Today, I went to use HiBid to bid on some artwork, only to discover that Tom Hall Auctions maliciously flagged my account on the platform as "doesn't pay shipping." This is a completely false mark designed to damage my reputation as a buyer, despite them acknowledging their original failure to ship my items over a year ago.
When I called to address this, "Catherine" was extremely unprofessional. She claimed she reported my review to Google to have it removed because my experience "wasn't valid," and openly admitted that my account was flagged on HiBid in retaliation for my feedback. She also falsely claimed it is illegal to name individuals in reviews. For the record, under the federal Consumer Review Fairness Act, consumers have the legal right to share truthful experiences without business retaliation or threats.
I have formally reported this weaponization of buyer feedback to HiBid support, am submitting a complaint to the Better Business Bureau, and will be cross-posting my 1-star review to their Facebook page so other buyers are aware of these business practices.
Here is my initial review:
I had an incredibly disappointing experience with Tom Hall Auctions through the HiBid platform. I placed an order on October 28, and as of November 13, I have yet to receive any follow-up on the shipment of my items, despite numerous emails and voicemails.
I do want to stress that the amount we spent was of higher $$$. So, you can understand our deep concern when we were not receiving ANY follow up to our questions on when items would be shipped...
When I finally received a call from Paul at Tom Hall Auctions, he admitted they had not returned my messages and still had not shipped the items. He informed me that the shipping costs could be up to $1000 to $2000, which is outrageous.
Due to the lack of communication and significant delays, I marked the transaction as fraud and reported my concerns to HiBid. Paul then got rather rude, stating he would report me to HiBid, which could prevent me from participating in future auctions, all without ever apologizing or attempting to make it right. He immediately went to "I'm going to report you" after acknowledging they made a mistake.
I want to save people the headache of the unprofessionalism and wasting their money. This experience has been extremely frustrating, and the customer service from Tom Hall Auctions was unacceptable. HiBid has confirmed that they cannot block or delete my account and acknowledged that what Paul stated was very unprofessional. They have noted this incident for future reference and reached out to Tom Hall Auctions to emphasize that not returning phone calls and emails to customers is not appropriate.
If you look at other reviews, the shipping charges and timely shipping is also noted to be horrible. I felt it important to let others know. Their excuses in prior responses stating that they list their auctions on multiple sites and get multiple views still do not give them the right to be unprofessional and not respond in a timely manner to people who purchased through their company.
I would not recommend this auction company to anyone, especially if you value timely communication and professional service. read more