Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/28/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Back in April of 2021 I sent this Auction House roughly $2,000 worth of ******************* art. After no sign of them selling after waiting 6 months I asked for the art to either be bought from the auction house or returned back to me. I offered to pay for the postage on the art being mailed back, as I did sending the art just to get it back even with taking the loss of postage, which is not cheap for the art. In March of this year they stopped responding to my emails after asking them to mail my paintings back and even calling them trying to get a response from them, ** who I spoke with realized it was me, the person they have been ignoring via email was on the phone and they hung up promptly and never answered another call or email.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/29/2022

  Upon request of *****, we accepted some artwork to be placed in auction. Which is exactly what we have done upon receipt. We have invested alot of time cataloguing and photographing items, as well assubstantial funds to advertise these pieces in auction. Items submitted for consignment to sell are not withdrawable. This was explained to *****, unsold or no bid items remaining are disposed of at our discretion. This is standard practice for all auction houses. Customer has slandered us on social media and actions on our part may be in the works. We have listed his items continuously and currently have more of his items listed in auction. We will sell these submitted items as requested, without further reserve.

   

  Sincerely,

   

  *************

  President

  Great Estates Auctioneers

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/30/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  This does not provide me with what I have requested, nor does it propose a resolution. I have done nothing but show my experience with the business on social media, displaying facts not slandering. All we request is the art returned, or compensation at a wholesale rate for the pieces. We never discussed or agreed upon Great Estates Auctioneers keeping the art in the instance it did not sell. With my original complaint I have attached all emails between the business and I for proof of that. Only one conversation was conducted on the phone and was very brief as they hung up on me. 

   

   In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************
  
  
  
  
   
  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/30/2022

  We were contacted by ***** to auction the artwork. No deadline or limited timeline in this agreement. That is exactly what we are going to do. We do not accept consignments for sale, store them without charge and send them back. That would be completely ludicrous. ***** clearly sent the items to us to sell or we would not have them. Several discussions were made between us regarding the process. Unfortunately his impatience or lack of understanding do not warrant us to change our standard policy. Also, his estimation of the items are exaggerated.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/01/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  Your business tactics are ludicrous, unfortunately there wasnt an agreement set in place with a timeline, as every other auction house we have worked with, either sold the pieces of art or mailed them back within 12 months. Ill continue to display my experiences with this business and recommend future endeavors to not interact with Great Auctioneers. We will gladly take a wholesale rate that is based off a licensed fine art appraiser, no exaggeration, but Great Auctioneers poor results from auctions seem to be the issue and refuses to return the items as they have failed to be able to sell them 

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************