ComplaintsforSwanson's Estate Sales

• Initial Complaint

  07/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  *********************** of Swanson's Estate Sales agreed to clean up 50 years of my husband's "treasures" after my husband passed away last September. I was truly excited. Not hearing anything from **** for 7 months, I finally called him again. He came out and hauled off 3 vehicles in the yard: a **** Dodge Diesel w/Cummins 5.9 first generation intercooled engine that could run on vegetable oil, worth $6,000 - $10,000. A vintage **** ***** long bed pickup truck I told him I wanted $5,000 and an older dump truck worth $2,500. Today I received a check in the mail from **** for $3,041.53 and absolutely no proof of who purchased the vehicles and for how much. I had told him I wanted copies of the Bills of Sale which I had provided with the titles, but I never got them. He pulled the Dodge & ***** out with his trailer the end of May. 11 days later he came back with his trailer for the dump truck but the trailer he brought was too small. So, without asking me, he used my husband's large flatbed trailer to haul the dump truck. The trailer has 2 regular axels and one tag axel, so 6 tires. He claimed he had to buy 3 new tired on my trailer from hauling the dump truck while I have six good tires on rims sitting in my yard for that particular trailer. Without ever having asked, he charged me $285 for tires I already had. What is odd is that the receipt for the tires show they were purchased 9 days AFTER he hauled the dump truck while there are pictures showing he used the trailer without my permission between the time he hauled my dump truck off my property and the purchase of the tires. Finally, seeing that nothing was being done about the cleanup, I sent him a message to return my trailer. Out of the 6 tires, I could not see which 3 were new. Also, he charged me $85.99 for a new battery for the Dodge Diesel while I had a battery he could have used. Needless to say, I am very unhappy with his service.

  Business response

  07/27/2022

  ********* contract was made with the client on November, 14, 2021. It clearly states on the contract the sale date is April/May 2022 and it was discussed verbally that it was entirely dependent upon snow melt/weather. We took the 3 vehicles & the trailer (to haul the dump truck) and client agreed that the trailer would not be sold until the next sale, because it would be used to haul more of her vehicles and equipment to sell at a later date.The first sale was 6/9-11/2022 and the 3 vehicles were sold. All vehicles were listed at market value for 3 days, we took the offer of $3,000 for the dodge on the last day, the **** ***** sold through public auction for $1,100 (not running), Dump truck sold through public auction for $450 (non running). We held the auction on-site at our location. As per the contract there are NO minimums on vehicles. Specifically in the contract Page 3 paragraph 4

  "Seller also grants ********* the ability to negotiate prices for large ticket sales and liquidation sales in the final hour of the sale. The main point of the estate sale is to get items sold at reasonable value. ********* has complete authority to sell all item agreed upon with no reserves, unless specifically outlined in the bottom of this contract." -There are no minimums outlined as you can see, and there was nothing verbally discussed.

  It was verbally discussed when signing the contract that small efforts to make a vehicle run add large value to the overall sale of items. Specifically the battery was for the 92 Dodge and it was not running prior to the new battery. The tires for the trailer were purchased new at tire-rama, we put new tires on old rims. The intent was to make the trailer more salable and usable after 3 tires blew. Approximately 5 days after the sale the client contacted ********* and demanded the check and the trailers return. She also insisted that she did not want ********* to sell anymore of her items for her. ******* would never have taken the sale for only the 3 items, and in fact lost commissions because she pulled the items that she agreed to have us sell. Per the contract we are actually entitled to restitution for her pulling those items.  

  Customer response

  07/28/2022

   
  Complaint: 17500904
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I never fired ******* Estate Sales when I asked for my trailer back.  I waited several weeks (after getting my trailer back) for them to come back and finish the job *********************** promised to do, but they never came. It was obvious that they were not going to uphold their end of the contract and was left to do it myself. They are lying about my demanding the check when I notified them about wanting the trailer back because the sale had not occurred yet, so I was well aware there was no check yet. If the Dodge Diesel truck was not running, as they say, then why bother buying a battery for a non-running vehicle and charge me for it while I could have given them a battery I already had. Also, taking it upon themselves to charge me for 3 new tires on the trailer when I had 6 spare tires on rims for that trailer. Plus they had no right to use my trailer for their own use as seen in pictures on their website. I have yet to receive copies of the original Bills of Sale I asked for.  The ones that have my notarized signature on them that the purchaser receives. That is the only proof of the actual purchase price received rather than having to take *********************** word for it.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩