Auction house won't pay me the proceeds of auction

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Ten weeks ago, I sold some household goods, furniture, vintage items and antiques at a local auction house. About three weeks ago, I mailed to ask them when they were going to pay me, and they mailed back to say they were still waiting for payment for some items. I thought was very odd, as auction houses usually want payment quite quickly. I mailed them again last week to ask them, again, when they were going to pay me, and this time they have ignored the mail - this is also odd, as when we were arranging to auction my stuff, they were always quick to answer mails.

I'm going to phone them on Monday, but before I do, I'd like to know what the law actually is about payments of this type. I've been doing some googling, but I'm not coming up with anything relevant as yet. Does anyone have any ideas about where I could go for some advice, or relevant sites I could look at?

They owe me about £2,000

What terms and conditions did you sign up to when you arranged the sale? These will likely set out when they will pay you.

Breach of contract. Look at their t&cs.

What terms and conditions did you sign up to when you arranged the sale?

It says payment will be no later than 28 days after the end of the auction in their terms and conditions posted online, but I didn't sign any contract - I didn't sign anything at all, in fact.

Thank you, both.

I got ripped off by a London auction house, and after googling found others had also been ripped off as well.

OP I run a saleroom, this isn't normal.

First off ask if they run a separate client account for proceeds of sale. A good saleroom with sound accounts should.

It is true that many auction houses won't pay vendors until they have received the payment but in that instance they should still be in possession of your items. No saleroom should release goods to buyers without payment and if hey do then they are liable for monies owed.

Please do PM me if you need other help - even if you want to name the saleroom concerned. We have lots of contacts everywhere in the country so may know if a saleroom is in trouble financially.

Have you looked at online reviews op? I'm also in the business, it can happen that buyers take longer to pay but after 10 weeks I would have expected at least partial payment, I used to try and pay vendors out as soon as possible. Have any of your items been put forward into other sales since? I would really push for payment if I were you, unfortunately there are Auction Rooms out there that are not as flush as they make out with client accounts that wouldn't cover what is owed to vendors (mentioning no names on here!)

Thanks, Clara and Winter.

I can't find any reviews about them, but I just found something worrying on the Companies House site. They are showing as having dissolved in 2016 - but they are very much there and still trading, and they are online. I have no clue what that could indicate, but I'm getting seriously worried now. On Monday, I will be pushing very hard for payment.

Small claims court? You can do it alll online now.

www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money

Definitely small claims court if they don't cough up very soon, Loveisland.

I can't find any reviews about them, but I just found something worrying on the Companies House site. They are showing as having dissolved in 2016 - but they are very much there and still trading, and they are online.

Not necessarily worrying, they could be listed as a different limited company name and "trading as" the auction house. E.g. Joe Bloggs Auctions Ltd is dissolved, but the auctions continue under a newer company Joe Bloggs Sales Ltd t/a Joe Bloggs Auctions. The T&C on the website should detail the exact trading company.

Thanks, Eggys.

The T&C on the website do not give any other name. They are still operating under the same name as the name of the company that was dissolved in 2016.

Do they have a website or Facebook page where you can name and shame them. That might get their fingers out of their asses and their hands in their pockets. CFs

They're on Facebook and Twitter, but I'm not. I could get one of my friends to name and shame them, if things go very pear-shaped.

I think you would get a quicker reaction to a fb or Twitter comment rather than taking them to the small claims court because they will want that taken down immediately whereas a court case could take forever and you might not even win. To get you to agree to take down your comments they will have to pay up.

whereas a court case could take forever and you might not even win

A small claim can take as little as 6 weeks. However, if the auction house dispute it and force it to a hearing it could take 6 months.

Given what the OP has said, I can't see any way she would lose. The question is whether she would be able to extract payment.

Regardless of whether or not I intended to follow through, I would send a letter before action giving them a deadline to pay and saying I would take legal action if they fail to pay in that time. The threat may be enough to get them to pay.

I would send a letter before action giving them a deadline to pay and saying I would take legal action if they fail to pay in that time

I think that's good advice. I will do.