Venting about consignment shops

TeePee

Member
Location
Kentucky
In the past, I have always taken clothes that I don't like the way they fit or that I'm tired of them to Goodwill. I've taken some nice things with tags on them.

A friend of mine suggested I take them to a consignment shop and at least get some of my money back. It seemed reasonable to me. The nearest one to me is about 20 miles away. They price your clothes and give you 50% of what they get. They said you can call every two weeks to see how much that was owed you.

I called a little over a month ago and they said they owed me $50. I told them I didn't want to cash out yet and just hold onto it until it built up more. I called two weeks ago, and they said they owed me $45. I told them to hold onto it until it built up more. I called them today and they said they owed me $14. I drove over to the shop thinking they owed me $109 (the sum of all they had sold). They lady at the desk said that when you call to get an amount of what they owe you, they assume you've picked it up and they zero out the books. What kind of business does business like that!!! Naturally the lady that does the books was not there.

I try not to get upset, because if I get too upset, I tend to cry and I'm too proud to cry in front of someone who has cheated me. I've never cheated anyone out of a nickel in my life and guess it's too much to ask that other people do the same.

Update: The bookkeeper just called. She said she saw the $45 dollars and $14 dollars they owed me, but did not see the $50. She said it must have got put on someone else's books. She said she would mail me $59 dollars. I told her they owed me $ 109.00 but she wouldn't budge. That's it for me. Never again. I'd rather take good clothing to Goodwill or Salvation Army for free rather than have someone cheat me.
 

They lady at the desk said that when you call to get an amount of what they owe you, they assume you've picked it up and they zero out the books. What kind of business does business like that!!
Wow, that is too bad they didn't tell you that when you called up. Do they have reviews on Yelp, you could leave a review of your experience so other people will be forewarned. Do you think they intentionally "cheated" you or that your financial loss was due to them being 'unprofessional', 'incompetent', 'having poor communication'? Either way the results are the same, but for me I'd have different emotional responses, being cheated hurts more, suffering from incompetence is more of a roll-of-the-eyes feeling for me.
 
Wow, that is too bad they didn't tell you that when you called up. Do they have reviews on Yelp, you could leave a review of your experience so other people will be forewarned. Do you think they intentionally "cheated" you or that your financial loss was due to them being 'unprofessional', 'incompetent', 'having poor communication'? Either way the results are the same, but for me I'd have different emotional responses, being cheated hurts more, suffering from incompetence is more of a roll-of-the-eyes feeling for me.

I just think they are too disorganized. The lady at the desk said they had 3200 accounts they have to keep tabs on. I don't know if I believe it or not. I intend on giving them a negative review, but I still have clothes in their shop, so I'm going to wait until they either get sold or given to Goodwill. It's my understanding that what doesn't sell, they give to Goodwill which is okay. I told the bookkeeper that when people call that they need to be told that if they don't pick the check up, it gets zeroed out. That whole system sounds shaky to me.
 

I recently did something I never do - I sold something on Ebay (it was a hifi amp).

Someone bought it within an hour of posting, which was great.

That's when I discovered all the strangeness of Ebay. Ebay has an integrated mailing service. It integrates with other vendors, such as the Post Office in the UK. No problem, I use the Post Office for sending packages all the time. Except, Ebay insists that *I* print the label. I usually get the Post Office to bring the label when they pick the parcel up - I don't have a printer.

So I send the package via my usual method, no problem. I then try to replace MY tracking number with the automatically assigned one given by Ebay. Despite everything I read, I couldn't figure out how to do it. I saw instructions on the steps required, but when I checked, the menu options weren't the same. I had to contact Ebay and speak to a person to fix it.

It didn't end there. I have yet to receive the funds from the sale. I ask when they'll arrive in my bank, and I'm told "two days after delivery". I ask how they know it's been delivered, and they say by using the tracking number. However, since Ebay was expecting me to use THEIR tracking number, it wouldn't be able to confirm delivery. In such cases, I'd get the funds in 15 days. 15 days! That's 15 days that Ebay are holding that money, no doubt making interest from it.

Since I had used my own delivery service, the buyer had - essentially - paid twice for postage. I asked when the Ebay postage costs would be refunded to the buyer, since that tracking number was never going to be used. They told me it takes 40 to 50 days! What?!?

Which is just a recent example to remind us that nothing is as easy as it seems. If they hold funds across their site, it's easy to imagine they're making millions off interest payments for that cash.
 

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