Misrepresented Bat! Any recourse with auction house.

[Bondsgloves]

I bid on a game used barry bonds bat in the last Vintage Authentic Auction.. Below is the description.

Description:

Blonde Louisville Slugger H238 Barry Bonds block letter professional model game bat from his playing days with the SF Giants. The bat shows outstanding game use with ball & stitch marks, bat rack marks, heavy pine tar and "25 B.B." on the knob. Barry has signed the bat with the newer, more legible signature in black sharpie on the barrel under the supervision of MLB. The bat has an MLB hologram, Bonds hologram as well as an LOA signed by Bonds. Tremendous Barry Bonds bat with great use. There aren't many of these gamers that Barry has signed with his full signature.

I recieved the bat today and the bat has a repaired cracked handle. I bid on the bat and paid top dollar on the fact that it was uncracked. No where in the auction did it mention the bat was cracked and repaired. The second thing was there was a PSA letter that came with the bat stating it was a BP bat and that the handle was altered the P was changed to a B, therefore it was a BP bat, not a game used bat. The auction house conveinetly left out that the bat was cracked and it was a BP bat.
http://akamai.edeal.com/images/catalog2660/folder102058/img8374131.jpghttp://akamai.edeal.com/images/catalog2660/folder102058/img8374130.jpgHow would you recommend that I approach this? any recourse with the auction house as the bat was misrepresented? Has anyone else experienced anything similar and how was it resolved?

I would appreciate any input

[suicide_squeeze]

I don't know........If that was what I ended up with, I'd call them.


And tell them to send me a full refund or they'll end up with a Barry Bonds repaired-handle cracked bat up their ass sideways.



But that's just me.

[ndevlin]

If anything, the first "B" looks like it has been messed with, not the second "B".

[joelsabi]

I bid on a game used barry bonds bat in the last Vintage Authentic Auction.. Below is the description.

Description:

Blonde Louisville Slugger H238 Barry Bonds block letter professional model game bat from his playing days with the SF Giants. The bat shows outstanding game use with ball & stitch marks, bat rack marks, heavy pine tar and "25 B.B." on the knob. Barry has signed the bat with the newer, more legible signature in black sharpie on the barrel under the supervision of MLB. The bat has an MLB hologram, Bonds hologram as well as an LOA signed by Bonds. Tremendous Barry Bonds bat with great use. There aren't many of these gamers that Barry has signed with his full signature.

I recieved the bat today and the bat has a repaired cracked handle. I bid on the bat and paid top dollar on the fact that it was uncracked. No where in the auction did it mention the bat was cracked and repaired. The second thing was there was a PSA letter that came with the bat stating it was a BP bat and that the handle was altered the P was changed to a B, therefore it was a BP bat, not a game used bat. The auction house conveinetly left out that the bat was cracked and it was a BP bat.
http://akamai.edeal.com/images/catalog2660/folder102058/img8374131.jpghttp://akamai.edeal.com/images/catalog2660/folder102058/img8374130.jpgHow would you recommend that I approach this? any recourse with the auction house as the bat was misrepresented? Has anyone else experienced anything similar and how was it resolved?

I would appreciate any input


i would email or phone one of their representatative and tell them how the item was misrepresented and ask for a refund. the rep are supposedly easy to work with. awhile back the guy who bought a arod glove alledgely received a refund after telling him it was promotional glove.

[33bird]

I was outbid on that bat by you. I'm glad I lost it now. That bat was totally misrepresented by Vintage. Wow!

[dcgreg25]

I know that Vintage takes credit cards. If you paid by credit card, the first thing I would do is call my credit card company and dispute the chage. If paypal, file a dipute.

It often helps to have the extra leverage with the auction house if you have this option. Good luck!!

[earlywynnfan]

Vintage is usually easy to deal with. Before doing anything drastic or jerky, call them. I'm actually a little surprised you haven't called them already; I would make that move before I'd jump on the forum and post.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

[nickacs]

I will say to definitely email/call Vintage ASAP.

This year I bought two '92 Olympic Dream Team "game worn" jerseys (road Barkley from their March auction and white Bird from their August auction) and come to find out after the August auction from a fellow GUU member that both of the jerseys were indeed fakes.

I always do my research before bidding on auction items (style/photomatch) and both jerseys stylematched 100% on the outside. It's impossible to photomatch these jerseys. So, going on the 100% stylematch, I thought I was good, only to learn that the "kicker" is you have to look at the inside '+ Body Length' and '100% polyester' tags inside to notice they are incorrect style and fonts. I compared the Barkey & Bird auction jerseys to my real road Michael Jordan '92 Olympic game worn and sure enough the auction jerseys were incorrect.

What's funny is right after this, Grey Flannel had two '92 Dream Jerseys in their Sept BHoF auction and quickly pulled both of them based on the findings too. So, beware of these jerseys!! Ask to see the inside tags!!

To make a long story short, I contacted Mark Redmond from VA and after I sent the jerseys back, they agreed to send me a full refund with no questions asked after I emailed them all my findings and other GUU members findings.

Mark was a pleasure to deal with and even though both jerseys were from previous auctions, they did not question. BIG thanks to Mark/VA for being one of the few auction houses that man up and do what they are supposed to do in this situation. Many auction houses say too bad, all sales final and your stuck with $$$'s of crap.

I'm not familiar with bats at all, but if indeed it is not what was represented, contact them and see what happens. Good luck!

[Bondsgloves]

Thanks everyone,

I contacted Vintage authentics (Mark)by email and they will let me return the bat. I just wanted some advice, I wasn't sure if I was out of luck or if anyone else had a problem in the past.

Thank again,
Dan

[Vintagedeputy]

I bid on a game used barry bonds bat in the last Vintage Authentic Auction.. Below is the description.

Description:

Blonde Louisville Slugger H238 Barry Bonds block letter professional model game bat from his playing days with the SF Giants. The bat shows outstanding game use with ball & stitch marks, bat rack marks, heavy pine tar and "25 B.B." on the knob. Barry has signed the bat with the newer, more legible signature in black sharpie on the barrel under the supervision of MLB. The bat has an MLB hologram, Bonds hologram as well as an LOA signed by Bonds. Tremendous Barry Bonds bat with great use. There aren't many of these gamers that Barry has signed with his full signature.

I recieved the bat today and the bat has a repaired cracked handle. I bid on the bat and paid top dollar on the fact that it was uncracked. No where in the auction did it mention the bat was cracked and repaired. The second thing was there was a PSA letter that came with the bat stating it was a BP bat and that the handle was altered the P was changed to a B, therefore it was a BP bat, not a game used bat. The auction house conveinetly left out that the bat was cracked and it was a BP bat.
How would you recommend that I approach this? any recourse with the auction house as the bat was misrepresented? Has anyone else experienced anything similar and how was it resolved?

I would appreciate any input

But it also did not say that it was uncracked, right? Or did it?

[Lokee]

http://www.vintageauthentics.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=109310054&prmenbr=57735959&aunbr=109656764

here is a link to the auction.

[Vintagedeputy]

I understand the frustration, but to me any bat described as "outstanding game use", well I'd assume that to be cracked unless otherwise noted.

[kingjammy24]

the bat came with a PSA letter, yet there is no PSA letter mentioned in the listing. under "Authentication" it lists the Bonds letter and the MLB hologram both of which were for the autograph, not the bat.

the ad doesn't state the year(s) that the bat is from or the length or the weight, which is very odd. who lists an $1100 bat without any of that info?

i'm guessing if they'd have mentioned the PSA letter then folks would've asked to see it and would become aware that the bat wasn't nearly as valuable as initially thought.

rudy.

[suicide_squeeze]

I understand the frustration, but to me any bat described as "outstanding game use", well I'd assume that to be cracked unless otherwise noted.


Vintage,

Are you serious?

I read this post of yours, and your last one, and I have to say I completely and thoroughly disagree with your viewpoint.

If a bat has been cracked, that absolutely should be disclosed. If it has been cracked and repaired, that even MORE SO should be disclosed, as what you will be receiving will be an altered bat from it's original state. That's not to say that the bat is worth less, or more, ar anything......but it IS different than what would be considered a normal state, tons of game use or not.

If you don't think that should be the case, then you have a serious case of ebayitis.

[WadeInBmore]

My .02 ...and I hope that I am not stepping on any toes.

With the cracked vs. uncracked scenario I just wanted to say that I feel that a crack would need to be disclosed. It is an alteration of its original state. I guess it seems that unless the seller has advertised a bat as CRACKED I assume (yeah I know Ass out of u and me) that it is uncracked. Ofttimes I feel that when a seller deliberately makes point of the UNCRACKED status of the instrament it is a testament of amazement or an unlikely characteristic of said players bat (ie an uncracked Prince Fielder bat!!!).

Perhaps this discussion amongst ourselves helps us all reveal our own collecting flaws, and goes to show how opinions and expectations vary in such a hobby.

wade

[WadeInBmore]

I forgot to mention that some auction houses try to pull a fast one (it would seem) on unsuspecting or less studious collectors by posting full bat pictures that hide the crack or the complete break of a bat. Sometimes the description says one thing while the pics say something totally different, and the passionate collector at times can get too excited over the pic and not read the description.

Should Auction Houses show these cracks/breaks in the pics? What does it say if they don't?

Again, not trying to step on any toes...just thinking out loud, sounding off.

wade