Kiko is very family oriented, their staff is all related and very personable, a likeable bunch. They deserve a measure of respect. But, like other sellers who trust in Kiko, I feel a little swindled. My mother and father passed away recently and left behind a treasured family estate, and no will!
I trusted Kiko with an enormous collection antiques, fine china, Longaberger baskets, imported rugs, designer furniture, signed artwork and sports memorabilia, Lladro figurines as well as a handful of modern appliances; new fridge/freezer combo, washer/dryer, quality dining room set up.
The total sales for all the items above, as well as all the other junk in the house, only pulled down $2,250 and Kiko, for their service, handed me a bill for $2,650!
I owed them $400 for selling the stuff in my parent's house! I couldn't believe it.
Now, their service and staff deserved that $2,600 for all their service and cleaning and hard work. That bill isn't the issue.
I feel swindled because the agent who coordinated with me deterred my brother and I from going through the house ourselves, spending hours, days even, researching the value of each item and then lining up buyers, if any, to purchase it for that value. A daunting task, no doubt, especially when grieving. So Kiko offered us another way.
What my brother and I didn't realize is what we might as well have said, "You can have ALL this stuff if you can sell it."
And sell it they did. On auction day, in the span of merely 90 minutes, everything was gone! Now if that is your aim, to sell everything in a hurry not caring for its value, then this is perfect. Kiko even cleaned the house after everything went. But I'm still tormented by the egrious difference between what everything sold for and what it was worth.
Sure, sure- it's not their fault the bids were low that day. I agree. I'm only sour towards Kiko for seeing all the valuables in the house and, at mention of me holding my own estate/garage sale on premise and online, they talk me out of it and say I would be better off just leaving it all to them. Sounded easier at the time. At the time, I was grateful.
The auction itself was also very destructive to the property. So many people in the house, marking up the walls when they move furniture, knocking mirrors off their mounts, one person even knocked a spindle from the indoor balcony when descending the stairs. Very painful to watch as I was still sort of attached to that house and I didn't want to spend my final days with it watching it get beat to pieces.
Again, not Kiko's fault. But they were at fault for losing a one-of-a-kind antique brass key that unlocked a china display case. The key never moved from its spot in a drawer next to the keyhole until Kiko came in to rearrange everything and when the buyer of the display asked me about the key, I was blown away to find out it had somehow been lost in the blunder of activity that went on that day. And although the buyer accepts they bought the display in "as-is" condition, I was hurt to know that, without the key, they could not come to appreciate it as my parents once did.
And knowing the buyers will value your family treasures, or find someone who will, is often times more important than their money.
Also, worth mentioning, is my mom had bought some designer marble lamps in Italy years back. There were three of them in a set. When I arrived to the auction, they were being sold separately for ludicrously low price. (just a few dollars apiece) I don't know, maybe not worth being mad about, but seemed kind of sad to see those lamps separated once and for all.
Kiko didn't seem to care about the relationship between any items. Another example includes my father's stereo and surround sound system. Each part was sold in separate piles, despite how the units, when assembled, created the whole.
Now, they also sold the estate itself and I'm not disappointed with the final bid. If that had been all I hired them to do, this would have been a five star review.
I'm confident other sellers have had a much better experience. Just know now, if you read the whole review, you've been warned. read more
