My Hunt Experience...so far (a pennant story)

[Fballguy]

This isn't a condemnation of Hunt Auctions and I haven't drawn any permanent conclusions at this point, but since they see fit to have me wait through the weekend for any kind of response (nearly a full week since I first contacted them), I figured I'd kill some down time documenting my experience here and seeing what others thought.

I recently won a pennant in one of their internet auctions. The sell price was well north of $1000, not including the buyer's premium. It was a rare pennant I had not seen for sale before so I was happy to win it.

On Tuesday, the pennant arrived and I was disappointed to discover the tip of the pennant was being held on by tape hidden on the back of the pennant. This was not disclosed in the description which simply read:

Mild discoloration and some pilling to the surface throughout with most notable area of wear effecting the tip

Only a picture of the front of the pennant was included in the listing.

From that picture, I could see wear near the tip. It didn't appear sharp but it looked intact. Even under zoom, there was no tape visible from the front.

For me this is a deal breaker. I convinced myself I could live with a tip that was worn...but not one that was secured by tape. I would've bowed out of bidding much, much earlier had that been disclosed.

Within minutes of opening the package, I call Hunt Auctions to express my concern. A young lady (I'll call her H) answers the call, takes down my concerns and tells me "Dave" isn't in the office right now, but she will speak with him and someone will be in touch with me tomorrow. It was late in the day, so I was fine with that.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) comes and is almost gone with no call. So around ten of 5:00 pm EST, I call back to see if there was an update. I speak to H again who informs me that Dave isn't in today but will be in the office on Thursday. He is aware of the issue and will call me tomorrow. I say fine again.

Tomorrow (Thursday) comes and goes with no call.

Friday, around noon, fearing the week will end with no response, I call a third time. H informs me...SURPRISE! Dave isn't in the office today but will be in on Monday and will call me then. I reply that I've already been told this two times and no call ever came. I also pointed out that she told me he was supposed to be in the office yesterday and call me then to which she replied "He wasn't in the office yesterday". When I pointed out that on Wednesday she told me he would be, she changed her story and said he was in on Thursday, but only for a little while. At this point I'm really feeling like this is a low priority issue for "Dave" and he's ordered his minions to run me off.

So here we sit on Saturday...No response from Hunt despite two empty promises of a call back. We're on the third one now. We'll see if the call comes on Monday.

In the mean time...I'm wondering:

1) How would you handle this if you were in this situation?

2) Anyone have a similar situation with Hunt and how did it work out?

Thanks for reading.

Rob

[ibuysportsephemera]

I really don't understand how Auction sellers, eBay sellers, internet sellers, etc. think it is OK to hide condition issues. Do they think that Buyers will be OK with omissions that directly relate to a buyers perceived value?

I am an eBay seller since the late 1990's. I go out of my way to include many pictures and a detailed description. I have never had a complaint.

Good luck and hopefully Hunt will do the right thing.

Jeff

[Bugsy]

I had a near identical experience with them a few years ago. They offered to send the item to the restoration service they use at my expense. I have never had a worse experience with any auction house and haven't bid with them since.

[rainier2004]

Id be pretty irritated Rob and its more troubling after Chris's post. At some point Id try to return it, but that's at their discretion and it sound like they don't care. They should treat customer better and jus be honest...another AH I probably wont deal with again.

[ullmandds]

I had no idea the condition issues pennant collectors toil over!!! All jokes aside this sounds like terrible customer service. After the situation is rectified I would think twice about ever using them again!

[Fred]

I would have to believe that every AH has an issue here and there. I've had positive experiences with Hunt Auctions. Sorry to read your experience was not good. Hopefully everything works out.

Adding - I would handle it by being a little patient. I can see your point. If a company tells you they will contact you on a specified date, then I would expect that contact. However, what if the person is ill or out of town on vacation? The office may not disclose this information. I'd continue to call them but I probably wouldn't have brought it into this board as a post until after at least a week or more. In the end, I'm going to guess that this will probably be resolved to your satisfaction.