Merrill's always has a good selection of nice things which makes for a good day, but I agree with…read moreanother reviewer about questionable practices. During my last two visits to their auction house, absentee bids (some extremely high) were not bid competitively but started at artificially high bids - not from the floor or other absentee bidders. It feels like cheating, which it is, and ruins the whole experience for me. I won't be back.

I have been a local buyer at Merrill's Auction House for 8 years, both through online auction sites…read moreas well as in person, and I have never dealt with a ruder, more arrogant yet incompetent staff as at this family-owned and run business. They cater mostly to their "old-time Vermonter friends" and make it clear that "outsiders" are a bit of a nuisance. Twice now I have taken time out of a crushingly busy schedule to go in the morning of an auction to leave a bid on a particular item, only to find, at the end of the day, that they "misplaced" my bid and sold it for either the same price or less to another bidder. Fool me twice...? Never again. There's plenty of good auctions nearby and in Montreal;, Westport Auctions, Kavanaugh's, and Nadeau's are among the ones that are professionally and courteously run that I've had a great experience doing business with.

Have bought several items from their online auctions and have been extremely happy with the items…read moreand my dealings with the company and their staff. Instructions for the bidding and load out processes are very clear. Items are as described.

I've had nothing but positive experiences. High quality / Great pricing…read more Good honest people are hard to come by.

My Boyfriend bids on cars from IAA and has been screwed multiple times. They say run and drive and…read morethere were many times they didn't run or drive!!

LOVE this gold buyer. Always so friendly and so helpful. Most importantly always so honest and…read moretrustworthy. I popped in once when I lived in the area and had such a positive experience selling a few pieces of gold that when I moved three hours away to the NY area I still travel the three hours to this location. Rebecca so helpful so kind. Joe other than being funny was so informative and helpful upon selling a few more pieces. On my way out I had a few more questions and Dennis was nice enough to to Show me what a pure gold bar looks like in two different weights. I've never seen a gold bar before. They are all so lovely. Steve and Tim too. Thank you for such a wonderful establishment. ~Lisa

I always hesitate to give a less than stellar review for places that are already very clearly…read morepoorly reviewed, but this is my household's second time coming here and second time having meh service; so, I thought I would detail my experiences. In February my husband took them an 1886 Morgan Silver Dollar for appraisal. It was in mint condition. They offered some amount around $175, but weren't really interested. I will say, the man who helped my husband was actually nice, so no complaints about him. Ultimately, we had it graded by P.C.G.S. After grading, it sold for $2100 at auction. For this reason, use this place as a second opinion, but do not allow them the privilege of being your only opinion. If you have the chance to go through a professional coin service, that is the better option. ----------- Today, I wanted to have one of my rings appraised. Again, the man answered the phone and was friendly. He told me to come in and they could look at it, but couldn't appraise for insurance purposes. When I actually got there I had the unfortunate experience of speaking with a woman. Co-owner perhaps? Who knows. In short, she looked at it and said they wouldn't be able to help because it's a Brilliant Earth Lab-Grown diamond. She was curt, short, and dismissive. Considering both experiences, this place must just be a money laundering scheme because there's no way that they're maintaining a legitimate business with this kind of behavior.

Our fridge quit over a week-end. Monday morning we went to Bouchard-Pierce and met with Alex - he…read morewas knowledgeable, professional and understood our time critical situation. He even offered to try to find a mini fridge for us to use in the interim! Alex explained the pros and cons of various manufacturers and models. We ultimately selected a model he had in stock and left the store at 10AM - our new fridge was delivered by noon the same day. The delivery guys were great and even called in a third person to rectify a small water supply problem. Bouchard-Pierce is an example of quality customer service. Before you consider big box stores, visit Bouchard-Pierce - they are competitive and miles ahead in customer service!!!

I purchased a new GE Profile oven and a GE French Door Refrigerator through Bouchard Pierce in…read moreEssex Vermont. From purchase through Julia Cozza to the delivery, was an exceptional experience. Julia handled my multitude of questions with concern and clarity. The delivery was spot on time, gave me a call 15 minutes out. I live in a very old house with narrow doorways and steep steps. Jack and Ray delivered these appliances after many measurements, without any complaints as to the difficulty. Took off my doors with great care and hauled these heavy appliances up my narrow back steps weaving around a railing where there was not 1/4 inch to spare. They took care and time with all aspects, from Jack showing me tips of how to use the induction range to Ray making sure I was careful about putting frozen food into the freezer before it was at the temperature required. I truly valued their help and most important to me, was their attitude of concern towards me, the homeowner and the respect it reflected towards Bouchard Pierce. I will never shop anywhere else, ever.

Nice selection, spacious store, and obviously an ideal location...but for boutique prices, the…read morestaff should be a little more knowledgeable/helpful. I bought a dress here that seemed flattering even though the straps were way too long. Of course, the girls working that day all assured me it looked gorgeous and would be an easy fix. They recommended a few tailors in the area and suggested I could even try making the adjustments myself, even though I'm not much of a seamstress. Later I went online just to comparison shop (turns out the dress is available elsewhere for cheaper, but not in my size) and in the process realized that I was wearing it entirely wrong...it does a kind of funky wrap thing, which explains the 10" of leftover fabric. If a store is going to charge hundreds of dollars for a dress, shouldn't someone working there know how to display it and help others try it on, or at least pause before recommending hacking the thing to pieces? It seems like they're just on auto-pilot to say "yea, yea, looks great" but don't really know anything about clothes. Which is to be expected at, like, H&M...but not someplace charging these prices!

Ecco is my little fashion secret! Every piece I buy here is so cute and trendy, with incredible…read morequality and styles that feel fresh and unique. What really sets this place apart is Bonnie and the rest of the staff -- they're like having your own personal stylist every time you visit, remembering your preferences while suggesting pieces you wouldn't think to try but end up loving. I can't tell you how many times people have walked up to me to compliment my outfit and ask where I bought it. Between the curated selection, thoughtful customer service, and warm, personal experience every visit, Ecco has won my heart!

We've been working with the folks at the Lamp Shop on and off for the past couple of years as we…read morerestore a new home. We've found them to be outstanding to work with; creative, patient, and persistent, repairing all manner of non-standard and just plain weird lighting, as well as creating some beautiful pieces from scratch. In addition, the range of styles of fixtures for sale on the floor (and wall and ceiling) is excellent. We always love seeing what's available, and the Lamp Shop is now our first stop for lighting.

I brought my antique lamp, that stopped working, into this shop. It had just recently been totally…read morerewired, including adding a switch and plug by another business that no longer did repairs. The young woman at the counter was pleasant and she spent a little time checking things a few things out. She said she was unable to find the issue, and said she would need to bring it back to the bench to look at it. In all honesty, she did briefly mention a $45 bench fee. She said to come back within 20 minutes and she should have it fixed by then. That surprised me because she said she didn't know what was wrong with it. When I came back to pick it up, the owner (?) was at the counter and charged me $48+. I asked what was wrong with it, and she said it was a bad plug. I was shocked by the price, and queried, " You're going to charge me $48 for a $3 plug and work that would've taken about five minutes?" Her reply was curt and somewhat rude. She told me that they had to cover their bills somehow. To me, this was terrible customer service. It is my theory that the young lady at the counter could tell right away that it was just the plug when she examined it. I felt scammed. I would've happily bought a plug from them and done it myself if I only I had known. It would have been good customer service if she would have worked with me, but this woman was unwilling to budge. I tried communicating with them through email, asking if we could come to some sort of compromised bill. No one ever responded to any of my emails. Poor customer service doesn't pay in the end, but I had to!! $48 was a lot of money out of my very limited income.

First my husband called and told them we wanted to rent a floor sander and that I would be there in…read morethe hour and would need assistance loading it into the vehicle. When I got there they hadn't written anything down and charged me almost 200 dollars more than they quoted him. They told me if I had the sander back by noon two days later I would get about 150 back. It took me almost 20 minutes of waiting by my car with the sander to get the assistance I needed to load the sander. When my husband used the sander it would not turn off unless you unplugged it. When I returned the sander two days later it took almost half an hour for someone to assist me with anything which made the sander 5 minutes late they didn't check it in till 1205 although I was there at 1130. Then they didn't refund me anything on the sander and gave me half of what I paid for the sand paper I didn't use sand paper that they told me I needed to purchase and that they said they would give me a full refund on unused sheets of. They are incompetent and con artist i advise you to seek an alternative business if possible and to record everything that they say to you during any agreement

USE TAYLOR RENTAL!! I used Taylor Rental / Party Plus for my…read morewedding rentals the weekend of 9/6/14. As another Yelper mentioned, it is very difficult to find communicative and responsive vendors in the Northern NY region, and Jenna at Taylor Rental does an incredible job. I live in Northern California, but my wife and I wanted to do our wedding back where we grew up, in the Adirondacks. We rented a large lodge on Fern Lake to host the wedding ceremony and reception at, and had a 44x83 Tidewater tent installed on the yard. I highly recommend the Tidewater over the standard pole tent if you have the option, it has an incredible look, and all of our guests had great things to say about it. The Taylor Rental crew came out on Thursday 9/4 to install the tent and drop off all other rental items. We rented a ton of items including tent, tables, linens, chairs, wine glasses, serving items, warming box, keg coolers, etc. Taylor Rental was excellent on getting everything to us except one linen was the wrong length, so they sent someone out later that day to drop it off for us. There wasn't a single stain on the bright white linens, and every other item was clean right down to the tables and chairs. Not only is Taylor Rentals service excellent, all of their rental items are new and in great condition. I would recommend Taylor Rental for any occasion! Especially since you can get any other supplies needed on the hardware/equipment side. Through the planning process Jenna was excellent with helping on all of my requests and needs, in fact we probably changed the reservation 15 times! She had a hand in making my wife's dream wedding a reality, thanks again!

Great place to visit with the family!…read more The family and I came over thanksgiving break. We found this location thru trip advisor. Downtown Burlington is a very small city and church street marketplace feels like a mall I find in middle America. We came on 11/30/19 and there was a nice big tree. This marketplace is about 3 blocks long and is a small strip of small local stores/ shops/restaurants/ and art galleries. The family and I spent about 1.5-2 hours exploring, shopping, and perusing local goods. If your in the area this place is definitely worth checking out.

Meh there are a lot of shops that I wouldn't ever think to go to so for the most part the benefit…read moreis the food options all be it not incredible options. In reviewing places to go this made the list but was disappointing. Still a nice walk if you dont have anything to do.

I strongly advise anyone, bank, mortgage company or individual, from hiring Rene Lafountain of R&D…read moreAppraisal Services to do your home appraisal. I am not sure where Ms. Lafountain got her training but it is very obvious from the work she did for the sale of our home that she needs to go for more training. Ms. Lafountain's appraisal was complete with incorrect facts, uninformed statements and inaccurate observations. In one of her statements she said, "The neighborhood is comprised of ranches, raised ranches, capes and two story homes." In reality the home is in a lakeside community with minimum 3 acres lots. The homes are contemporaries with no ranch homes nor capes on any of the lots anywhere on the 2 mile road. Another statement: "Local shopping, services and schools are within easy walking distance." That would be true if someone wanted to walk 8 miles to a convenience store or 12 miles to school and/or a grocery store. These statements made us question whether or not she even went to the correct house. We requested that she take a second look using the correct address but she held firm with her report. In the end, her appraisal was $100,000 less than others done in recent years and less than the second one that has to be ordered because of her unwillingness to see the error in her work. We have since spoken to others who have used her services and they have similar stories to ours. This is not a one-off. My recommendation is that Ms. Lafountain go into another line of work.