Westport Auction — Local services in Norwalk

I placed an absentee bid with Westport Auctions (WA) for an item. However, by the start of the auction I had not received confirmation that my absentee bid had been accepted. So when the lot came up for auction I began bidding online. The hammer price ended up being a few dollars over my absentee bid (I won via the online auction site). Afterwards, I contacted WA to ask whether my absentee bid had been accepted, and they said it had. I told them I wish I’d been notified of that sooner.

I am more than willing to accept the blame for mistakes I made during the bidding process by registering to bid on two separate platforms. However, here is where I take issue with WA:

When I contacted WA to ask whether I was bidding against myself since they received my absentee bid, they assured me I wasn’t. They said the piece had a lot of interest online and on the floor. Something still felt shady about it, so I called WA 3-4 times over the next few days, talked to three different people, and they were all adamant that my bids were not competing against each other. So against my better judgment, I decided to move forward with the transaction.

Westport Auctions emailed me an invoice, then an hour later emailed me an “updated invoice” that was nearly $100 more than the original invoice, saying they forgot to include taxes. I went to pick up the item (an antique oil painting which I was about to pay “handsomely” for) and found it laying on the floor near the establishment’s entrance. Then when I paid for it, the cashier shorted me over $50. I brought it to his attention and another employee had to come and show him how to double check his math using the computer.

After leaving the physical store, I contacted the online auction platform to get more clarity on what happened during the bidding process, because as I said something still felt wrong. Even the online auction site wanted more transparency from WA. The online auction site proceeded to email WA for more information. Finally, after days of pursuance, WA finally admitted that after further research they could see I was bidding against myself. Westport Auctions had been giving me misleading information all along. This would have been very valuable information for me to have prior to picking up the item.

As I stated earlier, I take my blame where it lies. Interestingly, WA felt they had no fault in this, and did not offer any assistance in rectifying this matter, even though they had been disingenuous for days leading up to me picking up the item. A little honesty...

Horrible! horrible! This auction house is not the same Westport auction house that it was a few years ago! Exorbitant late fees, rude customer service, inflexible policies. Beware! In response It wasn’t an hour after closing it was 5 minutes!! I was in my car on the way there and that is what my gps said sometimes 10-15 but definitely not a hour! Exaggeration lie! you were rude and inflexible. Not at all the auction house you use to be. I offered to pick it up the Friday before and you said it was too soon. You never offered me a reduced storage fee you only said your rules. I had a friend who put things in your auction house and bought things from you and I went to your auctions in person in Westport and it was always very nice, but now you’ve gone corporate and I will never ever recommend or look at your auctions again. People have jobs and sometimes can’t get to Westport before 4:30 or 5:00. And you are not open weekends. It’s a racket to get exorbitant storage fees. I am a single mom who does not have a lot of money and you have caused me so much stress. Horrible...

These people have an easy enough platform to operate as a bidder, but they're incredibly rude. Legitimately had the worst customer service experience I've ever had trying to work with these people. I would honestly recommend anyone to go anywhere else.

Response to westports response - My issues are not your policies. My issue is the incredibly rude woman I spoke with today. Apparently she's a "manager" there bc when I asked to speak to one, she said "me" and then when I mentioned that I had spoken to someone the previous day who was incredibly nice, she responded with "whatever" and then hung up on me.

And for the record, you never contacted me via phone, please don't try to convince anyone reading google that you did by saying that I never returned your...