Andreas Thies

[Ludwig]

It's not about 'standing up' for anyone, trying to voice positives and wishing the negatives would just go away or questioning honesty of those who happen to have a different opinion than yours.
It always puzzled me that the ones with positive experiences feel the need to question the experiences of those who are less than happy or even tend to downplay those because you know- 'he was always good to me'.
That's great Chief.
He wasn't good to me so just like you enjoy voicing your positive experiences let me voice mine- whether positive, negative or indifferent.
I am yet to see anyone who left with a bad taste in his/her mouth question anyone for being happy with the service or as in this case put a question mark over their credibility (as it has been done to Ludwig on this very thread) but for some reason the opposite seem to be the norm.
Just like Trevor's problem with Thies' service went away, someone voiced similar problem and few decided to answer.
Why that is a reason for wanting thread of this nature to go away I will never understand but trying to downplay someone else's problem because that might upset the dealer in question or because someone else was satisfied is wrong and serves no purpose IMO.
The fact that Thies' Auction offer some high caliber items and hence the man has to be somehow beyond reproach because of it is absurd.

cheers

Matt

P.S.
There is a reason why when one is asked which news he wants to hear first (good or bad), majority will pick bad. If there is any positive to follow it will always have a possibility of ending on high note. But some deem bad to be more important as it affects us more and I tend to agree.

Very well expressed!
(as an example to make everything even clearer: I have never had any unsolvable problems with the German dealers Weitze, Hüsken and Winkler, but I know that many collectors have, and that´s why I keep my mouth shut, instead of almost declaring them saints!)

[Alan]

Well it's been a over a month since my original post and I thought I would update again my present experiences as well as reply to a few points raised.

Well... The result lists of auctions are usually published within 1-2 days from auction. Everyone should be able to check it by themselves. I am sure he gets a lot of questions from unpatient collectors "did I get it?" which is pointless to ask since you can check it from "zuschlagelist". If you suspect there is two or more similar pre-bids, just WAIT for invoice. If you got it, you will get invoice if you have given proper address.

Well this exactly what I did, I read the published results and that's when I made my Inquiry whether I had won the lot or not.

When buying from other auction houses in the past a "you have won and an invoice will be sent shortly" courtesy email generally follows within the following week of auction closure which is great because as a foreign bidder in an expensive hobby with items based in Europe I am affected heavily by changing currency exchange rates and shipping costs.

Knowing that I have been successful with a lot promptly is important so that I can start getting the best deal I can when buying Euros.

Which brings me to

Mail from Germany to Australia takes a while. Probably no need to explain that. What makes me wonder, why are you trying to ask him about the shipping costs to Germany if you live in Australia??? If you wanted the shipping to Germany, that should've been of course told already when leaving bid. If your invoice address is in Australia, of course the delivery address is being supposed to be there too if you dont give other information.

With most things, opportunities can arise and in this case after the auction had closed I purchased another item from a dealer in Germany who kindly agreed to receive my auction lot allowing me to save on international shipping costs.

I really wish this thread hadn't been resurrected to complain about Mr. Thies because I have no quarrel with him; I was just perplexed.

Trevor, just to clarify, the reason I posted on this thread was not to complain about Andreas but to point out that in the 3 years since your issue with lack of replies to email his email communication has not improved any.

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

And as you wrote in your original post this is the exact issue I am having now and I think it's worth mentioning for anyone else who may do a search about Andreas in the future that his communication with customers through email is simply very poor.

[Alan]

As far as my particular issue the facts are

Since receiving the only reply to any of my emails sent by me so far

on the 15th April

"you won it, the invoice has been sent

Best Regards

A.Thies"

15th April - Inquiry about shipping within Germany

22nd April - Request to have item shipped within Germany request for shipping cost (shipping address supplied).

28th April - Asking for shipping cost to German address as I would like to settle my account (shipping address supplied).

30th April - Let Andreas know I received invoice in the mail once again requested to have item shipped within Germany request for shipping cost (shipping address supplied).

05th May - I have made payment (added 10Euro for shipping withing Germany)
Please confirm shipping date (shipping address supplied)

15th May - May I have confirmation that you received payment and whether lot has be shipped to German address as asked.

I have also have been in contact with the dealer whom I was having the lot
sent to and ask if they would mind trying to phone Andreas on my behalf which they have very kindly done (many thanks Skip) with no success.

From my point of view all I wanted was for Andreas to let me know the updated shipping cost so that I could pay my account.
After no joy there I paid the account adding a more than fair amount for shipping hoping for at least an email acknowledging that the payment had been received and perhaps even shipped but once again no luck there.

To Summarise

I have paid for the auction lot but do not know if the funds have been received.
So if there is a problem I don't know.

I have no idea when the item will be shipped or if it has been already to the address I have requested.

I am pretty sure anyone who has sent hundreds of Euros overseas would be quite keen on answers to these basic aspects of any purchase.

6 Emails from the 15 April to the 15th May, No replies.

This has been my experience with Andreas Thies to date.

[Ludwig]

Would anyone accept this behaviour, if you went into a shop, asked some questions, and the shop owner just ignored you?
I don´t know what´s worse; to ignore people IRL or online...
Of course it´s easier to ignore online, when you don´t have to face your customer.

[VonPeter]

Long list...

That is just horrible!
I would have cancelled the purchase...

/peter

[Montgomery Burns]

As far as my particular issue the facts are

Since receiving the only reply to any of my emails sent by me so far

on the 15th April

"you won it, the invoice has been sent

Best Regards

A.Thies"

15th April - Inquiry about shipping within Germany

22nd April - Request to have item shipped within Germany request for shipping cost (shipping address supplied).

28th April - Asking for shipping cost to German address as I would like to settle my account (shipping address supplied).

30th April - Let Andreas know I received invoice in the mail once again requested to have item shipped within Germany request for shipping cost (shipping address supplied).

05th May - I have made payment (added 10Euro for shipping withing Germany)
Please confirm shipping date (shipping address supplied)

15th May - May I have confirmation that you received payment and whether lot has be shipped to German address as asked.

I have also have been in contact with the dealer whom I was having the lot
sent to and ask if they would mind trying to phone Andreas on my behalf which they have very kindly done (many thanks Skip) with no success.

From my point of view all I wanted was for Andreas to let me know the updated shipping cost so that I could pay my account.
After no joy there I paid the account adding a more than fair amount for shipping hoping for at least an email acknowledging that the payment had been received and perhaps even shipped but once again no luck there.

To Summarise

I have paid for the auction lot but do not know if the funds have been received.
So if there is a problem I don't know.

I have no idea when the item will be shipped or if it has been already to the address I have requested.

I am pretty sure anyone who has sent hundreds of Euros overseas would be quite keen on answers to these basic aspects of any purchase.

6 Emails from the 15 April to the 15th May, No replies.

This has been my experience with Andreas Thies to date.

do I read correctly ? ,,you pay'd 05 of mai without having confirmation nor contact from with selling party ,,


regards kay

[Alan]

do I read correctly ? ,,you pay'd 05 of mai without having confirmation nor contact from with selling party ,,


regards kay

Hello Kay,

Not quite,

= I received an email on the 15th April confirming that I was the winner of the lot and that the invoice had been sent.

= I received the invoice by surface mail around the 28th of April.

Andreas has a good reputation from what I have read and runs a well established auction house.

Its just his his communication that needs work.

If anyone is in contact with Andreas and could help me out please drop me a pm

[Montgomery Burns]

what a mess





regards kay

[Alan]

I think its only fair to update everyone on how everything has finally turned out.

I received a letter from FedEx on the 20th May letting me know that my package was being held by Australian Customs.

I immediately sent an email to Andreas with the details.

To his credit Andreas replied the same day to me.

"sorry for sending this to Australia instead of using the German adress given. We used a value of € and will provide Fedex with the necessary information. Hopefully this will work.

Best Regards

Andreas Thies"

And he also responded to FedEX in a timely manner allowing me to pick up my item from the FedEx office here in Adelaide today May 23rd.

So in the end when there was a problem, Andreas did what was needed to sort things out.

In conclusion my experience with Andres worked out ok. The lack of communication being the only issue.

I received my item and when there was a problem Andreas stepped in and sorted it out.

But getting my item was never the issue for me in this case. I had complete confidence that that would happen

What I had an issue with was the distinct lack of any response to my emails letting me know firstly an answer to my inquiry and if my payment had been received and whether my item had been shipped to the address supplied.

[avensis2000]

Glad to hear everything is fine.

"Per Aspera Ad Astra"

[Elmar Lang]

It's true that keeping in touch with clients, should be one of the most important things for a firm.

Good to hear that -at the end- everything ended fine.

E.L.