Galeria de Arte Sorolla | Exposición y venta directa de más de mil cuadros y pinturas al óleo — Attraction in Seville

We bought a large oil painting from Sorolla Gallery (Seville) in March this year, 2022. We are from the UK and wanted to know if there would be customs duty to pay on delivery. We were told that because we were paying £80 delivery it would be covered and there would be no additional cost. The painting was delivered to the UK in May by UPS and a request was made for customs duty, which I paid. i informed Sorolla and they were surprised but said they would reimburse me for this, which they did. Despite payment of the customs duty UPS kept the painting for over three weeks. Countless phone calls and emails later, it was eventually delivered later in May, horribly damaged. Something sharp (in transit probably) had pierced through the cardboard box and tore a gash in the canvas and three corners of the frame had been chipped and dented. I informed both Sorolla and UPS. The upshot was that nobody was prepared to take responsibility. UPS wanted pictures from me to show what the packaging was like and Sorolla claimed that the packaging was good and the damage was not caused as a result of their negligence. They eventually offered me 200 euros which I accepted on the basis that if i did not I would end up with nothing since nobody was taking any responsibility. UPS said they would not let me know the outcome of the investigation, they would inform Sorolla (their customer) and they should let me know. When I asked Sorolla, they did not inform me and to this day i do not know whether UPS approved the claim they made. Angry and frustrated as I was I thought I would explore possibilities for repairing the painting. In the UK restoration is very expensive. I had a quote from one place for over £900! (my painting cost me 780 euros). I found somebody cheaper who would do it for £320 who came to look at the painting. She was shocked when she saw the packaging. One thin layer of bubble wrap, no protective covers for the corners of the frame and placed in a cardboard box with no hardboard over the canvas. She told me in no uncertain terms what she thought of the packaging, unbelievable was one of the more polite words she used. If you watch any Utube video on how to package a painting for delivery, as I did, you will see how woefully inadequate the Sorolla method is. I have had better packaged windscreen scrapers from Amazon, and I told Sorolla. They were defensive, saying they had never had a problem with their packaging. On their website they promise refunds if not happy, insurance, excellent packaging etc. Take this all with a pinch of salt, it certainly wasn't my experience when I wanted to return the painting and get a refund. The fact remains that had Sorolla provided the packaging they should have done, my painting would not have been damaged. Moreover, having discovered what happened they should have immediately offered to either provide a refund and pay for the return delivery, or offer to pay for the restoration and then pursue their claim with UPS separately. They did not do this, they fobbed me off with 200 euros which will not pay for the repair, so the painting is sitting in my loft. The whole experience has been very stressful, disappointing and of course expensive. I always judge a company by how they behave when things go wrong, not by how they behave when things are going well. I would not recommend this art gallery to anybody who would need to have the art work delivered - they cut corners with the packaging. They claim they have never had a problem with their packaging before which I find difficult to believe. Even if it were true, my experience proves that there there may be the 'unusual' occasion when the packaging is not good enough and the painting gets damaged. What you need to know is that if this happens to you it is unlikely that you will be fully compensated by anybody who is responsible for the damage and that you, the innocent party will be left with your very expensive mistake and the dilemma of what...

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