Caring Transitions

Take a look at the attached documents.  The donation receipt is blank (That is because the [redacted] doesn’t itemize what is donated that is left up to the family.) and the break down ppwk doesn't belong to me (The break down belonged to another client who did an online auction where we can track the numbers and views.  With a physical estate sale such as yours, there is no way of being able to provide the same information as we discussed during the initial consultation.  However, we can and did provide you with the number of views your estate sale received per the contract for advertising.  Your estate sale was viewed 6,304 times and that paperwork you have in your possession.  As for the itemized items paperwork, that was mistakenly placed in your envelope, please disregards). I have no idea what was sold and what we lost to the trash man (It is at our discretion what we donate, what we trash and what we sell per our liquidation contract).  I didn't ask anyone to pull employees off of other jobs to take care of mine. That was YOUR decision.  I never begged you to take the sale.  That was your decision.  She told me she had finished a previous job quicker than they thought they would and would have no problem with my sale.   If you were too busy, you should have said so, and I would have moved on to another company.  I did want the house completely empty, but if I wanted all of the unsold belongings to be thrown in the landfill I would have done it myself (When we went to the home before starting the estate sale pricing process and to see where the last estate sale company left off, ((after walking off the job)) you were not there and I had the conversation with your husband and it was stated that the house needed to be empty and said and I quote “Yes, have a clean out crew come at the end. It’s been a long process for everyone and that it’s time to get this over with”).  You are absolutely right about my sister being confrontational to see all of our parent’s belongings thrown away, because I was assured they would be donated and had told my sister that info. (Per our liquidation agreement/contract that you signed (not your sister), it is at our discretion what we donate and what we don’t) The furniture was not stained, damaged, or covered in animal hair. (We see household items every day and to us it was)  Glassware, dishes that had been run through the dishwasher were thrown out (Please reference the signed liquidation contract).  What animal hair was on those items??   There had not been any pets in the house since 2000 - 15 years ago!!   There was no way for Caring Transitions to put my unsold belongings into another sale - specifically the tapestry antique couch we spoke of on that Saturday - because my sister and the neighbor saw it get cut in half and thrown away. How was that going to be sold??? (Please reference the signed liquidation agreement)  This has nothing to do with being emotional about the loss of the belongings.  It has to do with what happened after the sale.  Had my sister not been there, we would have never known everything was thrown away.  We were told the items would be donated. (Some items can and others cannot, please reference our signed liquidation agreement by you) If the charities didn't want the items, they could have gotten rid of the items and we would have been none the wiser. (Correct, they won’t take items knowing they couldn’t be resold)  But we are wise and we know there was so many things that were thrown away (Incorrect, we made several trips to the [redacted]).  This one reason is why they do not want the owners of the belonging there after the sale (We have had many clients watch what happens after the sale, it is the wise ones that understand that they hired a liquidation company and signed a liquidation contract knowing that the company has legal rights with what to sell, what to trash and what to donate.  We accomplished this advertising and receiving 6,304 views and conducting an estate sale per the contract). The company knows everything will be thrown away (Incorrect, we donated hundreds of items weekly to charities, senior communities, churches, [redacted], [redacted], schools, [redacted], Disabled American Veterans and thrift stores) This is our first priority of all un-sellable items.  Kim was not there when the trash man was there so her version of events is whatever she was told by the trash man.  My sister and the neighbor were eyewitness's to the actually event.  The behavior of the 'clean out crew' drew the attention of neighbors because of the loud noise of them throwing glass, plates, cups and furniture into the dumpster (They are a clean out company and was scheduled during the day, 2pm exactly, not after hours or early in the morning when people can be disturbed).  The neighbor, who has no skin in this game, was incensed at the way the items were being destroyed.  The house was left unsecured by the company that Kim hired (Incorrect, Everything was locked and the garage door was closed).  The garage door was left unattached to the door opener. (We have no idea as to why the garage door mechanism was unattached to the door, the clean out company locked everything up closed the garage door using the garage door button mounted to the wall and stepped over the sensor in order to let the garage door close all the way). Leaving a couple of voicemail messages does not relieve them of their responsibilities (No, but it does open the line of communication in order to get your key back, that was the reason for my calls).  There has been no effort to give me correct paperwork or to return my house keys (Incorrect, You should have received an invoice detailing how the physical estate sale did.  As for the itemized numbers of items and number of views each item received, that’s only if you would have done an “online auction” which we talked to you about during the consultation.  As mentioned above you would have received your keys if you would have returned all the phone call messages we left but never returned as I didn’t feel comfortable sending them in the mail.

I am rejecting this response because: I did not talk to Ms. Mary numerous times after the sale of my belongings. I spoke with her once. I did not receive information on any of the items that were not sold. (Initially when the auction closed everything had sold.  The only items that were not picked up or paid for was indicated on [redacted]’s paperwork noted in red.)  I do not know what happened to item that were bid on but not picked up. (They were donated)   Why did I receive only $177 when the sale grossed $2011? (You received $177 because the auction grossed $2011.29.  Your 65% of that is $1307.34.  We charged you $1000.00 for the sorting, organizing & cataloging.  You paid us half of what we quoted you which was $1000.00 to get started and the reaming $500.00 to be taken out of your 65% of the auction $1307.37 - $500.00 = $807.34.  From there, the quote and contract states that there is a $5.00 per lot fee for national advertising and uploading of the auction. You had 106 lot at $5.00 for a total of $530.00.  Now you have to take your $807.34 and subtract $530.00 and you get $277.34.  From there, you had a huge tube TV in which the quote states we charge $0.88 per pound to load it and recycle it for you.  After taking the TV to the Larimer County Landfill Recycling Center it weighed in at 114 pounds.  114 lbs. x $0.88 = $100.32.  $277.34 – $100.32 = $177.02 which is why you received a check for $177.02.)   Subtract $500.00 of the quote which was $1950.00 and you’ve already gave us  -   That is 9%, not 65%. (According to the quote and signed contract you agreed to a 65% of the total gross proceeds.   Ms. M[redacted] made $1834 from the sale of my belongings and received a $500 deposit for a total of $2334.  As for the estimate, the "sorting and organizing" was listed at $500 and I was charged $1000. I would like $500 returned.  (There will be no refund)

Review: I hired Caring Transitions to take care of an estate sale. During the preparation of

getting the items in the house priced for the sale, items came up missing to include 3

gold rings, fishing lures & a knife. As soon as this was discovered, the owner of Caring

Transitions was contacted. His employees denied seeing the wooden box the rings

were in, however; it was later found in a trash can they were using with sellable jewelry

in the box except for the 3 gold rings. Nobody had even been in the house with the

exception of the Caring Transitions employees. Given the circumstances, the entire

estate sale process had to be stopped & now I'm having to start over in getting a

reliable, trustworthy company to handle the sale. A police report was filed on 5/22/15 &

the incident number is [redacted] .Desired Settlement: I told the owner that all I wanted was for the missing items to be returned. One of the

rings that went missing was a Masonic ring that can't be replaced & had a lot of

sentimental value. His employees continued to deny knowing anything about the

missing items, so he left me a voicemail apologizing for the entire experience & offering

to pay restitution for the missing items. He later changed his mind & refused to do this.

A fair resolution would be for him to pay for the items that went missing as he stated he

would. I also wanted this information to be reported so no other family has to go

through such a horrible experience. It is hard enough dealing with the fact you've lost a

loved one & are faced with handling the estate sale to begin with.

Business

Response:

On the day Mrs. [redacted] signed a contract with Caring

Transitions she warned me that a family member may show up and attempt to

remove items or otherwise interfere with the planned estate tag sale. Section

eight of the Estate Liquidation Contract states that” client shall notify

Caring Transitions in writing prior to the sale of any Household Goods with

unusual or extraordinary value”. Mrs. [redacted] did not do that. No mention was

made of gold rings.

After Caring Transitions had been working for three days

setting up the tag sale Mrs. [redacted] and that same family showed up looking

for the rings and accusing the employees of wrong doing. The employees

explained that they had not seen the items in question and immediately left. While

it is not unusual for family members to come to the premises and remove items

while the sale is being set up. Most clients will notify Caring Transitions

when they remove items so we do not end up with a situation like this one.

After receiving Mrs. [redacted] voice mail I called her and

explained that I would investigate the situation and if Caring Transitions was

responsible would offer restitution. After speaking with my employees and

meeting with Mrs. [redacted] I suggested a solution. I would remove my equipment

and leave the premises and cancel the sale. Mrs. [redacted] agreed after

requesting that Caring Transitions would not invoice for the labor and services

already provided.

It is my opinion that Caring Transitions has already made an

honest effort to satisfy this complaint and no additional effort needs to be

made. It would be impossible to return items or pay for items that were never

seen. It is my hope that anyone who

reads this report will recognize this complaint was filed by an unscrupulous

individual to extort money and slander the excellent reputation of Caring

Transitions.

Sincerely,

Kevin Kitts – Owner

Caring Transition

Business

Response:

There is nothing truthful in this second complaint. On the first day I met with Mrs. [redacted] and her daughter at the home on [redacted]. both she and her daughter warned me about the possibility of Mrs. [redacted]'s sister causing problems before or during the sale. I met with Mrs. [redacted] and her daughter to sign the contract for the sale and discussed with them when we could start the sale preparation and also the actual sale date. We all agreed on the starting date and sale weekend at that time.The only time I was told about a jewelry box was after I was told they had found the jewelry box conspicuously placed on top of the trash can inside the home. The family never ask that they wanted to be present while we prepared the sale. I am finished responding to these false complaints at this point. Caring Transitions has hundreds of satisfied clients who can attest to our honesty, integrity and professionalism in Central and Southwest Virginia.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

This is a truthful response to the complaint assigned ID [redacted]. Not a word was said about a family member showing up to interfere. The family had already decided on what items they wanted. All family members were in agreement which left no concerns about attempting to remove items by a family member. We had three witness at the home of the estate notifying Mr. Kitts in person of a jewelry container that was comprised of the three gold rings. Wasn't aware of the need to write down the items since Mr. Kitts was told in person. Caring Transitions had been at the estate for three days and never notified me. Many times tried to call Mr. Kitts for information concerning the sale, never received a response for at least a week. Did not accuse employees of wrong doing just simply mentioned the rings a knife and other items were missing. There would be no situation like this particular one if Mr. Kitts had been professional and kept us informed on the day the employees were to start tagging for the estate sale so family could be present. The last contact with Mr. Kitts was in reference to getting together estimates with the understanding that he was for the second time claiming he was going to make restitution. If anyone reads this complaint they will hopefully recognize that no one would go to the extent that we have to right the wrong that he has done to this family.We do not appreciate the slanderous comments from Mr. Kitts in reference to extortion, for that is not our purpose for trying to inform the public of his business practices.

Regards,