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Victims of Park West Gallery Deceptive Trade Practices - Seagle Case Study



What led you to contact Fine Art Registry®? How do you feel you have been treated by Fine Art Registry?


I have never been to a website or customer relations department, online or otherwise that has responded more quickly and been as individually responsive as FAR®. I am amazed and delighted with the response from FAR. I received my registration packet two or three days after I registered with FAR online. David has been a wealth of knowledge. I told him I haven't slept since this Park West ordeal; wrote him early morning and received a response before I had breakfast. He has immediately and thoroughly responded to every message and question. I can't say enough about the professionalism and sincere advice I have received from FAR and David.

What dealings have you had with Park West customer services or executives since then? Have you asked for a refund? Have you asked for documentation of the provenance (history of origin and ownership) of your pieces? If you have dealt with Park West customer services or others, how were you treated? How did they handle your complaint?


After posting my complaint on RipOffReport I was contacted by Laura of Park West (9/25/08) who said she was sorry I had not been offered the 40-40-40 plan. So she said I could pay $1,000.00 to cancel.

I asked for the offer via E mail for my records but have received nothing as of 9/28/08.

I told Laura I don't want to pay for canceling something I don't want, and that all I want is to simply cancel my order; she said they have incurred costs from this transaction. I explained that I canceled before it was even processed through their system and that my costs for time, cell phone usage and missed work while dealing with this were adding up too.

I have spent weeks not working; trying to document, research, cancel and end this nightmare! I have told them not to send the artwork; I do not want it and will not accept it. Meanwhile, my credit report has a $46,074 debit to GE Finance/Park West.

I called GE Money, closed my account on 9/20/08. Automated voice said No additional purchases will be allowed, and my balance is $46,074.95. I then disputed my account in writing.

Some documentation on others in my same situation:


On Sep 28, 2008, at 8:09 PM, Debbie Seagle wrote:

I'm still not sleeping and don't know if you want to know every little thing, but I filed a complaint online with FTC tonight as follows:



SENT COMPLAINT TO FTC 9/28/08 (website only allowed something like 3200 characters)
We have received your complaint.
Thank you for contacting the FTC. Your complaint has been entered into Consumer Sentinel, a secure online database available to thousands of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies worldwide.... Here are links to the publications you may find useful:
If you want to update your information or have any questions, please call our Consumer Response Center, 1-877-FTC-HELP. Keep your reference number handy.



I paid $45,000.00 for a Picasso that is worth $10,000. The aggressive Park West sales team on board my Celebrity Galaxy cruise (Aug 22nd - Sep 1, 2008) said they had documentation that the Picasso is worth at least $66,000.00 and was a great investment.

I have been battling with Park West since I returned and have informed Park West that I would be going public with their deception. After a week on the phone with customer service rep, Leslie, they offered to cancel my order for a fee of $5000 plus.

I told Leslie I was not paying $5000 to cancel an order that has not been shipped and I want a full refund or will pursue legal action and publicity of their misrepresentation of the value of this artwork.

Leslie became very defensive and said I had threatened them and because of my "threats" (and unwillingness to provide her with names of galleries, websites and class action suits I told her I have contacted), she refused to give me anything in writing about our conversations or their offer to cancel my order for the $5,000 "re-stock fee."

As far as re-stocking, I sent her a copy of my invoice as requested because the order had not reached their computer system and had not been entered into the database when I called to cancel.

I also contacted Celebrity Cruise Lines for assistance, as their policy is to assist with any problems regarding the vendors they recommend, but Celebrity said I'd have to take it up with Park West. I called Celebrity a second time and told them I had talked to Park West without success and they "took my complaint."

Celebrity customer service rep said they were going to send my complaint to Park West, but refused to share any of the correspondence with me because it was "an internal issue" and only Park West would receive the info. I asked if my customer complaint could go up the cruiseline chain of command, but she said no, Celebrity Cruise Lines "would not get involved." I told her they were already involved as I was misled on their ship by a vendor they endorsed.




Laura Maki, customer services at Park West, sent Debbie a form to sign in order to get a partial refund for the art she had been sold.

From: Laura Maki <LMaki@parkwestgallery.com>
Subject: Re: Park West Agreement
To: Debbie Seagle
Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 1:22 PM

Dear Ms. Seagle,

Enclosed for your review, please find a copy of the refund agreement. Please review, sign and return to me via mail, e-mail or fax – 248-799-7225, at your earliest convenience.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you and have a good day!

Kind regards,
Laura Maki
Park West Gallery
Client Services Supervisor
Phone # 1-877-440-0630 Ext. 1248
E-mail: LMaki@parkwestgallery.com




The attached form follows:

Park West Gallery Refund Agreement




Debbie's answer, not surprisingly, expressed her disbelief that Park West (or any company) would demand $1000 for the privilege of trying to rip them off.

Deborah C. Seagle
Dublin, VA

October 6, 2008

Laura Maki
Park West Gallery
Client Services Supervisor
Phone # 1-877-440-0630 Ext. 1248
E-mail: LMaki@parkwestgallery.com

Ms. Maki,
After reviewing your contract to pay you $1,000.00 to cancel my order, I have decided to proceed with my efforts to cancel this order without paying a ransom to Park West for my credit to be returned to me.

In doing so, I have filed a complaint with the cruise lines, the FTC (Fair Trade Commission), and FAR (Fine Art Registry) who will do a case study of my situation on their website this week.

I will spend the rest of the day and the next week (logging time off from work) taking the following actions if my account is not canceled today:

I will contact the cruise line again, join several class action suits, start posting in FAR forum and in cruise line forums, and contact the State Attorney General of Michigan and VA, and Better Business Bureaus in Michigan and Virginia. I will access my local and national media contacts, and meet with my personal attorney to recover the lost time, wages and peace of mind associated with my attempts to cancel my Park West order.

I sincerely hope that I do not have to make a national campaign of this when it could simply be canceled by you. Please advise me how to go forward; i.e. – my account is cancelled by you today, or I take serious action to have it cancelled publicly and legally. I will leave the decision in your hands.

Sincerely,

Deborah Seagle





Her appeal left the staunch minion of Park West unmoved. Park West refused to budge. It was a "take it or leave it" offer.

Debbie's fiancé recommended she make the best of a very bad deal and accept the refund minus the $1,000 ransom. She wrote to Laura Maki.


From: deb
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 1:20 PM
To: Laura Maki
Subject: Re: Park West Agreement

UNCLE

I have been persuaded by my fiancee to take your agreement.

He wants to offer you $5,000.00 for us to receive the Picasso as a fair market price, canceling the $45,000 sale.

The second option is for us to give you the money in the agreement for absolutely nothing but to get my credit back.

Please either sell us the Picasso for $5,000.00 or send me a word document (the same one you attached to this e mail in pdf) to sign electronically or on-line and return by e mail today. I do not have a printer and your e mail said I could send it via e mail, correct?

I need to sleep and this mess has completely destroyed my life, my job, my peace of mind. You win.

I read on your website that this is customer relations week!

Uncle,
Debbie Seagle




Her appeal fell on deaf ears.


From: Laura Maki <LMaki@parkwestgallery.com>
Subject: RE: Park West Agreement
To: Debbie Seagle
Date: Thursday, October 9, 2008, 4:25 PM

Dear Ms. Seagle,

I called and left a voicemail on the number that we have on file in regards to your e-mail below. Unfortunately, we do not have a way for you to sign electronically. However, if you would like to fax the agreement to me, we can accept it that way as well. If you need me to send a copy via U.S. mail, please let me know.

Enclosed for your review, please find a copy of the refund agreement. Please review, sign and send back to me at your earliest convenience.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you and have a good day!

Kind regards,
Laura Maki


 


By Fine Art Registry®   |   February 9, 2009  |   Discuss Story on FAR® Forum   |   Print   |  

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