ComplaintsforCastaway Estate Liquidation LLC

• Initial Complaint

  10/28/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I interviewed multiple people for an estate sale. I chose this company because she told me she is an expert in high end everything, which I have high end Cosmetics, skincare, bags, shoes, most of which are brand new. She asked if if was ok to bring in a few items, knives and things, to attract more men. She then brought in some furniture, and I was ok with it because it is a ****sq ft warehouse. She made it clear when she does a sale, the occupants have to move out. This is a warehouse on my property she thought would be better for the sale. Her employee left her phone in it, so I used my key to let her in to get it so ********, the owner, didn't have to drive back. To my shock HALF of the warehouse was filled with someone else's stuff. There was a website I found that said 2 Sales 1 Giant Warehouse. I had a meeting with her the next day about it, Wednesday of this week, and I expressed that I was being used. She admitted it was a storage locker and there was a lot more than she expected. I said I never agreed to having two sale, their stuff was more prominently displayed. She agreed to move their items to one quarter. She did not. There are also several of the exact same items with two completely different items. She assured me she used only stickers, and someone deface my expensive makeup and skincare by using permanent marker to price it. They tried to wipe it off, and it ruined the boxes of some of my items. After I complained about the other sale, she changed the website to reflect one sale. My last count of the website there were only 45 pictures of my things and over 65 pictures of the other person's things. She misrepresented herself and went behind my back and added a whole other sale to mine. There are still things of mine on the floor because their things take up so much room. I have more picture and videos. Everything on caution tape side and a lot of furniture is other sale I didn't agree to. Thank you for your time in reading this.

  Business response

  11/27/2022

  Dear Better Business Bureau,

  
  Castaway looks for three things in an estate sale: Does it meet our $6000 minimum requirement? Is there a viable location for to hold the sale? Can it be scheduled into the calendar? When *********************************** called, I went to the house and assessed her items. Although it did not look like she had enough, she assured me her items met the $6000 requirement. I knew it did not meet the other two requirements, so I did not give her an answer for several weeks. Eventually, I had an opening in my calendar because a closing was moved back, and ********** warehouse also opened up. She also assured me that we would have unfettered access to her bathroom. I agreed to do the sale and we moved forward. I told ********* we would be bringing some other things into the sale and she was OK with it at the time. ********* had about four weeks to hire another estate sale company.

  
  ************************************* letter to you is full of inaccuracies and storytelling. It is frustrating that someone/anyone can lodge an untruthful complaint and it has the potential to go public. *** had one other client equally as difficult as ********* and she was also an over spender and an avid collector of things (hoarder). I understand it is hard to let go of items you deem valuable and when you find out they arent, it can be upsetting. That being said, ********* was verbally abusive, stole from her sale, broke the contract more than once, and was entirely aware that Castaway tries to get the best prices we can for all of our clients (why wouldnt we when it only benefits the company) but are times when we cant (there are times we get even more!) at the end of the day there are no guarantees. This is written in the contract.

  
  ********* needed to sell large boxes of makeup, ****** items, clothing, kitchenwares, shoes and some miscellaneous other items that were piling up in her house. To reiterate, I told ********* that I would also be bringing things in from another sale (Ive attached a text). The day the items were being moved in to the warehouse by my employee, ******************************** brought Halloween candy to him and his kids. She walked through the warehouse to deliver it. She saw the boxes being moved into the warehouse. She seemed fine with it. The warehouse is on the property literally 3 feet from her home. She had access to it at any time and could come in any time of day while we were working. My clients who live close by usually stop in I welcome it! It never occurred to ***** and me that she was not checking in after hours to see our progress! She was living there! That is why this whole situation is so darn confusing. On the other hand, maybe it isnt because ********* just didnt seem like she was all there. When we were working in the morning we wouldnt see any lights turned on or any action in the house at all. We were supposed to have unfettered access to the house per the contract ( I will provide a picture of this) so we could get into the bathroom. There was not a bathroom in the warehouse. I would knock on the door and there would be no answer. I would text her and there would be no answer. We would end up going across the street to the shrimp store and using their facility. That is what we ended up doing at the sale as well because we were so uncomfortable with her the second day. 

  
  Christines items were specialized and tailored to a very small crowd. As I discussed with her, bringing in another sale would encourage more people to attend this sale, thus selling more of her items. It was a lot more work and money for Castaway to move the items into the warehouse. We were not trying to make her mad. We were trying to encourage a large sale that would benefit everybody. Again, I texted ********* about bringing another sale into the warehouse (I will provide text). 

  
  One day my employee, *****, left her phone in the warehouse so I texted ********* in the afternoon and asked if she would open the warehouse so ***** could go back and pick up her phone. Not knowing ********* had never been in the warehouse I was completely caught off guard when the next day I was met with a text and then an infuriated ********* at the warehouse. This, after two weeks of working in an unairconditioned warehouse without acceptable access to a bathroom or water (except out of a hose which we did not use). Constructive criticism is perfectly OK. ********* came armed with a barrage of insults including body shaming *****, name-calling, and a list of items concerning the sale. It was apparent that she had been up all night. That day ***** and I set out to fix the items ********* was upset about. We renamed the sale from Two Sales, One Giant Warehouse to Giant Warehouse Sale in ********. We scaled back the amount of room the other sale had, giving ********* four more tables. We repriced countless items for her not because the prices were accurate but because we were trying to appease the fury. Ultimately, we ended up lowering most of those prices the second day. Makeup is not considered new if it has been used, not even if it has been used once. Further, Castaway is not a retailer. People come to an estate sale expecting to pay estate sale prices. ********* did not like that at all. ********* had some cute (not high end) UGGs, ************** etc. that sold very well. What we did not sell, I left for her instead of continuing to sell for another 30 days, which ** entitled to per the contract. I did not want to continue doing business with her. The exception to the high-end rule for us is in the area of vintage Pyrex, MCM, clothing and jewelry, etc. To this point, the most expensive item at Chrissys sale was not anything new or what she considered high end. It was a knock off MCM Eames Chair that sold for $550. 

  
  From the moment ********* set foot in the warehouse there was nothing I could do to stop the unbelievable change in personality. It was a mood swing you had to experience to believe. She texted me to the point where I had to block her. She emailed me until I blocked her. She is a classic narcissist who keeps coming at you until you either give in or, I guess, give in. However, Castaway had nothing to concede to. There was a point when I decided I did not have to be abused for doing my best. I sent ********* the exact same credit and deposit slips that I had. It wasnt good enough. Anything we did wasnt good enough. I would tell her that we counted the cash twice. Not good enough. I would tell her that she was going to see the same square credit deposit slip that I was going to see. She would argue that who said I could use Square?! It was  just ridiculous. 

  
  We did our best to prepare for the sale. We spent two weeks pricing and looking up items for the sale. I am not sure where or why she said I assured her we only use stickers to price our items. At Castaway, we use price guns, index cards, sheet pricing up on walls, hang tags, and markers. We didnt deface ********** makeup. We used markers for two reasons: there was hoards of it, and we didnt want customers peeling stickers off makeup leaving us spontaneously repricing. When she expressed anger (had a childs tantrum) we spent hours the next day wiping prices off and repricing 98% with a pricing gun. Two boxes were damaged and I absorbed those boxes into my own costs. I would like to add that ********* took a number of makeup items back from the sale and per the contract she is supposed to tell me and I am supposed to receive 35% of the fair market value of those items. So, essentially she stole from her own sale.

  
  The bottom line is that *********************************** made out better than anybody else at that estate sale. You will see from my spreadsheet that she did not even come close to my $6000 required minimum. after paying my employees, I lost money. *********************************** valued her items much more than anybody else. She still has many of the items left over to sell. Post sale, my employee, ******, came and cleaned out the warehouse. He may have missed an item or two but he did not leave the warehouse packed with leftovers as ********* implies. All of us are scared to go back to the warehouse. She chased ***** into the bathroom and told her dog to get her. It is not a good situation. At the time ********* counted the pictures that she refers to up on the website, it was several days before the sale and I was still posting pictures. I post pictures right up until the day before the sale. We work up until the day before the sale. By the time the sale came around ********* had ************** the sale. 

  
  I have attached testimonies from employees who had direct contact with ********* during the sale. I asked them to be honest in their words. To reflect on their experience and share it with you. I hope it is helpful. I also included many reviews from clients and customers who have very different views than ************************************

  
  Most Sincerely,

  
  ***********************************
  Castaway Estate Sales

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