Bonhams Reviews 

Found experience very good when I place bid on line

World class service from this dynamic auction house

I purchased 8 Vehicle Mascots at the June auction in New York. Had to contact them after 2 weeks to inquire on shipping Delay. I was informed that they had just completed all of the shipping quotes and would be out in several weeks Jump to late July Box shows up and low and behold 8 Mascots show up but one is not the right one. After emailing back and forth I am told they will mail the correct Mascot after I mail the one that was not right back to them. I get overnighted a box with packing supplies but not my Mascot. I inform them I will not mail the other until mine is mailed. Get a call from Eric Minhoff and he proceeds to grill me on why I won’t send the other back. I tell him to send mine and then I will. Agreed on mailing them and mine getting mailed out immediately but guess what No word back from them on when I will receive my PAID FOR MASCOT. These guys are first class clowns. Do not even get me started on having them sell items!!! Avoid this Auction House at all Costs You will be totally Disappointed. Eric Minihoff in the Automotive Department is a straight up Liar!!!!!!

I recently purchased a classic Lagonda from Bonhams MPH (Bicester).
it was in a closed sale due to covid,
the vendor said every aspect of the car warranted a 75% quality rate.
This car has 18K guaranteed mileage on the clock, and i paid top dollar for it,
it was trailered back to my home, i used it twice each journey about 50 miles.
As i had spent so much on the car i decided to have post-sale check (assessment) on the car.
its a good job i did.
it has gone to a reputable garage, well know and respected for looking after "Classic Cars"
the found a number of faults, some quite small, the major problems were, leaking head gasket, water core plugs leaking, but worst of all the wet liner seals have started to leak water into the sump.
I have spoken to Rob Hubbard at B/MPH and all I got was derisory remarks, about “you have to expect minor problems with a car that age”
Minor problems yes, I can live wth that, but this problem isn’t minor, we are looking at close to Estimate £12k+ for the repairs
This guy Rob Hubbard wont even answer my calls now.
So what’s to do?

Why do you not answer complaints from your customers. Can you not afford a public relations officer or do you not care about your clients? Can you answer my question?

Bonhams gave me quotes over the phone for antique items, then collected items the next day, then 1 week later they told me they were putting them in a specialised auction 150 miles away which I followed online which sold for under 5% of their total quotes. the moral being if you want to be scammed go to bonhams.

These people think they are very special, furthermore, they think their customers are below them. They will speak to you as though you are something from their shoe bottom. There are far better auction houses, even the Elite ones such as H&H were a much better experience. Spoke to me like a client, not a peasant.

Well, I got caught up in the Bingham’s customer NO service. Purchased an item at auction two weeks ago. Was required to pay for item and freight by wire. Paid immediately. I’ve inquired about status of order several times and via email and phone. No response from company. Terrible service.

All the one star reviews of this place are spot on. My bad though, since I know how they are yet I continue to bid there. Their outrageous shipping fees
continue to amaze me. The latest: A maybe 5 oz vase that went for around 3K is costing me $200 to ship 10 miles from Manhattan to Brooklyn!!!! Seriously, I have had significantly more expensive items shipped from much further away for a lot, lot less. I'm sorry, but there's no reason for Bonhams to fleece their customers. They should be thankful people are still bidding during these uncertain times. Oh well, fool me once...

Buying from these Elites come with some disadvantages. Such as their noses stuck squarely in the air should you approach them with perceived problems or queries. They will even snigger between theirselves at you should you become agitated at their looking down upon you as if you were vulger compared to their perceived extremely high status in this existence. I have purchased a fair bit from them, but they are the eventual certain winners with their astronomical fees. Do not buy unseen, they will sell you a vehicle that does not even run, yet as in my case, I was not made aware of that fact, but the live bidders were. Just avoid. H & H speak to you like an equal, there is no comparison within the two auction houses.

Worst customer service ever.

The only reason I have gone back a few times to this organization is because my Father worked for them years ago, when it was Butterfields and Butterfields. It was a professionally run organization then with people who were competent and valued their clients. Wow, has it ever changed since the business was sold. As respect for my Father, I did as he asked and I contacted them. He is 93 years old and remembers the way it used to be, so that is why he has remained loyal to them. They truly do not deserve his business and his loyalty.

The first time my Father and I went for a valuation of some fine art, we showed up with a various collection of paintings. The expert in that department was quite arrogant and a bit condescending. He inferred that a few of the paintings that we brought in were supposed forgeries from people who were signing the name of famous artists of works of art that were fairly well known. Interesting, since these paintings had been purchased at auction when it was Butterfield and Butterfield's years ago. Okay, he's the expert, so we walked away feeling like we were wasted his time and I swore I would never return based on the dismissive feeling we got from him.

Fast forward to present. So once again, my Father asks me to reach out to Bonham's because he has various fine jewelry and Asian art he would like to sell. Here we go again. I dreaded the task, but did it anyway.

I contacted Bonham's to get a jewelry valuation for auction. To be fair, I did receive a call, and was asked to submit photographs so that she could send them to the appropriate experts. It's been 3 weeks now, and 3 follow up emails later to her and no response. I asked in my last email to her that if the items did not meet the selling standards of Bonham's, I would understand, but to please give me the courtesy of a response to let me know so that I could move on. No reply. I am not surprised in the least.

Lastly, I sent another email to another department to ask for an auction valuation for some Asian Art. Two emails later and no reply. I only did that because my Father remembered this person from years past. He was hopeful she would remember him and reply. Nope. Not the case.

I don't know why they run ads in the Chronicle about selling your art at Bonham's and provide email addresses to the specialized departments. These folks do not reply. Maybe they are over worked? Maybe they are short staffed? Maybe they just don't care?

In any event, this is it for me. Based on all of the reviews I have read on this site, every single person has similar complaints and I whole heartedly agree with the one star ratings.

I hope the company will take these complaints to heart and truly make an effort to turn things around. Customers deserve better than this. A little respect and courtesy goes a long way.

I bought six Japanese woodblock print triptychs at a Bonhams auction in New York in July 2020. I immediately transferred the price, and shortly afterwards I received an offer for shipping. Bonhams wanted $ 470 without telling me the name of the company. I wanted to find my own freight forwarder. Bonhams only answered all emails after a reminder and even refused to just put the woodcuts in an envelope. Bonhams was absolutely uncooperative. I was constantly dealing with other people there. It was only when I was worn down after weeks and finally accepted the absolutely outrageous offer that everything went quickly. I bought Japanese woodblock prints from various art dealers in the US and never paid more than $ 100 for shipping. I can only warn everyone to buy from Bonhams

I assumed the Bonhams name attached to Bonhams MPH would give me confidence. They’d advertised a car with a rating of 9/10 yet the service cost £12,000 for a 2007 Bentley. It’s not like I was buying off eBay. I asked the director to pay £9000 and he said ‘too bad it’s buyer beware as it’s an auction’. Legal action awaits. AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS.

Appalling customer service, they won't even submit your bid if there website malfunctions, (which seems to be an problem for them). They won't allow you to join online auctions at times? Why? Overall I certainly wouldn't sell things through them as they are generally only interested in a quick sale. As for buying, they seem unhelpful if you try to forward a decent offer or ask questions about an item before an auction. On the other hand they will answer emails when you've actually paid for everything, but may ingnore you otherwise. This place may need fair trading to investigate to be perfectly honest. I couldn't say for sure, but I have met dealers that warned me not to bother and to just use eBay lol.

It's been over a month since I paid for my auction item and over two weeks since I paid the outrageous shipping charges. I can't get anyone to give me an estimate when or how my item will be shipped. No one answers the provided phone numbers or responds to my emails. Easily the worst customer service experience I have ever had.

Post sales client service is absolutely worst I have had ever.

What a disgraceful organization. My experience with them has been nothing short of unpleasant. I gave a print for them to sell one year ago with a reserve of $8000, I watched the auction happen online and saw an offer of $7500 which was rejected as expected. The second time round they told me they are quite confident they will sell it but asked if the reserve can be lowered to $6000. Then the day before the auction I received an email asking if they can lower the reserve to $4500. I had to follow up with them to find out if the piece was sold which I was told it sold for $4000. When I asked the prints department why it was sold for below the reserve the second time and not the first I was told it sold at the discretion of the auctioneer. Something doesn't seem right. Smells like price fixing to me.

Bunch of semi literate dolts!
I have asked them to remove me from their email mailing list SEVEN times both by hitting the UNSUBSCRIBE button and emailing them yet they insist on sending their weekly DRIVEL. Without doubt the most ignorant of all the numerous auction houses that I have dealt with in the past thirty years!

Customer service is OK, however, whoever writes the condition reports for watch sales should be replaced immediately. The watch I thought I was purchasing for a client was nothing like the watch that arrived.The condition report stated that the watch was in good condition and good working order, however, the bezel was broken and the bracelet was badly damaged. Complained three times and finally getting a full refund, (my client isn’t pleased though). I expected a lot more from an alleged bona fide and reputable auction house, sadly I was very disappointed.

I SENT IN PHOTOGRAPHS OF AN ITEM TO GET A VALUATION
WAS PASSED FROM SO CALLED EXPERT TO A DIFFERENT SECTION. DID NOT HEAR ANY MORE OR GET A REPLY TO NUMEROUS LETTERS, VERY POOR SERVICE AND A WASTE OF MY TIME