Replacements, Ltd.

Full review
Replacements may be a decent place to find and purchase hard to find and discontinued patterns and pay full retail value, but their purchasing department leaves a lot to be desired and is the ugly underbelly of the operation.

On two different occasions I took items to them I was wanting to sell. Not only do they offer a piddly little 10 percent of the value, even on mint condition antique items, but their staff is careless - out of approximately 40 items they damaged five (one piece broken and now worthless, two pieces chipped and now worth a fraction of what they did before this nightmare, one piece scratched, and they tore the mint condition original box of another item which also reduces the value to a collector) and then their employees LIED and claimed these items were already damaged when I brought them in - which is completely false.

When I brought the problem to the attention of the purchasing manager she couldn't have cared less and informed me they have notes about what was brought in. I guess having notes is supposed to intimidate me from requesting they reimburse me for the losses caused by the incompetence and carelessness of their employee? I'm sure their notes are what their employee put in their computer system, which I'm sure matches the lies the employees told me about the damage being pre-existing. It isn't like it is their personal stuff getting ruined, and they want to keep their jobs, so what do they care if they've ruined a 100 year old plate or cup when their boss isn't watching and it is so easy to lie.

Additionally, when repacking a persons items (they pack the stuff back up for you while you decide if you want to accept their lowball offer to buy or not, also if they are rejecting for damage or overstock) they show no care at all - things are not wrapped well, heavier items are placed on top of more fragile items, things are thrown in together so they can get scratched, cleanser soaked paper towels are left carelessly on plates and bowls - who knows what that stuff will do if left too long in contact with paints and glazes - and it is obvious they don't care if a few things get damaged in this carelessness because what is a little guy to do against their big, bad business.

Replacements is about to have a fight on their hands. They may have notes, but I have pictures and a witness who saw the condition of these items and how well and carefully I wrapped them before going to Replacements. Replacements needs to do the right thing, the honest thing, and take responsibility for what their employee did - and they need to train their people better on how to handle fragile items.