I am going to make an exception to my rule about not naming bad estate sale companies because I had an experience yesterday that I don't want any of my readers to have. And according to my research, this company has a history of being rude to customers based on the interviews I've conducted.
The company in the hotseat is Pine Cone Antiques. I found thier ad on nj.com and interestingly enough, they did not put thier company name down in the ad. You can't even find much about them on the internet and they are not even listed on estatesales.net. Now I know why.
When I walked in I felt like I just arrived to a funeral. Not one person working there greeted me or smiled. I tried introducing myself and giving my card to the woman in charge and she just looked at me and walked away. Without taking my card or even uttering a greeting! This was going to be interesting.
I looked around the house, found some items, and began to check out. I noticed the woman was impatient with customers, barked out orders to buyers, and seemed very stressed out- and showed it. Estate sales are important, albeit stressful jobs, but there is a proper way of conducting youself and I've seen many people do it with class and professionalism. My next post will show that.
Pine Cone's staff (which included her rather surly husband and another unfriendly woman) WAS NOT helping people pack up thier purchases, help carry them, or being particularly helpful in general. The last straw came when I was chatting with another buyer in the (empty) kitchen and the woman in charge walks between us and says "move it, move it, move it, I'm very busy and you just can't stand around here!" At first I thought she was joking, but she wasn't joking. Even the man I was chatting with told her she was rude!
Well, I don't tolerate this type of behavior and she and I had words and I told her that I would be blogging about this. She shot back, "well, I don't read your blog!"
Well, Barbara, many people do, and will hopefully NOT attend your sales.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePine Cone Antiques recently held two estate sales in my neighborhood. The first time I got yelled at by one of the ladies. The second time I avoided her and talked to the other two staff members and they took rudeness to a whole new level. They also yelled at other shoppers it was extremely disgraceful. The owner was quite embarrassed. After I searched for them online I found your blog post. I felt better immediately knowing that I was not the only one with complaints. Thank you for your blog post and hopefully more people will know what to expect when they shop or hire Pine Cone Antiques. That is, of course, if they still choose to do so.
ReplyDeletewell here it is 2014 and pine cone antiques have not changed the prices are high and if I wanted to pay retail I would go to the local Walmart no one at the sale walked out with anything....surprise!!! wish I had seen this blog before I even entertained going to this estate sale. rudeness is still their specialty
ReplyDeleteThe entire team of Pine Cone Antique Estate Sales did a fabulous job managing the sale of the contents of our house in Metuchen. Barbara worked incredibly hard which made the overall experience so much less stressful for us. We could not have done it without her.
ReplyDeleteI had a run in with this Barbara Miller at my friend's house where she was hired to do an Estate Sale. She is a nasty person and sneaky and I would not trust her at all!
ReplyDeleteWe had a great experience with her while at her sale. She was very nice to us and was of great help.
ReplyDelete