In July of 2006 I contacted Passion of Persia to have my Persian Rugs taken into consignment. The representative that came, seemed very knowledgeable and very trust worthy.
He verbally appraised all my rugs and stated that I had close to 1/2 million dollars worth of rugs in my home. he told me I had taken very good care of the rugs and they were a fine collection. He accepted eleven (11) rugs/runners in consignment and as he was writing up the contract said I need to collect 1200 for cleaning and repair. I told him I wasn't really prepared to give him that amount of money to get the rugs into consignment, but he insisted it would be well worth it and that is was dealer price for getting them cleaned. I accepted and paid him the 1200 dollars and when I looked at the receipt there were another 1200 due. I asked him what it was about and he said that is the total cost of cleaning and repairing all of them, but for me not to worry as he would take the remaining balance out of the first rug he sold, and that I was getting a bargain price since my rugs were worth so much money it would only increase their value. Over the first year he stated, (when I called him) that my rugs were on display in Las Vegas and some were sent to auctions in New York and maybe even London. I requested to come see them and see how they were cleaned and repaired. He consistently came up with excuses of being busy or they had changed location and were now only doing view's by appointment. I tried numerous times to get him to come and show me the rugs that ad been cleaned, could not get him to call me back always had to call him several times, again always being busy was the response.
At one point when I got a hold of him he offered me a exchange of one valuable rug that according to him was worth 250 thousand $ in exchange for all my eleven (11) rugs. I told him I needed to see the rug before making any decision and he never got back to me about it again.
So in December of 2007 I called and told him I was moving and since I had not heard from him in ages, and that it seem it was impossible to get an appointment to see the rugs, I would like to get them back and put in my own storage with the rest of my belongings. At first he seemed agitated over me not wanting him to keep them there in consignment, he offered me proper storage, I told him all my things would be air conditioned storage and then he said, well you have a balance of 1200 dollars for the cleaning and repair(that I have never seen)and so I will have to keep one rug in consignment to pay for that unless you give me the 1200 when I deliver your rugs. I told him that was OK, because I was not going to spend another 1200 in cash, I simply did not have it and so could we please set a date. He told me he didn't have his calendar but could he call me back on Monday ( I had placed the first call to him on the previous Tuesday, didn't hear back and now it was Friday) I told fine but please contact me on Monday. I didn't hear anything back that following week, so on Friday I called him again left a message and told him I was getting thoroughly frustrated with his lack of response and professionalism and the fact that he would never return my calls. He called back and said he was sorry but he had been busy, we set an appointment I told him I could not make that day until after two a clock, he accepted that. I told him I would call when I was on my way home or when I got close to home. I called him 2:30 no response, left a message saying I am home, please call. Called him several days later and when I got him on the phone, told him exactly how I felt, that I was tired of his lack of response, the fact that in almost two years he had sold nothing and was impossible to get a hold of, that I had the feeling I was being taken. I asked him why he didn't show up and he said by then I had another appointment and you didn't keep your word? I asked him what word, I did exactly what I said I would do, call when I got home, well he said it was too late. I asked him why in a week after the appointment he could not have called me and he started telling me about his mom being in an accident and she almost died. I replied " I am sorry to hear about your mom's accident, however a phone call to say I will call back later is 2 minutes at the most". He then started telling me that he was only going to bring back some of the rugs and that he would keep at least three rugs until I had paid him the 1200 dollars balance. I told him no under no circumstances will I agree to you keeping 3 rugs that you evaluated/appraised to be worth thousands of dollars. You can keep one, I asked him how it had gone from one (1) rug to three (3)he said because I was so insensitive to his moms accident? I asked him to please keep his personal life out of it, that we were dealing with a business trancaction and he had till Monday to make an appointment to bring the rugs back and if not I told him I would take legal action and that his method border lined theft and extortion. We since exchanged email going over the same issues and with the same result, except he now wants to keep half of the rugs. I also told him I like to get the name and number of his boss, and he replied "I was made a partner so you can just talk to me" and only gave me his own phone numbers.
Can anyone tell me what my rights are and how I can get this highly unprofessional individual to bring me my rugs back, I cant believe that would be the policy of the company. Do I have to file a police report of theft? Please help me.
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