Park West Auctioneers & Associates - Nightmares at Sea.   All Articles

The promises of fast, easy big bucks, followed by the cold reality of a negative pay slip where the auctioneers discover, after a month or two of work, that they have earned little or nothing and as often as not are now in debt to Park West!

In the past, Fine Art Registry® has mainly been inundated with the tragic stories of victims of Park West Gallery's high pressure sales tactics and their purchases, usually at cruise ship art auctions, of art sold to them as bargains and as investments which they later find out is worth only a fraction of what they paid for it and in some cases is simply fake and worth nothing at all. In fact, we have been asked for help from some 260 such victims to date.

More recently, however, we have been hearing from current and recent Park West Gallery auctioneers with accounts of being lured from their jobs by the promise of incredible pay only to discover that conditions aboard were far different from what they had been told and reports of minimal earnings or even finding themselves in debt to Park West as sales plummet everywhere.

It takes two or more months for the auctioneers to discover they have been deceived, by which time Park West has extracted a couple of months of slave labor out of them at no cost to themselves. These auctioneers and associates are expendable. When they decide to quit after seeing their first pay check, which as often as not is a statement of how much they now owe Park West, they are replaced by the next crop of willing suckers seeking a quick and easy buck.

The auctioneers and associates who have written and are writing to us, while they have been through a nerve wracking experience themselves for which they want to be compensated, are mostly concerned that others should not fall into the same trap: the lure of easy pickings and great riches which end up as virtual slave labor. They are understandably very angry at how they have been tricked into giving up their work to Park West under false pretenses, but they are also anxious to warn others who may fall into the same trap.

We will publish material sent to us by current or past cruise ship auctioneers and associates that we have reason to believe is accurate. We are unable to verify the details of the stories with Park West because they refuse to comment or cooperate. But the stories are borne out by many different sources and we have reason to believe they are accurate.

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Park West Gallery Contracted Auctioneers Speak Out, Article #10
Recently two more Park West Gallery auctioneers contacted us and gave us some further insight into the ways of the Park West Gallery art auction. This material is published here to help potential auction goers walk into the auction with their eyes wide open.
News, January 22, 2010

Scandalous Revelations from Current and Former Park West Gallery Insiders
A reliable source emailed Fine Art Registry after reading Litigation Update No. 5, and specifically the section in the update where we reported that Park West Gallery's own lawyer had referred to Park West Gallery artwork as "shit" while at recent depositions in NYC at the end of 2009.
News, January 8, 2010

Breaking News from Some Current and former Park West Gallery Employees
Former Park West Gallery employees and those with insider knowledge into the Gallery's underbelly have shared some very interesting information regarding the current state of affairs at Park West Gallery and we believe it is important to share the latest with our readers.
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A Few Notes from Some Current and Ex-Park West Employees
Recently several of Park West employees approached us, outraged after discovering that they had been brazenly lied to by their own employer and key Park West Gallery executives. Reluctant to speak out about the gallery, and insisting on anonymity for fear of repercussions, nevertheless we were able to get some valuable insights into the operations at Park West Gallery from very reliable sources within Park West.
News, September 17, 2009

Article #9: Park West Contracted Auctioneers Speak Out
Losing Everything for Park West Gallery.
The story of Jim Shlosser and his wife, Judy, who were lured by Park West Gallery away from the very successful auction company they owned, to go to work on the cruise ships selling Park West art where they soon lost everything they had.
News, June 23, 2009

Article #8: Park West Contracted Auctioneers Speak Out
The Great Art Con - From the Inside Out.
A veteran Park West Gallery auctioneer, no longer working for the company, called us with her story. By revealing this information she hopes to help customers who have been pressured into buying potentially fake or overpriced art get their money back and also to bring an end to unethical and dishonest art auction practices aboard cruise ships.
News, June 9, 2009

Article #7: Park West Contracted Auctioneers Speak Out
Behind the scenes at Park West Gallery cruise ship art auctions, as told by recent ex-employees.
We interviewed four people who had recently gone to train at Park West Gallery to become Art Directors and Auctioneers aboard cruise ships and had subsequently begun to work on cruise ships, only to find that there was a wide gulf between the promised life of lucrative luxury and the real world of selling art on the ships. Their experiences should prove valuable for others who are contemplating a career in cruise ship art auctions and also enlightening for cruise ship art auction goers who can get a flavor of what it's like behind the scenes at a cruise ship art auction.
News, June 8, 2009

Article #6: Park West Contracted Auctioneers Speak Out
Quotes From an ex-Park West Auctioneer Who Quit After Years at Sea
The following are direct quotes from a Park West auctioneer who quit, disillusioned, after years of making money with Park West at its cruise ship art auctions. They give an idea as to why he eventually quit and went on to get a "real job selling real art".
News, June 3, 2009

Article #5: Park West Gallery Contracted Auctioneers Speak Out.
Letter from a former Park West Art Associate
"I recently left my position as an art associate with Park West at Sea on board the Carnival Inspiration. After months of pay disputes, accusations about our work ethics, and being lied to by our company, my art auctioneer and I both decided to leave the company..."
News, May 8, 2009

Article #4: Park West Contracted Auctioneers Speak Out
Change in Policy Regarding the Hiring and Letting Go of Auctioneers.
"You Can Check Out Any Time You Like, But You Can Never Leave." On May 7, 2009, we received the following information from an informed source.
News, May 8, 2009

Article #3: Park West Contracted Auctioneers Speak Out
Ex-Park West Auctioneer Confirms Information Received About Practices Reported by Other Auctioneers to Fine Art Registry. On March 21st 2009 we received the following unsolicited e-mail from a former Park West auctioneer who had read some of the material published on the Fine Art Advocacy and Fine Art Registry websites. We publish it here in confirmation and amplification of some of our previous reports. The author of the email has requested that we maintain his anonymity for fear of retaliation by Park West, so his name is omitted. The email is published here verbatim. The report has not been verified but aligns with others received.
News, April 6, 2009

Article #2: Park West Contracted Auctioneers Speak Out
Park West Galle(r)y Slaves? Indentured Service at the Art Auctions Afloat - or How to get two and a half months' or more work out of someone for no pay before replacing them with the next sucker.
As described in Article # 1, with the auctioneers not only working for no pay but also getting into debt to Park West, many abandoned ship, some permanently, some for vacations. Park West suddenly realized that they were facing a real staffing issue. As a means of curtailing the mass departure and vacancies on the ships, rumors began to circulate around November 2008 of the introduction of a new thing for Park West, a guarantee of a basic salary for its auctioneers and a salary for its associates.
News, February 25, 2009

Article #1: Park West Contracted Auctioneers Speak Out
Information received from currently or recently contracted Park West auctioneers and other personnel. They are published here in the interests of the buyers and potential buyers of art at the cruise line art auctions, so that they can be fully aware of what they are dealing with, and in the interests of those many individuals who are being taken on, trained and employed as associates and auctioneers on the cruise ships, so that they may know their fate. The information has been provided to us by those who are concerned about the fate of the auctioneers.
News, February 24, 2009

Park West Gallery Skeletons Return to Haunt, former insider reports
Fine Art Registry received comments from a former insider with Park West Gallery on February 21, 2009. Though the email was anonymously delivered, what is stated here has been corroborated by other independent sources and we believe the statements to be true and accurate to the best of our knowledge.
News, February 21, 2009

The Truth About Park West at Sea Cruise Line Art Auctions - An Insider's Story
A former Park West auctioneer, Gavin Watson, who pioneered art auctions on cruise ships before Park West Gallery ever got involved or Park West at Sea was formed and later went on to work for Albert Scaglione and Park West, tells the story of how the art auctions on cruise ships began, how they were taken over by Park West and how they dwindled from a fun activity where real bargains were to be had to what they are now, overpriced and often poor quality art sold under heavy pressure for more than it is worth using anything goes sales tactics.
Video, October 10, 2008

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