ComplaintsforGraham Auctions

• Initial Complaint

  10/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Graham Auctions is a really great auction house. The warehouse employees are always friendly, and so are the admin clerical staff in the main office. My complaint is regarding policy, Terms of Service, at all auction houses, everywhere. I purchased a ****** System ****** ***** Mens Jacket from Graham Auctions. Hibid, the online auction network where every transaction takes place when people bid at auction lots such as Grahams Auctions, says this about technology and online auctions: Technology has become a powerful medium to bring people and the world closer. You can order almost anything youd ever want online and get it shipped to your doorstep without leaving your couch. So, about that ****** System ****** ***** mens jacket - upon winning my bid, I picked up my jacket and noticed the liner to the jacket was missing. I made the auctioneer aware and I requested a refund. The auctioneer replied by stating their terms of service and said it is the responsibility of the bidder to view the items before placing their bid or words to that effect. The ******* Consumer Bill of Rights states: You have the right to: only be charged for goods or services you requested and agreed to pay for. This did not happen. I was offered a credit. Thats not a refund. Thats taking my money without my permission. It does not matter which terms of service are being referenced, it does not make sense to list an item as one thing, but in reality, the physical item is not as advertised. The response I was given was that the money was already paid to the trust and cannot be reversed. My question is, how is that my problem? Thats an accounting problem and a consumer should not be affected. At the end of the day, we have auction houses that have shifted to online bidding, yet most of the same rules governing online auctions are being applied if they were live auctions. How can a bidder view an item thats online and be informed of its condition. The terms of service are out of date.

  

  Business response

  20/11/2023

  After reviewing the consumers compliant, I feel there is a simple resolution to the consumers concern, I have left a voice mail to confirm some of the facts regarding this situation. After confirming this information I am positive that we will address the consumers concerns. The consumer is a regular auction customer and their concerns will be addressed with either an exchange of the same product or a full refund. After reviewing the supporting documentation it is clear that the product was not declared that a portion of the product was missing. This should have been declared and that is why I am willing to exchange or refund to address the consumers complaint. As we are a public auction operating with weekly online auctions, consumers may come and inspect auction items on Thursday, Friday and Saturday each week. It is the auctions responsibility to ensure proper descriptions are given and I wish to ensure consumer confidence.  Thank you 

  Customer response

  27/11/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory; however, I have decided to walk away. I will not seek a refund or a store credit. I am happy Graham Auctions has admitted the error and wanted to correct it. I am not happy that it took raising a complaint with the BBB. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  18/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I would like to submit a claim on my purchase of **** ******* Pick up Truck that I bought from this Auction. I picked it up on April 8th, 2022. On the way home driving from the auction site , in an hour, Check Engine Light blinked and stayed on.Got the vehicle scanned and had a code Cylinder3 Misfire.I noticed that the seller knew about this issue. Because it was marked 'C' on that exact cylinder when I took the engine cover off.I had that Coil Pack replaced and also Spark Plugs replaced.However this issue wasn't resolved.Figured out that it needs Camshaft and Cam lifters Replaced.Which is a serious repair that would cost me **** CAD.Almost same Cost to just replace the whole Engine. The reason why I am claiming this is a Fraud is that the Seller intentionally hide the problem.I paid a little more ***** for this truck. Not knowing any major engine issue.If I ever knew about this issue, I wouldnt even think about buying it.They Erased the Check Engine Code that could have been there for a while because of this serious Camshaft issue. (Cam Lob gets eaten by roller bearing and damage slowly gets worse. It is not an instant engine failure)Auction Product Description mentioned nothing about this major Mechanical Issues. While comparing to Other vehicles that were on sale, those vehicles had descriptions of faulty issues saying ' Loud Exhaust noise' or ' Transmission issues' so on. Seller of this truck wanted to get rid of this Truck in an auction that had a Significant Engine damage, cost estimated more than ****CAD.And the Auctioneer might have known the issue or even if they didnt known the issue. They should have checked with the seller and be transparent what they were putting on their listing.I would like a refund on my purchase since they should have mentioned this issues or left the Check Engine Light On and be Transparent. So the Buyer who is paying ***** Dollar on the vehicle knows what they are actually purchasing.

  

  Business response

  30/04/2022

  Hello BBB,

  This transaction is an unfortunate occurrence. The customer purchased the vehicle at auction and drove the unit back to ***************** and realized there may be a problem with the motor, She then brought the unit to her mechanic and the engine was diagnosed with a camshaft issue and quoted $***** to repair. The customer brought this to our attention and we requested that they bring this truck to the manufacturer for diagnosis. ****************** confirmed the diagnosis and quoted the customer $*,*** for the same repair. As we are a public auction selling consigned vehicles we brought this information to the consignor. The consignor contacted a local Calgary Dodge dealership and was successful in negotiating the same repair in Calgary for $*****. This updated discounted repair quote was given at wholesale pricing in order to satisfy the customer's concern.

  We contacted the customer and relayed this information and offered for her to bring the unit to Calgary and the repair could be completed at the reduced price and the consignor would pay for half of the repair in order to take care of the customer. The customer stated that they did not have the time to return the unit to Calgary for repair and requested a cash settlement of $*****. 

  The consignor offered $***** and Graham Auctions offered to pay an additional $*** to assist the customer in getting the repairs completed. The customer was contacted and accepted the offer of $*****. We always strive to be responsible corporate citizens and will always do our best to be fair. 

  
  We now consider this issue resolved and have closed our file.
  
  Thank you,
  
  ***********************

  Customer response

  02/05/2022

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  Hello Better Business Bureau,
  
  Thanks for helping me out addressing this issue.
  
  I have talked to Graham Auction few days ago and settled with reimbursement of $**** so I can compensate some of my  $**** Repair Cost. 
  
  Only reason why I didnt want to bring the truck to get it repaired at their suggested shop was that they only considered the repair cost.  It will be my truck that is going to be repaired and I dont know what kind of shop they are bringing the truck into and what will be done to it.
  
  Dealer in my city quote me $**** for repair. I found the honest and reasonable shop and they quote me $****. 
  
  Seller said their shop can do it for $**** so I should bring the truck to that shop.
  
  Well, they never diagnosed the problem themselves or even heard how the engine sounded like. 
  
  I decided better deal with the problem myself in a right way even if it cost me more.  Also, I didn't want anymore headache and didn't want to deal with the seller who once pulled the wool over my eyes. 
  
  This settlement can compensate some of the cost of the repair so I decided to accept the offer.
  
  Attaching is the Camshaft that came out from this truck and also worn out lifter.  So the engine was pretty bad.

  
  Thank you again. 
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and agree to a  resolution.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ** *** ****
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  21/03/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I did not recieve what I actually bid on recently when I purchased a fitness machine. I went a day prior to the auction to check the machine before bidding on it as I wanted to inspect the condition and make sure all the parts where in tact. Everything looked good so I placed my bid and "won" the machine. All seemed fine until I went to pick it up. When I arrived I was told the machine that was in the photo that I bid on and went to inspect first, actually wasn't the machine they were going to be giving me. They said it was a different unit and mine was somewhere in box. I was later given a damaged box with a "brand new" machine. After taking it home and opening it, I noticed it was missing half the weight stack. I immediately spoke with an employee who apologized for the situation and said they would look for the missing parts but needed time. We are over 4 weeks now and after multiple requests, I still haven't heard back. I am shocked that they think its okay to post items for auction and then give a completely different item then what's in the photos. What's the point in allowing customers to come view items when you are going to sell them something completely different anyways? I was told the workers didn't want to spend time putting the one in the box together, so they would just use photos from a different unit. I purchased the unit for $675 + fees on February 19th, 2022. I was told the following from an employee on March 3rd:"we can continue to look for the weights and see if another gym system comes in and we can grab the weights from. If this is something that you would be interested in?Please advise,"It is now March 18th and I have yet to recieve any replies to my emails or a resolution. Can you help?Thank you

  

  Business response

  13/04/2022

  To be open and transparent, I am not sure why Mr.***** filed a complaint with BBB. Some of the facts with regards to the customer's complaint are indeed accurate while other important facts were not disclosed as part of the customer's complaint. 

  
  

  My ***** purchased a home gym from the auction and our warehouse team was attempting to assist the customer by providing the same make and model home gym that did not require disassembly for transportation. At the time the customer picked this auction item up it was satisfactory, when the customer arrived at home and started to assemble the item he discovered there were key parts missing, he promptly communicated this information to us and we immediately apologized for any inconvenience and offered Mr.***** either a full refund or he could wait until we received the same model and we would then replace the missing parts. I made this offer with a full disclosure that we are not in control of the inventory that is sent to us and we would replace these parts as soon as possible. I then had two of my warehouse team members manually inspect all of our current inventory to immediately replace the missing parts. It was communicated to Mr.***** that these parts were not available and that we would still honour the refund option. It was his choice to wait for the replacement parts to come. On April 4th, 2022 we received the same unit and immediately contacted Mr.***** and requested he attend our location to complete the set he originally purchased from us. On April 9th, 2022 **************** attend and recovered the required parts to complete his fitness equipment.

  
  

  I feel the consumer's complaint against our business is not accurate or fair, our business offered *************** a fair resolution and communicated our position and disclosed all factors that would affect the timeline for *************** clearly.

*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. ↩