My advice to you is to avoid this company completely…read more
A few weeks ago, I went to my first and last estate sale hosted by this company and bought a very expensive Art Deco lamp made of curved slag glass panels. The base is also made of slag glass and lights up. The price of the lamp was $1,800, so I was nervous, and I asked many questions before agreeing to buy. I asked whether the lamp had any chips or cracks anywhere in the glass, and I was told that it did not. I asked whether it had any other imperfections of which I should be aware, and I was told that it did not. I asked whether it had been rewired, and the company worker said that I didn't "have to worry about that, the owner of this house took care of that." Based on the information I was given by this worker while Pam Olson, the owner of Olson Estate Sales, literally stood by her side, I bought the lamp for resale.
When I got home, I began to unload the lamp from my car. I picked up the base first, and I happened to glance inside. The lamp had not been rewired. In fact, it still had what appeared to be all the original wiring from the 1930s, which was very worn out --a significant amount of the wire inside the lamp base was completely exposed in the various connections, with the wire insulation burned away. Using duct tape, the previous owner had simply spliced together an old wire to a new cord extending beyond the lamp to the wall, but the expensive work, the work needed to render the lamp completely safe, had not been done. The lamp only had a new cord to the wall and new plug. I felt then, as I do now, that the lamp constituted a fire hazard. I knew that I would have to have it fully rewired, especially because I plan to resell it. As soon as I realized the problem, I called Olson Estate Sales and explained, insisting that I drive the half-hour from home the following day to show Pam and ask for enough of a refund to cover repairs to the lamp. I asked for $150, because I was not sure how much repairs would cost and felt that amount was reasonable, especially because I had to drive an additional hour in total to try to rectify the situation. I had not anticipated having additional out-of-pocket expense to render the lamp safe for resale and had been led to believe that no additional expense would be necessary.
When I arrived the next day, Pam Olson adamantly refused me any reimbursement, saying that inspecting the lamp before buying had been my responsibility, regardless of what her worker had told me. She also said, "The lamp HAS BEEN rewired, as you can see." She pointed to the cord that had been added outside the lamp. I explained that what had been done was not rewiring, only cord replacement. Pam said, "Well, it works." And that was that.
Obviously, after encountering the inflexibility of Pam Olson, especially regarding such an expensive item, I will never again attend any of her sales. I believe she should have said to me, "I am terribly sorry. We had not realized that the lamp had not been rewired, because we didn't pick it up and look inside, either. Because we told you the lamp had been rewired and it had not been, and because you were relying on our word, not semantics, of course we will assume the cost of the necessary repair -- especially because the lamp was so expensive and you're not asking for an unreasonable amount. We also don't want to lose you as a customer -- and we want to preserve our reputation as an honest company." That is what I would have said.
Given this experience, I cannot recommend this company to anyone.