Get matched with top antique and jewelry appraisers in Oakley, MI

"he sent me a check for$37.70 and said i had a belgium table and a cabinet...this was a total....lie........i called him to ask him how could you make such a false claim,,,,,but then i read about him and they said he was a thief and a fraud...he hung up the phone on me when I guessed him...........this i s how he operated my ant dining table and chairs cost me 650.. back in 1990 and my china cabinet 375 6 yrs ago...i called metro and they said this is a civil matter... he is a bully and a dishonest person....beware....I never knew anything before i put my antique furniture at him auction.............................beware"

"It has been a year since I dealt with Cole's auction Services. But every time I think about how he conducted his business I get angry.I contacted Steve Cole because he was local and per his advertising had been performing auctions for a long time as a professional auctioneer. When we spoke to him he said that he used another auctioneer that had been recommended to us by other professionals. The day I signed the contract for the auction he didn't have a copy for me, instead he assured me that he would get it to me as soon as possible. As the executor of my parents estate I wanted everything done right. I texted him several times in the next few days but I didn't receive my copy. When we were reviewing the property he saw a 1926 Ford Model T, which was part of my inheritance from my late father, he said if we included the Model T he would reduce the advertising cost by half. After long consideration I decided to let the Model T be sold in the estate auction. Mr. Cole set times for him and his crew to meet with me and he was repeatedly late by an hour or more. This happened with no text or call. The day of the auction they came set up and conducted the auction. Many of the auction attendees I spoke with told me that they followed his auctions and that they were "bad" and some even stated that he was a "crook". At that point it was too late. After the auction was completed there were many boxes containing house wares, odds and ends, etc, that were left scattered across the lawn. Trash was tossed around and there were muddy holes in the yard where attendee vehicles had gotten stuck.When Mr. Cole and his staff left I did not receive my copy of the contract, a list of items sold or a final total of sales. There was a long delay in payment, it's my understanding that it's highly unusual to have to wait a month for payment but apparently that's his policy. I patiently waited for a month with my two siblings continuously hounding me about the payment. The month went by with no contact. I went to his store front and speaking with his employees politely asked that he contact me as soon as possible. After three additional weeks he finally contacted me and told me that the state had garnished all of his business accounts for non-payment of taxes. Mr. Cole told me that he had a lawyer who was helping him with this and that he needed me to be patient. Once again he went silent and wasn't returning my texts. After six weeks I informed him that I would soon need to get an attorney involved if payment was not forthcoming. Mr. Cole promptly responded saying that he would make payment but that it would require him to remove money from his retirement account or use the money from the sales of one of his upcoming scheduled auction. At this point, I honestly didn't care that he'd be robbing Peter to pay Paul, I just wanted what was owed to my family by his own contract. Finally, after being 2 full months afterwards I received a check that Mr. Cole claimed came from his retirement account. While I was at his office I requested a copy of the contract and a list of items sold and for what price. He said I should have gotten that at the end of the auction. When he looked at the contract he said "Oh I forgot we were supposed to split the advertising if you included the Model T". He said he would cut a new check and have it for me at the end of the week. He would have it delivered to my house. So I believed that I was going to receive a check for half the advertising price or $750.00. I wasn't home on that day but my wife was and she called me and said the new check was smaller, so I told her to refuse the check and keep the original. It wasn't 10 minutes later and Steve called me upset by the fact I hadn't accepted the check. He claimed that he had over paid me and I had no choice but to take the second check for $750.00 dollars less because he had canceled the first check. So later that afternoon I went to his office to pick up the second check, I took the check directly to his bank to cash it for fear that it might not be good or he might cancel it to to be spiteful. According to the invoice he had made a mistake by forgetting to include the cost of advertising on the original invoice. Clearly a mistake on his part, since according to his advertising he had been doing auctions weekly for 32 years. One would think he would have the system pretty much down by now but no he doesn't. Steve Cole apparently expects his clients to pay for his mistakes on invoicing. In conclusion, this experience was one of frustration, confusion and anger. Steve Cole seems to be seriously lacking in organizational skills, the ability to manage money and basic professional communication. It's difficult to tell if he is a completely incompetent business man or a fraud trying to take advantage of poor people trying to manage their loved ones estates. The best advice I can give for anyone considering doing business with Mr. Cole is don't do it. Life is TOO short and it isn't worth the aggravation."

"It went great! We found Fisher Precious Metals on Angie's List, and after googling them, we found they had very positive reviews across the web. Although it was a 45 minute drive from our home, we felt it might be worth it, and it was. We made an appointment with John via email, arrived at 11:00, and spent just over an hour in his office. He evaluated the sterling silver set we had to sell and gave us what we felt was a very fair price. He'd given us an estimate on the value of the gold coins via email, and although the price of gold had fluctuated since he'd provided the quote, the final price was very, very close to the initial quote. We were happy to learn that they will also buy jewelry, as I have a few pieces I haven't worn in a very long time. We were very pleased with the entire experience and will definitely return to their company when we have gold or silver to sell, and we're happy to recommend them to our friends. One thing to keep in mind is that sterling silver sets are basically worth the price of the silver itself. We knew that going in, so we were not disappointed and, in fact, the price we received was a little higher than we'd expected."

"VERY pleasant! Jewelry was appraised, check was issued (later deposited and cleared), and hospitality was a plus."