Cosmopolitan Hoarder Estate Services

My mother contacted Mark and his co partner to come out last year (2020) to have a look at a collection of things my father had, alot of stuff, not alot of money, but because mom was moving, she needed help in getting dad's things moving on to new homes. This was last June when a garage full of items were removed. Since then, there has been NO accounting of the items that were removed, no updates, NOTHING! I have contacted Mark several times to only be told bla bla bla, there will be something sent the end of the week, your father's collectibles have been sold, the COVID this, the COVID that. I get the COVID, but I am tired of being told mom will have something in writing by the end of the week, WHICH WEEK? She has received no money from what has been sold. Again, this isn't alot of money...that's not even the point. The point is, they pick up the stuff, for a large fee by the way, and you never hear from them again. Since the pick up, we have been the one reaching out, only to hear the same line of crap over and over. I have left Mark two messages today, with NO call back. I think this company sucks, and I would not recommend them to anyone. I am sorry my mom trusted this outfit with things that were important to my dad. If the COVID has hit them hard, I understand that, because the COVID has been hard on a lot of small business. What I say to that is, quit taking on NEW business until you have managed your old business. That's good business.

Product and Services Offered - Estate Sales and Clean Out

Contacted Mark (Business Owner) at Cosmopolitan Estate Sales on Aug 3rd. Explained to him that my Mom had passed away in the Spring and that her home had been sold and the new buyer would take possession on September 4th. The house was filled with numerous items including a home computer, furniture and bedroom items for a 4 bedroom high end Buchan home in the Redmond area. Retail for the furniture items was approximately 50K and purchased in the mid 2000's and still in pristine condition. On August 4th we met at the Redmond home and he explained their clean out service and process for an Estate Sale which we schedule to occur on the weekend of August 22nd and 23rd. I also pointed out items not being sold and ones that needed to be prepared prior to selling such as the home computer. On the same day a key was provided to the vacant home that also had a lock box on it for the past Real Estate Agents that had shown the home previously. On August 18th I went back to the home to make sure everything was in order for the sale happening that weekend and noticed the home computer CPU was missing. When I called Mark to ask him about the item he said he noticed it was missing but thought I had come by to pick it up. He also told me he had been a victim of identity theft in the past and that maybe someone was attempting something similar. While I took his word for not having the computer, I thought it was a good idea to document all of the items in the home in photographs. Normally, at this point I would have switched services altogether but we were in a real time crunch and other options were over 3 weeks out and the new buyers would need to take possession in less than 2 weeks. I let Mark know that the items had been photo documented and offered photos to help with reconciliation report that was supposed to be provided as part of the service. Additionally, no official appraisal of items had been provided so I worked to be extra careful moving forward. After the Estate sale had completed I immediately began to ask for reconciliation of the items but no report was provided. I was also unable to obtain the original key I had provided to Mark and Cheryl to conduct the sale. After numerous attempts I was finally able to obtain the key approximately 2 weeks later. Subsequently, after asking for weeks/months for a reconciliation report of the items sold at the Estate Sale and finally threatening to call the police if I didn’t hear back; I was sent a check for $1144 for all of the items sold. The report did not list any of the items or details of the items sold only a quantity # and a sell price so nothing could be challenged (documentation attached). They then deducted their services fees for the cost of clean out cut me a check for the remainder. I have since seen other stories on BBB. Please beware of this company.

Important highlights from the signed contract that would later become issues:

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PRICING We will appraise all items to be sold and will mark prices on each item using price stickers, tags or signs that we will provide. If we believe there are items of value that are not within our expertise, we may choose to engage an outside appraiser having the necessary expertise, at our expense. We welcome your input regarding the value of specific items; however, given our substantial experience in this area, we reserve the right to make all final pricing decisions. ALL ITEMS ARE PRICED TO SELL FOR THE PREVAILING MARKET RATES AND VALUES, MOST ITEMS ONLY RETURN 1/3 TO 1/4 - 35% TO 25% OF THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE PRICE AND CAN BE AS LOW AS 5% RETURN WE HAVE NO GUARANTEE OR STATED PROMISE THAT YOUR ITEMS SALE WILL REACH THESE RETURN PERCENTAGES.

FEES AND EXPENSES Our fee for providing the services discussed above is a $ 2,500.00 or SEE COMMISSION RATES of entire gross receipts of the sale which ever is greater; we will require the flat fee/commission paid out of gross proceeds of sale, in the event the sale does not generate enough sales to cover all costs of fees/commissions and sales expenses the estate will be billed for the balance of expenses incurred from the estate sale, per line item 10. Moving sellable household/tool items to a off site CHES warehouse for selling, transfer fee: commission $ N/A (This is a not to exceed charge) (Moving charges do not include vehicles/heavy equipment) Clean-out estate fee, remove all unsellable household items from inside home/garage and place in dumpster, additional fees may be charged per line item 10. $N/A (Included in service charges Item 9. FEES AND EXPENSES) Pianos and Pool Tables are a extra billable charge and are not included in the cleanout service these items are billed hourly with a minimum charge per line item 10. Listed is the sales commission for items that will be sold in this sale over the gross amount of : 50% fee/commission of a individual sale item sold at $2,000.00 and under 40% fee/commission of a individual sale item sold at $2,001.00 to $5,000.00 30% fee/commission of a individual sale item sold at $5,001.00 to $20,000.00 X $ 0.25 fee/commission of a individual vehicles/heavy equipment - $500.00 per item sold 10% additional fee/commission of a individual sale item sold on Marketplace(Estatesales.net) internet sales

RECORDS AND RECEIPTS: PAYMENT Our records regarding the sale will be open to you at all times during and for 1 month after the sale. CHES will reconcile sales daily showing the gross sale proceeds, itemized fee's and expenses deducted, and the net sales results, which will be made available at the end of the business day to signatures on this Estate Sale Agreement when the closing time of the daily estate is before 3:00 PM. CHES can itemize all items sold during the sale for a additional minimum fee of $500.00 which must be requested at the signing of this contract, this fee is deducted from the net proceeds of the estate sale contract and is not included in the estate sale commission fee per Line Item #9. Net proceeds from this contracted estate sale will be paid within 45 days of the estates last item sold in a sale or any contracted work associated with the estate items being sold. Any items belonging to the estate valued over $250.00 which have not sold and have been placed on consignment or auction will be itemized separately for future reference of sale, when requested in writing within 24hrs of the last posted sale date. We strongly encourage the estate/executor/power of attorney/owner to supply CHES a complete inventory of all items placed with CHES or contracted with CHES to sell for the estates records. CHES will not complete a inventory of items received or after the sell in a reconciliation unless requested, this is a chargeable extra service.

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We are in the process of addressing [redacted] concerns and completing a reconciliation for her sisters estate, we will be making arrangements for returning any and all items that are currently in our possession that have not sold.We will be contacting [redacted] the week of May 1st to deliver any funds due her from the sale of her Sisters estate and returnall unsold items.Thanks,Cheryl T**

We have paid [redacted] and we do apologize for the tardy payment and lack of communication

Revdex.com: Today (4/PDT) the business contacted me and fully resolved my complaint Thanks [redacted]

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:On 4/the remaining item was finally returned This was part of the resolution requested but it does not address the poor service experienced in the past Sincerely, [redacted]

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: This will be my third complaint to the Revdex.comThe issue has not been resolved as your most recent report indicatesHe replied to you but nothing has changedMy sister passed away July 4th By the end of July Cosmopolitan Hoarder Estate Services had cleared out my sisters homeIn September I received an accounting of the kitchen items soldAt that time it was indicated that I owned them after the clear out feeThis was fairNow seven months later I have received many, many promises, excuses etcas to why I have not received any accounting or monies for items soldI appreciate that antiques are not selling well now, but they have told me that some items have sold out of the Gilman Gallery in Issaquah, which I'm sure they have a record ofMy sister had a large amount of items that were not antiques as wellStill no money, no accounting of what is unsoldI have sent a list of furniture items etc and asked for a report of what has happened with said items a couple months agoNo replyWhen I do get some communication from Mark, he apologizes, makes promises, but never follows through.An accounting of items sold and payment for same as well as an inventory of items unsoldSincerely, [redacted]

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:he did not pay the money owed for the glass cylinder Sincerely, [redacted]

To whom it may concern:We acknowledge Mr***'s concerns and frustrations with some of our poor communications on the close out of their sale.Mr [redacted] did not mention that we moved his daughters unsold furniture pieces into two additional sales with the last sale being on 4/23/17, we did not charge any additional moving cost and did this to help his daughter and save the cost to the estate for a disposal feeWe do not close out a sale per our contract until all sales are completed that involves merchandise from the estate and then have days to complete our reconciliation.We were almost two weeks late getting the ***'s their check and reconciliation, we unfortunately got overly busy.We do not state in our contract that we will supply any items lists of the items sold unless required by our client and then have that written into the contract, we supply as a courtesy to clients a tally sheet."RECORDS AND RECEIPTS: PAYMENTOur records regarding the sale will be open to you at all times during and for months after the sale.CHES will reconcile sales receipts daily showing the gross sale proceeds, itemized fees and expenses deducted, and the netsales results which will be made available at the end of the business day to signatures on this Estate Sale Agreement,Net proceeds from this contracted estate sale will be paid within days of the close of all sales and sale contracted work.Any items belonging to the estate which have not sold and have been placed on consignment or auction will be itemizedseparately for future reference of sale"We always discount on our last day of the sale and ring in the full price of the item and then hit the 50% discount key on our cash register to show the customer they are getting their discount.We have attached the Reconciliation and the "courtesy" itemized daily sales figures for review.We truly regret any frustration or discontent we caused the ***'s, we performed a service that no other company would do for what the ***'s were willing to paySincerely,Cheryl & MarkCHES***Supporting Documentation Redacted By Revdex.com Staf*

This company held an estate sale in mid-March, and three months later I am waiting for an accounting, despite countless emails, voice mails and texts with absolutely no response from them. Three weeks ago I went to their warehouse and asked them in person when I could expect an accounting, and I was told they were waiting for a final bill from the dumpster company. I have since texted and left voice mails asking for an accounting with their educated guess as to the dumpster charge, and still have received no response whatsoever.

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: Nothing has been resolved yet.Sincerely,*** ***

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:Mark & I have been around the block on his explanation The detailed reconciliation should show the actual prices received for the items, not a full price that is discounted by 50%, confusing to the client The contract actually states , "on the last day of the published sale we reserve the right to reduce prices of items being sold except on specific items where minimums have been established..." That said, we would expect that the detailed reconciliation provided would show the actual prices paid for our items on the last day, not a price that they then tell us was discounted by 50% across the board....confusing to the client
Sincerely,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me
Sincerely,
*** ***

To whom it may concern:We acknowledge Mr. [redacted]'s concerns and frustrations with some of our poor communications on the close out of their sale.Mr. [redacted] did not mention that we moved his daughters unsold furniture pieces into two additional sales with the last sale being on 4/23/17, we did not...

charge any additional moving cost and did this to help his daughter and save the cost to the estate for a disposal fee. We do not close out a sale per our contract until all sales are completed that involves merchandise from the estate and then have 30 days to complete our reconciliation.We were almost two weeks late getting the [redacted]'s their check and reconciliation, we unfortunately got overly busy.We do not state in our contract that we will supply any items lists of the items sold unless required by our client and then have that written into the contract, we supply as a courtesy to clients a tally sheet."RECORDS AND RECEIPTS: PAYMENTOur records regarding the sale will be open to you at all times during and for 6 months after the sale.CHES will reconcile sales receipts daily showing the gross sale proceeds, itemized fees and expenses deducted, and the netsales results which will be made available at the end of the business day to signatures on this Estate Sale Agreement,Net proceeds from this contracted estate sale will be paid within 30 days of the close of all sales and sale contracted work.Any items belonging to the estate which have not sold and have been placed on consignment or auction will be itemizedseparately for future reference of sale"We always discount on our last day of the sale and ring in the full price of the item and then hit the 50% discount key on our cash register to show the customer they are getting their discount.We have attached the Reconciliation and the "courtesy" itemized daily sales figures for review.We truly regret any frustration or discontent we caused the [redacted]'s, we performed a service that no other company would do for what the [redacted]'s were willing to pay. Sincerely,Cheryl & MarkCHES[redacted]Supporting Documentation Redacted By Revdex.com Staff[redacted]

Revdex.com:
 
Today (4/3 PDT) the business contacted me and fully resolved my complaint.
 
Thanks
 
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:On 4/9 the remaining item was finally returned.  This was part of the resolution requested but it does not address the poor service experienced in the past.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

We are in the process of addressing [redacted] concerns and completing a reconciliation for her sisters estate, we will be making arrangements for returning any and all items that are currently in our possession that have not sold.We will be contacting [redacted] the week of May 1st to deliver any funds due her from the sale of her Sisters estate and returnall unsold items.Thanks,Cheryl T**

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:he did not pay the money owed for the glass cylinder.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

We have paid [redacted] and we do apologize for the tardy payment and lack of communication.

We will give [redacted] a call tomorrow.