James J. Bates II (aka Jamie Bates) and Julie Smith of Thompson and Riley, Ltd., Auctioneers / Realtors misled me repeatedly and extensively to get my signature on their auction contract. Under the heading of consumerism and free speech, I'm here to tell you these people were less than honest from the start and you'll be well advised to reconsider doing business with them.
If you have been unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of such practices by Thompson and Riley, please contact me. They cannot be allowed to do what they did to anyone else. I understand how incredibly difficult and painful it is to have been a victim... But I still need to hear your story.
UPDATE: December 21
I have received a C&D letter from a lawyer on behalf of Thompson and Riley. They are claiming that I am making defamatory and slanderous statements against them by my posting. I am prefacing the following paragraphs by saying I had filed complaints with Ky Real Estate Commission and Board of Auctioneers and they responded by pointing to the other for resolution.
I have moved on to the Office of the Attorney General of Ky with my complaint (OAG oversees the Board of Auctioneers). The first step by the OAG is sending a letter to Thompson & Riley urging resolution. Thompson & Riley responded that they consider the matter closed. I hope for further oversight and intervention by the OAG.
My original complaint was five pages but, for the sake of space and time, lets begin here with these:
1. Jamie promised to inventory and catalogue the contents of the house and provide me with said inventory. No such inventory was received. The only list of contents ever received was at settlement time MONTHS after the auctions and the list received was quite small compared to the actual contents of the house. To my understanding, not providing receipts for contents and providing settlement results and disbursement months after the auctions occurred are violations. These things, taken individually, could be considered oversights (although still inexcusable) but, viewed collectively, each of the points contained in my complaint show a pattern of deception.
2. Jamie promised to utilize Ebay for the dolls, accessories and finer collectibles to get a wider market. We talked at length prior to the signing of the contract. It appears that NOT ONE item made it to Ebay.in his response to my Board of Auctioneers complaint, Jamie stated he's used Ebay for years. First, responding to that claim as he did, it shows there was merit to my raising the point and, secondly, he offered no factual defense (showing what items went to Ebay and the supporting paperwork that would have been created). Numerous promises made but not carried out.
3. Over the course of months after the auctions, numerous attempts to contact Jamie Bates and Julie Smith by phone, fax and email were met with silence. Even the published fax numbers were either disconnected or simply not answered. I wanted to know what was going on with the auctions. They had the money and simply were not disbursing. Not until I sent a registered letter demanding response and disbursement did I receive a response. Within about four days, Julie Smith called my friend Julie and opened with "You really must hate me" to which Julie responded that she "was very disappointed in their failure to follow through on what they had promised". Julie Smith said she had asked Jamie, repeatedly, to make that phone call and when she decided that he obviously wasn't going to make the call, she said she "decided to bite the bullet and make the call". Bottom line: $14 was owed to me. She said they were scaling down the cost of work performed (at contract signing, original quote from Jamie for my costs were $300-$400) and that made my net just under $1,400. Twenty-seven hundred square feet of treasures (Jamies word) for $1,400. What a bargain!
More to come at http://ThompsonAndRileySucks.com
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