Heritage's Web of Lies....

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Posted By: Aaron

Well, if any of you remember last month after much finagling, I received my winning lots from May's Heritage auction absent the LOA's listed in the item description for a 1960's New York Knicks uniform.

After contacting Heritage, I was told that they would look into the matter. Later, I was contacted by Chris Ivy (though we never spoke) and told by Troy Kinnunen that the problem was that the item had never been authenticated by Dave Bushing and Dan Knoll as the item description had mentioned. The item description had also mentioned Lou Lampson having authenticated the items, but his LOA was absent as well. (In fact Troy revealed that Heritage had listed many items in its auction as having been authenticated by SCDA which were not even looked at by them.)

At this point I posted my displeasure over the fact that this kind of deception had occurred. Apparently this was a big mistake.

Subsequently, Troy offered to have the items authenticated by those listed in the item description and to reimburse me for my shipping costs to have the items sent to Troy. He also said that Chris Ivy had said that Heritage would offer me a credit for my inconvenience.

Well, after nearly a month of waiting, today I finally received my LOA's from Troy, as well as the uniform (which I received on Monday). I asked Troy about my shipping refund and the credit and he sayid the matter is now out of his hands and I need to contact Chris at Heritage.

At this point I should mention that the LOA's reveal that the dates of the item listed in the auction were wrong. The dates in the item description were 1962-1964. In Troy's finding and on my LOA, the dates of the jersey and shorts now trace back to 1953-1957, while the warm-up jacket dates to 1965. (Just another authenticator mistake, I know.)

I will also say that Troy actually did handle the matter in an exemplary way up to this point. Especially considering the acrimony of our clashes over the last few months. I was actually quite happy at this point.

Then this morning I received an e-mail from Heritage stating that I OWED THEM an extra $17 for shipping charges. I immediately contacted Chris Ivy per Troy's instructions (surely this was a mistake).

Would I get an apology for the ordeal I'd been put through? An accounting from Heritage on the fact that their item description was deceptive? Another apology for the outrageous late shipping charge? My promised credit?

None of the above.

Chris would not address any of the deceptive practices Heritage had used in its auction, and I was informed, due to my posting here on this forum and the gameused forum, that my account had been canceled and I would not be allowed to bid on their auctions in the future. No credit (I was told since Troy is not an employee of Heritage, his offer was no good), no restitution, and finally no refund for my shipping charges (I was told I would have to produce a receipt).

Oh, and I should mention they still haven't produced a Lou Lampson LOA, so their item description is still deceptive.

So, a month later what have I learned?

Not only do auction houses not like being called out for their deceptive practices, rather than try to remedy the situation, they will try to punish you for speaking about it publicly. And they will take your money, promises be damned.