Short story: I probably won't purchase from them again…read more
Long story: I bid on a few lots through one of their online auctions. I am local, but I wasn't able to go to the preview, so I relied on the photos of the items. This will come up again later.
When the auction ended, the items were marked with an ambiguous message "you may have won" and since there was also a live auction, I assumed others may have been bidding, so I waited to be contacted.
In the auction agreement, it states you will be notified by phone the next day if you win. I never received a call or email, but for the next week or so, I kept checking and the items still said "you may have won." I thought perhaps they needed more time to catalogue things, so I waited.
Finally, I called and spoke to someone named Kay, who told me she had emailed me (again, the site says you will be notified with a phone call). Regardless, I did not receive an email, and it was not in my junk mail either.
Kay told me I must be mistaken, and even insinuated I was lying or being dishonest. She never apologized and acted like I was in the wrong the entire time. She was extremely rude over the phone.
I was willing to look past this (everyone has bad days) and went to pick up my items. When I arrived, I spoke to a man, I think he might either own the auction house or at least be in charge. I was really disappointed to find that all of the items I purchased were in much worse condition than shown in the photos.
For example, a lot of purses showed several photos that made them look like they were in good condition, when in reality, the insides were torn up and awful.
This man, no doubt aware that I had gotten a horrible deal, told me that I had actually gotten a really GOOD deal, and the lot was "at least $10,000 worth of purses." That wasn't even close to being correct. They were all garbage, and I ended up having to throw almost all of them away as most weren't salvageable or were cheap "made in China" bags. I have no idea why he felt the need to lie to me. It really left me with a bad impression.
Another example was a small Chinese screen I purchased. Only the front was shown in the photos, but when I picked up the item, the back was completely ripped up. When I complained about this, the man said, "Oh, people usually hang these on the wall, so the back doesn't matter."
Overall, I was extremely disappointed in my experience there. I probably won't purchase again, but if I do, I will be very careful. I would suggest other buyers beware and exercise caution when dealing with Lewis & Maese.
