- Report: #88054
Complaint Review: Auctioneer Jim Smiley - Gilbertsville Pennsylvania
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Auctioneer Jim Smiley
1100 East Philadelphia Avenue Gilbertsville, 19525 Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
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Auctioneer Jim Smiley ripoff Misleading Auction or the old Switcharoo Gilbertsville Pennsylvania
Please read in full, it's a bit long but it's here to protect you all.
Please be careful if you choose to deal with this bid board auction at Zern's Market. A bid was placed on an item at this auction. On the description ticket it read Twin Cabbage Patch Dolls. So I find out that we won the auction. We go to pick up the item, they make you pay first, and then bring out the item. So in the box is a SINGLE Cabbage Patch DOLL. Not TWINS, not DOLLS, but a single DOLL.
At the time bid was placed there were two boxes side by side in the auction, both Cabbage Patch. My memory is pretty darn good when I place a bid on an item, so I am pretty sure that there were 2 dolls in the box I bid on. Maybe someone switched the auction tickets on the items??
So I question the woman behind the counter and she says that Cabbage Patch NEVER made Twin Dolls packaged in a single box and she knows because she remembers waiting in line for them in the 70's. I remember Cabbage Patch being hot in the 80's not the 70's. She is either lying or simply misinformed. Check out the current auction on Ebay, sure look like twin dolls in one box to me. If you can't see this item on Ebay, simply do a search for Cabbage Patch and you will see that they do exist as twins packaged in one box. She also says that the seller can write whatever they want on the description ticket and nobody is responsible for its accuracy - the seller or the auctioneer. Does this mean that I could sell an item described as "Pack of $100 Bills" and then include only one $100 bill? By her reasoning, yes I could. So, someone expecting at least 2 $100 bills would be very disappointed had they bid thinking that there were indeed at least 2 $100 bills.
I tried to explain to her that the ticket reads very clearly - TWIN and DOLLS - couldn't be any simpler. She still insisted that such an item was never made and just because description read TWIN and DOLLS I cannot expect to get 2 dolls. Now we are not talking about a lot of money here - it was about $15. I think that a reasonable thing to do would have been to say, "Maybe something went wrong, tickets were switched, or item was grossly misrepresented. Or maybe you should have looked a bit closer and seen that there was only one doll." And I should have been offered my money back.
I think that would have been reasonable to everyone involved and it would have put them in a good light. Well, what resulted was that I did get my money back, and have been banned from bidding at their auctions. Not such a bad thing, but for everyone out there, please be careful of misrepresented items if you choose to do business with this company. Mr. Jim Smiley and staff, "Please be a little nicer to people and do not allow items to be misrepresented."
John
Downingtown, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
Please be careful if you choose to deal with this bid board auction at Zern's Market. A bid was placed on an item at this auction. On the description ticket it read Twin Cabbage Patch Dolls. So I find out that we won the auction. We go to pick up the item, they make you pay first, and then bring out the item. So in the box is a SINGLE Cabbage Patch DOLL. Not TWINS, not DOLLS, but a single DOLL.
At the time bid was placed there were two boxes side by side in the auction, both Cabbage Patch. My memory is pretty darn good when I place a bid on an item, so I am pretty sure that there were 2 dolls in the box I bid on. Maybe someone switched the auction tickets on the items??
So I question the woman behind the counter and she says that Cabbage Patch NEVER made Twin Dolls packaged in a single box and she knows because she remembers waiting in line for them in the 70's. I remember Cabbage Patch being hot in the 80's not the 70's. She is either lying or simply misinformed. Check out the current auction on Ebay, sure look like twin dolls in one box to me. If you can't see this item on Ebay, simply do a search for Cabbage Patch and you will see that they do exist as twins packaged in one box. She also says that the seller can write whatever they want on the description ticket and nobody is responsible for its accuracy - the seller or the auctioneer. Does this mean that I could sell an item described as "Pack of $100 Bills" and then include only one $100 bill? By her reasoning, yes I could. So, someone expecting at least 2 $100 bills would be very disappointed had they bid thinking that there were indeed at least 2 $100 bills.
I tried to explain to her that the ticket reads very clearly - TWIN and DOLLS - couldn't be any simpler. She still insisted that such an item was never made and just because description read TWIN and DOLLS I cannot expect to get 2 dolls. Now we are not talking about a lot of money here - it was about $15. I think that a reasonable thing to do would have been to say, "Maybe something went wrong, tickets were switched, or item was grossly misrepresented. Or maybe you should have looked a bit closer and seen that there was only one doll." And I should have been offered my money back.
I think that would have been reasonable to everyone involved and it would have put them in a good light. Well, what resulted was that I did get my money back, and have been banned from bidding at their auctions. Not such a bad thing, but for everyone out there, please be careful of misrepresented items if you choose to do business with this company. Mr. Jim Smiley and staff, "Please be a little nicer to people and do not allow items to be misrepresented."
John
Downingtown, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
screwed over
bally ,Pennsylvania,
also disappointed
#2Consumer Comment
Wed, July 02, 2014
I myself have had experiences as buyer and seller. I have won items that were in original box .... taped closed heavily. When I get home to see my prize.... SURPRISE! it is not the item even close to what was described on card. when mentioning this to any employee there. all I received is shrugged shoulders and an oh well sorry for your luck/ better luck next time attitude. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? the same seller continuely does this and they do not. put a stop to it. as long as they receive their money that's all that matters. this why you will continually notice the quality continued to get worse. n worse. I have delt with them over 15 yrs and honestly best advice .... STAY AWAY. items of mine of just disappeared with NO COMPENSATION. none. even though there contracts for both buyer and seller. no binding contract rules... IF YOUR NOT FAMILY RELATED.... too bad for you. you will always lose.
Twincam
East Coventry,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Zern's Sale Bid Board Experience and Comment
#3Consumer Comment
Tue, August 28, 2007
Sorry you had a bad experience, John. I have been dealing with Jim and Lou for more than 15 years, both as an active Buyer and as a Seller, and have always found them to be ethical and honorable. The card descriptions are, indeed, the work of the Seller, not the Management. If you thought that your item had been mis-represented, you were right to ask for your refund, and they did comply with this. There are other, less-knowledgeable employees behind thwe counter than the two mowners, and you might have dealt with one. To the best of my knowledge, Cabbage Patch Kids were first marketed in 1983 (a friend stood in line for 5 hours to get one!), but the only boxed ones, ever, were singles; pairs were sold in a dual-doll plastic blister pack, years later. You hadn't specified; was the box you had bid on a Cabbage Patch Kids box, or something else? Also, was the other Cabbage patch Doll sold in a separate auction? I know you feel wronged, enough to file your RipOff Report, but, evben though you were banned, go back and give them another chance! All other or similar silent auction sites have dried up in this region (usually due to increasing excessive rents charged by the site landlords, or site redevelopment, as happened to the Downingtown Farmer's Market). The Bid-Board folks are not aware I'm writing in their behalf; indeed, they may not even be aware of your original report here! Are they not entitled to both the benefit of the doubt and one mistake? Remember, life is too short to be taken too seriously! I believe your memory of what was on display, and the writing on the auction item description card. Could possibly have been pilferage during the display period (one month), or mis-filing after the auction ended. Enough! Go have fun!
