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Auction Value Claims Raise Complaints From Buyers

WESTON (CBSMiami) - A company which stages liquidation auctions around the state, including South Florida, is coming under fire from some people who bid to win, but now claim they were really losers after claiming items they won turned out to worth less than the auctioneers claimed.

Dave Egnatuk, visiting South Florida from Michigan, thought it would be fun to attend a 'drug seizure auction' he spotted in a newspaper ad. His friend, Sue Haven, agreed to come along.

"I said sure, I'm up for it," she remembered

Haven won seven items she bid for at the auction run by Aucor, also known as"Auction Liquidators." She spent $4,000, but that was nothing compared to what Egnatuk dropped.

It was his first auction, he said, and he got caught up in the moment. Egnatuk plunked down $40,000 on artwork and jewelry.

After getting the goods, he checked out how well he did, and was not happy with what he learned.

Egnatuk said he paid $6,000 for a ruby necklace. But when he had a jeweler appraised the necklace;  he was told it was valued at only $1800.

"I feel duped.  The auctioneer said it was worth $24 thousand," he claimed. Havens was also unhappy, claiming she paid $125 for a globe she later saw on eBay for about $35 less.

"None of us need to be the victim of people that engage and perpetrate in activity like this," Egnatuk said.

CBS4 could not verify the claims allegedly made by the auctioneers. Repeated attempts to reach the company, with offices in Florida and Georgia, did not get a response.

A check with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation found the auctioneer is licensed, but said it had investigated four complaints against them.

Coral Springs attorney Adam Altman took matters into his own hands after winning a bid at a different auction for a necklace he claims he was told was appraised at $32,000.

When he claimed a later appraisal showed the necklace was worth much less; he said he confronted the company at a subsequent auction and was able to get a refund.

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