Annoyed with thrift store auction! Not quite a WYP - just a rant.

[Thunderwing]

So a month ago, I wandered into our local thrift store. They had two almost mint condition care bears in the silent auction display. I opened an account, and bid $5 for the pair. The auctions run for a month after the most recent bid. Thursday, I get a very garbled and static riddled phone message: the only word I understood was 'auction' and 'little angels' (Which, it turns out, is the name of the thrift shop). So after puzzling for a time, I figured it must be for the bears.

So, on Friday, I go the thrift store. I go in, and tell the girl at the counter I was there to pick up the two care bears that I won in silent auction. She gives me a blank look. So I tell her, I got a phone call message that I won an auction. She checks the book, and yes, my name was beside the two care bears. But they are no longer in the display case. She then hollers to the back of the store, 'Other Employee! There is a girl here to pick up care bears, you know anything about that?'

The other employee says - get this - "Oh, Yeah! I took those two bears home! They are at my house! Have her come back to pick them up tomorrow!" 

I am a bit put out at this point, but figure it might be how things are done - that the staff take the finished auction items home to call the winners. So I explain to them I live out of town, and can't come back until the following Friday.

So Other Employee says "Well, I live just a few blocks away, and I am going home now, so follow me and we can go get them."  I then pay for the bears, and wait 20 odd minutes for her to gather her things, finish gossiping with other volunteers, and hobble to her car.

I follow her to her house, she invites me in (Hubby waited outside for me), and she bustles about Searching For The Bears!  Then tells me she isn't sure where they are, because she had Given Them To Her Grandchild To Play With!  My heart fell at that point. It takes a few minutes, but she finally finds them. I get my hands on the bears, and leave. I didn't look at them until I got back in the car. Share Bear has pink marks that look like dye from candy on her tummy. Both have significant rubs on their bum hearts.    And yet, I know if I complain to the store, it will fall on deaf ears. "They were toys worth five dollars".    No, they weren't. They were mint condition collectibles that were worth a month's worth of electricity, until they were played with and reduced to used toys. AFTER they were  technically mine. 

[rosierjay]

woah! that's just bad business in every fashion. i'd bring them back and get my 5 bucks back. that so stinks!!
i'm really sorry!!!

[Emberfly]

That's terrible.  I'd still complain to the store.  I've never heard of anywhere that it was ok to take home merchandise from a store that wasn't paid for, whether or not it's an employee who's doing it.  The items were up for auction and should have stayed there.  I'm so sorry that this happened to you.

[FantasticFirefly]

I would say something..... Do they have a facebook page?


If it were me, I would fib a little to get my point across. I have to let you know, I am unhappy that items I bought. Not only did I arrive from out of town to collect my item and it wasn't even in the store, when I did get them they were damaged and these were going to be a gift for my niece. The fact they were clean and appeared they weren't played with when I saw them in the display initiated my  bid. And due to employees taking my items home and allowing them to be played with my new looking bears, no longer look new and one has candy stains. this means it can no longer even be the gift it was intended to be in my case. This has removed any confidence I had in bidding in any of your future auctions, and I cannot recommend this auction to my friends. This is unfortunate as the money does support a good cause. (guessing it's a charity type shop?)

But really terrible business practice!

[achab1984]

That is horrible I am sorry to hear that

[Mkia]

That is terrible! Who in their right mind would let a kid play with something they KNEW belonged to someone else. That is terrible business practice.

[ponycake]

Why wouldn't they just put it in the store room or somewhere where it was clearly marked as sold or something. Bizarre story. Sorry that happened to you.

[Juliepants]

I'm guessing she wasn't supposed to do that, I bet they're not supposed to take this home that have been bought/won. I wonder if they thought you wouldn't come collect them? Just a guess.

Jules x

[Tap Dancer]

Complain to the store's owner, and then get your money back. There isn't a business around that allows employees to take home merchandise for free because that's stealing. She could have bought them herself if she wanted her grandchild to have the toys. Because she didn't pay for them, they shouldn't have left the store. I don't know how she got away with it, but I can't imagine that sort of thing is tolerated.

[Ponyfan]

I also think you should complain to the thrift store. If I was in your position I would tell the store how unhappy I was that the items were not in the same condition that they were when I bid on them and that they have lost a lot of their value due to being damaged.  I would also tell them that you won't be bidding on more items due to what happened to the Care Bears.


The employees should not be taking items home that don't belong to them. I would also mention that the Care Bears were not in the store when you went to pick up them up and that the employee told you she gave them to children to play with before you had paid for them and picked them up.

Would the store happen to have a picture of what they looked like before so you can show them how damaged they are?   

I'm sorry this happened to you.


Ponyfan

[bluerose9978]

Complain to the store's owner, and then get your money back. There isn't a business around that allows employees to take home merchandise for free because that's stealing. She could have bought them herself if she wanted her grandchild to have the toys. Because she didn't pay for them, they shouldn't have left the store. I don't know how she got away with it, but I can't imagine that sort of thing is tolerated.

This! I would give them a call and ask to speak to the owner. Imagine if you went into like a big store like Macy's and they did something like this. Let's say you had a dress on hold and it wasn't there and the employees said, "Yeah, I took it home for my daughter to play dress-up and I'm getting off work in 20 minutes. You can just follow me." This is just ridiculous!

[CupidStrikes]

Whether you won the auction for $5 or $500, you should still have received the bears in the condition they were advertised in. I'd make the point that you wouldn't ever bother bidding on anything else, especially higher value items, because there is now doubt that any other items might be taken home on this employee's whims. That you had to go to this person's house to collect them because they couldn't even be bothered to try and make sure the bears were there after the auction had ended, just makes it worse.

They might be a thrift shop, but they will have an owner or head office and will have to conform to certain standards. When I volunteered in a place like this I had to follow certain procedures because even though I was a volunteer and the store was a charity shop, we still had to act professionally.

[little.fox]

I'm with everyone else on this, you should defenitely complain about it!

It makes no difference how much you paid for them, why on earth would it be ok for a staff member to take them home and let the grand kids play with them after they'd been bought? That is ludicrous, the bears where yours. The fact that you had to go out of your way to pick them up just adds insult to injury.

They might be a thrift shop, but they will have an owner or head office and will have to conform to certain standards. When I volunteered in a place like this I had to follow certain procedures because even though I was a volunteer and the store was a charity shop, we still had to act professionally.

THIS! When I volunteered for Cancer Research UK we were expected to act/look just as professional as any other retail outlet, because we were a reflection on the charity. Something like this would NOT have been tolerated.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

If you want your complaint to go further, also contact the charity they are the beneficiary of. 

[NoPonySpecial]

What. The.
That is flabbergasting.