OP
OP
Auction company stole my property!
Well, the sign isn't TOO huge, a bit larger than my Discs of Tron environmental glass rear piece, but it will end up going into my Barcade somewhere on a wall.
Here's the rest of the story, and why not to deal with this auction company in the future:
So, my fiancee bought this for me as a wedding present, but the auction co. had left it bolted to the wall. As she's not carrying around wrenches out of habit, she tried to get someone, anyone to help her bring it down - no takers, so she had to leave it until I could get home and look at it on Friday.
Friday afternoon, I roll downtown with a toolkit and go up to the second floor, look for the sign, but there's just a blank spot on the wall where it was. The auction co. rep that was watching things on that floor said someone moving a game out had broken the sign's neon, and the auction company tried to call my fiancee. Of course, they had recorded the wrong number so she never got a call or voicemail. In absence of permission from her, the auction co. SOLD THE SIGN to the damaging party, and allowed them to remove it from the premises.
Needless to say, theft-by-conversion is not cool, so I raised a ruckus. They gave me a number that purportedly belonged to the person who they sold the sign to, but I never got a response from the voicemail. The auction co. said they would return the damaging party's money and get the sign back from them.. I told them they needed to refund OUR money and we would work out an arrangement with the other party, since they had no right to sell our property to them. Meanwhile my fiancee is also calling the auction co., who after hearing she is an attorney, screams at her and hangs up. An hour later, we get a call from the auction co. saying our property is now back at Jillian's, and we have 3 hours to pick it up.
I went back downtown and got the sign - the "Amazing" neon was broken on one end, and the middle section - a ray gun blast - was also broken off. No sign of the protective plexi covering that would have been over the entire arrangement. The art was minimally damaged where the ray blast broke off, but would be nearly invisible once that part is replaced.
The auction co. refused to refund our money, and probably didn't refund that of the person who purchased our property. We have put in a "stop payment" to the auction company - if they complain, we can press charges - and will certainly file with the Better Business Bureau and whatever agency oversees auctioneer licensing in Indiana. Had they waited to do that until after the pick-up period for the auction ended, they would have saved themselves a lot of trouble.
Well, the sign isn't TOO huge, a bit larger than my Discs of Tron environmental glass rear piece, but it will end up going into my Barcade somewhere on a wall.
Here's the rest of the story, and why not to deal with this auction company in the future:
So, my fiancee bought this for me as a wedding present, but the auction co. had left it bolted to the wall. As she's not carrying around wrenches out of habit, she tried to get someone, anyone to help her bring it down - no takers, so she had to leave it until I could get home and look at it on Friday.
Friday afternoon, I roll downtown with a toolkit and go up to the second floor, look for the sign, but there's just a blank spot on the wall where it was. The auction co. rep that was watching things on that floor said someone moving a game out had broken the sign's neon, and the auction company tried to call my fiancee. Of course, they had recorded the wrong number so she never got a call or voicemail. In absence of permission from her, the auction co. SOLD THE SIGN to the damaging party, and allowed them to remove it from the premises.
Needless to say, theft-by-conversion is not cool, so I raised a ruckus. They gave me a number that purportedly belonged to the person who they sold the sign to, but I never got a response from the voicemail. The auction co. said they would return the damaging party's money and get the sign back from them.. I told them they needed to refund OUR money and we would work out an arrangement with the other party, since they had no right to sell our property to them. Meanwhile my fiancee is also calling the auction co., who after hearing she is an attorney, screams at her and hangs up. An hour later, we get a call from the auction co. saying our property is now back at Jillian's, and we have 3 hours to pick it up.
I went back downtown and got the sign - the "Amazing" neon was broken on one end, and the middle section - a ray gun blast - was also broken off. No sign of the protective plexi covering that would have been over the entire arrangement. The art was minimally damaged where the ray blast broke off, but would be nearly invisible once that part is replaced.
The auction co. refused to refund our money, and probably didn't refund that of the person who purchased our property. We have put in a "stop payment" to the auction company - if they complain, we can press charges - and will certainly file with the Better Business Bureau and whatever agency oversees auctioneer licensing in Indiana. Had they waited to do that until after the pick-up period for the auction ended, they would have saved themselves a lot of trouble.
