Abigail Michaels

Always able to get me a table in a pinch and always gives good recommendations when my first choice is not available. With all the restaurant options in NY, it’s good to have a pro, who knows what’s what.

I’ve been working with Nicole at Abigail Michaels Concierge for years and she’s nothing short of spectacular! I can always count on Nicole to recommend the hottest new restaurants and score last minute tables. When seemingly every table in the City was booked for Valentine’s Day, Nicole delivered. She even followed up by couriering my favorite steak sauce, typically made table-​side, to my office the following morning. In the age of impersonal, on-​demand service providers, Abigail Michaels Concierge is a breath of fresh air. The team is compassionate, reliable, and invested in improving the lives of their residents.

I use this service often. They are great for restaurant bookings, often being able to get you a table at fully booked places! Also, they are very knowledgable about restaurants in Manhattan and give great recommendations. It’s clear they are out testing restaurants regularly. I have also used them to book concert tickets. They can get great seats. Recently I had a concert booked that had to be moved and I couldn’t make the new date. They quickly responded and got me the same seats at the same price on a different night that I could make. Great service!

I’ve been getting $ 30 plus extra charges lobbed onto my account when I exceed the minimum number of packages/​month. But guess what? They won’t tell you when you’ve exceeded this number. They count manually at the end of the month and say their software system isn’t designed to track packages (when this is the mainstay of their business). They want their clients to keep track of their orders and deliveries to know when they’ve reached the limit. If you’re unhappy — too bad — they refuse to give out the contact information for the owners. They also have not begun to consider the implications of the new Amazon+USPS Sunday deliveries — they are closed. Tough luck for you because it will then take 2 extra days to arrive — USPS doesn’t automatically deliver the next day; you have to put in a request which takes a full day. I was stuck with AM because I live in Stytown — but I’m now looking elsewhere.

We recently rented an apartment on the Upper West Side run by Manhattan Skyline, and Abigail Michaels provides the «luxury» concierge service. I’ve been beyond unimpressed. The «discounted» moving quotes they provided were more expensive than the quotes I got directly from the same companies. I asked them to get quotes for rug cleaning, and instead they just sent me phone numbers for rug companies. We asked for other services and they were completely useless. DO NOT consider this a building perk – you will be very disappointed.

Where to start? They returned a letter addressed to me and tried to blame the post-​office. They lost a package of mine and wouldn’t look for it. They accepted a very important package and then didn’t notify me that they had it. When you try to complain about the bad service they tell you the «feel threatened.» One of the counter women made a homophobic remark and when I brought that to management’s attention they closed my account. All in all a troop of cub scouts would do a better job!
If you really need someone to accept packages for you there are small businesses on First Ave. that do it, don’t count on these people to so anything!

Abigail Michaels is the Oval Concierge service for Stuy Town. The original service, The Villager, which was not affiliated with Stuy Town, was much better. AM has gradually removed all the perk services we had gratis with the monthly fee, including 2 free deliveries of packages to your door per month, up to 10 photo copies, stamping and sending packages (at cost) and print outs. Now, the service is bare bones accepting and holding packages only for the fee, all else is charged. I requested info on having my windows washed and was referred to an agency that charges $ 250 for a 2 bedroom apt. (yikes!), yes, I agree you can do much better doing this stuff on your own, I can easily find someone to do my windows for that kind of money! And a few of the clerks were snide and haughty, huh? But because of my aversion for the local Post Office and dealing with other mail carriers, I pay for the service to hold my packages, the rest of this service is as already stated by other disgruntled customers, simply pretense.

Don’t waste your time. My building uses Abigail Michaels as part of their amenities package, but this service is the most useless. You’re better off doing whatever you need yourself. The concierges are slow and barely responsive. What prompted me to write this review was that a concierge made me a reservation for a time I had not requested, and when I told her the time was too late and to cancel the reservation, she took THREE days to respond that she had taken care of the reservation. And then in a separate e-​mail she had the nerve to tell me that in the future I could cancel it myself. After the first day of nonresponse, I figured that I could and probably should do the canceling.

I am disappointed that my building management is charging a substantial annual fee for their terrible service. Their way of doing business is tacky and a complete embarrassment.
When I requested a dinner reservation at La Bernadin, three weeks in advance of dining, they responded that they had a «last minute» cancellation and I could use it if I was wiling to check in under this other person’s name. I doubt that the person who had this original reservation knows Abigail Michaels is offering his reservation to me and I doubt that he would appreciate my dining under his name. I would consider it a violation of my privacy if this situation were reversed.
Furthermore, when I pointed out that this reservation is three weeks away and it should not be a problem for them to change the name to mine, they responded that they did not want to strain their relationship with the restaurant, which is ridiculous. I know that nice restaurants want to know the actual name of the guests who are dining with them, as most nice restaurants I know make note of the guest’s dining habits, tips, etc. It really shows that they have no leverage in the city, and no real respect for the clients or the vendors they serve. This is not an elegant way of doing business.

Abigail Michaels is useless. Our building uses their service but I, too, have been thoroughly unimpressed. They introduced us to Oz Moving and when we had a terrible customer experience with them (stay away from Oz Moving!), Abigail Michaels took no responsibility and did not help mediate, much less advocate, on our behalf, despite the cut they got for the referral. They were much more concerned with the vendor relationship than with their customer’s satisfaction. Besides the useless emails they send every once in a while, I’m not sure why we’re paying them for their services.

While I’m still willing to be shown otherwise, I am thoroughly unimpressed with my buildings concierge service — Abigail Michaels Inc. Sold as an agency that brings «care, creativity, and genuine personality to your doorstep», I think a more apt description would be the «unorganized, pretentious, and continually ineffective agency.»
Seriously, I would rather hire a first time nyc tourist with 6 hours of guide book experience then this group.
2 stars? like i said, I’m still willing to be shown otherwise, and at least a live person picks up the phone when you call so i guess it could be useful in a life or death situation. Then again, chances are high that you’ll be asked to hold, or if you’re within 20 ft of a bottle of Krug, you know, to calm the nerves and um, celebrate the good life.