I have NEVER dealt with a company so dishonest or without morals…read more A true tale that I hope others learn from: Last year we lost our father aged 97 and we engaged with Bamfords to hold an Auction of the contents of his Estate They visited the property & promised to 'sell everything' They were keen to try to list and sell many items that were the fabric of this period country house for their own profit & strip the house of features that made it what it was, a beautiful family home. Luckily, our fixtures & fittings list (the house was sold separately) put pay to them sticking a lot number on everything that was the fabric of the house. They gave us a written quotation & we eventually agreed on two important points: The Commission and The Buyers Premium. As you know, Auction Houses take not just from the Seller, but also charge the Buyer a fee, which can actually have a negative impact on the Sale price. We agreed commission at 18% and we also agreed that the Buyers would 'only' pay 21% Buyers Premium. During the set up for the sale, we did warn them that the Sale date could only happen once the House was 'under offer' (the items were being sold from their premises and online with the items physically staying at the house until collected.) We advised them that they could do the cataloging & lotting up prior to this to save time. They also promised 4 online sales platforms and a whole months advertising of the sale contents. They were very slow on this & got behind but suddenly we were in a position to move as quickly as possible. We agreed a date only to have this date cancelled by them. They were then not interested in some items they said they would sell & even though I personally had to get involved sending photos & descriptions of Lots, they ignored them. They missed out lots that they had seen or numbered & the work I had to do to try and get items added was immense. At one stage, Annabel was in attendance, one item was a circular multi tier old revolving book case that was full of books as a separate lot. I can only imagine that she was either showing a Buyer or taking photos for another Buyer, but she simply 'threw' all the books (approx 200 or so) onto the lounge floor in a pile ... & just left them there. Im not talking about putting them in a neat pile, Im talking about throwing them in an untidy mound - This was a Lot of books that some were signed valued Mountaineering books (but they didnt even notice that) .. it was shocking. I complained but didnt even get an apology. It became clear that there was some issue internally (and personally as some of the staff later explained) between Annabel and James the Auctioneer (director?). This manifested itself in a total lack of communication between the two & when Annabel went on holiday shortly before the Sale, I was then having to deal with James who suddenly decided to go back on some of our agreements. One of these was limiting what we as a family could buy or bid on. About 2 weeks to go he then threatened to cancel the sale. I was appalled at his attitude. They had us over a barrel & they knew it. In the end we came to an agreement as we knew that the family only wanted to buy (or bid on) a certain number of items. But when Annabel came back from Holiday, she then started to again try and put a cap on what we could buy ... it was remarkable the total lack of communication internally. They then tried to tell us that they had to be informed of which items we would be bidding on !! Bizarre ! The sale never got its full 'month' of advertising and I their FaceBook advertisement of the Sale only went up on the morning of the sale. Totally pointless and not what was agreed. There were only 3 online platforms not 4. I pushed & pushed to get other items listed & then without prior notice they put a Minimum Bid Lot Price of £20 on any lot. So they refused to list some lots which they had originally agreed to sell. One item was a working order Chest Freezer which they refused to lot up .... but remarkably they had already lotted up a small Fridge.. but you will love this ... we were told by Staff who took that Fridge away, that Annabel was the bidder on that lot !!! .... Its funny that they accepted to take Lots that their staff waned to buy ! We also had issues with items not being paid for or Bamfords rescinding the sale on lots after going back on their own terms and conditions of sale. They made other errors too. On top of all this, after cutting off many wires from lamps without advising, they charged us £100 + VAT PAT testing fees when they actually had NOT PAT tested many of the items Finally, they decided, without notification, to charge the BUYERS 24.75% +VAT PREMIUM which they refused to discuss. 29.7 % - They kept the extra money, and refused to agree this would affect the Sale Price. SIMPLE CHEATS AND LIARS We even had it all in writing, but this business only cares about their PROFIT

I asked for a condition report, specifically asking if the glass portion of a lot was free from…read morecracks or chips. Despite being told it was in good condition the item arrived with several areas of chipped glass. It was not possible to view the item because of Covid restrictions and so I had to rely on this reported condition. I followed up twice to the auction explaining the disappointment. I explained that they should not be making money on this misleading information and so they should refund me auction charges. The auction ignored my two follow up emails.

One thing you must do in your life-time is visit an auction. Whether you're a serious buyer or…read moreseller these places are fascinating. I had the opportunity of visiting Fellows with a friend who's into this sort of thing and I was impressed with the professionalism of how things are done. Quite traditional, using techniques of old to sell all manner of things called "lots". In the catalog on today's visit were old watches, antique clocks, framed pictures, furniture, jewellery, the book was full of interesting things. It's exciting stuff when the auction is in full swing and becomes extremely competitive as thousands of pounds are spent in minutes. It's hard to work out what's going on for a newcomer like me but it was a great experience and I urge you to pay a visit

As well as auctions for watches, fine art, antiques, silver, coins, medals, toys and dolls, Fellows…read morehave added vintage jewellery to their roster. My interest in Fellows came when I started running vintage events although have always had more than a passing interest with vintage jewellery. Having never been to an auction, it's safe to say I was petrified the Monday morning I walked into this auction house in Birmingham's jewellery quarter. It really did help that the lovely people from Fellows (Louise, Mary, Stephanie - all very friendly and helpful) had invited me into the preview evening (with champagne indeed!) so I got to glimpse at what I may like to bid for to re-start my vintage jewellery collection. I still couldn't bring myself to bid on the day but have since found their online auction to be less fearsome.

We buy a lot of stuff at Auction Houses. We left a bid on a bike of £230, then on the Saturday of…read morethe auction, decided to up our top price to £330. The Auction accepted our new bid over the phone, and then informed us we had got the bike for £275! Many Auction houses (including in Nottingham) seem to end up with the purchase price being the maximum you had put in, not the bid which just beats the next highest bidder. Three cheers for Arthur Johnson!

Well I'm a regular at the auction as I'm away I left a bid on an item, but was confused to find out…read morethat it sold in the room for the same price when I asked them about as to why the people In the room get priority even though when I've been at the auction if you bid on something that someone has left a bid on you have to pay more????? Just seems a bit under handed is it a case of favouritism???

Visiting Tonly Lester was an overwhelming experience - I met Tony, got some detailed information…read morefor my stamps and some good value for them too. :)