I have held on to the receipts of sold items that the cashier, Lauren, ripped up and threw in the garbage for us to find. Those thrown away receipts added up to over $3000.00 after the 2nd day. They made $3000 in mistakes by the 2nd day? these were not customers copies. These were both white and yellow receipts together, fully filled out with numbers. The company offered to show receipts for a fee after the sale, it is in their contract. What is the point, when the receipts are no indication of how much money was brought in during the sale. Sadly for us, we trusted them. A neighbor was carrying a bag of mine yesterday, and told me she paid $15.00. It retails for $500. Obviously, they do not take time to research, or they just don't care, and want to make a buck and get out. The neighbor also stated that one of the women in that bedroom was rude and uppity. Wow, ladies, that's a great way to kill a sale. That may explain why over half the items in the sale were not sold. Lynn stated, " we will sell wall to wall, no worries, you have great stuff". Only right is the fact that we did have great stuff. I offered many times to help share the provinance of pieces and value, and they claimed I was in the way, they knew their stuff, I needed to trust them and go away, to the point of Lynn saying her employees wanted to quit because of my presence? (She met her daughter wanted to quit, that girl needs help). Lynn went off on me (really off, screaming) while my husband was in the next room with his Iphone. She stated that the reason the employees were acting inappropriately was due to the fact that my husband and I were present in our home during the set up. I quote her words, "Most of our clients are dead". What an insult to us and all the families who hired them after loved ones passed. They said if my husband Scott and I didn't leave during the sale they would charge more. Assholes. The jewelry pricer made up a story that I held her after hours, when my phone records show that she had called me multiple times to come over in the evenings to work. She held herself up by discussing her son, etc. Lonely? She also wanted me to bag and price for her. If you can't handle the amount of work, don't take on the job. She put items in our kitchen cabinets for herself? Really Debbie, you thought we were that naive? How many paintings were pre-sold to you.
We documented every item the night before the sale with the price tags. We came back the first night after sale, and photographed again every item left with the tag. We did that every night, for 4 days. With that we knew what sold each day and on the first day the sold price should have been at full price. Did they take in over $30,000 the first day according to the photos? or did they discount heavily on the first day, or did items leave without payment? It was a 4 day sale, which I made happen, to help out.
Lauren and the Ralph Lauren side kick were explicit during their first visit that the company does not discount on the first day, and I asked about that more than once, so what happened? The side kick lied to the owner about a 19th century bag he wanted, he pulled it from the sale and had me place it under the jewelry table. After he and other employees had asked me to pre-sell items, I called the office to find out if that was ok. They said, no, that takes away from their profits. I did not pre-sell, and then when employees were approached, of course they all made up their own stories. Also, after the first day they were in my home, items were missing. When I asked about them, all employess said they had not seen them. I knew everything in my home. When I told Lynn, see dismissed the problem stating the items had no value. How did she know the value if she did not know what the items were? If they were only worth a dollar, they were my families items and had value to us. The jewelry person took home bags of items every night saying she needed to price at home and bring back. I was told that anything leaving the house was photographed and I could compare the photos the next day to make sure the items did come back. When I asked for those photos, the office would or could not provide them. I understand their game. It is that of grifters? Some may get a fair shake from hiring this group. But we were played. By advice from our insurance agent and Chubb, we placed our most valuable antiques and art in rooms and closets with locks. We are so glad we did not let the Magnusson Group near these items. One more thing. Keeping it professional is good advice. Something they are incapable of. No client wants to hear about a Country's ex-con wife custody battle with a daughter's eye issue which took up 3 hours of pow wow in my livingroom! There are much better companies to choose. Or, just do the sale yourself. You will come out better in the end. If anyone, wants to discuss our experience with this company, we will gladly share all. read more
