W. B.
Very disappointed
This was my second or third purchase from them. The preceding transaction were great! This last transaction was not. The piece was large, 48”X48”. It was listed as in excellent condition as my previous ones were also. The shipment was three to five days delivery but took 13 days, no problem. My prior experience with Art Galleries is they would order the appropriate size art shipping box. This shipping box was a “pieced and taped together” Home Depot box. Ok as long as the art is not harmed, fine. The art was wrapped in a large plastic bag. Upon opening there were three very noticeable scuffs marks and one line six inches long trailing from the side to the exterior. I was not happy as this was to be a gift I sent photos of the shipping box and the damage to the painting to Robbie. She responded quickly and offered to find someone locally to repair it. My issue is the painting was to be in excellent condition, wasn’t. I asked for compensation for my inconvenience and received no answer on my request. I also mentioned returning it but was directed to repair it. The damage has been repaired. It would have been “very nice” to have received some financial reimbursement from the seller for all my time invested plus my disappointment. The seller should have inspected the painting before it shipped. There was no way this damaged was done during transit. The internal packaging was clean, no paint marks. Bill
Response from Art BrokerageMar 8, 2025
We have been communicating consistently with Mr. Benson since his art was delivered showing flaws. Since they were easily repairable we recommended having it repaired by a local artist rather than returning it. (Mr. Benson, like all of our buyers, absolutely have the choice to return the art for full reimbursement should there be any undisclosed condition issues.) We were in the process of finding a suitable restoration artist to do the repair, when we received a message from Mr. Benson stating he had already hired someone. In a situation such as this we ALWAYS either pay the local artist directly (so there is absolutely no out of pocket cost to the buyer) or reimburse the buyer directly for the cost of repair. This is our policy. We have reached out to Mr. Benson again requesting the amount he paid for the repair so we can make the appropriate reimbursement. Regarding packaging of the art, we give our sellers very specific safe packaging instructions, which the seller did not follow in this instance. Mr. Bensons's previous purchases were from this same seller. We have discussed with the seller that we will not accept this manner of packaging and that any future sales must be professionally packaged per our directions.