seen anyone come close to their prices, not even close! Sorry to hear that you are having troubles, however, this has NOT been my, nor my friends enconter with Abel. I am in NO WAY connected with Abel Supply other than a VERY satisfied customer - Doug - Doug_B_Erdely@Portal.Cup.Com
Doug_B_Erdely%cup.portal.com@UDEL.EDU (10/04/88)
Received: from CUNYVM by CUNYVM.BITNET (Mailer X2.00) with BSMTP id 7272; Fri, 30 Sep 88 23:31:32 EDT Received: from UDEL.EDU by CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (IBM VM SMTP R1.1) with TCP; Fri, 30 Sep 88 23:31:30 EDT Received: from Louie.UDEL.EDU by Louie.UDEL.EDU id ab16274; 30 Sep 88 19:42 EDT Received: from USENET by Louie.UDEL.EDU id aa16164; 30 Sep 88 19:31 EDT From: Doug_B_Erdely@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: Is Abel able? Message-ID: <9578@cup.portal.com> Date: 30 Sep 88 03:49:33 GMT Organization: The Portal System (TM) XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.2946 To: amiga-relay@UDEL.EDU Sender: amiga-relay-request@UDEL.EDU I have dealt with Abel so many times I can't remember, I have only had 1 proble m with all the order I have placed. They accidently shipped Telewars instead of Telegames. I called and told them what happend, they shipped the correct title out right away without waiting for the title I had... they told me to send it in when I got a chance!!! That is the only problem that I have ever had! And NOBODY beats (let alone matches) their prices. - Doug - Doug_B_Erdely@Portal.Cup.Com
Ernie%egami.wimsey.bc.ca@UDEL.EDU (10/04/88)
Received: from CUNYVM by CUNYVM.BITNET (Mailer X2.00) with BSMTP id 5009; Sun, 02 Oct 88 00:33:44 EDT Received: from UDEL.EDU by CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (IBM VM SMTP R1.1) with TCP; Sun, 02 Oct 88 00:33:40 EDT Received: from Louie.UDEL.EDU by Louie.UDEL.EDU id ab19513; 30 Sep 88 23:14 EDT Received: from USENET by Louie.UDEL.EDU id aa19410; 30 Sep 88 23:07 EDT From: Ernie Gorrie <Ernie@egami.wimsey.bc.ca> Subject: Re:Is Abel able? Message-ID: <1899@van-bc.UUCP> Date: 30 Sep 88 20:54:20 GMT To: amiga-relay@UDEL.EDU Sender: amiga-relay-request@UDEL.EDU I, too, have been having problems recently with Abel. I ordered some software from them about a year ago and had no problems at all. This time has been a real pain in the patoot. I ordered DPaint II, FACC II, Deluxe Art Parts 1 and 2, FS II, and an AmiGen all in one order, at the beginning of September and specified UPS 2nd day air delivery. I have not received delivery of any of them yet. From what I can figure out, here are some of their problems: 1. They must have few items in stock. They claim that they have shipped the FS II (Sept 14) and the AmiGen (Sept 19). They will ship the other items, "when they are in stock". I don't think any of the listed items should be a special order, do you? 2. They don't have the ability to send orders as a single shipment. In my original order, I asked that they ship everything together. I received E-Mail from the Abel Sysop who advised me that that really was not feasible. He said that they had no way of setting items apart for shipment together. They just check availability of items each day and ship what they have available. If I wanted it to come in a single order, it would wait until one day when they happened to have EVERY item available on the SAME day. (My sense is that hell might freeze over first.) 3. They have very poor customer support these days. I have spent over $30.00 so far in long distance charges trying to find out what is going on with my order. I have left E-Mail enquiries and have not received replies. I have called voice. They have taken my daytime number, presumably to call me back with info. I have not heard back from them. I have even been unable to get the UPS shipping numbers for the items that have been shipped. I can't have UPS trace those items without the shipping numbers and Abel hasn't come through with supplying them to me. The implication of all of this is that what started out to be the cheapest way to order my software is quickly becoming much more expensive. Not only do I not have the items, I have big phone bills and I will have multiple UPS shipping charges. Now here's the kicker....I just ordered a 60 Meg SCSI hard drive system from them! I can't believe myself sometimes. (I can hear you all snickering right now about somebody being born every minute.) -- Ernie Gorrie 9431 McBurney Drive, Richmond, B.C. CANADA, V6Y 3C5 or; ernie@egami.wimsey.bc.ca {ubc-cs,uunet}!van-bc!egami!ernie
whitcomb%unicorn.berkeley.edu@UDEL.EDU (10/04/88)
Received: from CUNYVM by CUNYVM.BITNET (Mailer X2.00) with BSMTP id 5544; Sun, 02 Oct 88 01:06:55 EDT Received: from UDEL.EDU by CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (IBM VM SMTP R1.1) with TCP; Sun, 02 Oct 88 01:06:51 EDT Received: by Louie.UDEL.EDU id aa02186; 1 Oct 88 13:27 EDT Received: from Louie.UDEL.EDU by Louie.UDEL.EDU id aa01830; 1 Oct 88 13:00 EDT Received: from USENET by Louie.UDEL.EDU id aa01683; 1 Oct 88 12:48 EDT From: Gregg Whitcomb <whitcomb@unicorn.berkeley.edu> Subject: Re: Is Abel able? Message-ID: <6083@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> Date: 1 Oct 88 15:52:40 GMT To: amiga-relay@UDEL.EDU Sender: amiga-relay-request@UDEL.EDU In article <9578@cup.portal.com>, Doug_B_Erdely@cup.portal.com writes: > > I have dealt with Abel so many times I can't remember, I have only had 1 proble > m with all the order I have placed. They accidently shipped Telewars instead of > Telegames. I called and told them what happend, they shipped the correct title > out right away without waiting for the title I had... they told me to send it > in when I got a chance!!! That is the only problem that I have ever had! > And NOBODY beats (let alone matches) their prices. > > - Doug - > > Doug_B_Erdely@Portal.Cup.Com I had just the opposite experience. I've dealt with them once (and it will probably be the last time). I ordered about 5 items simultaneously (digiview, stand, camera, etc). They didn't have any of the items in stock at the time, and thus the 2-day UPS was almost worthless. Not only that, as soon as a product arrives at their site, they send it off. This of course means that I paid 2-3 times the shipping costs because my 5 item order arrived in 4 packages. Of course, getting a camera by itself is worthless. Not only that, their product list shows an item labelled "ABCD Parallel data switch" which I interpretted to mean "compatible with the Amiga parellel DB25 port"... it wasn't. It was instead, a switchbox for Centronics cables---AACK! I sent it back immediately (about 1 1/2 MONTHS ago) and have not received the correct item yet (on backorder, of course). If you still think that the slightly better prices they offer are worth the risk, I suggest that you confirm that the products are in stock before ordering and double check that what they have in mind are what you want... of course, the ordering people won't know a DB25 connector from a Centronics so good luck. -Gregg Whitcomb BTW, I warned them when I returned the data switch that I'd be sending this message out... it didn't seem to help me get the replacement any faster.
Doug_B_Erdely%cup.portal.com%UDEL.EDU@cunyvm.cuny.edu (10/04/88)
Received: from CUNYVM by CUNYVM.BITNET (Mailer X2.00) with BSMTP id 6982; Tue, 04 Oct 88 00:56:49 EDT Received: from UDEL.EDU by CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (IBM VM SMTP R1.1) with TCP; Tue, 04 Oct 88 00:56:47 EDT Received: from Louie.UDEL.EDU by Louie.UDEL.EDU id am10567; 3 Oct 88 18:12 EDT Received: from USENET by Louie.UDEL.EDU id aa10403; 3 Oct 88 18:01 EDT From: Doug_B_Erdely%cup.portal.com@UDEL.EDU Subject: Re: Is Abel able? Message-ID: <4394@louie.udel.EDU> Date: 3 Oct 88 22:00:24 GMT To: amiga-relay@UDEL.EDU Sender: amiga-relay-request@UDEL.EDU Received: from CUNYVM by CUNYVM.BITNET (Mailer X2.00) with BSMTP id 7272; Fri, 30 Sep 88 23:31:32 EDT Received: from UDEL.EDU by CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (IBM VM SMTP R1.1) with TCP; Fri, 30 Sep 88 23:31:30 EDT Received: from Louie.UDEL.EDU by Louie.UDEL.EDU id ab16274; 30 Sep 88 19:42 EDT Received: from USENET by Louie.UDEL.EDU id aa16164; 30 Sep 88 19:31 EDT From: Doug_B_Erdely@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: Is Abel able? Message-ID: <9578@cup.portal.com> Date: 30 Sep 88 03:49:33 GMT Organization: The Portal System (TM) XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.2946 To: amiga-relay@UDEL.EDU Sender: amiga-relay-request@UDEL.EDU I have dealt with Abel so many times I can't remember, I have only had 1 proble m with all the order I have placed. They accidently shipped Telewars instead of Telegames. I called and told them what happend, they shipped the correct title out right away without waiting for the title I had... they told me to send it in when I got a chance!!! That is the only problem that I have ever had! And NOBODY beats (let alone matches) their prices. - Doug - Doug_B_Erdely@Portal.Cup.Com
blgardne%esunix.uucp@cunyvm.cuny.edu (10/04/88)
Received: from CUNYVM by CUNYVM.BITNET (Mailer X2.00) with BSMTP id 7666; Tue, 04 Oct 88 02:42:46 EDT Received: from UDEL.EDU by CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (IBM VM SMTP R1.1) with TCP; Tue, 04 Oct 88 02:42:43 EDT Received: from Louie.UDEL.EDU by Louie.UDEL.EDU id ad15008; 3 Oct 88 20:49 EDT Received: from USENET by Louie.UDEL.EDU id aa14813; 3 Oct 88 20:39 EDT From: Blaine Gardner <blgardne@esunix.uucp> Subject: Re: Is Abel able? Message-ID: <989@esunix.UUCP> Date: 2 Oct 88 21:22:24 GMT Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation To: amiga-relay@UDEL.EDU Sender: amiga-relay-request@UDEL.EDU From article <14@cs-spool.calgary.UUCP>, by paquette@.ucalgary.ca (Trevor Paquette): > I would like to hear from anyone that has dealt with Abel Supply > in Tennesse. I would specifically like to know if you have had > any hassels with them and if so have they corrected any > problems that you had. Abel Supply has been plenty able in my book. Many moons ago I ordered Facc, Firepower, and Alien Fires from them. One was in stock, the others expected in 2-5 days. They arrived as promised over a week's time. Recently I bought Microfiche Filer and a flickerFixer from them (two seperate orders about 2 weeks apart). The software was in stock, and in my hands within a week. The flickerFixer wasn't in stock. They told me it would be 2-3 days to order it in. I told them to go ahead, and it was in my hands within 10 days. > I ask this because I am having ALOT of trouble getting certain > things straightened out with them. Sorry to hear that, but they've done right by me. -- Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland 580 Arapeen Drive, SLC, Utah 84108 UUCP Addresses: {ucbvax,allegra,decvax}!decwrl!esunix!blgardne utah-cs!esunix!blgardne usna!esunix!blgardne "Nobody will ever need more than 64K." "Nobody needs multitasking on a PC."
sdl@linus.UUCP (Steven D. Litvintchouk) (10/06/88)
In article <14@cs-spool.calgary.UUCP> paquette@.ucalgary.ca (Trevor Paquette) writes: > I would like to hear from anyone that has dealt with Abel Supply > in Tennesse. I would specifically like to know if you have had > any hassels with them and if so have they corrected any > problems that you had. > I ask this because I am having ALOT of trouble getting certain > things straightened out with them. I have ordered the ASDG RAM expansion, and several software titles, from Abel Supply. Everything arrived on time, without any problems or delays. Some orders I placed by voice/phone, others by logging onto their BBS. No problems with either method. Of course, the products I ordered had been in stock and shipping for some time. If you're attempting to order a new product, I strongly advise you not to order it until it's actually in stock. If they won't tell you if it's in stock, shop elsewhere. Steven Litvintchouk MITRE Corporation Burlington Road Bedford, MA 01730 Fone: (617)271-7753 ARPA: sdl@mitre-bedford.arpa UUCP: ...{cbosgd,decvax,genrad,ll-xn,mit-eddie,philabs,utzoo}!linus!sdl "Those who will be able to conquer software will be able to conquer the world." -- Tadahiro Sekimoto, president, NEC Corp.
meyers@wybbs.UUCP (John Meyers) (10/08/88)
I don't think Abel is able. I placed an order on an in stock item, and it took 3 months to receive it. When I finally got it, it was in a reused box. (The shipping label was about 5 labels thick, with several other addresses on the others.) The box was quite beat-up. Upon trial of the product, I found that it wouldn't work with 1.2. I specificly ordered the Amiga 500 version of the product. (If there wasn't such a version, they should have said something.) Well, I gave them a call, and they told me that it was my fault that it only came in 1.1 and I shouldn't have ordered it. (You may notice that the lists NOW contain special version information. Funny how they added that after I started raising hell about their questionable procedures.) Finally, they told me I could only get credit and not cash. Well, it is real funny how they "don't have any listing about credit in my account." It scares me to think that this place still has my credit card number on file. A nice place with pretty good prices and EXCELLENT service is Safe Harbor in Wisconsin. 1-800-544-6599, or BBS at (414) 544-6567. I have yet to find better service and support. --- __ , |John Michael Meyers -> meyers@wybbs.UUCP (_/_ / /)) _ _ _ _ | _/(//)/) / / (-'(/(-'/ ' '-,| "Make Mine /| (/""""""""""""""(_/"""""""""" | /-|MIGA!" DISCLAIMER : I have no affiliation with Safe Harbor other than being a person quite impressed with the establishment.
Doug_B_Erdely@cup.portal.com (10/11/88)
MMM... I placed 2 different orders with Able last week and they both arrived on time and in perfect condition. One place I would say to avoid is CREATIVE COMPUTERS... I won't go into the gorry details... but this place and the owner is a joke! The prices are actually pretty high to... so AVOID CREATIVE COMPUTERS!!!! - Doug - Doug_B_Erdely@Portal.Cup.Com