Does anyone know if they still plan on running future auctions?

Why wouldn't they?:confused:

6/27 Won 1 Graded T206 card, 10 raw T206 cards, and one complete set of Indian Head Pennies 1880-1909.

Received Invoice on 7/2.

Paid Invoice via Paypal on 7/2.

Received Shipping Notification on 7/6 with no statement of the contents of the shipment.

Received shipment on 7/11 in blue flat envelope mailer which was not taped closed, only the adhesive on the flap (the envelope could have been opened, some of the contents removed, and resealed).

Inside blue mailer was a smaller bubble mailer that was not taped closed, only adhesive on the flap, that contained all of the cards. There were no coins in the package and no list of contents. The smaller bubble mailer was not large enough to have contained the coins.

I waited a week hoping the coins would be arriving in a separate shipment.

On 7/20 I went to CU website and sent email stating cards had been received but not coins, and asked for shipping status of coins. Did not receive a response.

On 7/27 I again went to CU website and sent email stating my displeasure in not receiving a response to my previous email and again requested shipping status of coins.

Today, 7/30, still waiting on response and coins.

By no means is my apparent loss even close to Dave's, but I am becoming thoroughly disgusted with CU's complete lack of customer service.

I waited over a week for tracking. Received 3 from 2 different locations over 100 miles apart. Nonetheless, the last package arrived Friday and overall I was missing a $200 card. Throughout the process Aaron was communicating with me up until Sunday when I emailed him about the missing card. No response. Tried again Tuesday. No response. I wasn't waiting anymore and today I opened a PayPal dispute for the value of the missing card. I just want the card or the refund, or a response.

What a complete clusterf*&#. Does anyone on Net54 know this Aaron guy? How long has he been in the hobby? Was he a known quantity before he started Crazy Uncle?

I'm highly doubting this company is owned by anyone other than this Aaron guy. What "elite" group of collectors would allow this to continue?

He worked briefly at Steiners before venturing out on his own. I would be curious to know why he left and what his co-workers thought of him.

According to his auction website he "has been an active collector since the 1980's"... so based on his age, he's counting his experience as a small child as a selling point toward his experience with baseball cards. I was born in 1985 and was opening packs as early as 1988, does that mean I have 5 decades worth of collector experience now too?

That was my initial assumption based on what seems to be a one-Aaron shipping/customer service operation, but who knows. Might have some seed money from Collectors Universe or Steiner or some other higher up silent investor that wanted to make more direct money.

As much as Dave has been screwed by this, I'm wondering if Aaron's head is on a platter from some other silent investors who maybe helped him set up the auction with their own stuff and are getting screwed just as bad. There was a LOT of stuff in all of his auctions so far, which is unusual for a small start up auction house.

Yes, I am not always good with my civilian analogies, but where I come from it's called brotherly love, not "bashing". The anxious desparity in the posts reminded me of being forced to ingest Portnoy's Complaint so again, my bad for not being sensitive enough in my response. The story is so crazy that it warrants a range of emotions. I now understand Dave's intent and fair warnings. It's all good. I'm pulling for you Dave and the rest of you that got screwed.

If you want to pay they are registered in Delware to avoid taxes. For a fee you can get all of their info.

Sorry to hear about people's issues with CU...esp Dave. If it looks like a duck...quacks like a duck...chances are...it's a duck! Live and Learn!

There are plenty of good AH's out there...frequent them!

Stuff does NOT trump all...it's just stuff! And you can't take it with you!

I was thinking of giving Crazy Uncle a third chance. Not sure yet if I should go with them or if I should invest my money in something and I've heard good things about this investment guy...….I think his name is Bernie Madoff. It's a toss up between going with CU or Madoff.

Any thoughts on this???

At least I can joke about this if nothing else !!!

you kept saying "duck" may want to check your spelling...

+1. Very clever

Not sure why you go back in forth with one of the most argumentative jack asses in the hobby PERIOD.

Crazy Uncle seems very Crazy after reading this thread. That's a shame. Glad I never purchased from an auction house. 18%-21% on anything is retarded. My name is crime and crime don't pay that. Add in the horrible service and what do you have? ZERO.

The service level by that elite group of "collectors " seems pretty rotten to the core from these experiences of their customers. You wonder why it is so easy to make a killing in the world today. All you have to do is service the customer. So easy.

Just like your wife...... If you don't service the customer, somebody else will.

It still amazes me that it has been 5 weeks since the auction closed, 7 pages so far on this thread, plenty of comments about CU (mostly negative......ok all negative......I was trying to be nice) but not one single solitary rebuttal from Crazy Uncle. We all know he has been on the site. He claims he has "people" that inform him of everything on Net54. So if anyone reading this is one of his "people"...…..get some feedback from Aaron.

Everyone reading this is hearing a one sided story......only from me. I welcome Aaron's comments. I'm asking for them, begging for them, rubbing my magic lamp and using my third wish to get them. You guys on Net54 can be the jury. You've heard from the Plaintiff...…...can we get the other side's story or defense ???

Isn't Ryan Spence the son of JSA's James Spence?

https://crazyuncleauctions.com/aboutus.aspx

Is there a possibility of Spence or his company having some ownership of Crazy Uncles? I know they spam for a lot of auction houses, but they did send me emails for both Crazy Uncle auctions.

Ooof... this would add a layer of craziness if JSA was part of the ownership.....

Considering how late the images for the first auction were I think I'd have asked to have my name removed.

I was SO there.....
 

When I read the original post and then saw you beat me to it!! Great minds....

Paid invoice!
 

The invoice is marked as balance due almost a month after it was clearly paid! Are these guys trying to declare we did not pay to show a loss? Are they going to try to collect money from us in the future doctoring up the invoices? Early on in the thread one consignor stated they needed time to manually input our payment.

CU
 

Hi Mark,

So I know you mentioned some time back that getting paid in 4 weeks might be unrealistic and from your past experiences it took as long as 7 weeks but with excellent communication. Now I have dealt with REA and LOTG, both extremely professional, both communicated with me throughout and both paid within 4 weeks (and both six figures). Now with Crazy Uncle I am at the 5-6 week point, no money, no communication, missing many $100Ks worth of items that were never returned, etc. etc. etc...…..would you agree I should start to be concerned?

Dave, I have dealt with many auction houses over many years and have never seen anything so pathetic, bordering on criminal, than these guys. Perhaps your next step should be to pay them a visit, if you can find them, packing heat(bad joke). Your investment with these guys is significant, as I hardly need to mention. Hope they haven't pulled up stakes and are sitting on a beach in Brazil.

If they did it could be bad news for those associated with them? Who are these "elite" collectors? Maybe Dave should try and contact Ryan Spence who is the only other name on their website.

CJDave I would seriously consider paying Delaware's fee and seeing what names are behind the company. It was only like $35 or something. If it's Aaron then you know that he's your target. If it's anyone else it gives you someone else to try and reason with.

I think quite a few people on this thread would pitch in a few bucks to make this happen just for the entertainment value alone. I would be very curious to see if Aaron actually has anyone else listed. Maybe some relatives?

Without question you should be concerned. No doubt.

In my case I have dealt with the guy before, he's local, been around a long time, and as I said, never a problem with communication. I add up the time he allows winners to pay, the time shipping takes, his policy of allowing returns under certain circumstances, and I conclude his timelines are reasonable and acceptable to me.

That was my only point - that an auction house consignment isn't as quick as a simple ebay/paypal transaction.

I think you have a very serious problem and the non-communication is the loudest warning siren. I wish you luck.

I did attempt to go through Delaware to get this information. Normally Officer and Director names and addresses are maintained on the images of the annual reports and you can order the annual reports BUT Alternative entities (Limited Liability Companies, Limited Partnerships, and General Partnerships) do not currently file annual reports. Annual reports are required for domestic and foreign corporations only. And of course they are an LLC (CRAZY UNCLE AUCTIONS LLC).

Has anyone posted on CU about Crazy Uncle auctions and how bad they are? I think you would get a your answer quickly. If I were Dave, Id start the lawsuit in your jurisdiction and get a default judgement. Then go inforce it at their location. Might get some media coverage on it as well to see how far down the snake hole goes.

I would absolutely do that. I won't let them get away with this screw job !!!

6 weeks now......NO COMMUNICATION. NO MONEY. MISSING ITEMS !!!

Have you attempted to contact Ryan Spence?

I don't have his direct email address.

Question to AHs and those that have Consigned
 

Hey folks,

In connection with all of the ridiculous issues mentioned that I have had to endure with Crazy Uncle and Aaron and the fact that I have not heard a single word about my supposed $250K - $300K in sales in over 6 WEEKS !!! (even though the reserves should have been triple that) I wanted to ask this question to anyone reading this that is either an Auction House (AH) or to anyone that has consigned to an auction house.

I have mentioned in the past that other AHs have paid me within 30 days and have communicated all along the way (and all have been 6 figures).

For those who are AHs......what is average turn time to pay (and especially to your largest consigner)? And what is communication to your consigners like as far as the totals and when they can expect their money?

For those who have consigned to AHs......how long has it normally taken to get paid and how has the communication been with the AH on how much you should be getting paid and how long will be the time frame?

Obviously Crazy Uncle is not in the same class as the other AHs but aside from the screw job with my reserves (which my protection was all in writing), the fact that items were sold for 1/3 of the reserves with a loss of over a half million dollars, the hundreds of thousands of dollars of missing items never returned, and the sheer disgusting move of dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars of high end collectibles without warning in front of my home when no one was at home for them to not only be stolen, but on one day in 95 degree heat and on another day during a tropical storm...….but the fact that the supposed sales of $250K - $300K have not been paid and have not even been communicated with me as to the pay date (and FYI - I have in writing about a 14 day pay date !!!!!). I'm pretty sure 6 weeks+ is more than 14 days!!!!!!

I would love some feed back about other AH experiences from both sides......This is actually something that will help me in the end.

THANK YOU !!!!!!!

Is there some reason you're not just suing the crap out of him at this point?

Oh don't think for a minute that isn't happening...….this is just an ammunition building exercise. Adding another proverbial nail to their coffin for there absolute sheer incompetence and despicable behavior !!!

And I am pretty sure everyone reading this will note (and find odd and revealing) that Aaron has yet to dispute or chime in on a single one of my accusations. The innocent usually defend themselves !!!

We pay within 14 business days and I don't think you'll find an auction house smaller than us. Occasionally we have been late by a day or two, but more often we're early. If we haven't paid we normally give a status update around day 10.

Any of the guys who've consigned with me want to verify that? Pretty sure I've lived up to those standards.

Dave, you might want to consider contacting the FBI about what has transpired. I believe your sad saga may qualify as mail fraud, which is under the jurisdiction of the FBI. I bet Aaron would wake up if the Feds turned up at his door.

But I don't think one of his guys dropping stuff in front of my house constitutes mail.

there's some kind of interstate commerce as he is registered in Delaware and you are not.

My one experience consigning to an auction house wouldn't be of any help. The overall dollar amount was more like 2-300 per auction.

Verified/confirmed

Yes, but presumably you used the USPS or a private carrier to send your consignments to CU, so the mail has been involved. This is the most egregious case of dealer incompetence/ fraud since Mastro.

I would say since PSA/PWCC. Mastro was eons ago.

I dunno, if I had a quarter mil in unreturned merch and a non-payment in the six figures I'd be suing by now. I'd also be in touch with the Post Office and the Delaware and your local state AG's office. I find it baffling you haven't done so.

Crazy
 

What I find baffling is that someone on this board must know the names of the partners in this operation, but the names have not been released. Also, I find it interesting that none of the partners themselves have come forward with information. It wouldn't surprise me if one or more of the partners were board members.

The problem is that he picked up all of the items from me in person. He met me at my office on numerous occasions and we carefully loaded up his minivan 4 or 5+ times.....checking off each item as we loaded them.

So USPS was not involved.

Not the post office, but the other things you mentioned have been started.

It may seem eons ago to you, but if you had been a major consignor to him and lost a significant amount of money in the process, you might feel differently. But I do agree that PWCC/PSA ranks right up there.

Well, I always did very well as a consignor with Mastro. But I do feel for those consignors who lost money with them. I was actually listed on the shilled victim report a couple of times as a "winning" bidder. So I did get burned to the tune of a couple hundred bucks on that end.

Still I believe those crimes pale in comparison to the PSA/PWCC fraud. God only knows how many mis-graded altered cards are still out there, which have not been (and never will be) identified as such.

Or......there really are no partners and this is just Aaron as the sole owner. Perhaps this whole story about high-end, big name collectors is just a marketing stunt to make himself sound bigger than he actually is.

So this was the write-up Aaron gave on this board back in Octover 2019:

I am the President of the company and handle all auction operations. For those of you that I do not know, I was the Senior Auction Coordinator at Steiner Auctions and have been an active collector since the 1980s. My personal collection has gone down many roads, but currently focuses on Tinker, Evers and Chance.

The owners of Crazy Uncle are a small group of elite collectors, none of whom work in the hobby. They have participated in every major auction in the hobby since the early 1990's. The principal owner is a business executive at a prominent company who prior to his professional career was a top distributor of cards for Topps and a mid-century set builder/seller - the kind you all remember from the back of the trade magazines. He has personally bought and sold nearly 3,000,000 baseball cards in his life.

We are located at 175 Varick Street in Manhattan and available to meet in the Tri-State area or at the office by appointment. We have our warehouse in White Plains, NY.

So my question is........can anyone decipher or crack the code as to who this principal owner could be???