Excitement and disappointment

[batman_fan]

I recent won a page I really like in a recent Heritage Auction.

 

 

The package arrived last week but when I opened it, it was a Justic League splash page which sold for about 1/3 the page I bought. Heritage said they have my page in their facility and are sending it to me but now I have to pack this page up and send it back (they said they would re-emburse me for the shipping.

 

Talk about a big let down.

[comicparadox]

Yes, but the antici

 

pation will make it even better.

[westform]

That's a beaut! Worth waiting for!... DF

[batman_fan]

That's a beaut! Worth waiting for!... DF

 

Thanks Dan, I really like most stuff Palmer inked and Nova is a pretty cool character. I hope to have it next week.

[r1982rhoads]

This very same thing happened on a splash I bought a year ago. I bought a Weird War Tales splash and got a very bad House of Mystery splash. Talk about being pissed off!

 

A lot of people like Heritage, and I don't mean to bash them here, but at 19.5 % buyer premium, they shouldn't make mistakes like this.

 

 

[westform]

You're welcome... but don't forget Buckler. I myself have a mighty fine Buckler Nova cover that I am very happy with. But, yes, Palmer is hard to fault. He is one of those inkers who makes every penciller look better, and that's all you can ask for. I've bought pages by pencillers I really don't like, simply because Palmer was inking. DF

[justin]

I recent won a page I really like in a recent Heritage Auction.

 

The package arrived last week but when I opened it, it was a Justic League splash page which sold for about 1/3 the page I bought. Heritage said they have my page in their facility and are sending it to me but now I have to pack this page up and send it back (they said they would re-emburse me for the shipping.

 

Talk about a big let down.

 

Dude you almost scared me. I thought you were going to say that it got severely damaged. whew! I'd rather have a mistake in shipping than damage. Hope it arrives promptly and in excellent condition!

[batman_fan]

I recent won a page I really like in a recent Heritage Auction.

 

 

The package arrived last week but when I opened it, it was a Justic League splash page which sold for about 1/3 the page I bought. Heritage said they have my page in their facility and are sending it to me but now I have to pack this page up and send it back (they said they would re-emburse me for the shipping.

 

Talk about a big let down.

 

Well, I finally received my page. It looks great but I have to say, in my opinion, Heritage's customer service really sucked in this case. Here is the entire story.

 

1. Get wrong artwork and send email and leave phone message. Neither one replied to, ever.

2. Call during office hours and get told send the page back and they will re-emburse shipping and send my page out immediately. Never sent my page.

3. Called again and was told they wouldn't ship my page until I sent the page back and they received it. They had no record of the error so I requested an email stating they made an error to document it. They never sent the email.

4. Sent back the page and received mine about 10 days later, no mention of the re-embusement for the shipping.

 

So now I am going to be stuck with trying to get re-embursed for their screw up ...

[r1982rhoads]

I feel your pain, man. Trust me, I have had nothing but issues with Heritage. They eventually get things right, but at 19.5% buyer premium, it should never get as far as it does. I spoke with a few people in charge over there, and they didn't seem to get that 19.5 premium should get the buyer something resembling quality, caring service.

 

The worst experience I have had with them has been their website failing at 9:59 on the Sunday auctions that close at 10 pm. This has happened twice, and they openly said that their system failed. I didn't get an apology, all I got was: "I should have bid earlier. It is the bidder who bids the most that wins, not the bidder who bids last." This is the typical Heritage reaction...

 

As for getting re-imbursed for your shipping, keep calling. I think it took me 3 calls to get re-imbursed on being shipped the wrong thing.

 

 

[comix4fun]

I feel your pain, man. Trust me, I have had nothing but issues with Heritage. They eventually get things right, but at 19.5% buyer premium, it should never get as far as it does. I spoke with a few people in charge over there, and they didn't seem to get that 19.5 premium should get the buyer something resembling quality, caring service.

 

The worst experience I have had with them has been their website failing at 9:59 on the Sunday auctions that close at 10 pm. This has happened twice, and they openly said that their system failed. I didn't get an apology, all I got was: "I should have bid earlier. It is the bidder who bids the most that wins, not the bidder who bids last." This is the typical Heritage reaction...

 

As for getting re-imbursed for your shipping, keep calling. I think it took me 3 calls to get re-imbursed on being shipped the wrong thing.

 

 

I would be interested to know who "in charge" you spoke to at Heritage that told you quality, caring service was not what they felt buyers deserved.

 

I ask because my experiences with them have been completely the opposite. If I call and ask for someone in charge I can get them on the phone. They never made me feel like they did not care or that I was dealing with anything less than professionals.

 

And as for auction houses in general, none of them are going to go out of their way to reward snipe bidders. Snipe bidders cost them money. People who bid early and often and get into bidding wars make their money for them. Why would any business prefer an action that costs them money over one that makes them money?

 

My advice to the buyer in this situation is to call and ask for one of the "name" people...the people in the front of the catalog and get them to help. That is why they are there. Lon Allen or Ed Jaster....call them direct and talk to them or leave them a detailed message about what happened. I would be shocked if it weren't resolved in short order. That's been my personal experience.

 

I do see how your mileage may vary, but in my experience it's never been as bad as described here.

 

Chris

[westform]

Chris; I would add to that that while I do like to bid at the last minute with most auctions in general I have found that bidding a bit early with Heritage has never gone wrong for me. I always worry about auctioners bidding me up if I leave a bid and I mean all auction houses including Sotheby's to seller's at Ebay. Anyway, even though I am always dubious, I have never and I mean never experienced Heritage bidding me up or pulling any shenanigans. 9 times out of 10 if I win a piece from them, it is for well below my final bid. I just won a piece in this last auction that I put in two bids the day before because I just decided to go a bit higher than just topping the previous bidder and lo and behold, I won it for the first bid. So, even though it's hard as a bidder, at least here's one vote for no worries at Heritage with putting in early bids. Dan F.

[r1982rhoads]

Hey guys, All I am doing is relating the experiences that I have had with Heritage. If you have had as many run arounds as I have had, you would feel like I do.

 

I spoke with Ed Jaster, Lon Allen and a few other people there. They were nice, but really didn't care that their system failed before auction close. I never have problems getting people on the phone. However, my thoughts are if you want to be in the "big leagues," your system should not fail. If a person wants to snipe, so be it. Some people like to snipe, some don't. I like doing it, and I'd say more than half the people out there do it. Deal with it, it is not going to go away. If your auction is supposed to close at 10pm, the system should work til 10pm on the dot. The person that bids the most, wins, regardless if the bid was placed early or late.

 

I hear your arguement that bidding early starts bidding wars and makes them money. However, if I can't bid at the end, I don't bid at all. That costs them money. I usually double bids at the end, so having a system in place that lets them take bids late makes them money. I lost two lots in particular that sold for half what I was willing to pay because their system crashed. If I was the owner of the two lots and learned I could have made a few hundred more, I would be pretty pissed. Bottom line, online bidding should allow bidding at any time during the auction period to cater to individuals and their own bidding styles. As auctioneers, Heritage should have that down pat.

 

I always get the items I pay for with them, and have to say I have gotten some stuff way below what I paid. My whole argument is, for the 19.5% you pay, service could be better.

 

 

[westform]

... and I didn't mean to sound like I was arguing with you if it came off that way. Your point is well taken. I was just trying to offer a solution as a bidder, not justify the inintial problem. DF