CALGARY- A Calgary woman is out thousands of dollars, after an auction house suddenly closed its doors.
After Darlene Berube’s mother moved to a long-term care facility, it was up to Berube to have an estate sale to sell all the furniture and antiques left behind.
An auction was held at Year Round Auctions in southeast Calgary earlier this month, netting about $8,000. After commission, Berbube was expecting to pick up a $5,000 cheque—but it bounced.
“He sold everything, and then we went to go pick up our cheque on the Monday. He post-dated it for Wednesday the 15th and then told us not to cash it until the 15th,” she explains. “So then we did, and of course the cheque came back returned.”
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She adds that calls and e-mails to the owner were not returned.
It turns out the auction house suddenly closed in mid-January, and the landlord says Berube isn’t the only one still owed money.
“There are a lot of us who are dealing with our parents’ things, and our parents are in homes now, so we’re trying to have funds for them so they’re taken care of,” Berube says. “That’s the hardest part. This is for her care.”
Service Alberta says the auction house was licensed and has the minimum bond of $25,000.
“If somebody puts up an item for sale through an auction and there’s some issues later on and that person has a loss, they can claim against that security and recover or at least attempt to recover their money,” explains Mike Berezowsky from Service Alberta.
Police are not involved in the case, as they say it’s a civil matter.
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