Originally Posted by LEHR (Post 2297878)

I hope they find the wire and the OP gets his cards soon.
Aside from that, MHCC still gets quality consignments and I'm sure will continue to do so in the future. With that being said, Brian Drent really has nothing to gain by posting here and defending himself as someone suggested he do; so I'd be shocked if he did.

Originally Posted by ccre (Post 2297972)

I'm not surprised to hear this about Brian. I had 2 back to back bad experiences with him after recent auctions. And very similar scenarios to what you explained. I sure hope you get this worked out. David Wilson

Originally Posted by glynparson (Post 2297990)

I have had nothing but excellent experiences in my dealings with Brian. In fact maybe 5-6 years ago, on Christmas Day, a customer of mine let me know of an issue he had in one of Brian’s auctions. I sent Brian a note and he responded to me on Christmas and called my friend and fixed his minor issue. I am very sorry you had to deal with this it seems unfair but I just wanted to put it out there that this has not been my personal experiences with Brian who has always been friendly and professional in all my dealings with him. Glad this seems to have been resolved. I understand an apology would be nice but if it were me I’d be happiest the cards were coming. My bruised feelings would get over it.

Originally Posted by Snapolit1 (Post 2298035)

One of the things I've learned in life is that people treat different people very differently. My experience with someone may be 180 degrees from your experience.

This wasn't the OPs first experience with Brian. So I suspect there is history here that colored this latest interaction a fair amount. Prob on both sides.

Originally Posted by marzoumanian (Post 2298066)

Love those two cards. Great job of matching the situation covered in this thread to the hobby. This was an interesting thread to follow. A couple of years ago I wrote a couple of columns about how when it comes to dealing with auction houses, do not judge them by how much money they bring in for one of your consignments. That's completely arbitrary and not in their control. Judge them by the customer service they provide and give them your business accordingly. Peace.

Originally Posted by AndyG (Post 2298095)

I hear and appreciate this point a lot. Funny thing is, I forgave and literally forgot about the first bad experience with Brian. When that happened, I was really just more happy that the cards were found and that I got them. I got a half-hearted apology and I accepted it. But honestly, I had totally forgotten about it and place hundreds of bids since then with MHCC. It was only during my phone call THIS time when Brian got so heated with me and defensive and kept saying, "I don't know what to tell you, Andy...but we don't have your money"...that the memory snapped back into my head. I actually stopped the conversation and said to Brian, "wait, I remember you now...we had an issue last year!" I went on to remind him how he didn't ship 99% of my cards and accused me of lying and told me he had proof that I had the cards"!. He just said, "that doesn't sound like me".

Originally Posted by Leon (Post 2298039)

For transparency MHCC is an advertiser and Brian is a hobby friend, the latter for 20+ years.
I think it was just a crappy conversation, no more and no less. Brian doesn't rip anyone off.
If he saw an email or wire transfer, why would he say he didn't? That doesn't make any sense. I am glad the situation got worked out.

Reminds me of this card....N354 Consolidated and Paxi Cigarettes
.
https://luckeycards.com/n354turnargument.jpg

Originally Posted by AndyG (Post 2298104)

Yes, I can appreciate this, Leon. And for sure not saying Brian was trying to rip me off...And I believed him when he said he didn't "see" my wire. But his insinuation was not only that I didn't send the wire, but that I was somehow the problem. I'm a good customer that pays fast (in sports cards and in my actual business). What I receievd was super unkind language and an awful experience. Instead, Brian could have just said, "I'm sorry this is happening, let me look into it". Done and Done.

The issue last year was forgiven, but the experience this year coupled with the last just shows that when shit hits the fan, he might not be the best person to deal with when there is an issue. Clearly soon after my call, they found the money that had been there all along.

Again, thanks for chiming in...thanks for this forum and all you do for us.

Originally Posted by BobC (Post 2297891)

Paul,

You must have missed Andy's post #27 where he mentions how he ended up finally getting an email with the tracking number for his cards. So apparently the AH did find the wire money he had sent them, and has now forwarded his cards. But sadly, no follow-up apology it seems came his way from the party at the AH he originally spoke with about his winnings.

Originally Posted by LEHR (Post 2298179)

My internet was in and out last night and it looks like I missed several posts between what I read and when I posted. Glad the cards got shipped.

Originally Posted by Exhibitman (Post 2297287)

It's not really a card or auction house issue, it is a basic customer service issue. AHs are a service business. The customer most definitely is not always right, but there are ways to deal with customers PROFESSIONALLY in these situations. There are right and wrong ways to approach it, and many (most?) in this business need to learn that. Drent gets a completely different response from Andy if his reply is: "I'm really sorry there is an issue, I will take a look at it when I get back to work Monday. In the meantime, could you email me a copy of the wire confirmation?" I find that sort of approach, asking for proof of the assertion while reserving judgment until later, weeds out the frauds without ticking off the legitimate customers with real issues. Andy wants his cards, Drent wants his customer base; they are not really at odds in their goals, they just had a bad interaction that could have been avoided.

Originally Posted by 55koufax (Post 2298197)

I would mostly agree with the above opinion, however, after my first consignment experience with Brian, and after reading the issue here, I will share what happened after his May, 2022 auction. Earlier in the year, Brian flew to SoCal and came to my house. He picked up some high quality PSA Registry sets for break-up. Everything went smooth, and at the end of the auction, I netted about $211,000 in sales. That said, I was to get an extra 2.5% kicker of all sales back in my pocket. On the MH consignor page, the 2.5% to be added to my payout was shorted by around $1,000 (I see it as a simple calc of 2.5 x the hammer price)- to Mile High's advantage.

After contacting Brian (He responded to both texts and calls on his cel and his office phone) he turned it over to his IT dude to figure out. After about a week or so, the IT guy did zero and could not figure it out. I contacted Brian again and he said he would look into it. That was the last I heard! He never contacted me again, and I have not been paid about $1,000 I am owed from that auction.

Needless to say, I am one and done consigning with MH. If my approx. $40 to $50K I put in his company's pocket May, 2022, is not worthy of simple follow up and communication, it is time to move on. Over $1,000?

I will utilize REA for most larger consignments. I have almost always experienced tip top service from them. IE, today, I emailed Brian Dwyer at REA and asked if he could provide me payout by the year's end from the early DEC auction close. He replied in minutes stating even though some buyer's had not yet paid for my items, he would provide payment in full tomorrow, as he knows his buyer's and is not worried about them paying REA. That is quality service. Especially in this (still Mom and Popish at many levels) world of cards.

Originally Posted by Snapolit1 (Post 2298035)

One of the things I've learned in life is that people treat different people very differently. My experience with someone may be 180 degrees from your experience.

This wasn't the OPs first experience with Brian. So I suspect there is history here that colored this latest interaction a fair amount. Prob on both sides.

Originally Posted by AndyG (Post 2296934)

IN CASE YOU DON'T KNOW ME BY USERNAME, THIS IS ANDY GELLER. I'm a pre-war and Mantle collector. I'm very active on Ebay as And_Gell I have 100% user feedback with tons of feedback. I'm also very active on FB in Harmon's, 1985 Deal or No Deal, and all the Pre-War Groups (Mainly TR).


Guys, I hate to post something like this but I just had the absolute WORST phone call with an Auction House and it's the 2nd awful call I've had with them in 2 years. Here is what happened this time, and below you'll see what happened last year. If any of you know Brian Drent of MHCC well, please reach out to him and tell him who's an upstanding person here. He was rude, arrogant, condescending.
Current Situation: I won an auction for under 3k and got an invoice on Dec 2nd at 1:40 pm. By 2:04 PM I wired him and replied to their invoice with my wire confirmation (as I do with all my auctions). 8 days later I received the invoice again, to which I replied, "Quite positive this was paid for last week. I did send confirmation".
Brian instantly replied, "Andy,
I have gone through PayPal and I don’t see the payment. Is there another name it may be under."
I instantly replied saying, " I sent you a wire" and sent a pictured screenshot of the wire. NO REPLY
The next day I emailed them, "Find the wire? No reply.
31 minutes ago I get another invoice from them. I replied "guys, I sent a wire". I then picked up the phone and called Brian's cell.
Brian tells me he is headed into the mountains and can't look now...but nobody saw a wire. I asked if he has gotten any of my emails to which he replies that he hasn't gotten ANY of my emails....apparently not even the ones he's replied to!
He couldn't even just say, we'll find it...or let me get on it and have someone look. He just needed to be right...about what I have no idea...and he was so condescending and rude....that it reminded me that I had an issue with him once before....which was a DOOZY!!!
Last year I won Multiple Lots from an auction totally over 20k. Of course I paid right away and the cards were shipped....but what showed up was just 1 card....for like $500....and I was missing over $19k in cards. I called Brian and he was super rude and defensive. He insisted he shipped all the cards and that he had proof that I signed for them. He said, there was NOTHING he could do. I signed for it and my insurance would have to cover it. He was also pretty accusatory, making me feel that he felt I received the cards and just was filing a false claim. It was a terrible phone many phone calls we had.
Guess what happened the next day?! Brian called to say they didn't ship the cards. They had printed out the label for all the cards and packed 1 card into the box...so what I signed for was 1 card with the tracking of all the cards. He hardly offered an apology.
After our call this morning when I told him to, "listen, just find the money and send me the cards....I don't need to keep going back and forth and....and it was getting heated....I finally hung up on him....Brian felt the need to call me back and and YELL AT ME "You don't hang up on me...and guess what...you're done buying from me".

I followed the rules...I bid...I paid...and twice now Brian Drent not only has failed, but acted like a complete ASS. Yelling at me. I paid...I'm out the money.
And guess what will happen....He'll find the money in his account. It's been there since December 2nd.
Emails for backup available upon request.