Peter
Very bad experience with Dependent de Arta on artsy.net
I cannot, with clear conscience, recommend this site to anyone. I found an artwork that I liked at a surprisingly low price tag, and I hit "buy now", and paid. Subsequently, the item was re-listed by the gallery, at a significantly higher price. My purchase was ignored, no attempt to communicate was made. Two working days on, I requested clarification both from the gallery and the owners of the site. Customer service was quick to respond, to pre-suppose "human error", and promised to get in touch with the gallery. No response as of yet. The gallery responded to my inquiry a day later, saying it was a mistake, largely unapologetically. I don't know which planet any of these companies live on, but in most jurisdictions I know, a sale is final and binding, once the check-out process has been completed. I was not made aware of any TnCs on artsy.net that would claim anything to the contrary. In other words: they allow a gallery, if they so wish, randomly to claim a higher price, invoking "human error". This is not ethical, and legally questionable, to say the least. I am also extremely disappointed that there's not even the attempt to offer anything beyond one of these default lukewarm apo-lie-gies, as if anyone was actually sorry – offering compensation of the losses that I have thus incurred. In fairness, the gallery offered me the same piece at a discount, which, however, was still well above EUR 6000 (!!) more than what they initially claimed upon publication of their advert. So... if you enjoy a place where people make things up as they go along, where they fail to check their information for accuracy prior to publication, where you cannot trust the information you're given or, in fact, the reality of a completed transaction, and where – if lucky – people are responsive, but absolutely not proactive, then artsy.net is the place for you. Otherwise, stay away. I certainly will not use their services ever again. Update 4 Dec: Still nothing but deafening silence from artsy re their tncs re “human error” and random price changes. Update 6 Dec (to respond to the response, below): 1. The artwork was not that of an "emerging artist". The artist is long dead, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon. So that's completely irrelevant. – 2. Neither the gallery nor artsy "reached out". They eventually responded to my enquiries. In fact, artsy didn't even bother to respond to my follow-up question, nor did they come back to me as was promised in the one and only email I ever received from your customer support. So don't pretend you're proactive or helpful in any way, shape, or form. – 3. Payment was taken, and still no refund has been received, nor has the blocked amount been released to-date. The money is not currently available in my account. At this point I must assume that you will follow that pathetically poor, though common practice of merely letting the block on my account lapse, which may take weeks. So thanks for nothing. – 4. I did not use "make an offer", I used "buy now" / "purchase". The only right you ought to have in that case, according to your own TnCs, is to verify if the object still exists, not whether the gallery was competent enough to enter the right (or desired) price perchance. Otherwise this would be a meaningless distinction, deliberately designed to fool customers. I note that, even though I requested so, you still have not actually sent me a link to those "Conditions of Sale", and specifically, to the passage that you think applies to this case. – 5. Following this deliberately misleading and counterfactual response, I'm even less inclined than before to use artsy ever again. Update 11 Dec: money still not back into my account, email confirms dodgy practice of merely letting the block on my card expire: what email does not do, of course, is provide evidence from TnCs for the alleged right to cancel completed transactions. Well, what do I expect from this business at this point. Shop at Artsy’s at your own peril.
Response from ArtsyDec 6, 2022
Hi Peter, Thank you for your feedback. We took the opportunity to review the history and ensure that both you, as the collector, and the gallery, as the seller have a good e-commerce transaction experience. It appears that the gallery mistakenly listed an artwork for the price of €7.24, when in fact the correct price is €7,240. An original artwork for €7.24 would be a surprisingly low price and hard for emerging artists to support themselves. Upon realizing their error, they reached out to you to apologize, and offered a discount on the actual price if you still wished to proceed. Our team also reached out to apologize. At the time that your order was submitted, payment was not taken from your card. When your order was submitted, your payment method was verified but not charged; payment is only captured when the order is confirmed and shipped by the seller. In this case, the order was not confirmed due to the error in price, therefore the order was not accepted and the transaction was not completed. In addition, as stated in our Conditions of Sale, Artsy may reject any offer made using the Online Purchase feature. We exercised this in this case due to the clear error in pricing. I appreciate that you are disappointed that the transaction could not be completed, and that the delay in communication has been frustrating - we appreciate your patience as we looked into this matter more closely. We also appreciate you calling this mistake to our attention so that we can evaluate additional ways we can help galleries avoid egregious pricing errors. Artsy is deeply committed to expanding access between collectors and artists and we hope that you will consider exploring other artworks within your price expectations. We believe that collectors like you can find and connect with artworks that enhance your visual life as well as support artists. If there is anything else that our team can do to further help, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Best, Artsy Support