No news from Agora auctions

Once again, thanks folks for your comments and support.

So far I've taken the Name and Shame route, since my thoughts were it would be more efficient, as not only might it solve my own issue, but also prevent others from being scammed in the future.

For what I see, after four months it doesn't work much, as it seems

Thank you so much @sand for the tips and ideas on what to do now. Since I'm not living in North America I don't think the BBB option would work, but I will contact Paypal to see what they can do for me.


Now, I've been thinking all day long to post publicly (or not) the following, and decided I have to. All the comments below have been shared with me by a CT member who compiled them in the past few years. Note to moderators : Should the following comments be against CT rules, I of course agree to them to be removed immediately

“Sorry to hear that Agora ended up being your first auction house experience. I participated and won coins in about ten Agora auctions between 2014-2017, and unfortunately, my experience with them echoes…others'. Ultimately, the repeated delays and bewilderingly blasé attitude towards customer service/communication just ended up being too frustrating for me. As a result, they're one of just two auction houses that I no longer patronize.”


“…took over a month with no responses to my emails and I eventually filed a Paypal claim…”


“I wouldn’t order (from them) again.”


“Sadly, my experience as well. I have two coins paid for a never received. Alfred said great things publicly on this board but privately via email no response…I thought I was the only one that had issues with them, I see now I am not.”


“I still have not received any shipping information regarding the coins purchased in July. I have sent Alfred and Matt multiple emails/week without a single response. I have also called Alfred weekly, however, I have never been able to get him to answer…Any advice from anyone here that has dealt with a similar situation? Any help is much appreciated.”


“Same situation here. I haven't found a solution either…”


“I had almost the exact same issue as you…with Agora a while ago and likewise, I will not be doing business with them again. Though I had gotten some real beauties from them previously, it only takes one negative incident to make me doubt credit and ethics. But now it appears to be more than a lone negative experience.”


“Alfred at Agora isn't very organized. I still have a bad taste in my mouth after I won this coin at Agora's December 20, 2016 sale…I paid him immediately after I received an electronic invoice. When no shipping notification came, I sent him three e-mails asking about it, and he ignored every one of them.”


“I boasted about my Father's Day gifts, and in a rare moment, I showed an image of a coin I won from Agora but had not received. Well, today, after a few conversations with Alfred at Agora, low and behold the coin I won should not have been in the auction as it had sold in a previous auction…Needless to say, I will not tempt fate again!... according to Albert at Agora, it sold and was gone, but never taken out of the inventory. Sloppy if that is the case, but I can think of other reason that just may be devious. I bid a high price on this coin, so now I'm more concerned with getting my refund.”


“…the question is whether the rest of us want a certain coin badly enough to try those with a bad reputation for service or look for coins elsewhere.”


“I have learned my lesson and will stay away from them going forward.”


“I’m still waiting for this one...Waiting for a refund as well.”


“I recently won several coins and paid the invoice immediately. It’s been almost 3 weeks and I haven’t gotten any updates about shipping. I emailed them last week and still no response.”


“…they never reply to inquiries submitted on their online form.”


“…I'm in the same situation with Agora Auctions…”


“I, too, have also had some problems.”


“Their customer service is just horrible. I will not use them again.”


“I emailed Mr. De La Fe twice and didn't get any answer yet. Has any of you had issues with this auction house ? I'm a bit puzzled as I just want to give someone money they seemingly don't care about...”


“I am not at all surprised by the difficulties a variety of posters here have had with Agora. You may read about my bad experience in this thread in which () tells about his bad experience with them.”


“Don't know what's up with agora, they won’t answer my emails it's been over a month now and no shipping status.”


“I began by sending a polite email asking for shipping information. This email was passed to Alfredo who never responded. After a couple more days, I sent another polite email this time directly to Alfredo. No response. After a couple more days, I called directly to Alfredo who answered the call. He was unaware of any problems, was out of the office for a couple of days for his daughter's graduation, but would most definitely get back with me on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon I called once again. No answer. Monday, I called and spoke with Alfredo who informed me of the situation. He said he would tell his partner to refund immediately. I called his partner today, since I had no correspondence, to only be told that a refund would not be processed until most likely next Monday. Does this runaround and delay sound responsible? It certainly has not been handled ‘as quickly as possible’ which I would expect of a reputable auction dealer.”


“Certainly sloppy is better than dishonest but we do not need to make excuses for business practices that make it hard to tell the difference. I hear about a seller being a one man operation as if that is a good reason not to keep records or hire a secretary.”


“I've had some issues with Agora in the past (the usual chasing for response and updates)…”


“I'm so tired of hearing ‘we had a computer problem’, or so-and-so has been on vacation. Whatever happened to honor and trustworthiness and honesty? Whatever happened to responsibility?”


“I even called Alfred and he told me to shoot him an email which I did within an hour. That was August 5! Have followed up several times as I'm trying to buy an unsold lot. Here I am a customer trying desperately to give them money and I can't get through. Being a business owner myself it's hard to wrap my head around this.”


From a VCoins dealer who used to run auctions at Agora: “I am sorry anyone has had to deal with any situation like this (and it may not surprise anyone that I am no longer running auctions on that platform). It's just a sad situation.”


Someone in response to a post by Alfred: “for better or for worse your reputation is being tried on this list and is coming up a bit short. Physical pain and mental anguish are two sides of the same coin. If the coin in question was in your possession as you say, and was sold at auction to a client who had paid early, how do you account for the fact that it was not sent to him in the first place? Is or was there something about your system for keeping track of such things that does not give priority to those who pay promptly? Whether or not you choose to respond to that, PLEASE tell us as potential buyers if there is anything we can say or do to help prevent such a thing from happening again. Please? Transparency is preferable to discovery.”


“A month now, and although I've paid immediately after Mr De La Fe had contacted me, I have no news from him since, not a single word saying they have sent the parcel or anything relevant...three months later, Still nothing !! No answers to emails, not a word (I don't even dream of an apologetic message anymore). My feeling now is that I've been stolen 400 bucks…I don't understand such contempt towards customers.”


“I can’t deny that Agora’s bad reputation has kept me from ever bidding with them.”


“Agora Auctions seems to be clueless, about how to run a business.”

I have to confess having been astounded to read all the issues people have had in the past with that auction house, and really do not understand how they can maintain their business : I'm clueless

Q

 

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Wow. Thanks for posting this. I made myself read every one of these complaints. Now I'm more certain than ever, that I will never bid at an Agora Auctions auction.

 

I believe that the dealer in question is a member of the Facebook Ancient Coins and Ancient Coins Sales groups, and posts in both groups fairly regularly. You might consider joining those groups, and confronting him directly when he posts in them. Perhaps even more public embarrassment, in front of other people he considers his peers, will have an effect. Although he does seem impervious to public shaming so far. Despite all his promises, and claims of being so open that he gives out his personal cell phone number. Or you could find out where he lives and hire picketers, perhaps?

 

I'm amused by how this thread has almost woven itself into my CT experience. Every other month I return to see what's up, finding a now very familiar pattern:

• OP bumps the thread because he still has not received items for which he has already paid
• Members gather around, bewildered
• Alfredo responds, beginning his reply with how he wrote a huge post that has now been lost
• OP responds to Alfredo, silence
• Repeat

Jokes aside, best wishes to OP. At this point I can imagine just getting a refund would very much suck, having invested so much time into getting the coins that you won. But I guess it'd be better than nothing...

 

Hey guys, just got a PM on Facebook to check here, sorry I dropped the ball in replying. My mom went in for another surgery for bladder cancer and Murphy of Murphy’s law decided to come for a visit and decided he wanted to barricade the doors and refused to leave. You (Cucumber) will get a call/email from me tomorrow. In the meantime I of course will refund the order. (I did address the two other issues I was contacted about before “Murphy’s” untimely visit)

Regardless of circumstances I try to own my errors. Not anyone else’s problem. I apologize and I promise to make it right and do better.

Alfred

 

I apologize for sounding unsympathetic, but @Cucumbor, please let us know if you actually hear from him (tomorrow or otherwise), and if you ever receive the promised refund.

 

At this point, making it right would include both refunding @Cucumbor his money AND sending the coin.

 

What complete and utter BS. You could have refunded him many months ago if you had the slightest intention of "making it right".

PayPal refunds are instant and take about 60sec. Let's see if you actually did it yesterday, or maybe the dog ate your internet ?

 

Glad all those episodes amused you. Yes I would prefer to getting the coin I paid for. A refund would be a consolation though.

That's a good one ! Does your mom know ? and does she know you involve her as cause of your inconstency ?
If that's real though, my thoughts are with her and you

I just got an email from Paypal saying I should see a refund from agora arriving on my bank account soon

Brilliant idea @Severus Alexander : it would turn a nightmare into a dream coin !!!
Unfortunately I'm not a dreamer...

Thanks everybody for expressing sympathy

Q

 

I hope the refund arrives in the correct amount. As for the coin, my guess is that he has no idea where it is or what happened to it, and that that's the likeliest reason for all the stalling and broken promises.

 

That sounds promising. I would be interested to know, if/when you get your refund, and whether it was for the full amount, that you paid.
I still plan, to never bid, at an Agora Auctions auction.
I have a black list for auction houses, based on CoinTalk complaints, that I have read :
1. Agora Auctions
2. Bertolami Auctions

 

I had a very similar experience pre covid. After many months and many reason why I didnt get the coin , I did get the coin.

 

Refund....in the end

I would like to thank everyone here for their support and feedback, I got a refund from Agora on my bank account two days ago.

I have to make myself happy with 95% of what it cost me in first place, but I guess Paypal is to blame on that rather than the auction house : since I live in France there was a conversion rate from euro to USD and then the same from USD to euro.

Anyway, should I in the future mention an intention on bidding at that auction house, please, recall me of that story

Q