Hattongardenauctions Arvostelua 

Bid on an auction and hit the reserve. 4 hours later the reserve was increased. Despicable practice and looking at the reviews I’m not the first.
Avoid this auction company they are manipulating sales to the detriment of buyers.
I will be sending a formal complaint to saleroom.com platform and warning other platforms.
Save your money and buy from a more reputable auction house.

Bought a watch box came without key box locked when contacted them basically ignored did get email saying they’re contact seller would let me know his response never heard a thing again will never buy from again obviously this is why want money transferred rather than card as card payment can be stopped when not happy with the purchase

Fully agree with comments by Miss, below. This is not set up as a reputable auction house. Photos are misleading and inadequate and your only description. Changing reserves prices to manipulate the market. Too many red flags, avoid.

Big scam in London be careful everyone before you bid they don’t have no customer service at all. Never again

The item I recently won at auction was exactly as pictured and we had a decent experience from using this auction house. I was a little dubious after reading some of the reviews that have been left in the past but I can honestly say that we had no issues. Thankyou and I look forward to using this auction house again in the future!

Spoke with Sam and opted for delivery, can’t fault service. Nice ring

bought a vintage Omega Seamaster! Overall Really Chuffed, came within a couple of days

I have been using HGA LTD for over a year now and I’m always impressed at there amazing high quality pictures they have in the descriptions which enables me to have a great view of what I’m bidding on, I’ve also been and viewed a few times by appointment and they always make me feel welcome and are very knowledgeable.
I have won some wonderful items in there auctions, always packaged beautifully and sent securely, Thank you Hatton Garden Auctions Ltd for doing such a wonderful job!

Easy to bid, good delivery was well wrapped and lovely lot of items as described. I'm very happy.

Suspicious from the start. Reserve suddenly lowered, Auction time changed, The-Saleroom said I didn’t win but not outbid. GLA certificate unknown. Queried direct and then invoice sent. Said I’d like to see item before transferring money suddenly the item was in Norwich. All too suspicious so refused to pay and had my Saleroom account blocked. Glad I still have my ££££’s

I bought a dark blue sapphire ring. I rang to ask for a conditions report. "We don't do condition reports". I should have walked, but they convinced me the photos were the condition report and they were accurate. Turns out that HGA used a flash to enhance the blue of the sapphire. Oh! and they don't take Credit Cards - another warning sign these people are dishonest.

Why is a tracking number not provided?

Ordered (won) an item on 22nd March, received and settled the invoice the same day, including postage; delivery from UK to a UK address.

Per the invoice:
‘Please pay promptly as this helps getting your items sent quickly, we usually ship within 24/48 hours of cleared payment, Please don't ask for tracking numbers as the items are usually there before we get back to you, of course if you haven't received your item after 7 working days after cleared payment then please email us and we will be glad to help you locate your parcel (usually sitting at a post office because the postman never left a card).’

This rather bizarre and unprofessional statement on the invoice made me a little unsettled.

The response when queried item not received:
‘Hi, Yes shipped last Friday (24th March) so please check at your local post office/sorting office.’

When queried for the tracking details on 31st March, as the local post office and depots have no record:
No response ! I then followed up via the more professional and reliable Salesroom.com platform, and lo and behold (!), an email was received the next day from Hatton Garden Auctions (3rd April) with the below:
‘Hi, As I expected Royal Mail have failed to leave you a card, you can track your item here and rebook’.

This was very odd, as our home has cctv cameras linked to the doorbell, which showed no delivery attempt for this item/ or card.

I finally received the item on 4th April after getting the link to tracking details. A very strange experience, and quite stressful if you have ordered something of value. I would advise that other buyers proceed with caution.

Not a very credible auction house. There was an 18k Omega watch I wanted to bid on, but they provided minimal photos and won’t provide more. They won’t offer condition reports. Their terms and conditions “strongly encourage viewing” but they are appointment only and don’t offer any appointment times to view! It’s at best unprofessional. God forbid you win something and have a problem with it.

I strongly recommend not using this auction company.
I have used multiple auction houses via the on line auction website "Thesaleroom.com", direct with Auctioneers' website and at auctioneers in person. I have purchased a variety of jewellery items over several years so I am familiar with how Jewellery auctions work.
Perhaps I became complacent?
HGA do not behave as other Auction Houses. To get to the point, they game the website system to extract as much money out of you as possible.

1. You win a lot with a "jumped" bid, several bids higher than the other bidder. When the other bidders have stopped bidding, you expect to win the lot at one bid over their bid. If you have placed an automated bid of a higher amount then your winning bid 'jumps' to that higher amount. I have witnessed this happening with winning bids being up to 6 bids higher than the bidder who dropped out.
This is really odd as the ethos of an auction is bidders competing between each other until the highest bid is reached WITHOUT auctioneer interference.
2. They are able to do this by manipulating the reserve during the auction. Upon placing a bid you will receive a notification that the reserve is not achieved (the reserve is not stated). All of sudden you have won that lot as the reserve was manipulated down to match your highest auto-bid during the auction.
This is disconcerting as bidders rely on the reserves being a related to the actual value of the item, but HG reserves are meaningless. They are there only to misled you into thinking the item has been valued at a higher price than you are bidding.

So the typical scenario is...

Other bidders drop out and you are in the lead at, say £1000. But as the reserve is not yet achieved, thus you are not going to win it . A few seconds later you win the item at, say £1200, your max bid.

3. Their photos deliberately mislead you. For example, they use the same ring box in multiple lots giving the impression that that ring has been submitted to the auction with that box and has a relationship to it. If you are looking only at one or two lot you may not realise this. Most auctioneers are too lazy/busy to do this or use neutral props. This is definitely not accidental as the props used are related to the item being sold e.g. a Victorian ring in a Victorian ring box not a modern box. Finally, you will not receive the box if you buy the items.
4. They do not offer condition reports. This is not made clear when you submit a request for a condition report via The Saleroom. It simply says that the service is not available at that time and to try again later. Knowing there was no condition report service certainly makes me think that that is not to the type of auction I want to partake in.
5. The item I received was not as described. If you purchase an item that states it is gold, diamond or 18K you expect that the item to be that. It is a legal obligation for the auctioneer to describe items in good faith. For example, the item I received was not as described. Upon highlighting this they, instead of apologising and accepting the item back with a full refund they offer to put it back in the auction. It was their typo, all they needed to do was describe the item correctly and I would not have not have bid on it.
The briefness (about 20 words) of their email reply to my complaint made me think that 2 things.
A. Their customer service is poor especially since HG are at fault. I have complained to an auction house before and been treated with interested concern, as their main aim was resolving my issue. I don't enjoy being treated in such an off-hand way, so am disinclined to use them again.
B. It was a Copy/Paste email due to the volume of their complaints.