As others had mentioned, I never leave reviews but I felt I had to do so for this business. My mom…read moreand I attended this estate sale. When we arrived, we were warmly encouraged to take our time and explore every room in the house. It was a large home, and we spent a considerable amount of time carefully looking through everything before selecting a few items. One of the sisters gave us a bundled price, and because they only accepted cash, we left a $200 deposit and returned later with the remaining balance after continuing to browse.
Before paying, I decided to exchange one of the rugs for a different one. That's when everything changed. The other sister quoted me a different price than the first. I wasn't trying to negotiate or get a discount--I was simply trying to explain that I had already been given a different price. Instead of letting me clarify, I was repeatedly interrupted and talked over.
Because my mom doesn't speak English, I had to pause occasionally to translate the conversation for her which seemed to infuriate the sister handling the money even more. Rather than showing patience, she became increasingly frustrated. I was ready and willing to give her the amount she was asking for but not after she blew up all of a sudden, very unprofessional and immature. What should have been a simple conversation over a pricing misunderstanding between the two of them quickly escalated into her yelling at me in front of everyone attending the estate sale.
I never raised my voice, argued, or spoke disrespectfully. I stood there in complete shock while she continued yelling. My mom had no idea what was happening, and everyone around us stopped to watch. It was one of the most humiliating customer experiences I've ever had. We had spent so much time in the home because we were encouraged to do so, were genuinely excited about our purchases, and then were publicly embarrassed over a misunderstanding that wasn't of our making.
As we left, we were told, "Don't ever come back." I asked for my $200 deposit back, and even that became unnecessarily difficult. While we were walking down the long driveway to our car, one of the sisters came after us, acknowledged that she had told us not to come back and apologized , and tried to convince us to return and complete the purchase. By that point, the damage had already been done. After being publicly yelled at and humiliated, there was no way I felt comfortable giving them my business.
After we left, I looked up the business online because I was honestly trying to make sense of what had happened. I was saddened to find reviews describing experiences that felt very similar to mine. As unfortunate as that is, it reassured me that my mom and I weren't the only ones who had been treated this way. That made me even more disappointed because it suggests this may not have been an isolated incident.
Mistakes happen, especially when items aren't individually priced and totals are bundled. I could have understood a pricing mistake. What I cannot understand is treating customers with hostility, yelling at them in front of a crowd, and creating such an embarrassing scene over a simple misunderstanding. Every customer deserves to be treated with patience, respect, and professionalism. I sincerely hope the owners take this feedback to heart so that no one else leaves feeling as humiliated and unwelcome as my mom and I did.