Vault Auctions UK PROBLEMS

[clobberintime]

Does anyone have contact with these people? Are they still alive? I have been emailing them and calling them for a few months now and they are not responding. I won a couple thousand dollars worth of books from them several months ago. I sent a cashiers check for half and then tried calling them to leave my cc info. I called several times and got no acknowledgement of receipt of my money or the calls i placed. I had dealt with them many times in the past so I left my cc info on their answering machine. Weeks went by - and no books. Called and emailed again. Finally got an email saying they still had the books and received the payment and would settle up as soon as the current auctions finished. A month goes by - and nothing! In the last month I have called and emailed half a dozen times. And now I am fed up. This is one of the problems with dealing with either incompetent people or thieves who don't live in this country - we have enough of those here already. Were they here in the US I would have already taken action against them. So if anyone out there knows them, please have them contact me. I really want the books but could use the money for some other stuff too. I don't plan to just let them keep my money - they will pay one way or another because if the don't, at the very least I can promise that their next round of internet auctions will be a train wreck.

[comicmankev]

They seem to have been getting a lot worse on the past few auctions!

 

I won some items but was never told, and received a phonecall last week saying that if I didnt pay, the would start legal proceedings! Tried to pay online (like I usually do), and the CC link on their site is not working.

 

Emailed them immediately and have heard nothing.

 

I can't see their consignees(?) are happy with this, I wouldnt!

[clobberintime]

And I thought I was getting special treatment since I lived in the US! I was one of the few people that bought stuff from their first few auctions a couple years backn and everything went fine in those transactions. I even had a thread on here telling folks to look for them! Sounds like they are having some internal problems. Thanks for the input.

[blazingbob]

I personally know the people running these auctions and have sent a email asking what is going on. I'm very surprised about this since I happen to know that both owners are very reputable. However, that doesn't mean that the service shouldn't be there. Hopefully I will hear both sides of the story and this can be worked out.

 

 

[Moriarty]

R,

 

Gave them a call for you this afternoon but no one was available, will try again later this evening. You did use their new number I presume? 01342 300 900

[JohnBull]

Hello to everyone on these boards. I've lurked here for a while with nothing to contribute, but I may be able to offer some info now, so here I am.

 

I've dealt with John at Vault for 4 or 5 years now and have bought and sold a fair amount through him. It's fair to say that reliability is not his middle name, but I have always received goods and monies from him, although there have sometimes been long delays. On one occassion, he disappeared for about 6 months after I had paid 50% on £1000 worth of goods. He claimed to have been sidelined through illness and I suspect this was the truth as I had to remind him that I still owed £500 on the books he was holding for me when he did emerge (maybe not my smartest move).

 

I guess that episode was around 2001 and since then he has been more reliable, if never quick.

 

This last auction I purchased several thousands pounds worth from him. I received the goods around the beginning of this month, around 3 weeks after he'd have got my cheque. Cheque clearance time in the UK is normally 3-4 days and I did have to phone to prompt receipt. I also had a few hundred pounds worth of material consigned through him and to date I have not been paid. I tried to offset my funds against my payment to him when I paid last month, but he wanted the two keeping separate and told me I could expect a cheque in the first week of October.

 

From a business point of view I could understand his wanting to keep payments in and payments out apart from each other, but my cheque never arrived. I phoned mid October and received an e-mail telling me I would receive it by the 22nd. This was tacked on to a stock e-mail he must have sent to all his customers, blaming delays on his recent move in business premises. A similar message appears on his website, which mentions that the next auction might be delayed (although on the phone to him I was informed that the November auction had definitely been cancelled and that the next one would be in February).

 

I've tried ringing the new phone number several times, but all I get is an answering system. A couple of days ago, I left a message stating that if I didn't get paid by Monday, I'd file in a small claims court and would look for interest on the money I was owed, but even this has garnered no response.

 

Now, at this point I should mention that there are postal disputes going on in the UK, particulalry in the London area. Nothing has been delivered for about 2-3 days and there have been a couple of one day stoppages before this in the last month. That said, everything should have been mailed out well before this latest strike and although I don't know his new address, the phone number is definitely not a London one.

 

Looking through Vault's ebay feedback, it would seem that this is all familiar territory. If I had to be honest, I would expect that everyone will get their books and payments, but personally, I'm not holding my breath for mine. The move in business premises might be a factor and some may speculate that he could be playing with customers funds in order to help finance the move (but not me, as that would be libellous).

 

I'm not sure if that's a comfort to you all or not. Whatever, good wishes to all in the US and elsewhere.

 

Gary

[BronzeBruce13]

Hey Rob,

 

A few Vault auctions back, I posted about the problems I was experiencing in regards to "lack of communications" with the Vault. Several other forumites chimed in with their own gripes too. It was in the Marketplace though and was deleted. It was clear though, that there was room for improvement.

 

Although many people, including you and I, have had smooth deals and good service also, it seems they still can be inconsistent. Last auction, they took on 2 new customer service reps. (Susan and Philip) and communications were improved and my service was fine and i received responses to my questions (even though at one point my mail box was full and I thought they were not responding)... and most importantly my book arrived rather quickly.

 

Board members "Borg" and "BlazingBob" also have spoke highly of the owner John Piers and its clear he is considered a reputable dealer. Even so, I still needed Borg's assistance to reach them the first time.

 

Your current experience sounds extremely frustrating and I have to wonder why you (especially as a very good repeat customer) are receiving little response and no action or sense of urgency to your concerns. If you've actually spent your "own dime" on international phone calls in addition to emails and still have not received action or your books... that is inexcusable. With the addition of 2 new employees, your problem should have been met with quick communication and a fast resolution.

 

The Vault could very easily become a "Premiere Auction Site" if they could only find a way to improve their service consistently. With overseas customers, its even more vital to create trust through exemplary communications and service.

 

I won't participate in another Vault Auction unless you receive a satisfactory resolution in short order. I will also say I "really" hope the Vault (John) finds a way to permanantly solve these reoccurring lack of communication/service problems that arise all too often it seems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Past threads...

 

Vault Screw Up...

 

VAULT AUCTIONS: Concern with CC payment?

 

Vault Auctions?

[clobberintime]

Thanks for the help! I really just want the books and have been trying to pay the balance for many months now but am not sending any more money and not using the cc until I speak with them and am assured I will get the books. But i have the cashiers check receipt for the money originally sent to them.

[Rickdogg]

The sad thing is that you are trying to pay them!!! Unbelieveable. With all of the bad news i've been hearing about these guys. The vault is no longer exists as far as I am concerned.

 

Good luck Rob

[chromium]

The sad thing is that you are trying to pay them!!! Unbelieveable. With all of the bad news i've been hearing about these guys. The vault is no longer exists as far as I am concerned.

 

Good luck Rob

 

Same here....although it's a lot more economical for me to buy books in the UK as opposed to the US, I don't want to worry for months about getting them....

[minutekev@50]

Speaking of vaults...wouldn't have been cool if Geraldo had opened Al Capone's vault and found all time of high grade comics? The Al Capone Pedigree!

[comicmankev]

Welcome aboard GP, hows that Subby collection going??

[Galactus]

Hi guys, new to this part of the forum, but have been a regular observer.

 

Thought i'd throw my 2 cents in and say that as a fellow consignor to the last Auction held by Vault, i received my payment in the post today, with a postmark of the 17th of October.

 

Living just outside London, i know that most of my post does unfortunately go through areas which have been on strike in some way, for at least the last 2 weeks.

 

I spoke to Philip at Vault (very helpfull guy) and he confirmed the date that the payment had been sent, but did also mention that due to their recent move to new premises there had been delays, which would run to the end of this month.

 

Hope this helps

 

[clobberintime]

If this move has caused so many problems, how will he run his auction that is supposed to take place this month?

[tkg2627]

Rob, can you please email me (re: the deal we had in late July)? Thanks,

 

--Vince

vwcomics@shaw.ca

[Galactus]

Don't know what the situation is with the next auction, but i would assume that any customers registered on the site would get the heads up as to when the next auction is going to take place.

 

Clobberintime, why don't you e-mail Philip (Philip@Vaultauctions.com), to see what he can do about helping you out. By all accounts he's on the ball (as we say in the U.K.), and you have nothing to loose!

 

[clobberintime]

Well I have tried calling them at their new number and have emailed the site number something like 20 times - is that a different contact number? Whatever - will give anything a try at this point.

[JohnBull]

John rang me on Saturday and said he would arrange for someone to drop a cheque into me asap. This happened yesterday. When I spoke to him, I mentioned the concerns of people on these boards and also directed him to this thread. I suspect he will probably contact you and try to sort things out.

 

The post in England is completely screwed up at the moment, particularly around London. I have packages I've been waiting for 3+ weeks and the backlog will take at least a fortnight to sort out.

 

Gary

[Galactus]

Cloberintime, the new number for them calling from the states would be 01144 1342 300 900. If you want to e-mail them i suggest e-mailing Philip as he will probably deal with the matter quicker than anyone else (Philip@vaultauctions.com). Just keep in mind that there is a 5 hours time difference (in front) with New York, and that i find the best time to ring them is around 6p.m. our time (1 p.m. your time).

 

I spoke a friend of mine yeterday in the states who bought some items in the last few auctions, and he commented that outside of the issue of being charged in U.K. sterling and the confusion with the dollar equivalent on his credit card, he had not experienced any problems and had received packages quite quickly.

 

Hope this helps you out.

 

[comicmankev]

I have edited this message as it was completely wrong. I had actually given VAULT permission to charge my card by email. I had only forgotten to do this as they did not acknowledge receipt of this email.

 

Take this as an apology to VAULT auctions for my previous words.

 

I will also state thast I did not receive any email notification of my wins and work thoroughly on Email only. So if I do not receive notification, I do not pay or check to see if I have won.

 

I have spoken to VAULT today and they have assured me that my items will be with me soon and that everything was held up due to a few problems at their end.