Hess Fine Auctions

[topcat30093]

Can any of the forum members please tell me anything about the above Ebay seller?
They are currently selling a 2006 S/S Daytona white dial.
The current bid is standing at $9,909 with 14 hours remaining.
The item number is:230230110429
They seem to be giving out a lot of info as well as many pictures, your advice would be most welcome.
Sorry, but I don't know how to place the link from ebay onto the forum.
Moderators
If I have placed this into the wrong section I apologise and please move.
Many thanks

[stevemulholland3]

hess fine art has been in business for years.they are owned by jeff hess who wrote a couple of books about rolex.they are just about two miles from me and I do buisness there every week.they know their stuff and are very helpful and fine e-bay members.
they are one of the best sellers I have ever ran into.
hope that helps you.

[stevemulholland3]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...3D50%26fvi%3D1

[seantk]

Originally Posted by stevemulholland3

hess fine art has been in business for years.they are owned by jeff hess who wrote a couple of books about rolex.they are just about two miles from me and I do buisness there every week.they know their stuff and are very helpful and fine e-bay members.
they are one of the best sellers I have ever ran into.
hope that helps you.

X2 - I agree

Sean

[topcat30093]

Originally Posted by stevemulholland3

hess fine art has been in business for years.they are owned by jeff hess who wrote a couple of books about rolex.they are just about two miles from me and I do buisness there every week.they know their stuff and are very helpful and fine e-bay members.
they are one of the best sellers I have ever ran into.
hope that helps you.

Thanks Steven
PM sent

[tranny]

New member. Joined here to add my experience with Hess. In my experience, they seem to be the type of seller that, even if they get things right 99% of the time, that other 1% of the time, they refuse to admit fault, and completely neglect the customer.

I purchased an antique surveyor's transit from them on eBay. It was described as "spotted" and "requiring polish". What I received was a mess of pitted brass that will require 80+ hours of labor to properly restore.

See attached. It's obvious to anyone that no amount of polish will fix this.

Hess refused responsibility. Because I had already started polishing it (per their suggestion), they refused a refund through eBay buyer protection. If you're displeased with your purchase, they don't care about your satisfaction as a customer. They will taunt you and attempt to make you break eBay rules that you may not know about so that you will void your "protection".

Katrina Hess bragged to me that Hess sold $43 million of items on eBay. With a 99.5% feedback rating, the math implies they only made 1/200 of their customers hate them - do the math on how much money that means... Tricky seller with a piss-poor attitude and no customer service. Caveat emptor!

[lebowski321]

Originally Posted by transio

New member. Joined here to add my experience with Hess. I purchased an antique surveyor's transit from them on eBay. It was described as "spotted" and "requiring polish".

THIS is what I received - a pitted brass nightmare:

http://transio.net/transit/P1010011.JPG
http://transio.net/transit/P1010008.JPG

It's obvious to anyone that no amount of polish will fix this.

Because I had already started polishing it (per their suggestion), they refused a refund through eBay buyer protection. Note that due to the extent of the wear on this item, it requires more than a cream polish. It requires wet sanding to remove the pitting.

I asked them to refund a portion of the cost, explaining that their auction falsely detailed the condition of the item, and thus elevating its value.

They then proceeded to insult me and taunt me, and when I threatened negative feedback, used their clout with eBay to remove it, stating that I was trying to "extort" them.

EXTORT????

Look at what they sold me!! It requires 80+ hours of labor to properly restore, and even then, will not be worth what I paid for it, because it will no longer be in original condition.

Hess may be a good seller 99% of the time. But when they let something slip through the cracks, they refuse to acknowledge it and take responsibility for it.

I say CAVEAT EMPTOR - if you're buying from them, don't do it on eBay. They sell hundreds of items per week through eBay, and 1 of 200 of their customers is unhappy with their purchase (even more if you count negative feedback that they had removed, like mine!)

If you're displeased with your purchase, they don't care about your satisfaction as a customer. They will taunt you and attempt to make you break eBay rules that you may not know about so that you will void your "protection".

Katrina Hess bragged to me that Hess sold $43 million of items on eBay. With a 99.5% feedback rating, the math implies they only ripped people off for $215,000. Good for Hess!

Tricky seller with a piss-poor attitude and no customer service.

I've never felt so ripped off in my life. Look at what they sold me! The pictures don't lie!

ummm I'm no expert but that does not appear to be something that you can just hide in the pictures... Maybe link to the original listing with their pictures

[tranny]

Originally Posted by lebowski321

ummm I'm no expert but that does not appear to be something that you can just hide in the pictures... Maybe link to the original listing with their pictures

Fair enough... here's the original. JUST enough lack of detail that you can't see the pitting...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/390385352296...ht_3296wt_1270

And here are a couple of the photos from that auction (attached to this post so that they may remain here after eBay removes it from public view)...

Also, I will quote the "condition" portion of the listing:

Originally Posted by Hess Fine Auctions

Condition: Very good, some spotting on the brass, wood box top is broken away from the bottom, but still fits together on the bottom.

Looking at those photos, with the condition listed, and oversaturated with light to cover up the actual condition, one would believe that the item simply has superficial tarnishing. "Some spotting" and "very good" condition do not equate to the pitting in the item I received.

Judge for yourself.

Personally, I think these people are shady. I wouldn't buy ANYTHING from them. It's not the 99% of happy customers who judge how good a retailer is... it's how they deal with the 1% who they screw over (even if by accident, due to negligence, or by letting something slip through the cracks).

The way they dealt with me is unacceptable in a "fine goods" retailer.

I'm now in the process if dismantling the transit and wet-sanding it with 1000 grit sandpaper to restore it. It's coming along beautifully, but very, very slowly. I'll post photos here when done if you guys care to see.

[lebowski321]

I must say that there is quite a big difference between their photos and yours. I would be upset as well.

[tranny]

Oh, I was... even more upset by their reaction! Rather than working with me to come to a fair resolution, they refused to deal with me at all because I had begun polishing it already (per their listing's suggestion!!!!)

eBay, of course, sided with them... because eBay does not value customer service - it's not a retail-oriented community.

However, do you want to deal with retailers who have an eBay / Pan Shop mentality? I DON'T!!!!


FYI - Below is another image showing a piece I have begun restoring with 1000 grit wet sanding - still needs some polish, but looking good, right?! I have about 1.5 hours into that one piece. I'm happy to say I have about 1/2 of the scope depitted thus far (in about 8 hours of effort). At this rate, I'm going to spend 40+ hours to restore the entire piece, though.

Again, I would never deal with Hess again. Katrina Hess has the worst attitude I've ever seen from a retailer. I can't believe these people market themselves as a "high end" shop. Ridiculous!

[tranny]

Originally Posted by lebowski321

I must say that there is quite a big difference between their photos and yours. I would be upset as well.

Also, knowing the condition from the photos I posted, if you look closely, you can see the pitting in their photos... it's barely noticeable, and easily mistaken for "tarnish" given the condition they stated, but you can see the tricks they used to cover up the pitting by over-saturating the photo.

[scocope]

With that much metal removed will the transit even be saleable? What you are having to do to make it presentable is damaging the fine machine-work which I imagine is one of the selling points. What I would do is start with a coarser grit 360 or 500 and work your way up to the 1000, wet the paper down a few hours before you use it to make more pliable and use a 3M sanding sponge to wrap the paper around it. The sponge is available in different densities and helps to keep the paper in even contact with what you are sanding.

[tranny]

Hey, scocope - Fortunately, I'm not having to remove a lot of brass on the delicate parts. Those photos are extreme close-ups. The pitting is probably less than 1mm deep on the scope itself. Consider that in that photo, the scope is less than 1" in diameter. Also, the scope is very thick. The lens shield is much thinner, and it turned out fine.

Also, I'm finding that only the exposed pieces were pitted. So all of the brass that I'm removing is superficial, and doesn't affect the function of the piece at all. Before I got started, I looked at this thing in detail to determine that I could restore it properly.

I've had a go at some of the worse areas with 600 damp. I'm hesitant to go coarser than that, though. Brass is really soft, and I don't want to score it. 1000 is doing a good job in most places. I'm then doing a fine sand with 2000 grit, and will finish off with some cream polish.

I'm debating whether I want to clear it when done, but I'm not worried about that right now. I may just keep a nice polish on it. I'd hate for it to return to its current condition, though.

[toph]

yes there has been much discussion about it before. You are not the only one to feel this way

[springer]

Hessfineauctions from ebay have been discussed many times here on TRF. They are "hit and miss" and your misfortune is not unlike others that have had problems there, to include buyers that have left disparaging feedback for them on ebay. The typical response from Jeff Hess is that his wife runs the auction side of the business which you have unfortunately found out. Based on your experience, and that of others, I would avoid them in the future, particularly after reading ebay feedback from dissatisfied customers. Of course, to give them the benefit of doubt, they do have satisfied customers as well. But, when problems arise in a sale, it is not the problem that people will remember, but instead, one will remember how it was resolved.

[FNFZ4]

There are lots of Daytonas here for sale at that starting price. Search for DavidSW i know he has Two Daytona one black and one white. OCROLEXGUY also have one i think... go with the trusted sellers here in the forum.. you cant go wrong.

[springer]

Another Jeff Hess auction concerning an ebay listing.

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=284433

[tudorman8276]