Clothing Closet Angie Madden Clothing Closet, Priest River, Idaho is a SCAM Priest River, Idaho

I was referred to the Clothing Closet in Priest River, Idaho to take some clothing in for consignment.  I brought in 32-33 items and didn't think I would need to inventory them thinking that the consignment store would have their own way to do this.  I was wrong.  I brought my clothes in in the month of June.  An employee of the store was there and briefly explained what the terms would be.  The employee had me sign a contract, of which I never received a copy.  I was then told that my clothing would be put out in about 2 weeks and given an account number.  95% of the clothing I brought in was of a very high standard and I thought would bring the store and myself some decent money.  Included in my clothing was a $250 leather concho jacket.  While I realize this is a consignment store, I knew that this would sell very quickly along with some of my other expensive designer shirts.  I was not expecting to get rich, but knew my stuff would sell and I could make a few bucks.

After about 3-4 weeks I stopped in the store and the same employee had told me that most of my stuff had sold but that I did not have any credit tallied on my account.  I was told that this is because the owner, Angie Madden, only did her crediting to accounts every 2 weeks.  I was ok with this and decided to wait a few more weeks.  I brought my Sister in a couple of weeks later to show her the store and to do some shopping.  At this time the owner, Angie Madden, was in the store.  I asked her what I had on my account and she told me I had about $4.00.  I was confused as the employee had said that most of my stuff had sold and I couldn't find any of my clothes or my leather jacket anywhere.  I was told by Angie that she only updated her accounts every 2 weeks.  However, she told me the last time she updated her accounts was over the 2 week period.  I was still confused and decided to simply give her some more time.  After another month, I called and was told that I had $50 on my account. 

After a few weeks I decided to go in and get my check and see how things were going.  Ms. Madden then explained that after 60 days, she donates your clothing.  I asked her the date that I brought mys clothes in and found that it was after 60 days and she said that my stuff had been donated.  However, I noticed one of my shirts hanging on a rack. 

At this point, I was starting to feel like something wasn't right and told the owner that I simply would gather up was left and decided I would donate my clothes myself.  I was advised that I would have to go through the entire store and find my clothes, of which I did, and only found 4 items.  These 4 items were probably the worst that I had brought in.  I asked the owner if I could have a breakdown of what sold and she told me NO.  I asked her if I could have a copy of the contract I signed to see exactly how many items I brought in and she said NO.  I was very polite but could tell that she was getting agitated.  There were customers in the store and I could tell that Ms. Madden was not used to being questioned and was very defensive.  I simply wanted to make sense of how things worked and where were my clothes.  Ms. Madden then got on the phone and told me was calling the police and getting a NO TRESSPASS against me.  At this point I'm in shock and didn't understand her defensiveness.  I left the store and told her that she was very unprofessional and taking peoples money and clothing.

I've had some time to think about this and I think Ms. Madden takes what she wants from peoples clothing for her or her employees own personal benefit.  I also think that she doesn't keep books and therefore doesn't have to verify what she pays a person or what she does with their clothes or money.  I also think that she will update her accounts when she is good and ready and based on this can collect the money for items sold, sit on any interest, and then pay her accounts when she feels like it.

I would strongly recommend that you do not take any clothing of value to this store and do not shop at this store because you are probably buying someone else's clothing that hasn't been paid from the sale.  Ms. Madden has definitely got a SCAM going and takes advantage of people who may need the money from the sale of their clothing.