Art Auction experience

[trimix]

There were some happy people last spring when Disney dumped Park West for the art auctions, given the high rate of bad experiences with Park West. But before my August cruise nobody posted a review of West End, and I see nobody has since.

So here's my experience. And it is not pretty. I don't know if it is typical, but it is enough to convince me that I will never consider doing business with them again.
I am a fan of Pino, and I previously owned two of his pieces. I saw a third I wanted onboard, and I thought the starting price was pretty good, so I looked up that piece online during the stop in Grand Cayman. The starting price at the auction was $675, and the best price I have found before or since was $650 - without frame - so I think I got a good deal at $675. I was told that I would receive the framed artwork before the end of September, and I debarked Aug 29th looking forward to receiving it.

In late September I emailed West End Gallery, using the email address on the receipt, to ask how soon I would receive the piece. I never received a response. This is, obviously, unacceptable.

On September 29 I called their number and spoke to a woman who didn't give her name. She took my invoice number, confirmed my phone number, and promised to call back that day after checking with the shipping department. She never did. This is, obviously, unacceptable.

Wednesday, September 30 my phone bill shows an 11 minute call - me calling them. This time a guy answered, took the same information, and again promised to call after checking with the shipping department. I asked to hold instead, and a few minutes later a familiar female voice came on the phone. This time she gave a name, Jay, and an extension number. She told me that they weren't supposed to have sold that piece of art, as there were no more in the warehouse. But she said that she would have it removed from the Magic that weekend, if it was still in proper condition it would be reframed and shipped to me. She apologized orally, and said to make it up to me she would have the "free" Disney print framed. I appreciated it, but would have preferred overnight shipping. But I didn't ask - all my purchases from REPUTABLE galleries have been shipped overnight.

The whole situation so far is totally unacceptable, but I decided to wait and see if they gave me a nice frame for that Disney print or if they included a letter of apology. Instead nothing happened. On October 7 I tried calling for a status update, but called too late - being on the west coast I needed to call before 2 PM.

Thursday, October 8 I was called by Jay who again apologized, told me the piece had been retrieved from the ship and showed no wear or damage, it had been mounted in a new frame, and she would call me the next day with a tracking number.

When nobody called on Friday the 9th, I called them at 1:35 Pacific / 4:35 Eastern. I was given a tracking number, and UPS showed the package had been shipped ground the previous Wednesday.

Here's more for the unacceptable list - on Thursday she says it will ship tomorrow, when it had already shipped? Communication between departments or offices at West End Gallery must be genuinely pathetic!

Believe it or not, it gets worse!

Friday, October 16, I finally receive my artwork. It is in good condition, which I didn't expect. But there is no legitimate certificate of authenticity! Remember I said I had previously purchased art from Pino? Every piece came with a certificate of authenticity from Classic Publications, Inc - a business I believe is owned by Pino's family. This piece came with a certificate from West End Gallery - something nobody educated about art would accept!
Fortunately it was early enough in the day, so I called them back at 1:34 PM Pacific time to ask for a return authorization. The second person I spoke with claimed to have all the original certificates and said she would send it immediately. She promised it would be in that day's mail.

After hanging up, and after 2:00 Pacific time, I realized I hadn't found the other frame. I then found an ENVELOPE with an UNFRAMED piece of Disney artwork! Even worse, IT WASN'T THE PIECE LISTED ON MY RECEIPT! Now even more angry, and trusting West End Gallery even less, I put together two envelopes - one from my Aunt and Uncle in Ft. Lauderdale to me, and one to them. I wrote a quick note asking them to send back the return envelope the same day they receive that letter, and sent it Friday.

Thursday the 15th I received my return envelope from my relatives, postmarked Monday the 12th. Friday the 16th I received the certificate from West End Gallery, with a meter stamp dated Friday the 9th. Considering how slowly it came, I suspect on Tuesday the 13rd they back-dated their meter - a practice the Post Office objects to, but something I was occasionally asked to do 20 years ago when I worked in a mail room.


So, to sum up:
They sold me something they weren't supposed to sell.
If I hadn't contacted them after I expected to receive the artwork, I would probably still be waiting.
They did not call back when they promised to.
They did not send the correct second print.
They promised to frame the second print, but did not do so.
They initially did not send a legitimate certificate of authenticity.
Sending the real certificate took longer than sending one letter to Ft. Lauderdale and getting a response.

After my experience I have absolutely no confidence in West End Gallery, I will never consider another purchase through them, and without hesitation I would advise other people to not purchase from West End Gallery no matter how tempting a piece or a price. Disney was receptive to criticisms against Park West, and I hoped to have a good experience, but instead I am disappointed to have had such a poor experience with West End Gallery. But I know Disney doesn't control West End Gallery, and the rest of my cruise was wonderful, so I am looking forward to three more cruises with Disney.

At this point I would like nothing more than to return the artwork to West End, get my money back, and spend more money to purchase the artwork elsewhere even though I would spend more. But after the experience of getting the artwork I would have legitimate concerns about getting the refund in a reasonable amount of time - if ever.