Cherished Possessions

I’m an avid second-​hand shopper, and I have never found anything here that I would consider a good deal nor have I ever found a «must have» collectible. I no longer even try and instead go to the neighboring flea markets and antique shops. Having said that, it’s clean and probably nicer than buying something new from a Big Box store.

We should have seen the red flags as soon as we met with Cas, who runs the estates side of this business. We had to call her when she was late to our first meeting. She excused it by explaining a bit too much about her son-in-law’s medical condition that caused her to be late. Once we met, she convinced us of the merits of consigning the furniture and other items we wanted removed from my parents’ estate. In hindsight, I expect that she pushed us away from doing an estate sale because of the higher commission and leverage.
We signed a contract and paid them $ 600 to dispose of some items that they were not interested in consigning. We carefully organized everything into clearly defined groups with sticky notes designating the items that they should take. There were other groups of items that we were keeping or giving to other family members to remember my parents. These were marked with a different colored sticky note and a name. When the pickup-​day came, Cas cancelled at the last minute and rescheduled for a time when we were not able to meet her. Since my siblings and I live out of state and were rushing to get the house on the market, we (stupidly) let Cas and her team come into the house on their own. The following day, we returned to find that they had cherry-​picked ALL of our possessions. They had taken some of the things that we’d agreed on, but not all. We ended up having to pay someone else to remove the rest of the items we were trashing or donating. Worst of all though, Cherished Posssions also took things that were clearly marked for us or for another family member. My sister was so upset that she called the police. Unfortunately, because we let them into the house, we could not file charges.
Now that Cherished Possessions has all of our stuff, they have all the power. They were supposed to provided an inventory of all the items that they took and let us approve it for sale. We didn’t receive the inventory for several months, by which time, many of the items had been sold. Needless to say, we never had the opportunity to ‘approve’ any sales. We called and called to try to get our stuff back but one of two things always happened: Cas would not answer and her voicemail box was full or someone at the store answered but Cas was not there and NO ONE else had the authority to give us any information or an inventory. We would leave a message and occasionally Cas would call back. She was snippy and defensive about the whole situation and could not provide any solutions for us except to wait for our contract to end and come pick up our stuff. Several conversations ended with her hanging up on us, which is about the worst customer service I can imagine, even if you are dealing with a disgruntled customer.
Finally, when the first of the contracts came up (apparently the contract period starts when they decide to put your stuff out in the store, not the day they steal it from you), we went to the store to retrieve it. We told Cas our intentions a week before we came, but she never showed up. We worked with the sales floor manager who told us we had to find our stuff in their huge, cluttered store. It was like a nighmare version of an ‘I Spy’ book. Also, he was not authorized to print out a current inventory for us. We finally persuaded him to break the rules and give it to us since matching up the inventory numbers was the only way to be sure something was ours and if something had been sold. There was still stuff that was not in the store and might have been at a warehouse. We took everything we could and drove it straight to GoodWill to donate it instead of letting them make another penny off of us.
We considered suing them to get our things back, but it would have risked the estate’s money and would have drained any energy remaining after the loss of our parents AND dealing with this situation. Needless to say, we wouldn’t recommend this company to our worst enemy. They are crooks with no morals or empathy.

After writing them a hard copy letter last August I finally got a terse email reply saying they were too busy to individually respond to phone calls. They said the reason I couldn’t check the online status of my furniture consignment was that they had «forgotten» to add me to their system. They assured me I would know when my consignment sold. No contact. It’s 2014 now so I guess I can stop hoping. Lame.

This shop has a decent collection of furniture, accessories, paintings and dishes. We ended up buying and old brass desk lamp and an antique metal tape dispenser. The prices were spot on and the woman at the front desk was very helpful. This place you might need to look twice because there are so many small things tucked away. There is also parking in the back which was a nice bonus.

Well… I had high hopes! I looked at the website before heading over, and was excited… I liked the descriptions of the inventory, thought it was great that it listed when the item came to the shop, etc. I decided to go 20 minutes out of my way — each way — before heading back to the Maine Turnpike to take a look for a side table and then anything else.
However, here is the reason for the 2-​star rating: I was the only customer in the shop, and 2 employees were there. Neither of the ladies acknowledged me whatsoever, even when one of them walked by me so closely she could have reached out and touched me! Really? How about a hello? I saw a table I liked, but forgot my measuring tape, and when I thought about asking if they had one, I then decided I could spend my $ 100+ elsewhere.

Don’t Sell Anything Here!
Buy here if you want… but don’t sell anything here. You will never see your money! I used to buy and sell here all the time. but the new owners… don’t trust them.
They are not friendly to begin with… but I left several items with them in January anyway to sell. They posted them on their website. and sold them in February. I have never gotten my money. When I called they told me they never sent out checks… you had to pick them up or send them a SASE. (can’t afford a 42 cents stamp after taking a 50% commission??) Anyhow… so I went it… the owner gave me some story about all the checks having to be reprinted and I would have to come back. When I asked why my check which should have been sitting in a file waiting for me since February had to be reprinted she got very huffy and angry with me. SHe finally agreed to a SASE which I filled out while I was there. She said the check would be in the mail the next day… its been a month. .it hasn’t arrived. I have emailed them but gotten no reply. I guess the next step is small claims court.

This is a consignment store that sells furniture and house-​wares. Inventory seems to move reasonably quick. Prices seem decent. Definitely worth checking out if you are looking for furniture or some antique dishes.