If I could give Steve less than one star, I would. He is nothing but a scam-artist and should…read moreprobably be prosecuted under the elder abuse laws in Florida. Went to see him because, ironically, he's the only game in town that will buy used furniture and we were trying to liquidate my mother's estate. During our initial visit, he had the gall to brag to myself and my husband about all the families he's managed to con out of households full of furniture, he literally has warehouses full (his words). He regaled us with a story about how some of his recent victims (an elderly couple) were paid only a fraction (less than $700) for a 2,000 sqft house FULL of furniture. He told us it was quality pieces and some antiques. He then bragged that locals don't appreciate the antiques he acquires and sells, but he usually makes a killing on reselling items at triple the cost he paid to others who visit from out-of-state. His other "stories" included a brush with cancer and how he's "a born again Christian" because of it. These are merely tactics used to pray on peoples sympathies in order to gain their trust. However, to our family he's nothing more than a hypocrite.
I was also shocked how similar our experience was to another reviewer. He doesn't show up himself, he actually sends his son who arrived with his partner and well past our agreed upon time. Son took photos, criticized the furniture and said he had to call Steve. Once he did, he tells Steve the furniture isn't how it was described. This happened even though Steve had been shown previous pictures, flaws had been described in detail and a purchase price was agreed upon with a hand-shake agreement. We were understandably upset by this point because we were leaving in two days and didn't have time to find another company.
I was then handed the phone to talk to Steve. Once on the phone he proceeded to yell, made deeming and nasty comments about my 82 year old mother's inability to maintain her furniture, called us liars and then accused us of stealing his business clients. In our case, we were also having a yard sale at the time and apparently one of his clients showed up and purchased a bed from us (btw, not something that we had even offered to him). Apparently, they were happier to buy our bed than to overspend and pay $1,800 for a king-sized bed from his re-sale shop. The person at some point must have called him and said they no longer needed the king bed, because they just bought a queen bed. This is what he referred to as "stealing his business". Really? I wasn't running a business, it was a yard sale. I don't know about most people, but I also don't screen the folks buying at my yard sale to see if they're a customer of Steve's. After he rudely hung up on me, his son then proceeds to walk through my mother's hoand tries to look at the furniture with the intent on low balling us with an offer of $300 for everything. I threatened to call the local sheriff and told them to get off the property. Come to find out from neighbors and others, that he's "known for his deplorable business practices".
I can not understand how anyone could ever be satisfied with his services let alone how this man is still in business. My recommendation is if you're looking to sell a fair amount of furnishings, try to work with a reputable Estate Sale company if you can. If you're looking to buy from him, just be forewarned that his prices are way too high, he's basically "stolen" the furniture from unsuspecting elderly clients and his business practices are far from reputable.
