Morris Auction Group

Company promised to provide service (auction of property) within a specified time period and were unable to comp;lyWe contracted with Morris Auction Group to auction our home for a minimum reserve price of $600,000.00 in July 2014. We deposited $4,500.00 with them for marketing expenses. They represented to us that it would be shown and presented for auction by the Thursday, September 11th, shortly after Labor Day 2014. It became apparent after several weeks that they would not adhere to that schedule and moved the scheduled to the 18th then the 25th without notifying us. When confronted by Mrs. [redacted] Morris of Morris Action stated that said he didn't have to notify us. We had made arrangements to hold an estate sale based upon the scheduled date of the auction. Since the house auction date was never made firm, it caused the estate sale to be canceled. We also became aware that our home had been listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for several weeks without our knowledge at a price they set was which was $215,000.00 under the price we had told them was acceptable to us. Because of those facts we terminated our agreement and our deposit was returned. During a discussion of the reasons for termination a representative of Morris ([redacted] became verbally abusive, even verbally accosting in Mrs. [redacted]. He exhibited unprofessional and unethical behavior, dishonoring Mrs. [redacted] and the professional Realtor Industry. When signing the agreement we offered Morris a DVD with several pictures of the house and yard. While none of the pictures were used by Morris, we have been unable to get the DVD returned and would like to have it back. We believe that Morris Auction Group and its representative were dishonest in saying that they would have the house auctioned at a certain date and that did not disclose that the house would be listed on the MLS. We request that Morris Auction Group and its representatives be censured for unethical and unprofessional behavior.Desired SettlementReturn of DVD and exposure to potential future customers of possible pitfalls.Business Response We received a letter in our regular mail from the Revdex.com on this date of January 20, 2015 and respond this the same date as follows.Our company entered into a reserve auction contract on July 18, 2014 for their home located at [redacted] Road, [redacted]n, TN 38138 with a reserve of $600,000.00. On that date, we explained to the owners that the date of the auction would be determined once there were other properties signed up and committed to an auction. This was part of our agreement with the seller since they were only paying a portion of the total marketing budget of the auction. There was no date in the auction contract; it read "Date to be determined". To that end, they paid a marketing fee of $4,500.00. We also told the owner's that we were targeting a date in September, but that the date would depend on the timing of the other properties.Towards the end August, we informed the owners that the auction date that was originally targeted for September 11th would need to be moved to September 25th due to some late entries for the auction. On or about August 28th, one of our staff met with one of the owners to discuss the matter. She indicated that she was displeased that the date had moved. We explained that this was our agreement and she became verbally hostile towards our staff and the member of our staff defended himself and the company. We categorically deny that any member of our staff either verbally abused Ms. Weaver or verbally accosted her in any manner.It is our policy not to force any customer to the letter of the auction contract who does not desire to continue to be our customer, we agreed to absolve the auction contract and refund their marketing fee in full, which we did. We signed a release and gave them a check for the full amount upon my return to the office on September 2, 2014. It is our policy to list all of our residential properties in the MLS to make sure that all avenues of advertising are pursued. The listing was put into the MLS at $715,000, which was $115,000.00 over their minimum price. The only reason any price was used is because the MLS system will not allow a listing without a price. The price that we selected was deemed to be low enough to attract all bidders but well above their minimum price. The notes in the listing also had a disclaimer that the price was not the listing price but only an indicator of value and that the actual price would be determined by the high bidder at the auction. The owners were aware of this although they claim to have no recollection of this fact.We had no knowledge of the estate sale planned and was written in the complaint and she never made us aware that she was making any plans around any of the tentative auction dates that we discussed with them.I know that they discussed a DVD of photos with us, but I have not seen that DVD or have any knowledge of its current whereabouts. Due to copyright issues, it is our policy to take our own photos of all properties and did so for this property.I agreed to discuss this matter over the phone but she did not wish to speak over the telephone but wanted to have a meeting in public somewhere. The meeting never occurred. I tried several times to understand the exact issues but never received any further details from Mr. or Mrs. Weaver.We always strive to be very honest and direct with all our clients. This is the first such complaint that I am aware of after eight years of business and hundreds of customers, both sellers and buyers.