Andreas Thies

[streptile]

I need some advice from my fellow collectors.

I bought an item from Andreas Thies' online auction over six weeks ago. I authorized credit card payment the same day I received his invoice. He has charged my card for the full amount, including €50 (about $75) for FedEx.

I have received nothing.

I have sent multiple emails, almost begging for a reply. He has never replied to one single email of mine regarding this transaction.

Is he still in business? Has anyone had any contact with him recently?

I would be grateful for any advice.

[Roglebk]

Hang in there Trev, six weeks is insane. Never dealt with Thies myself but is he not supposed to be one of the very top ones?

Have a similar problem with the guy that runs Rarusnet.

Lousy in returning emails and last tuesday he promised to send my money back, today i opened a case on Paypal to try to speed him up.

Why do not the dealers realize that without us collectors they are nothing and that BAD WORDS SPREADS LIKE WILDFIRE.

[Von Eisen]

He must still be in business, I got an email from him on Friday.

[römischIX]

i never bought anything from him.

some of my collector`s friends say, that his service is very lousy !

[J. Wraith]

I need some advice from my fellow collectors.

I bought an item from Andreas Thies' online auction over six weeks ago. I authorized credit card payment the same day I received his invoice. He has charged my card for the full amount, including €50 (about $75) for FedEx.

I have received nothing.

I have sent multiple emails, almost begging for a reply. He has never replied to one single email of mine regarding this transaction.

Is he still in business? Has anyone had any contact with him recently?

I would be grateful for any advice.

I am sure its just a misunderstanding, however? if you have issue and have not been contacted withing 48 hours of this post feel free to let me know.

J

[HERMSDORF]

It´s unbelievable that One of the most expensive Dealer is not able to do a good Service Job

[schlomo]

Hi Everybody,

I think Thies is a little overworked once in a while since unlike other companies he is running his busuness basically as a one man show.
Maybe he just did not get your e-mail.
I know he prepares a huge auction with fantastic material at the moment and has about 1300 pictures on his website already.
The quality of his material is among the best in the auction business and he is the only one who gives a 100% guarantee on authenticity.

[Roglebk]

Hi Everybody,

I think Thies is a little overworked once in a while since unlike other companies he is running his busuness basically as a one man show.
Maybe he just did not get your e-mail.
I know he prepares a huge auction with fantastic material at the moment and has about 1300 pictures on his website already.
The quality of his material is among the best in the auction business and he is the only one who gives a 100% guarantee on authenticity.

Trev already paid and he did not send anything for 6 weeks, not even the shipping id.

If you send an email to someone and he do not recieve it you will get a answer back from your email provider saying that there was a problem with delivering the email.

"100% guarantee of authenticity" means nothing and he is certainly not the only one that gives it.

[streptile]

Thank you all for your replies. This morning I received an email and a tracking number for my FedEx shipment. Also, as a nice gesture, he included something "extra" in the package. I don't know if anyone here reading this thread contacted him on my behalf, but if so, I thank you very much.

I just want to say that I met Mr. Thies before, and he is a very nice, friendly fellow. I began this thread out of genuine frustration or concern that something had gone wrong with my package, not out of any personal animus.

Yes, his auctions are terrific. I did not realize he was essentially a one-man-show. I think the problem is this: both items I have had issues with have been from his "online auction." When I have won from his "saalauction" (the big one), I have had superior service and communications. In fact, the last item I got from the "saalauction" arrived two days after the auction was over. But I think someone else runs his "online auctions," and this person is overworked, or not up to the job. This is my understanding anyway.

Maybe he just did not get your e-mail.

It's possible for one or even two emails to be lost in the shuffle. But I have written four emails over six weeks (I'm not one to pester with an email a day). The problem for me is, it takes 20 seconds to write an reply. I would have even been happy with a short note: "I am very busy, thank you for your patience. I am working to get your parcel in the mail as soon as possible." But no communication makes me feel like I am being cheated, or that something is wrong.

I thank all of you for your help and advice; it seems, one way or another, this thread may have helped resolve the issue, and that, as far as I am concerned, is that.

[J. Wraith]

Thank you all for your replies. This morning I received an email and a tracking number for my FedEx shipment. Also, as a nice gesture, he included something "extra" in the package. I don't know if anyone here reading this thread contacted him on my behalf, but if so, I thank you very much.

I just want to say that I met Mr. Thies before, and he is a very nice, friendly fellow. I began this thread out of genuine frustration or concern that something had gone wrong with my package, not out of any personal animus.

Yes, his auctions are terrific. I did not realize he was essentially a one-man-show. I think the problem is this: both items I have had issues with have been from his "online auction." When I have won from his "saalauction" (the big one), I have had superior service and communications. In fact, the last item I got from the "saalauction" arrived two days after the auction was over. But I think someone else runs his "online auctions," and this person is overworked, or not up to the job. This is my understanding anyway.



It's possible for one or even two emails to be lost in the shuffle. But I have written four emails over six weeks (I'm not one to pester with an email a day). The problem for me is, it takes 20 seconds to write an reply. I would have even been happy with a short note: "I am very busy, thank you for your patience. I am working to get your parcel in the mail as soon as possible." But no communication makes me feel like I am being cheated, or that something is wrong.

I thank all of you for your help and advice; it seems, one way or another, this thread may have helped resolve the issue, and that, as far as I am concerned, is that.

His catalogs are beautiful and he does get some stunning pieces. Like any other auction when a person(s) are banging out hundreds of lots it can be difficult to get fast communications and sometimes things get lost if you will, and occasional ooops is not out of the question.

J

[Alan]

Well it seems nothing has changed in 3 years, responses to emails have not improved.

It took me 2 emails over 5 days after the end of the auction to get a confirmation that I had won the item bid on.

"you won it, the invoice has been sent

Best Regards

A.Thies"

My question is does Andreas email his invoices or does he mail them out ?

I haven't seen an invoice yet and it's the 25th April, Auction closed on the 9th April.

I have also emailed 2 times about shipping my item to an address in Germany and the cost with no reply.

As Trevor said

(I'm not one to pester with an email a day).

And I fell the same way, but like all buyers I would just like to be able to get things sorted in a timely manner.

[JasonA]

I've only bought one item from Andreas in my collecting career. My experience was that his communication was very poor and inconsistent. It's been a while, but if I remember correctly, he didn't charge my credit card for two weeks after the auction closed. Then I didn't receive the item until a month after that. So all told, it was about six weeks after the auction that I finally received my item.

I've been told consistently that he's a very nice guy in person. But his business communication is not good. There may be a few reasons for that. In the end, if you choose to bid in his auctions you're better off expecting a delayed receipt date, and you'll have to follow up with him numerous times in the interim.

If you're not expecting top notch customer service, then you're less likely to get disappointed.

J-

[römischIX]

Hi !

Not only foreign bidders have the problems with his service.

I had it one time too. The other time is was OK. In Germany we say: Der Kunde ist König.
The customer is king.

I think he makes a lot of money with his high value pieces, so it seems that these bidders are coming first.

There are a lot of other places, you can get good things. You need time and
a lucky hand - and some friends, who are going to fleamarkets or make
house cleaning. If you have some collectors friends, too - all is nearly perfect.
I prefer little sellers - they are better for negoitating with prices. Of course
in germany it `s easier to get such things, as in overseas. Many of the younger
generation don`t like military things of WW1 and WW2. That`s good for us
collectors.


In my years of collecting, i could get some very nice pieces - and i got some of them for a very good price...
and i am buying my things worldwide. Till today i had the luck, that never one package was missed!

[avensis2000]

I have bought few times from his auctions, also the latest one + earlier Klingbeil book series and older catalogues few times. Never had problems. Items have always arrived within 2 weeks from auction.

[Wild Card]

For the record -

The items which I successfully bid upon in the auction on 9 April arrived on Monday, the 28th.