I discovered a large proxy bid website in the US. They have auctions I wanted to collect a few sports cards and enjoy this hobby. I will include the name of the larger company once they reply or "don't" reply to the email that I sent them after the turn of events from yesterday.
The website works in the manner of you fill out your information. The auctioneer needs to approve you. Highest bid wins. I had two auctions ending, two days ago. One was paid for. One was not paid for- I will get back to this one. I'm at my day job. Long day. And I can't go peeking on my phone every five minutes.
What had happened is that with the second auction, my bank sent a red flag. I did not have time to speak to them. And I noticed an email from the second auction, card declined. Then a second "sny" email- "care to explain" which I will get back to in a moment.
I started to bid on a Tiger Woods card that is 30 days in the future. Kyle is an auctioneer. I received a text. Happy Bidding. I thought it was weird to receive a text from an auctioneer, though not unheard of. I arrive home at 6:30-7:00. I start to open the computer and my phone. Oh... it gets good.
I call my bank, for my "play" account. "Hey we've noticed some weird activity out of state..yada yada yada." I told them yes, it's me. So then I started to receive very unprofessional and crass mesages from Kyle. Keep in mind that Kyle does not know me. Kyle and I have not business.
This man is telling me that I don't pay my bills and people like me are ruining auctions. The way it was worded, I first responded is this an auto message or what's going on? First text he wrote yesterday.
"You're not paying your bills people auto charge credit cards 99% of the time so you need to make sure that the card on file has money on it and it's a valid card feel free to reach out to us and let us know what's up and I will unblock you"
"If you don't have money in your account to pay for your items are bidding on them I would suggest not bidding on them again feel ree to reach out. I suggest you go pay your unpaid bill it's just gonna get worse for you if you don't have your bills paid through here eventually you'd get blacklisted and never be able to use HiBid again so again feel free to reach."
These are his words. My grammar is not this bad.
Two things here. I at first when I was tired thought is this a text mailer it would be weird for an auctioneer to send me ten text messages. Though I thought that it could not be because the grammar was so bad. If you are a professional person, you don't respond with "what's up with...." I started to respond. I maybe said 5 sentences at the most. I told him what happened.
I also pointed out because if Kyle has common sense, which he does not and you will read. If you are using a credit card, which you need to with these sites. And most of the type they are not going through.. what would a smart person think? Oh, the bank flagged it. Let the person straighten it out.
I worded it nicely to him and he kept sending me rude as heck messages, "You have no money. You don't pay your bills. " Not the case Kyle. Keep in mind that Kyle is a "business owner" and we have never met.
The text messages were rude and unprofessional. I'm in the middle of writing the auction house that he is selling under because now I have screen shots of one of the auctioneers harassing me.
Come to find out with the bids the other day. The second house could not wait until I got home and straighten this out with the bank. They went under their computer system and wrote, "NONPAYMENT and this is weird. I tried to reach her." Do you think that some people might have day jobs where they can't handle personal business and will handle it when they get home? I wrote them and said you can keep your cards. If you can't wait twelve hours for payment... and then go in the system and write Nonpayment. Card declined. She seems sketchy... keep your cards. Keep them. "
I am starting to think that auctioneers are incredibly stupid. You realize there is Ebay and more elite auctions with more valuable cards, correct? But ebay, the King in buying this stuff? And absolutely no customer service. I understand that this might not be an easy business for them- depending on auctions for income. If that is their fulltime job. Though I travel all of the time. My cards will occasionally get declined, because I'm obviously out of state. Most people that have traveled out of state or traveled in general know this. Most people have gotten a decline from their credit card system now a days, just to make sure it's you
Regardless, Kyle saw this and the messages that he sent me.. no. Unprofessional. In poor taste. Harassing.
As I am writing the email to the Auction House (telling them they need to look into this person and highly unprofessional behavior)... Kyle starts messaging me at midnight. Yes I wrote this correctly. An auctioneer is messaging me at midnight. And the messages started to get harassing.
I will be posting to higher ups that may be able to do something with harassment, though if you are a serious card investor- don't deal with this man. He is absolutely crazy. No business skills in the least bit. And can't read with no common sense- again a declined card out of state. Gee I wonder, Kyle.
With what Kyle wrote, I will make all the time in the world to let other's know what a gem Kyle is.
Jimmy Pruitt
Raleigh,#2General Comment
Mon, April 04, 2022
These guys are crooks. They advertise authentic cards that are actually knockoffs and reprints. Bidders are paying top dollar for junk cards. They advertised a slabbed 1985 Nike Air Jordan Promo card and I was lucky enough to figure out it was not real. When I asked for a refund for the fake Jordan card, they told me "as is, have a great day".
I told them I was going to file a chargeback with my credit card company and the owner lost his $h!t with me. He called me a scammer, said he would try to get me banned from Hibid, and threatened to file charges with local authorities for "running a fraudulent chargeback scam and stealing". All I asked for was a refund for the fake card and this company started threatening lawsuits and charges of extortion.
Luckily I am smart enough to know these were baseless threats and was not intimidated by their scare tactic. Buyers and bidders beware of this company. Zero customer service, false advertising, then once you figure it out they threaten and harass you to try to make you go away
Karl
Highlands Ranch,#3Consumer Comment
Sun, August 08, 2021
mail a copy of your Ripoff Report to Dateline NBC and to 60 Minutes in New York. Maybe one of them will contact you and do a story on National TV.
Both adreeses to Dateline NBC and to 60 Minutes are available at this site. Just type in 271771 and they appear in Consumer Comment #1 at Ripoff Report 271771.
Good luck to you, and please keep us updated.