TJC £1 Auctions

[Solent Warship]

Has anyone else complained about these £1 auctions being dishonest????
Back in January I won one of these auctions. A Pink Diamond Ring @ £289. The actual price was £499. I then got a msg saying sorry it was no longer in stock. Yet when I checked the website it was still there large as life but now the price was £599.
Obviously I phoned them to complain. I got nowhere with them. I was promised a call back from management but nothing. We're now in April and guess what? The ring is still on the website.
Do they have to abide by the auction result? Because they do say that if you, the customer, doesn't pay for items won they will stop you from using the site and ban you from the auctions.

 

[Always complaining]

They have had many many complaints about these auctions. When they used to have a customer forum they had complaints all the time. They are blatantly dishonest. Lots of the bids are not real bids at all. If you look regularly you’ll get to know the initials of these. If after all the obstacles they put in place you manage to put in a winning bid at a low price they’ll use the not in stock excuse. Another trick which has happened to me twice is the “special auction” sign coming up as a reason not to accept your bid when you bid right at the end and no time for a false bid to come in. I can tell you that you are completely wasting your time ringing them and no one will ring you back. I am amazed that it seems that no one has complained to fair trading about this. I am not in UK so it would be more difficult for me to do so.

 

[Solent Warship]

They have had many many complaints about these auctions. When they used to have a customer forum they had complaints all the time. They are blatantly dishonest. Lots of the bids are not real bids at all. If you look regularly you’ll get to know the initials of these. If after all the obstacles they put in place you manage to put in a winning bid at a low price they’ll use the not in stock excuse. Another trick which has happened to me twice is the “special auction” sign coming up as a reason not to accept your bid when you bid right at the end and no time for a false bid to come in. I can tell you that you are completely wasting your time ringing them and no one will ring you back. I am amazed that it seems that no one has complained to fair trading about this. I am not in UK so it would be more difficult for me to do so.

All those things have happened to me. I've seen the same initials too. I just happen to have all the screenshots to prove that the same initials appear on all decent items. Plus the inflated amounts.
I am in the UK so if anyone comes on this thread with the right info I'll see if I can do something

 

[PhædrusR]

All those things have happened to me. I've seen the same initials too. I just happen to have all the screenshots to prove that the same initials appear on all decent items. Plus the inflated amounts.
I am in the UK so if anyone comes on this thread with the right info I'll see if I can do something

Just to say I've only used the £1 auction site to buy cheap household & tech items, usually less than £10. And gemstones/rings under £50. Cheaper than the item was priced on the main website section.

But every item I've 'won' has been honoured and delivered.

So whether it's just for more expensive jewellery/jewels where they don't honour the much lower than standard price, I don't know.

But surely they would set a minimum limit reserve, as I have encountered when bidding on lesser items occasionally, where my bid resulted in a message "please submit a higher bid as the minimum for this item is £xx".

 

[PhædrusR]

Just to say I've only used the £1 auction site to buy cheap household & tech items, usually less than £10. And gemstones/rings under £50. Cheaper than the item was priced on the main website section.

But every item I've 'won' has been honoured and delivered.

So whether it's just for more expensive jewellery/jewels where they don't honour the much lower than standard price, I don't know.

But surely they would set a minimum limit reserve, as I have encountered when bidding on lesser items occasionally, where my bid resulted in a message "please submit a higher bid as the minimum for this item is £xx".

Just to add that I do see the same initials sometimes for similar items I'm bidding for too. My assumption was that some of these people are bulk buying multiple similar item sets and reselling on via other channels, like a market stall or online?!
Or maybe I'm just naive and these are automated/robo bidders to inflate the auction price or staff/others tasked with doing the same. But it defeats the purpose, surely.

Also, how do they cope with sending an item out every 30secs- 1min on average, 24/7/365? Would like to see the setup.

 

[Always complaining]

Just to say I've only used the £1 auction site to buy cheap household & tech items, usually less than £10. And gemstones/rings under £50. Cheaper than the item was priced on the main website section.

But every item I've 'won' has been honoured and delivered.

So whether it's just for more expensive jewellery/jewels where they don't honour the much lower than standard price, I don't know.

But surely they would set a minimum limit reserve, as I have encountered when bidding on lesser items occasionally, where my bid resulted in a message "please submit a higher bid as the minimum for this item is £xx".

Yes it is just for more expensive items.. Obviously if they are cheap items then it’s not important to them to push up the price. I’m baffled as to how you saw a message quoting a reserve price as they go to great lengths to maintain that there is no reserve price. As for the same initials appearing for people who are so anxious to bid it’s strange they are not anxious to buy as the items just come back round. You probably would remain unaware of these things if you only bid on cheap items but many many people are very well aware of it and completely fed up with it.

 

[Ant7t]

All those things have happened to me. I've seen the same initials too. I just happen to have all the screenshots to prove that the same initials appear on all decent items. Plus the inflated amounts.
I am in the UK so if anyone comes on this thread with the right info I'll see if I can do something

Ask TMWNN. Usually, in the Gemporia forum. He probably knows how to go about 'it'.

 

[PhædrusR]

All those things have happened to me. I've seen the same initials too. I just happen to have all the screenshots to prove that the same initials appear on all decent items. Plus the inflated amounts.
I am in the UK so if anyone comes on this thread with the right info I'll see if I can do something

When I first started, I was worried about not paying for items I'd won in the auction that were too expensive or I could get cheaper later.

Yes it is just for more expensive items.. Obviously if they are cheap items then it’s not important to them to push up the price. I’m baffled as to how you saw a message quoting a reserve price as they go to great lengths to maintain that there is no reserve price. As for the same initials appearing for people who are so anxious to bid it’s strange they are not anxious to buy as the items just come back round. You probably would remain unaware of these things if you only bid on cheap items but many many people are very well aware of it and completely fed up with it.

So yes, the same initials seem to bid on lots of stuff, but whether they pay, or just let the bids expire and try again, or are just bidding to up the price, or for the fun of it, who knows.

 

[Deleted member 30699]

Someone complain to the ASA. However, they're toothless as another poster said. Just like all these so called government bodies i.e. OFGEM. Waste of money and time.

 

[PhædrusR]

Someone complain to the ASA. However, they're toothless as another poster said. Just like all these so called government bodies i.e. OFGEM. Waste of money and time.

And OFWAT... asleep at the wheel while the Water companies skim profits for shareholders and top staff whilst under investing in the infrastructure.