Abbott Farms — Local services in Town of Lysander

Went to Abbott Farms with my wife and 6 month old to meetup with my mother, sister and niece to enjoy a fall day out, but it I cannot say it was an enjoyable experience. We had already planned on spending money for a bag to pick apples. I also was going to get some apple cider and cheese curds from the store, and might have bought some other things after browsing. However, after being told of their policy, I decided against spending any money there. After paying for the bag of apples we received yellow wristbands. My sister paid for the play package for my niece so she could receive the purple wristband to enjoy the activities. While sitting on the bench watching my niece we were rudely approached by a gentleman who asked to see our wristbands. After showing our yellow wristbands he explained the policy and sat on his tractor waiting for us to leave the area. In order for us to even be in the play area, we were forced to purchase the $16.95 purple wristband for each of us, which comes with a bag to pick apples. We did not want to purchase two bags of apples, as my wife was there last weekend and only went for the apple picking, so we have plenty at home. Having to spend $34 for two more bags of apples and the privilege of watching my niece play is absurd. There is also no mention of this from the employees that cash you out. You would think if a family is paying for bags of apples and we are given one purple wristband for a 7 year old, somebody would say, just so you are aware you cannot enter the play area with her unless you purchase a purple wristband. The response we received upon complaining is "you would pay to enter an amusement park wouldn't you?" If I pay to get into an amusement park, I have the option as an adult to ride the rides. I am not jumping on a bounce area, riding a pony, or going down a slide made from PVC pipe, nor is my 65 year old mother. If there is "gravity basketball" or mini golf as they claim, we did not see it anywhere. And again, you shouldn't be forced to pay for those activities if you do not want to do them. If you go there as a family you are all required to pay the upcharge unless you want to leave your child unsupervised in the play area. I understand they don't want people using the property for free, and that is why customers are willing to pay for their kids to play. I was also willing to spend money on items in the shop as well as purchase a bag of apples. But now, I would never step foot on that property. Based on their response to all the negative reviews, I am very happy with that choice. As a business owner, to respond the way they are responding to customer complaints tells you all you need to know about who is running Abbott Farms. This used to be a nice place as I have been going there for years, but they have lost my family as customers along with many others. There were other families complaining in the parking lot as we left. If there are this many complaints from your customers at some point you think you would realize YOU are the problem. I do not want to pay extra to supervise my niece and I will take my business elsewhere. CHEERS

In response to owner: Nobody in our party used the restrooms, or left any trash. Why make general assumptions about your customers? Calling the cops for someone leaving you a poor review instead of trying to rectify the situation seems like a solid business practice. How can you say your strategy is working when you have received 16 one star reviews, and 2 five star reviews in the past 18? And the two 5 star reviews didn't even leave a comment. I would question if they're even...

ABBOTTS FARMS is the worst apple farm in NY. We went there today to pick apples and majority were rotten and picked over. They literally have 10 honey crisp apple trees on the whole property. The owners son is very rude and disrespectful, we did not know we needed wristbands to go in the back. We were following a sign that said “corn maze” and ended up at a play area. The kids started playing and we’re having fun for a little bit. They needed to use the bathroom, on the way back from the bathroom the owners son told us we couldn’t go back there without wristbands. (He was putting up signs as he was telling us ) I told him I didn’t know we needed them no one told use. His response was “ well I’m telling you now so go back the other way” I told him his staff should let people know when we are coming in and paying for a bag for apples that we can’t go back there I’ll go buy wristbands. He then told me it’s closed now so you can’t buy them take your kids and get out.. I told him I was gonna leave him a review and he told me “go ahead I’ll post the pictures showing the signs “ (the same ones he was putting up). We purchased cookies and ice cream on the way out. The half moon cookies taste like black licorice and the soft ice cream seemed spoiled but they did exchange it for hard ice cream. They don’t have any signs by the register telling you nothing is included in the apple picking. They should post signs when you walk in so you know that there is additional cost to do other activities It’s not what he said it’s how he said it he could have acted in a professional mannor or like a business owner. I now see why they have so many bad reviews and so many complaints against them. The corn maze sign is out front telling you to go that way that they tell you “not to go “ I have proof of receipts from the time. Got there at 530pm (after it was supposedly closed and there was a bunch of people there playing still without wristbands)so please inform your staff to let people know at the counter what you can and can’t do because nowhere we went was signs (at the time before You put them up while we were there ) or did anyone say anything about a wristband. I could care less about the cost of my children enjoying themself all you had to do was tell me (when you told me I couldn’t be there) “you can’t go past the gate could mean anything” if I wanted to I could buy your rotten apple field 5x’s over and have you working for me so believe me it’s not a money thing. I attached photos of the signs you have that shows the direction for you to go. (Where your not allowed to walk) I never once walked around the animals with food I was going to eat you have cameras everywhere so please provide proof of me doing this because your lying like I said above you told me 1 time I “couldn’t pass a gate” which meant nothing to me because you looked like a stranger not an employee (maybe a uniform would have helped more ) and the second time your father explained to me I needed a wristband and I was ok with that that’s when I was going to get my kids that ran ahead to tell them we needed wristbands and that’s when I ran into the miserable “stranger” without a uniform telling us we couldn’t be there without them. Is it worth $10 for a wristband …absolutely if your not harassed by the owners, the animals had better hygiene, the pumpkins looked decent,the pillow was Cool, and if your staff was more informative MORAL OF THE STORY MISERY LOVES COMPANY SO IF YOUR LOOKING TO HAVE YOUR FAMILY FUN DAY RUINED BY OWNERS THEN STOP AT ABBOTTS FARM FOR A...

If giving zero stars was an option I would! I’m not insanely crazy about this whole covid thing but do wear my mask, as well as make sure my kids do and carry hand sanitizer. We were there today and have gone in years past and I went running away because of the very few people wearing masks properly. At least half of the people there didn’t have masks on at all and then a good amount with a mask half on and maybe twenty five percent with it on correctly. We ran away without even caring about all the money we spent on activities that they couldn’t do. I hate to complain about businesses and have tried to support as many local ones throughout this pandemic as possible but this was such an egregious violation right here. When I tried to ask about it via social media they just blocked me! My children really wanted to use the tube slides but there was no staff up there to monitor so it was just so many kids pushing and shoving with NO masks on at all. I wouldn’t allow my kids near them. We were able to do the Apple cannon but the jumping pillow was a big NO. A staff member was there only allowing ten kids at a time on but most of them didn’t have masks on either while using jumping pillow. Wagons were packed full of people with no social distancing at all! We went into the store for some water and there wasn’t any so we got ice cream, but there were a huge amount of people with no masks. I was just absolutely shocked and didn’t see any staff members approaching anyone to tell them to put masks on. We sat on a hill by ourselves eating our ice cream and watched everyone walking by without masks on. Even my children were totally shocked because have been many places during this pandemic and have never seen such a thing. They know masks are a requirement if we are outside of our home or car. I think the attitude of the owners is awful where they just want to ignore it instead of fix the issue. They can block me maybe but they can’t block the health department etc. It would be easier to just fix the issue. You are responsible as owners for setting the tone of what you expect. I was at beek n skiff Wednesday and they did a phenomenal job! They used huge misters to sanitize each wagon in between. I’ve also been to Penny’s Country Farm and they were...