As reported leading up to this past weekend’s event (see Hollywood Roadshow: “Prop and Pinball” Auction in El Segundo – June 21-22, 2008), the Premiere Props “Hollywood Roadshow” live auction event was held Saturday and Sunday. Based on my discussions with fellow collectors who participated, it seems to continue to be plagued with the same problems involving post-auction outcome manipulation (at odds with the public eBay Bid History record) and subsequent customer service issues that I experienced first hand around this time last year.
Long time readers of the OPB will know that I had experienced a number of problems with my first (and last) participation in one of these events last July (see Dealer/Event Review: Premiere Props, Hollywood Roadshow). This is a summary of my own experiences:
I bid on many items during the Hollywood Roadshow live auction event via eBay on July 14th, as managed by Premiere Props.
Of the six items I won, I was shown as the winner at the end of bidding and received e-mail confirmation from eBay and Premiere Props confirming each of my six wins with the heading: “Congratulations, the item is yours”.
The Premiere Props completed auction results showed me as the winner of all six lots. My eBay account “Items I’ve Won” page also verified that fact.
I was sent an invoice a few days after the event, paid immediately via PayPal for all six lots, and received a confirmation of the lots and that payment was made and accepted.
8 days after being invoiced and having paid for my items – 11 days after the sales had ended – Premiere Props processed a refund for one of my six items through PayPal, claiming that this item – won and paid for by me as the winner – was “awarded to a phone bidder”.
I contacted Premiere Props directly – no resolution to the problem was offered. In fact, they hung up on me after asking, “what’s your problem?”
In calling back, I could not reach anyone who cared to resolve the problem or even discuss it with me. I asked to speak with the owner of Premiere Props but was told not to expect a return call.
I legitimately won an item at auction, was recorded as the winning bidder, was invoiced, and made payment.
Premiere Props refused to ship me my item, refused to discuss the issue, and offered no alternative resolution.
Another “Double Clerked” Auction “Win”
My friend and long time collector Troika bid on an item at this past weekend’s Hollywood Roadshow event and won the auction. This is the eBay Bid History for the listing – 922: Anchor Man Screenused Poster Movie Props (eBay Item Number 220247216098) – showing Troika (“bighowboy”) having placed the winning bid:
The day after winning the auction, the buyer received the following message from Premiere Props, in response to his inquiry about the shipping cost total:
The message reads:
Hello, unfortunately this item was awarded to a live bidder and was also double clerked to you. Unfortunately the live bidder has already paid for this item and has removed it from the premises. We will be sending you an agree to not complete and sincerely apologize for this error. Per our terms and conditions, in the event of a tie, the winning bid is awarded to the live bidder. Please let us know if you have any questions.
– premiereprops 16
This was the first time this seasoned collector has ever participated in a Premiere Props and/or Hollywood Roadshow auction.
And, nearly one year after my own experiences, it appears that Premiere Props/Hollywood Roadshow has not improved upon its business practices, live auction operations, or customer service. Also apparent is the lack of any attempt on behalf of this business to “make right” on it’s own shortcomings to its customer, by offering some kind of good faith gesture in place of defaulting on the auction commitment. Instead the priority seems to be prompting the “winner” to cooperate with Premiere Props so they do not incur eBay fees on the sale.
As an aside, I have been unable to find any reference or usage of the term “double clerk” or “double clerked” in searching the Internet, so I am uncertain as to whether this is a term invented by Premiere Props to describe their phenomenon of selling the same item to multiple bidders and/or changing the outcome of the auction following the event.
Jason De Bord