The Lodge Auction House Ben Francis, Stephen Phillips (president) Auction house ignored instructions, wrapped poorly, refused to pay for broken goods then stole my mail refund buffalo New York

My record of our emails proves that I asked Lodge not to send the carving I bought by USPS but to get me UPS/FedEx estimates. On the phone Mr Francis promised he would.

While I was waiting for that call the package arrived on my doostep via USPS -- smashed. As Lodge's own photos show, they used a thin cardboard box, inadequate bubble wrap, a thin foam cover, no taping and no filling to keep the object from banging around within the undamaged box. The damage was clearly Lodge's fault.

Mr Francis immediately admitted he'd erred in sending it USPS, apologized and promised to "settle." I filed an insurance claim with USPS.

Mr Francis assured me his company had taken out adequate insurance and they would send me the reimbursement the day they received it. When USPS sent them only my $50 shipping fee, not the $174 cost of the carving, Lodge did not send it to me. They didn't respond to my next two queries.

When I complained to BBB Mr Francis claimed I asked them to send it USPS, declined insurance and they were not responsible for anything. He made these outrageous claims despite the email evidence I can provide. He said Lodge would send me the USPS $50 if i don't ask for more. That is, they're using my shipping refund to bribe me to bear the total cost of the loss. 

So here's where Lodge has let the matter stand. USPS has given up its shipping fee. Lodge did every single thing wrong -- ignoring my shipping instructions, inadequately packaging, failing on the promised insurance and reneging on the shipping refund -- yet they don't accept any responsibility. Indeed they've claimed the bonus of my $50 shipping refund. I -- who did nothing wrong except assume The Lodge Auction House was an honest, responsible company -- am out $224 with nothing to show for it. And an excellent Inuit carving has been destroyed. Lodge assumes that's the just solution; I don't.