Family Trust Estate Liquidators

Please see the response to Mr. [redacted]’s complaint filed on June 5, 2015.  I was very surprised to see that a complaint was filed considering we originally did not want to sign him up. However due to his lack of help with a time constraints, decided to help him.   Mr. [redacted] contacted my...

husband and business partner [redacted] the week they were visiting their home.     Mr. [redacted] indicated that he had a lot of items that had to be removed due to the sale of his home Based on the discussion between both [redacted] & Mr. [redacted], it was determined that two, 12’ box vans, would be sufficient to remove his items. When [redacted] arrived he was very upset at the merchandise that was being provided to sell. The only items that he though had some value was two armoire, a vintage vanity with mirror and mower.  All other items was general merchandise purchased at discount stores (many items had price tags on bottom of item), including the common “china”.  [redacted] informed Mr. [redacted]’s son “[redacted]” that he did not see much value and was not comfortable taking the estate.  [redacted] received second opinion from my brother who was with [redacted] at the time.  [redacted] asked my brother if he seen much value, my brother responded “Not really. “    [redacted] was disappointed because of the time constraints involved with the move.  [redacted] felt bad and told [redacted] that “since we’re here we’ll try to help”.  Mr. [redacted] was not present during this conversation and spent most of his time while the work was being completed, in the back yard.    When moving the furniture [redacted] notice that both armoires  had water damage and became more upset with himself for taking this job knowing that this estate had just become more minimal in value for a sale.     To wrap, pack and load a home into one truck normally would take eight hours.  Mr. [redacted]’s property took three hours.  All the boxes, and furnishing except for the table and chairs easily fit in one 12’ box van with room for more.  The table and chair would have fit in the same truck, however [redacted] decided to utilize the other truck since it was empty.   Note: [redacted] had another client “[redacted]” in Roseville who he called after leaving Mr. [redacted]’s home to inform him that he was in town with a truck.  He asked [redacted] if he would like us to pick up his merchandise since he had an empty truck. The reason I am bringing this up is because [redacted] can attest that only one truck was used for Mr. [redacted] and the other truck only contained the table and chairs. [redacted]’s items filled the second truck.)  All of Mr. [redacted]’s items were displayed along one small portion of a wall in our warehouse that contained 3-metal shelving units.  As stated above and shown in the photo, most of his merchandise was common modern discount store items On Saturday, April 4, we had the first sale and sold the lawn mower and misc. items from the shelves. Easter Sunday, April 5, we sold the two damaged armories and a few more misc. items from the shelves.  We held over the table & chairs and the mirrored vanity for our following sale which was held on April 18 & 19.  Unfortunately, there was no interest for Mr. [redacted]’s furniture. Therefore all his unsold items were donated. Donation receipt was provided to Mr. [redacted] for his tax write off, per written agreement by Mr. [redacted].   His receipt may show that two trucks of items was donation, however both trucks contained Mr. [redacted]’s and five other families merchandise.  I believe that by Mr. [redacted] marking the box on the contract stating “Any unsold items are to be removed at the discretion of Family Trust Estate Liquidators staff, may include donation(s) or auction or both”, lead him to believe that his items were to be auctioned.  If any of these items had value than “Yes”, auction would have been an option, however this was not the case on his merchandise provided.  On April 23, we sent a statement showing gross sales of $440.00, after taxes, advertisement and 35% commission, Mr. [redacted] received net of $259.55.    Our commission for labor, prep set up, gas, 2 trucks round trip which is a 45 minutes one way drive and four days of labor during the sale, only arrived to $142.45, so we too took a large loss as [redacted] had anticipated from the very beginning. In our business we have to keep reminding our clients that they may have purchased their furniture and items at a higher price and yes, they may have value, however in the second hand market, value is based on what the customer is willing to pay.  Unfortunately, furniture, antiques, glass, china and knick knacks are not fast moving items.  The market is flooded with large furniture because people are downsizing not expanding, this was explained to Mr. [redacted]. We also have to keep reminding our clients that this is a “Liquidation” service. Therefore we have a limited time to sell their items with no promise of the return.  Return will be based on the sale, not the value.  As [redacted] was leaving he stated to Mr. [redacted] that he will do all he can but can’t promise much.  On June 4, 2015, we received a letter from Mr. [redacted] indicating how he was unpleasantly surprised that we had a sale on Easter weekend (see attached letter). A response letter was created the same day and mailed on the morning of June 5, 2015.  We were surprised to find that he contacted the Revdex.com without waiting for a response. We have been in business for six years in El Dorado County.  We are licensed, bonded and insured and practice an honest and clean business.   Our honesty and reliability has earned us a very privileged client listed below:  ·         El Dorado Public Guardian; Services includes moving seniors to care facilities or other living areas. Secure their personal property from hostile family members and/or liquidate as requested. We’ve donated free services to our seniors with little or no income.  We donot take advantage of our senior as Mr. [redacted] has indicated.  The Public Guardian staff can attest to this statement.·         El Dorado Sheriff’s Department which includes securing personal property from hostile family members, death, and probate. Inventory estates and liquidate as requested.·         El Dorado County School District·         El Dorado, Sacramento & Placer Counties RealtorsUnsold merchandise is donated to a variety of local community charities in El Dorado County and receipts are provided to the donors.  All of Mr. [redacted]’s unsold items were provided to a local charity as marked on the contract and a blank receipt was provided to Mr. [redacted] for his tax write-off.  In closing, we feel for Mr. [redacted], however he did not have the value as he believed.  Both he and his son [redacted] were reminded that we did not want his estate but did it out of sincerity to help him with his moving situation.  Holidays do not interfere with an estate sale, the product is what will drive the sale.  Unfortunately, Mr. [redacted] did not have the merchandise that was of interest to our customers during both weekends.  Mr. [redacted]’s furniture was not considered auction merchandise.  And most importantly, we are honest and never prey on our elderly and we have many happy elderly clients who will attest to this statement. Please feel free to contact either myself or husband [redacted] if you have any questions or clarification.

Dear Mr. [redacted].  I'm sorry to hear Mr. [redacted]'s assumption as stated in his final rebuttal.  We are known as an honest and respectable liquidation company especially when it comes to reporting income and caring for our senior citizens.  We've provided numerous donated hours assisting our senior with limited incomes with services and relocation.   This can be confirmed with El Dorado County Public Guardian and Sheriff's departments. I hope the photos sent to you will help determine the type of merchandise provided by Mr. [redacted] and concluding that the value did not arrive to $30,000.00 as he states.  I'm sorry that his memory is not fully functional and does not remember our conversations. At no time did we ever state that we had a large following for china and knick knacks.  In fact it's the complete opposite.  We tell our clients that china, glassware and knick knacks do not sell.  The second hand market is flooded with these type of items that nobody want to purchase.  We prefer not to sell these items because we know that we would have to repack and place back into our truck for a donation. It doesn't make sense, why would we want to double unnecessary labor?  At no time do we tell any client  similar sale amounts because this will provide false expectations.  However both Mr. [redacted] and his son we're told that his merchandise had little value and we did not want to do his sale.In my final response I would like to state that we went above and beyond providing Mr. [redacted] honest services. We continued to provide him a service after we told him no. We carried over some of his items to the next sale, which we rarely do, to provide him an other opportunity to sell his items. I provided him the donation receipt along with his check and final statement.  However, I'm enclosing a copy to satisfy his request.  I feel we did everything possible to "Liquidate" his items. And I do remind our clients that the key word is "Liquidate" as liquidators we have 2 days to sell their items, as for Mr. [redacted] he had 4 days. I hope this will help close our case so all parties can move forward.  Please feel free to contact either myself or Greg if you have any questions. With Regards...[redacted] [redacted].

Review: Prior to selling my 4 bedroom home [redacted], I signed a contract with: Family Trust Estate Liquidators [redacted]They removed 2 truckloads from my home with a retail value of over $30,000. I was told they would have a sale for miscellaneous items and an auction for the more valuable items. Imagine my surprise when I received a statement dated 4/23/2015 stating that the total gross sale from 4/4/15 & 4/5/45 was only $440. What reputable dealer holds a sale on Easter Weekend? They also claimed they only removed one truckload and not two.My dining room table and six chairs should have sold for over $1.000. They also removed two armoires and an antique vanity worth more than $1,000.I believe that because I moved to San Diego they short-changed be by at least $2,000 to $5,000.Desired Settlement: They should be investigated and other senior citizens warned.

Business

Response:

Please see the response to Mr. [redacted]’s complaint filed on June 5, 2015. I was very surprised to see that a complaint was filed considering we originally did not want to sign him up. However due to his lack of help with a time constraints, decided to help him. Mr. [redacted] contacted my husband and business partner [redacted] the week they were visiting their home. Mr. [redacted] indicated that he had a lot of items that had to be removed due to the sale of his home Based on the discussion between both [redacted] & Mr. [redacted], it was determined that two, 12’ box vans, would be sufficient to remove his items. When [redacted] arrived he was very upset at the merchandise that was being provided to sell. The only items that he though had some value was two armoire, a vintage vanity with mirror and mower. All other items was general merchandise purchased at discount stores (many items had price tags on bottom of item), including the common “china”. [redacted] informed Mr. [redacted]’s son “[redacted]” that he did not see much value and was not comfortable taking the estate. [redacted] received second opinion from my brother who was with [redacted] at the time. [redacted] asked my brother if he seen much value, my brother responded “Not really. “ [redacted] was disappointed because of the time constraints involved with the move. [redacted] felt bad and told [redacted] that “since we’re here we’ll try to help”. Mr. [redacted] was not present during this conversation and spent most of his time while the work was being completed, in the back yard. When moving the furniture [redacted] notice that both armoires had water damage and became more upset with himself for taking this job knowing that this estate had just become more minimal in value for a sale. To wrap, pack and load a home into one truck normally would take eight hours. Mr. [redacted]’s property took three hours. All the boxes, and furnishing except for the table and chairs easily fit in one 12’ box van with room for more. The table and chair would have fit in the same truck, however [redacted] decided to utilize the other truck since it was empty. Note: [redacted] had another client “[redacted]” in Roseville who he called after leaving Mr. [redacted]’s home to inform him that he was in town with a truck. He asked [redacted] if he would like us to pick up his merchandise since he had an empty truck. The reason I am bringing this up is because [redacted] can attest that only one truck was used for Mr. [redacted] and the other truck only contained the table and chairs. [redacted]’s items filled the second truck.) All of Mr. [redacted]’s items were displayed along one small portion of a wall in our warehouse that contained 3-metal shelving units. As stated above and shown in the photo, most of his merchandise was common modern discount store items On Saturday, April 4, we had the first sale and sold the lawn mower and misc. items from the shelves. Easter Sunday, April 5, we sold the two damaged armories and a few more misc. items from the shelves. We held over the table & chairs and the mirrored vanity for our following sale which was held on April 18 & 19. Unfortunately, there was no interest for Mr. [redacted]’s furniture. Therefore all his unsold items were donated. Donation receipt was provided to Mr. [redacted] for his tax write off, per written agreement by Mr. [redacted]. His receipt may show that two trucks of items was donation, however both trucks contained Mr. [redacted]’s and five other families merchandise. I believe that by Mr. [redacted] marking the box on the contract stating “Any unsold items are to be removed at the discretion of Family Trust Estate Liquidators staff, may include donation(s) or auction or both”, lead him to believe that his items were to be auctioned. If any of these items had value than “Yes”, auction would have been an option, however this was not the case on his merchandise provided. On April 23, we sent a statement showing gross sales of $440.00, after taxes, advertisement and 35% commission, Mr. [redacted] received net of $259.55. Our commission for labor, prep set up, gas, 2 trucks round trip which is a 45 minutes one way drive and four days of labor during the sale, only arrived to $142.45, so we too took a large loss as [redacted] had anticipated from the very beginning. In our business we have to keep reminding our clients that they may have purchased their furniture and items at a higher price and yes, they may have value, however in the second hand market, value is based on what the customer is willing to pay. Unfortunately, furniture, antiques, glass, china and knick knacks are not fast moving items. The market is flooded with large furniture because people are downsizing not expanding, this was explained to Mr. [redacted]. We also have to keep reminding our clients that this is a “Liquidation” service. Therefore we have a limited time to sell their items with no promise of the return. Return will be based on the sale, not the value. As [redacted] was leaving he stated to Mr. [redacted] that he will do all he can but can’t promise much. On June 4, 2015, we received a letter from Mr. [redacted] indicating how he was unpleasantly surprised that we had a sale on Easter weekend (see attached letter). A response letter was created the same day and mailed on the morning of June 5, 2015. We were surprised to find that he contacted the Revdex.com without waiting for a response. We have been in business for six years in El Dorado County. We are licensed, bonded and insured and practice an honest and clean business. Our honesty and reliability has earned us a very privileged client listed below: · El Dorado Public Guardian; Services includes moving seniors to care facilities or other living areas. Secure their personal property from hostile family members and/or liquidate as requested. We’ve donated free services to our seniors with little or no income. We donot take advantage of our senior as Mr. [redacted] has indicated. The Public Guardian staff can attest to this statement.· El Dorado Sheriff’s Department which includes securing personal property from hostile family members, death, and probate. Inventory estates and liquidate as requested.· El Dorado County School District· El Dorado, Sacramento & Placer Counties RealtorsUnsold merchandise is donated to a variety of local community charities in El Dorado County and receipts are provided to the donors. All of Mr. [redacted]’s unsold items were provided to a local charity as marked on the contract and a blank receipt was provided to Mr. [redacted] for his tax write-off. In closing, we feel for Mr. [redacted], however he did not have the value as he believed. Both he and his son [redacted] were reminded that we did not want his estate but did it out of sincerity to help him with his moving situation. Holidays do not interfere with an estate sale, the product is what will drive the sale. Unfortunately, Mr. [redacted] did not have the merchandise that was of interest to our customers during both weekends. Mr. [redacted]’s furniture was not considered auction merchandise. And most importantly, we are honest and never prey on our elderly and we have many happy elderly clients who will attest to this statement. Please feel free to contact either myself or husband [redacted] if you have any questions or clarification.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because: [redacted]

[redacted] June 18, 2015 RE: Final Rebuttal Revdex.com I filed this complaint because I believe either there isa large amount of unreported income or Family Trust Estate Liquidators are notvery good at their job. Whether it’s age or cancer treatment my brain has not functionedas it should so it is my fault that I did not keep tabs on items or merchandisebut whether it was one truck or two the amount received at sale for $440 is alittle unrealistic. Neither my son nor I were ever told our it items hadlittle value, in fact we were told similar sales made between $3000 - & $6000. We were also told that Family Trust had alarge following that purchased china and Knick knacks. The Liquidators only took the items they knew would selland as to the time involved in two prior moves [redacted] cleared theentire contents of three bedroom homes in less than 3 hours. Finally I did not receive a donation receipt as claimed. Sincerely, [redacted]

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. [redacted]. I'm sorry to hear Mr. [redacted]'s assumption as stated in his final rebuttal. We are known as an honest and respectable liquidation company especially when it comes to reporting income and caring for our senior citizens. We've provided numerous donated hours assisting our senior with limited incomes with services and relocation. This can be confirmed with El Dorado County Public Guardian and Sheriff's departments. I hope the photos sent to you will help determine the type of merchandise provided by Mr. [redacted] and concluding that the value did not arrive to $30,000.00 as he states. I'm sorry that his memory is not fully functional and does not remember our conversations. At no time did we ever state that we had a large following for china and knick knacks. In fact it's the complete opposite. We tell our clients that china, glassware and knick knacks do not sell. The second hand market is flooded with these type of items that nobody want to purchase. We prefer not to sell these items because we know that we would have to repack and place back into our truck for a donation. It doesn't make sense, why would we want to double unnecessary labor? At no time do we tell any client similar sale amounts because this will provide false expectations. However both Mr. [redacted] and his son we're told that his merchandise had little value and we did not want to do his sale.In my final response I would like to state that we went above and beyond providing Mr. [redacted] honest services. We continued to provide him a service after we told him no. We carried over some of his items to the next sale, which we rarely do, to provide him an other opportunity to sell his items. I provided him the donation receipt along with his check and final statement. However, I'm enclosing a copy to satisfy his request. I feel we did everything possible to "Liquidate" his items. And I do remind our clients that the key word is "Liquidate" as liquidators we have 2 days to sell their items, as for Mr. [redacted] he had 4 days. I hope this will help close our case so all parties can move forward. Please feel free to contact either myself or Greg if you have any questions. With Regards...[redacted].

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because:The response is opposite of what we were told. We were told they had a large following for china and knick knacks and buyers would make offers for all of them.If there was a second sale no monies were receivedThey fail to mention what happened to the three glass and wood curio cabinets and all of the pictures and paintings.If goods were donated there was no value listed. [redacted]