William George Avis 535

Can't be trusted even with sealed items. Purchased supposedly sealed software, turns out it had already been opened, the USB removed then resealed, contacted to inform them of this and still no response.

I won at them arround 70 hoodies and they charge me oversize load 140£ plus vat for delivery. Was max 40 kg put on pallet in a huge cardboard box. Total rip off

I have bought from them a few items which should have been new. They ware damaged and they didn't accept a return. Luckily I've paid with credit card and I was able to sort it with my bank.

Not great, I would give no stars if possible sadly! I bought a John Lewis electrical pallet. Nearly everything had to be tipped lots half missing items in plastic carrier bags for example the blender was missing the blade, the lid, the cup, basically just a base and a spare cup that doesn’t fit.

Microwave came loose in the main-box, rolling around glass had even fallen out of its tray
No care given- no idea if it was broken before delivery definitely would have broke it.
On the receipt it said returned 2021 John Lewis. Faulty with no fix. If this was stated on the purchase I would never have bought a three year old broken microwave ( I understand some things may be broke however to send me something that’s been broken for years seems very unfair.

Toaster starting smoking when turned on (fire hazard)
The heated blanket was covered in dog hairs in plastic bag.

A big main issue Items delivered with no phone call,
I emailed in advance to check I would receive a phone call before delivery to arrange a date.

Item arrived suddenly with no phone call on not suitable day.
They left me at the door with no one to help me in the rain as wasn’t expecting parcel and my partner was at work and Im under 5 foot.
They wouldn’t even take the pallet away for me knowing I can’t lift it.

Three weeks later and William George said they are still waiting a reply from delivery company unfortunately they aren’t replying to them.
Tape was loose on the top, looked tampered with.

Really really upset, especially upset as I was told I would get an answer to all this and still nothing.

I waited three weeks to do this review as I wanted to be fair and I was waiting to do what a got in an auction Video. Unfortunately it’s all got to go the tip.

Really expected a refund, spent over £700 to loose most of that money on faulty, broken, missing, dangerous items.

Very good communication from company
Fast to respond
Pleasure to deal with

If only other Auction Houses could make it into this century with their customer service. I bought a painting recently from another Edinburgh Auction House. The cost that the shipping company charged was £110. It took 4 weeks to be delivered.
William George using DHL £32 and 48 hours.
All communications with William G were prompt polite and efficient.

Great service - prompt replies to queries on email and a very personable interaction.

Avoid. Do not purchase Grade U items as you could spend money on an item not fit for purpose. I bid £12 for a Vileda steam mop. I won but it became £18 with charges. The seller added £10 postage. Thats now £28. The mop has been well used. Parts are missing and the motor is broken. This is not a shop return. This has been thrown out and only fit for a skip. I contacted the seller and William George but was informed that it was a gamble. It's not worth the risk. For £60 I could have had a brand new mop with a 1 year warranty and all working parts. Whilst this is 'legal' it is unethical and many more will be conned out of hard earned cash. Don't waste your time

I was looking at some lots on one of the auctions that I was interested in bidding on. It was a weekend, about 10.30pm. Although much of their pricing and shipping costs were easy to see and understand, the particular items I was interested in, didn't have shipping costs in the write up. I emailed customer service. I wasn't expecting a reply until Monday, as the office hours were there, and it was closed over the weekend. To my surprise, and gratitude, I got an email almost straight back, advising of the shipping charge, but also, saying if I let them know which lots I was interested in, they could provide further, more accurate information. I was really so impressed, and will definitely be bidding in the future, with the confidence of knowing customer support is very good.

Having seen many YouTube videos of people purchasing electronics returns pallets for resale on ebay etc. where the typical return seems to be around 40-60% of RRP (for working items) I decided to take a punt on doing the same.

I found William George linked in an article called "13 places to buy liquidation and return pallets in the UK" on a site called "Skint Dad" (found via a Google search) and the prices that pallets seemed to be selling for quite reasonable amounts based upon the RRP of the items on them.

I made bids on several lots but they went above what I was prepared to pay so let them go.

NOTE: You really need to know your limits here as you have to take account of a 25% buyers premium (auction house cut), £70 for delivery of the pallet and then VAT @ 20% on the whole.

Finally won one. My bid was £160 for a pallet with 24 items total (stated to have an RRP around £1850)

£160 (My bid)
£40 (Buyers Premium)
£70 (Pallet Delivery)
£54 (VAT)
-----
£324

As you can see the final price was roughly double what I bid but there were no surprises here. These fees were all clearly stated and I had created a spreadsheet to take them into account before bidding.

Delivery was undertaken by a third party and they phoned me to arrange delivery within 24 hours of making payment to William George. I arranged a specific window early on the following day as I had to be at work in the afternoon. Unfortunately they missed this window by a couple of hours so I had to make arrangements to go into work later than normal. I can't hold William George responsible for this, I just wish their delivery partner wouldn't make promises they can't keep.

Inspected the items and around 1/3 are faulty, the rest appear new or barely used with no apparent faults. To date I've recovered around 80% of my £324 spend from 8 items sold. I'm confident I'll at least double my money in time. Unfortunately most of the items are (expensive) electronic fans which aren't exactly in high demand in what has turned out to be one of the mildest summers in years.

All in all it was a worthwhile experience, hoping we get a heatwave before the summer is up so I can shift all these fans.

Would definitely consider purchasing more pallets in future but I'll probably arrange for time off work to take delivery next time.

Excellent on the ball company. Hannah answers queries promptly and efficiently.

Although I didn't buy anything yet from Willam George auction, the customer service I received made me trust them in terms of communication and and professionalism I'm sure I will be using them in the near future and recommend them to all the buyers traders in the sector.

AVOID Electrical items, recently purchased a pallet, over half of the items were beyond repair, one item started to smoke when turned on and a microwave had its door hanging off! I realise that you take a risk with bidding on an auction, but really WILLIAM GEORGE. There was nothing in the item description to say that items would be beyond repair……. Complete waste of £500

I recently had to contact William George regarding my account. I emailed them and and they replied that all enquiries would be answered within 48 hours. My reply arrived only after a few hours, from Hannah, and my problem was sorted without any problems. I have bought more than once from William George using the platform "thesaleroom.com" and and have never had any issues with them and so this prompted me to use their own website with confidence.
I would recommend William George unreservedly and I also wish to say that Hannah, as probably point of contact would be an asset to any business.

The service I received was efficient,courteous, and professional.
I would recommend doing business with them.

I bought a watch for about £1000 through this company.
As some of the other reviewers on Trustpilot have found, this auction company operates like eBay.
Their Ts and Cs state that it is the bidder's responsibility to contact the seller and arrange delivery, which is not apparent when bidding. (In fact the Ts and Cs were not available when I bid)
In the event of a problem the buyer must liaise directly with the seller, the auction house has no responsibility apart from making a decision that both parties must abide by.
It may say that the lot location is Peterborough (the company offices) but in fact the lots are located at the sellers' location.
As far as I can tell this auctioneer never sees the items that they are selling, unlike a normal auction house. The item descriptions are from the sellers, not the auction house.
The website makes a great play of treating people better, but has no phone numbers shown so that all communication is via email. The "about" section has no surnames, phone numbers or email addresses so it is impossible to contact the people.
The company trades as William George, but in fact the company name is "Auction Rebel Limited"
I suggest you read the less favourable reviews as this shows how the company deals with problems rather than the straightforward purchases.
I received the item for which I paid - eventually - after receiving an email from the company stating it had been despatched when it clearly had not and having quite a bit of email discussion with Hannah, who, as far as I can tell, is the only customer facing person in this company.
In summary when it works as it should, everyone will be happy, but if there are problems it is down to the buyer to sort them.

Great communication, I am new to this site and Hannah was there to answer every query I had almost immediately very informative and put my mind at ease regarding bidding, delivery charges etc.

As a first time user of an auction, I emailed through to ask some questions regarding delivery etc, Hannah was super helpful and very prompt with her responses. I feel confident now using William George as my first Auction House

Excellent experience, so straightforward to bid and buy. When I had a question it was answered quickly and clearly.