Companies Estate Sales

Failure to respond to written demand from legal counsel, failure to return phone calls and failure to account for proceeds of estate sale from 10/19.
I am working with the representative and beneficiary of a trust established by *** G. ***, late of DeKalb County, Georgia. In October 2019 the trustee, ***, ***, *** met with Mr. Gary *** who represented that he and an undisclosed partner ran two (2) sister companies, Peachtree & Bennett Galleries, LLC and Companies Estate Sales, LLC and proceeded with a sales pitch on why his companies should be used to conduct the sale of Ms. home. The trustee signed the contract, but Mr. advised he had to take the contract back to his office as he did not have signing authority, but would send the signed contract back to Mr. electronically. The signed contract was never returned to Mr.. Mr. also advised Mr. his company would provide an electronic accounting for the items sold and at one price within 3-days after the estate sale. The estate sale was held over 2 weekend days in mid-October. After completion of the on-site estate sale, Mr. and the people he had with him removed oil paintings (one of which Mr. dated to the 18th century), jewelry and other items of personal property that were to be sold at auction. Mr. advised Mr. immediately after the estate sale that he sold approximately $3,000 of Ms. property. Since the estate sale numerous calls were placed to Mr. to follow up on the status of the electronic accounting for the items sold and their price, which calls were not returned. I was finally able to reach Mr. in early January and the excuse was that his assistant was going through some personal issues and forgot to give him the messages that were communicated to his office by Warren ***, *** and me. During my conversation with Mr. he advised he sold $2,000 of items belonging to Ms. (which is in contrast to the $3,000 he communicated to Warren ***). His assistant (I believe her name is Alejandra) sent me a text message requesting where the accounting could be sent. I gave her both my email address and my cell number. Needless-to-say, no accounting was forthcoming. On March 13, 2020 I had an attorney who is an acquittance of mine send a demand letter to Companies Estate Sales, Peachtree Bennett and Mr.. The letters were all sent based on the information on the website for the Georgia Secretary of State. The letter to Companies Estate Sales was returned as not being deliverable with no forwarding address and the letter to Mr. at Peachtree Bennett was not responded to by the deadline of March 18, 2020. As of this writing Mr. has not received an accounting for the items sold at the on-site estate sale or the items sold at auction. The one painting dating from the 18th century appeared on Mr. website, but then was removed with no explanation. Again, no accounting for what has happened with the painting. Mr. has pictures of several of the items removed from Ms. home, so he wants a full accounting for what was sold, when and for how much and it any items remain unsold he was them returned to him.

I enlisted this company to conduct an on-line estate sale for my old residence at 124 W. Ellawood Avenue, Cedartown, GA. From the beginning there were problems. It took forever to get them out to photograph the items. Then, they lost half the photographs necessitating a second visit and additional time for the sale to run to add the additional items. This delayed the finalization of the sale and pick up of the items. Now I cannot get the money due to me which I have calculated at more than $2,000. The contract provides for 30 days after the sale for the accounting by the company to be done and then payment. The sale was finalized in late December 2019. It is now early March 2020. I have made two phone calls to the company, reached one person and left one message, with absolutely nothing in response. I have left a message through the contact us with the same result. They have stalled every turn and avoided messages.
Product_Or_Service: On-Line Estate Sale