I bought a piece of art at an estate sale and after doing lots of research found that it might be…read moreworth a hell of a lot more than I paid for it. I had no intention of keeping it and bought it to resell however, I'm no pro when it comes to appraisal so I scouted this appraisal service out on Yelp and called to find out if they could take a look at my art. I spoke to a girl who said they were busy but I could drive over, and they might be able to take a quick look or I could drop it off and leave it so they could do the research on it. I didn't think this service was going to be free but there was no mention of a charge for them to simply look at it. I made the drive out to the house (it was literally a house with a make shift appraisal shop in the garage). I parked in the driveway, walked in and was greeted by the same girl I'd spoken to earlier, she was really friendly and answered the few questions I had, one of them being about the cost. She handed me 2 pieces of paper which had all the various prices for each appraisal service and WOW, it was costly! The simple service of having the appraiser glance at it was a ton more than the actual art piece! She took a look at the art and excused herself to go talk to the appraiser to see if he had a quick minute to take a look at it. She disappeared for a minute then came back advising that I could leave it and they'd do research on it and get back to me. At that point an older (70 ish) man walks out from the back, looks at me, doesn't say hello, doesn't say ANYTHING and just stands there looking at me. Umm ok... AWKWARD, so I say, "Hi, how are you doing?" he finally says one word and responds, "Good". And that's it before he turns around and disappears. RUDE. I asked the girl if that was the appraiser, she said yes and then he yells from the back, "My appointment is here!" She then asks again if I'd like to leave the art piece and I politely declined. I mean, there was no reason to be rude to her when she was actually very kind, it was the appraiser who was rude and unwelcoming. Nope, not leaving my art there and paying the crotchety old dude one cent, thank you very much. The thing is, on my way out, my car was still the only one in the driveway. It was a 2 car driveway and while I was inside the old dude claimed that his "appointment was there" however, that appointment must have driven in her invisible car being that mine was the only one there. I will note that this business isn't easy to get to unless you're in a car, it's on a super busy street, there are no sidewalks and it's not a walker friendly location so... yeah, how his appointment was there I don't know. It seemed more as if he just wanted to prove he didn't have time to glance at my art piece. Totally fine, the prices are outrageous anyway. Attitude can make or break whether a new customer gives you their money and/or becomes a returning customer. In this case, the appraiser won't get my money but instead 2 stars for the girl who works in the front, thanks for being nice! Kindness is worth it's weight in gold these days.

Do not go to him for an appraisal! I have a Japanese woodblock print that I was thinking about have…read moreit appraised. I brought it to him. I never got a call back, so I just brought it in. It's his personal residence. I told him I wanted to find out if it would be worth it for me to spend the money for an appraisal. If so, then I would talk to him about having him do one. He started looking at it right then, but because I had shown up without an appointment, I left them with him and made an appointment to talk about it then, when he had the time. I went to see what he thought and pick them up. His assistant handed me a bill for $560!! There were 2 folders of something printed out. I was shocked, to say the least! I was so upset I almost start crying. I said I never asked for him to do any appraisal. Just if he thought it would even be worth it for me to get an appraisel. He asked what he was supposed to do with it all; they did a lot of research on it, because it's rare it wasn't easy. We went back and forth, and when I realized they were going to make me pay if I wanted to take them home, I said I would go to find an ATM and come back since they would only take cash. I could only get $175 because I had no idea I would have to pay anything. He asked what I wanted to do with it, and I said I wanted to sell it. He asked something about did I want him to buy it He quietly said he would work with me, but his assistant wants to be for her work on it. He asked if I had any jewelry. I said yes. He saw I had a large silver and turquoise bracelet on and wanted to look at it. I told him it was a Robert Shack piece. He said he would probably give me something like $100. It's currently going for $1200! At that point I knew definitely not to bring any jewelry. So I gave them the money and signed a receipt for $175, with a balance due of $385, and left. When I got home, I emailed them the email I had written when I first dropped it off. Which said exactly that I wanted him to take a look and find out if he thought it a good idea to have it appraised. If he thought so, then we could discuss that. If I actually did want to go ahead and have one done, I would only want a verbal, for $65, not the $150 an hour/$90 an hour for his assistant. So I said that I would pick it up, and I wanted a refund for my $175. When I went to get my print, they wouldn't give me a refund. Richard was acting all confused, asking his assistant what was going on. He's very old and hard of hearing. She told me that she didn't know what we had discussed originally because she wasn't in the room at that time. When I said I had never indicated in any way that I wanted any appraisal, they said that by signing the receipt showing a balance due, that meant I agreed to it. I kept telling them to show me anything where I asked for an appraisal having him do it, but he kept insisting that he didn't need anything else., and we could let a judge could say it. Kept saying that. So I went to 2 ATMs to get $395 so I could take my print home with me. When I was going back and forth with the guy, Richard started being all confused about it all. Looking back on it now, I'm not buying it. Now I have to take him to court. They must not believe I would do it, because there's no way he could possibly think he'd win. He has only the receipt I signed with a balance due, and NOTHING ELSE! And I have my email proving my side.