Bonhams Reviews 190

Appalling customer service, they won't even submit your bid if there website malfunctions, (which seems to be an problem for them). They won't allow you to join online auctions at times? Why? Overall I certainly wouldn't sell things through them as they are generally only interested in a quick sale. As for buying, they seem unhelpful if you try to forward a decent offer or ask questions about an item before an auction. On the other hand they will answer emails when you've actually paid for everything, but may ingnore you otherwise. This place may need fair trading to investigate to be perfectly honest. I couldn't say for sure, but I have met dealers that warned me not to bother and to just use eBay lol.

It's been over a month since I paid for my auction item and over two weeks since I paid the outrageous shipping charges. I can't get anyone to give me an estimate when or how my item will be shipped. No one answers the provided phone numbers or responds to my emails. Easily the worst customer service experience I have ever had.

Post sales client service is absolutely worst I have had ever.

What a disgraceful organization. My experience with them has been nothing short of unpleasant. I gave a print for them to sell one year ago with a reserve of $8000, I watched the auction happen online and saw an offer of $7500 which was rejected as expected. The second time round they told me they are quite confident they will sell it but asked if the reserve can be lowered to $6000. Then the day before the auction I received an email asking if they can lower the reserve to $4500. I had to follow up with them to find out if the piece was sold which I was told it sold for $4000. When I asked the prints department why it was sold for below the reserve the second time and not the first I was told it sold at the discretion of the auctioneer. Something doesn't seem right. Smells like price fixing to me.

Bunch of semi literate dolts!
I have asked them to remove me from their email mailing list SEVEN times both by hitting the UNSUBSCRIBE button and emailing them yet they insist on sending their weekly DRIVEL. Without doubt the most ignorant of all the numerous auction houses that I have dealt with in the past thirty years!

Customer service is OK, however, whoever writes the condition reports for watch sales should be replaced immediately. The watch I thought I was purchasing for a client was nothing like the watch that arrived.The condition report stated that the watch was in good condition and good working order, however, the bezel was broken and the bracelet was badly damaged. Complained three times and finally getting a full refund, (my client isn’t pleased though). I expected a lot more from an alleged bona fide and reputable auction house, sadly I was very disappointed.

I SENT IN PHOTOGRAPHS OF AN ITEM TO GET A VALUATION
WAS PASSED FROM SO CALLED EXPERT TO A DIFFERENT SECTION. DID NOT HEAR ANY MORE OR GET A REPLY TO NUMEROUS LETTERS, VERY POOR SERVICE AND A WASTE OF MY TIME

Very bad service.Management do not respond to complaints. They send out empty packages

Disgusting service.Packages sent which are damaged and diamonds are far worse than stated

I purchased a set of precious stone rings from Bonhams, I downloaded a basic condition report before purchase.

After online purchase I collected the rings. Once I was home I saw a Sapphire was dislodged. This was not on the condition report. I complained to Bonhams and they said I could go to their servicing department and get it sorted for free. Fair enough.

Once I got to the specialist, under a jewellers magnifying tool he told be that the majority of the emeralds were cracked and what ever I paid for it I had been ripped off.

Do not trust an auction house to sell you a good product. They don't care about the product, just their margin which is protected either from you or the seller.

Wheeler dealers come to mind.

I tried to bid on a clock in the sale on 11/12/2019 I was willing to pay £8000 for the Edward east clock, even after sending my driving license to bids @bohnams.com my bid still was not authorised and the clock sold for £6312.00 inc premium, I lost out on a clock that was top of my list, and maybe I would have paid more. The seller lost out as well. I am very upset with Bonhams as they were no help at all, will not use them again ,hope the person that sold the clock looks at my review.I thought auction houses try to get the best price for the client!!

Mr Asaph Hyman, a Global Head of Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art at Bonhams, was on 29 October 2019 informed that the star lot - lot 41 - in the Bonhams' auction of Chinese art to be held in Hong Kong on 26 November 2019 had the provenance incorrectly stated. The provenance failed to mention that the lot was recently acquired at a provincial auction in the United Kingdom but stated instead that the lot came from an "important Asian private collection”. As provenance of an artwork is an absolutely crucial element of the artwork's description, a provenance that is inaccurate or otherwise misleading is a serious failure of the integrity of the artwork's sales process.

The lot 41 is being offered at an estimate that even at its low end
would give the consignor an instant profit of nearly £500,000 and
presumably a proportionally rich reward to Mr Hyman. That fact goes some way in explaining why Mr Hyman failed to correct the omission in the provenance of the lot concerned or otherwise explain the blatant lack of factual disclosure in relation to that lot. On the facts of this case, it appears that Mr Hyman is complicit in - or at the very least is endorsing - a fraudulent representation by omission and it is only fair and reasonable that an individual of such a questionable integrity should not be entrusted in making any representations in the art market. This in turn begs the question when shall Mr Hyman be let go by Bonhams and be replaced by an honest individual so that we can fully trust Bonhams' cataloguing of Chinese ceramics and works of art.

Great place to buy if your looking to over pay by 10 times their actual value. Very corrupt and customer service, dont even bother waste of time.

Mixed reviews, will keep this updated when they've sorted out the problem.

The new design is very nice and the staff were polite and respectful overall. Dropped off a picture for valuation and was not really expecting more than a rough estimate, however received a detailed response.

James Stratton
very professional, afforded me loads of time at viewing.
extremely knowledgeable and honest .
best auctioneer ever.
whole of clocks team ten out of ten. best bonhams department by far

Utterly unprofessional. incompetent. corrupt.

In our experience Bonhams' Motoring Department has been:

Utterly unprofessional, inept, archaic, retrograde, vapid and vindictive and to top it off

Extraordinarily rude, untrustworthy, unaccountable, and mafia like.

Bonhams has provided demonstrably false and fraudulent descriptions of motor vehicles, and has used the bidding privilege to intimidate, coerce and extort.

Disclaimer - Lawsuit pending. Documentary film pending.

Totally unprofessional auctioneer, in my experience and opinion. I used their online platform in a jewellery auction, and having made the highest bid on an item that I had specifically targeted for my wife’s 40th birthday, I was shocked to be told that I had, in fact, NOT been the winning bidder. When I called to find out what had happened, I was palmed off with insincere apologies (with the assumption that this should be sufficient), and finally the revelation that a junior staff member had simply made a mistake (ie had not been trained sufficiently to manage the live online platform). Not good enough Bonhams. Eventually, the extent of their customer service was to point me to listings for a similar item on EBay, as well as an online luxury goods 3rd party agent (which is slated, in no uncertain terms, as a sham company on TrustPilot). I was astonished at such a poor response, and frankly, if Ebay is pretty much their best suggestion, why should I ever remain loyal to Bonhams again and pay their premium 30% (inc vat) buyers’ commission rates? A solicitor confirmed that this likely constituted a legal breach of contract, but I don’t have time to waste with such a set of self-important charlatans, and I suggest that you stay clear too if you would rather avoid a total waste of your time. The best part was being told, in disparaging terms, that I was only buying 2nd hand goods... but that’s how you make your money Bonhams, you sell 2nd hand goods... or is it antiques and collectibles. Oh yes, same thing.

TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!
Contacted them (won’t mention the name) on February 2, 2017 asking about some items I wanted to place in their auction. Let’s just say that I got every excuse in the world from; I was out wth a nasty virus, to the company switched email servers, and of course, our rep will get ahold of you soon. After sending numerous emails over the course of a year, I GAVE UP! Absolutely terrible service. Where oh where is Mr. Haas? I want him back!!!!!

I recently had a quite negative experience with this company, specifically with their New York operation. I bought a small vase in one of their recent auctions and was told that I had to pay local sales tax unless I would use their in-house shipping department to export the vase. Nevertheless, at that time I decided not to go for their service and instead had my own shipper deal with this. A few weeks later I bought several lots of books and this time I decided to ask Bonham's to give me a shipping quote. Although I requested to receive this quote a total of 4 times (!!!) I never even got a reply from their "customer support" let a lone a quote. I ended up using my own shipper again and had to pay local sales tax again. What a waste! An overall sad and disappointing experience.😥