Osman Auction Inc

? Good Morning Mr***, I am back in the office was just brought up to speed on your concern’s while using an absentee bid in our Aug 26thauctionFirst off thank you for using our AuctionI will try and cover your concerns the best I canFirst off your concern about the reserve pricesWe
are a public Auction that is in its 36th? year in business in EdmontonAll items are reserved unless advertised as unreserved and all ways have beenI just checked all our competitor auction’s in Alberta and they are the same wayWe all advertise any items that are unreserved as unreserved selling to the highest bidderIf the item is not advertised as such it does have a reserve this is common knowledge among Auction usersWith that said your comments to us has sparked a conversation on could we do better for new user’sSo we are going to ask our online bidding provider to add a note that pops up stating your bid is subject to bid approval.? We pride ourselves here at Osman Auction at providing a very straight up forward bidding process for the public and dealersWe have designed our system to let everyone know exactly what is happening with each bid on every vehicleIt’s called our conditional processOur auctioneer’s do not say sold on every vehicle like some auctions doWe have TV screens in our new state of the art facilityOur bidding system tells you actually what just happened on vehicle that was just in the ringExample if a vehicle has a reserve of $20,and the high bid is $18,our screens live at the auction and online will show conditional saleThe high bidder is asked to see the office staffThey then make a phone call to the consignerThe consigner is told the high bid today on your vehicle is $18,would you like to sell it for that or counter offerAnother example could be the reserve is $20,and the high bid is only $5,we are just too far apart to even bother the consigner with the callUp on our screen it will show reserve not metThen everyone knows the reserve is much higher than what was bid.? If the bids come in higher than the reserve the vehicle is sold right there on the block.? In your case you placed an online absentee bid on lot of our classic car auctionAll vehicles had reserves they were not advertised as unreserved in any wayThe vehicle you placed your bid on had a reserve of $19,and you placed a bid of $5,000.? Our system prior to the sale confirmed with you that your bid had been sent to the auctioneerIf you would have been high bid and your bid was excepted an email would have been sent to you that you were the successful bidderIn this case your bid was so low an email does not go out explaining how far out you wereA phone call or email to our staff could have helped that same day to give you the results of that lot once it was auctioned.? The high bid that day was still way below the consigners reserve it was $12,on floor bidA lot higher than your bidSo that does cancel out your bid of $5,The consigner decided to not except the $12,bid either so he took his vehicle back homeWe do know the consigner of the vehicleI would be more than happy to call him on your behalf to see if he still has the car if you likeWe would help assist you in getting in contact with him for a private sale with no auction fees involvedI do know he was firm at $19,for his vehicle that would be the price if it’s still available.? Just to cover off again on your concerns:When I placed my bid, the starting minimum bid was $I placed my bid at $I received an email stating that my bid was “ON”The email continued to state that I would be contacted if I was outbid before the live auction commenced.? This is correct, you were the only one with an absentee bid on this vehicleBefore the auction started if someone else placed another absentee bid higher than yoursAn email would have been sent stating you were out bid by another absentee so your bid is no longer validNo one knows what will happen once the auction is live and bidding starts.? ·? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Now if this item had a “Reserve” bid, I wasn’t given any condition of sale after I placed my bidMy initial bid of $was never rejected nor was I given any indications that it would not be accepted during the live auction.Based on these three points, I believe that I am still entitled to the vehicle for my original bid of $5000.This statement is very confusingNo Auction excepts the lowest bid on a vehicle everLive , over live internet bidding or absentee biddingThe fact is there was a high bid live on the floor of $12,that alone cancels your bid of $5,A statement like this does not follow any auction laws at all.? We have a professional video that we had made for new to auction buyers on our websiteWe encourage everyone who has not bought here or any auction before to watch itWe explain step by step how it worksThe number one thing we promote is watching an auction before you buyIf this was done you would have been familiar with our processes and would have had a better experience I’m sure? ? Like said earlier we will go out of our way to help you get this vehicle if you are still interested just let me know if you wish for me to make the call on your behalf.? ? Best Regards,? Jeff ***? General ManagerOsman Auction Inc.11650-Street NW,Edmonton, Alberta? Office -? 780-777-7771Fax -? ? ? ? 780-469-5081Cell -? ? ? ? 780-919-

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:Good Morning Jeff,Thank you for replying to my voicemailI have read over your email and would like to respond to all the comments you made regarding this auctionYou state in your email that all items at your auction are reserved unless advertised as unreservedYou continue to state that all your competitors in and around your area do the same.? You have every right to do what fits best for your company; I am not disputing thatYour business practices need to conform to the law and by not advertising that all your items as “Reserved” is breaching the “Fair Trading Act”*** *** *** *** *** ** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ** *** *** If you wish to conduct business in this manner you should make this information presentable on your website or within the Terms and Conditions you ask your customers to acceptMy question to you is “Where do you provide this information?” It’s not in the ‘Terms and Conditions’ document, it’s not in the “Buying Guide” document, it’s not in the “Online Buying Guide” document, and it’s not stated anywhere on your websiteHow is anyone supposed to know that all your items have a reserve bid if you don’t provide the information during bids and if you don’t provide the “Condition of Sale” to your customers?? Below is a quote from the Alberta Government “Auctions-Buying and selling Consumer Tips” PDF:The auctioneer must:? • Tell the public before the sale starts if any of the goods are subject to a reserve or minimum bidAn auction company cannot advertise an auction as “unreserved” if any of the goods at the sale are subject to a reserve bid.Reserve bids(1)? No auction sales business may advertise that a sale of goods by public auction it is holding is unreserved if there will be any goods subject to a reserve bid at the sale.(2)? If some or all of the goods to be sold at the sale by public auction are subject to a reserve bid, the auction sales business holding the sale must? (a) ensure that the auctioneer indicates immediately before the start of the auction that some or all, as the case may be, of the goods to be sold are subject to a reserve bid, and? (b) ensure that any written material available to bidders at the auction that describes the goods to be sold indicates that some or all, as the case may be, of the goods are subject to a reserve bid.Your company advertised item #as “Unreserved” through the absentee bid processNowhere in my bid email does it say that the item is “Reserved”If you had just mentioned “Reserved Bid”, it wouldn’t have been an “Unreserved” itemIt’s pretty straight forwardRegardless of what you think your company did, not putting any status on a bid means that there is no reserveYou can’t twist the wording around to benefit your auction group.Your company also failed to include a “Condition of Sale” for my absentee bidBelow is a quote from the Alberta Government “Auctions-Buying and selling Consumer Tips” PDF:CONDITIONS OF SALEBefore a sale begins, the auctioneer or other person must read the conditions of the sale, the name of the auction sales business conducting the sale and its licence number to those presentThe conditions of sale must be posted in a prominent place at the auction and on the bid cardsIf a bidder is not attending the sale in person, the business must provide him/her with information on the conditions of the sale.? AUCTION TERMINOLOGY•? ? ? Conditions of sale ??" The legal terms that govern the conduct of the auction including the acceptable methods of payment, terms, buyer’s premium, reserve bids or any other limiting factors of an auctionIf you wanted to inform Absentee bidders of the “Reserve bid” status, it could have been listed on the actual item number webpage where the vehicle information resided or within my confirmation bidding emailYou must include it in the “Condition of Sale”Your company failed to provide this information to meUsing the excuse of your companies past practice (and other auctions for that matter) does not make it OK to manipulate what the law statesAny bidder that used the “Absentee Bid” process was led to believe that the item was unreserved (regardless if you feel that you didn’t advertise it that way)If you had simply sent out a “Condition of Sale” stating that the item had a reserve bid, or just included a simple sentence in the email advising me that the item had a “Reserved” bid, I wouldn’t be disputing this auction.2.? ? You continue to state that your company follows a process at your auction that is “Common Knowledge among Auction users”.I think my absentee bid just proved that your “Common Knowledge” remark is not accurateThis is an opinionated remark that has no legal meritIf it was that simple, the “Fair Trading Act” wouldn’t exist and the legal points mentioned above would not be needed to protect consumersAnyone that uses the phrase “Common Knowledge” is making a very big assumption on what they think the consumer knows.3.? ? You mention your “Conditional Process” and how you spent all this money on creating a state of the art facility and creating your online bidding websiteYou mention that your auction facility and the online website show “Conditional Sale” during bids.? ? What happened to the Absentee bidding process? How can you not give the “Conditional Sale” out to all bidders before the live auction commences? You do it for your online bidding and facility biddingThe law states that you need to provide this information to absent bidders (that would be absentee bidders)Your company failed to do that with my bid.4.? ? You then mention what happened to my bid: In your case you placed an online absentee bid on lot of our classic car auctionAll vehicles had reserves they were not advertised as unreserved in any wayThe vehicle you placed your bid on had a reserve of $19,and you placed a bid of $5,000.? Our system prior to the sale confirmed with you that your bid had been sent to the auctioneerIf you would have been high bid and your bid was excepted an email would have been sent to you that you were the successful bidderIn this case your bid was so low an email does not go out explaining how far out you wereA phone call or email to our staff could have helped that same day to give you the results of that lot once it was auctioned.This is absolutely ridiculousI had an email confirmation right after I placed my bid that states that my bid was “ON”It was acceptedI had the ability at any time to increase the bidThe email sent to me even stated: “Dear customer, you’re absentee bid $has been placed 26/08/Live Auction on Item: #??" Buick RegalYou will be notified if someone outbids you before the Live Auction.”The email that was sent to me just proves how wrong your statement isIf you’re telling me that my bid should have been rejected because of my low bid, I should have received something well in advance that it was rejected; I can assure you that it didn’t work that wayI have all the evidence to prove itYour company knew that I was outbid hours before the auction commenced (according to everyone at Osman Auction there was a ‘Reserve’ bid)Why didn’t you try to resolve the matter? You had all my contact informationWas my bid not good enough for you? If it wasn’t, then why did your company start accepting bids at $50? To me the company is setting up consumers to lose this itemAnd why wouldn’t an auctioneer not consider my bid? It was set at $(times higher than the minimum bid)That’s a pretty healthy bidWhat formula or guidelines does your company use to determine what bids get accepted and what doesn’t? Where in your Terms and Conditions do you state you perform this process?To me your employees made a huge mistake ignoring my bidI trusted your company and relied on being contacted before the live auction commenced (as the email mentioned) and was beaten from the gecko with the “Reserved Bid” that you failed to disclose in the advertisement provided to absentee biddersAnd if I had the ability to contact the auction group through phone during the auction I would have (I can prove I was at work from 5am ??" 5pm EST)That was the whole point of the Absentee bidI relied on what your email statedWhat makes matters worse is that your physical website never received any updates on the status change of the auction itemI kept checking my account to see if I was outbidYour group then removed all the entries to that auction (including the item I bid for) the next dayI even went out of my way and sent out an email the night after the auction (August 26th 2017) to try and get answersBy Monday, I literally had to call your company to find out what had happened (I wasn’t receiving a response from your group)And what I was told was the same thing: “The item had a reserve”I explained to the employee on the phone that there was no mention of a “Reserve” on the bid and she told me that she would bring it up to your IT department (suggesting that it was a computer error)After the phone call, I was then sent an email that read: “My apologies that we were unable to contact you on Saturday.? I have looked up the vehicle you were interested in and at this point the vehicle was not sold.? Even starting at $5,the bids never got high enough because the seller was wanting more than times that.” This just proves how unfair this auction wasYour company never even attempted to contact meYou violated several items listed in the “Fair Trading Act” and you continue to down play the event.5.? ? You continue to mention that my bid was cancelled out since the bid on the floor was at $12,500.You just told me that my bid didn’t count because it was too lowAccording to you, auctioneers determine what bids are accepted and what bids are rejected based on some standard that isn’t disclosed anywhere in the documents you provide to your customersNow you’re telling me that I was definitely outbid on the floorWhat is going on here?? ? Now coming back to your comment, if this auction commenced considering my bid and properly followed the “Fair Trading Act” then yes I would be outbidBut because you didn’t follow the law and you failed to provide me with any information on the vehicle that would have indicated that the item had a “Reserve” bid or that I was outbid prior to the auction commencing, my complaint no longer reflects your bidding processThis is a loss because of your company not complying with the Fair Trade ActAccording to you, everyone at the auction had access to the “Conditional Sale”Everyone bidding online and at the facility was well advised of the itemI was the only absentee bidder on this item and you failed to give me any informationIt’s pretty clear that this bid was unfair and I lost the opportunity to participate.6.? ? You know the consigner of the vehicle and you would be happy to call him on my behalf to see if the vehicle is still availableYou suggest setting up a private sale.I am not setting up a private saleI am legally entitled to the vehicle for $Your auction group made the mistake and I have all the evidence to prove this; if we cannot resolve this issue amongst ourselves, all ask Revdex.com for guidance on how to proceed forward with my complaint.7.? ? Your remarks regarding my comment:Just to cover off again on your concerns:When I placed my bid, the starting minimum bid was $I placed my bid at $I received an email stating that my bid was “ON”The email continued to state that I would be contacted if I was outbid before the live auction commencedThis is correct, you were the only one with an absentee bid on this vehicleBefore the auction started if someone else placed another absentee bid higher than yoursAn email would have been sent stating you were out bid by another absentee so your bid is no longer validNo one knows what will happen once the auction is live and bidding starts.Your answer in blue is not what the sentence in the email readsIt’s very clear in the email:? “Dear customer, you’re absentee bid $has been placed 26/08/Live Auction on Item: #??" Buick RegalYou will be notified if someone outbids you before the Live Auction.”All bids are considered not just absentee bidsI was outbid by the reserve bidThis would have been asked by the consigner prior to the auction commencingTo make matters worse, there is no mention of a “Reserve” bidThere is no merit to this comment.8.? ? Your closing comments about watching your *** videos posted on your website.I watched your introduction video and that was itCustomers don’t legally have to watch all of your videos to know how your business operatesThe way you conduct business should be in a form of a documentCritical items such as how you’re bidding process works should be in your terms and conditions or somewhere in the guidelines that you allow customers to downloadIf it was mandatory to watch all your videos before accepting the agreement you should have indicated that in your “Terms and Conditions”.My Final RemarksBased on the information I provided to you, I believe that I was treated unfairlyI believe that legally I am entitled to the vehicle that I bid on for $Your company made several errors regarding my auction and I shouldn’t be responsible for the loss of my bidI have the evidence to support my standing and I am not satisfied with your proposal.My final offer is to purchase the vehicle for $I am not willing to pay any auction fees since I believe that this matter was not handled professionally or legally.Thank you.** ***