Auction Ohio — Local services in Columbus

If I could give this company zero stars, I would. I met with the principal of the company several times and one of his affiliates who was actually handled most of my dealings with the company. I hired them to handle an auction of my vintage cars with the understanding that they would do follow-up auctions either on site or online to handle the rest of my possessions in the three barns that I own. We decided to have two online auctions before the car auction. These auctions were made up of mostly garage tools and car parts. They assured me that after these auctions were finished, everything listed in the auctios would be gone or at least if not everything then only a few items would be left. They ran out of time to inventory, photograph and listi everything and only ran the online auction for about 4 days. The results were pretty poor. I didn't expect to make a lot of money but not only did I not meet my fairly low monetary expectations, I had several things that were never picked up left and I also had many, many things that didn't ever make it to the auction because they ran out of time. After the two online auctions, they auctioned my classic cars. Auction Ohio had promised to advertise in Hemmings. By the time they got around to listing the cars, they missed the printed issue of Hemmings and only advertised the cars online. This was one of many balls they dropped as far as advertising. I had to constantly call the company and point out mistakes or omissions in the online advertising. Since the auction, I have had several local people tell me they didn't even know there was an auction. This was embarrassing to me and a clear indication of their lack of attention to advertising. The car auction has come and gone. Results were mixed. When I met recently with the auctioneer that handled my first three auctions, I was informed that he would not be able to finish the job. Not only was he unable to finish the job but he told me that no one in the Columbus area could finish the job for him. Yes, I live an hour away from Columbus but that didn't seem to be an issue when they had the high dollar items of the car auction. Now that the car auction is over and they have made their money, they are deserting their promise to me to see this through to the end. I guess if you have small, fairly low dollar items, this company might be a good match for you if they will initially handle your auctions.. If you have high dollar items, make sure that they aren't going to make promises to you that they will not keep. I hope this review has been...

We will never use Auction Ohio again! We are sorry we ever heard of them. They did not take care to get the highest price possible for our auctioned items. When the listings first went live only short little phrases were attached to each item. Several descriptions were just wrong. This was despite us providing written information for many items that went completely unused. Only after we complained did Auction Ohio go back to add important details. And this was after the auction was about half over.

Examples

Lot 82, white mamasan & papasan ceramic figures. Identical figures by the same artist recently sold online for $325, but Auction Ohio sold ours for $27. Auction Ohio’s listing failed to point out how rare it was to have the original baskets carried by the figures included in the sale.

Lot 66, Photograph of a shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral. Auction Ohio was informed in writing the photo was signed by one of the astronauts. Ohio Auction chose not to mention this. Sold for $9.35.

Lot 73, Picture of Germans celebrating at the fallen Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. The picture was personally signed by then president of Germany Richard von Weizsacker. He signed it while aboard our USAF airplane flying him to Berlin. Auction Ohio failed to mention the picture was signed by the German President. Sold for $3.65.

Lot 4, Blue Rug. Auction Ohio listed it as wool. It was not. It was a silk/cotton blend. Auction Ohio didn’t say how large it was. It was approx 6 ft X 9 ft. Auction Ohio didn’t mention it was authentic Chinese bought by the seller in Beijing. Sold for $89.

Lot 107, Japanese Kimono. Poor quality pictures. They apparently didn’t have a dress form to display it properly. We viewed a similar kimono one online that was beautifully displayed and sold for $600. Ours sold for $8.50.

Lot 37, Signed Russian Cathedral Print. NO! That was an original painting purchased directly from the artist. Sold for $21.

Lot 50, Daybed. Listing says, “Brass tone metal daybed.” NO! That trundle bed was solid brass....

I purchased a home that was to be removed from a property. I went to the home for a friend and met with Brian Hall onsite. During the walkthrough we asked several questions and Brian had all the answers. Biggest mistake I made was believing him telling me that the home could be moved and they had a moving company that had Inspected the place to move 53 miles and they could do it with no problems he also told us the cost of that move but it was just a little bit more than they wanted to spend for the lot and improvements needed at the time. Well I only wanted to move the home 5 miles just down 2 roads so my mistake but I took him for his word that the home could be picked up. Also during the conversation with Brian Hall I asked about all of the trash and debris that would be created and he told me, if you move the home move the home or take whatever you want and leave the rest because if the home doesn't sell they are tearing it down anyway. So huge mistakes on my end. I believed Brian Hall's story about moving the home because he answered all my questions and he sounded like he really had talked to someone. I also believe that I wasn't responsible for any trash removal was stated by Mr. HALL ...wrong.

After finding out that the home couldn't be moved by several companies when I confronted Brian Hall on the phone he said well someone else had told him all of that and he was very surprised by the fact it couldn't be moved and quickly backpedaled on the matter. Ad for all the trash and debris from dismantling the house he had replied ... Good morning we do not have supply dumpsters nor do we provide debris clean up for winning bidders. Any arrangements you have or had with the seller is an arrangement between the 2 of you. Now all contact and conversations before during and after the sale are with Auction Ohio and once they receive their large check from you they don't care about anything. Basically do your homework before any purchases from this company and ask to speak with...