Court asked to shut down T.W. Conroy: The Real Deal

Syracuse, New York (WSYR-TV) - The New York State Attorney General has asked the state Supreme Court to close an Elbridge auction company that's been at the center of a Your Stories investigation for more than a year.

They say T.W. Conroy ignored a court order to pay restitution and has continued to sell people's items without handing over the proceeds.

T.W. Conroy owner Tim Conroy owes customers more than $300,000; earlier this year, he signed a court order to start paying customers back, but since that day the AG's office has received 80 more complaints from customers who've sold their items and are still waiting for a check. 

Elnora Barrington is one such customer. She sold the contents of her family’s 40-year-old floral shop at an auction a year and a half ago. To this day, she's still waiting for the $10,000 she's owed from T.W. Conroy. Her calls go unreturned, and now she's worried with the business possibly being shut down, she won't be seeing a dime of the money. 

Enlisting T.W. Conroy’s help seemed like a fairly simple way for Wayne Kunkel to get rid of a few antiques. “We thought the quickest way to do that was to put it up for auction,” Kunkel says.

But he and his wife couldn't have been more wrong.

After T.W. Conroy sold his 19 items back in March of 2007, Kunkel still hasn't seen any proceeds. 

Tim Conroy had been making restitution payments until about two months ago.  If he ever wants to do business again, he has to come up with the $300,000 to pay back the customers he's already sold merchandise for, and then place another $500,000 into an insurance bond with the AG's office to ensure if something like this happens again, customers won't be the ones waiting for what's owed to them. 

Many of the 80 complaints that came after the last court order were from people who watched NewsChannel 9’s coverage of T.W. Conroy back in April; it was after airing those stories that many Conroy customers decided to file a formal complaint with the AG’s office.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office says it needs to get a wave of those formal complaints from customers in order for the AG to consider asking the state Supreme Court to shut down a business.

Tim Conroy has told us in the past he just got behind in paperwork.

If you think you may have been ripped off by a business, give the Your Stories staff a call any time at 446-9900, or email us at yourstories@9wsyr.com.

Syracuse, New York (WSYR-TV) – It appears even a court order from the Attorney General isn't enough to get a local auction company to play by the rules.

In April, after dozens of complaints, the AG's office demanded T.W. Conroy to live up to their contracts and pay customers within 30 days.

But that’s still not happening.

Back in June, Mario Arena put the contents of his life for the past twenty years up for auction when he and his wife decided to move to Rochester.  He hired T.W. Conroy.

The sale brought in nearly $43,000; his contract says he's to paid in full within 30 days.
 
44 days after his auction, Mario's still owed around $20,000.
 
“I'm heart broken…I can't believe that they've taken everything from me. I just can't believe it - and no response,” says Arena.

No response when the last $19,000 check from Conroy didn't clear at the bank. Nobody was around when we stopped at the showroom today to get an explanation, but Mario's story is very similar to several others who have waited and waited to get paid by T.W. Conroy.
 
The Attorney General's office sued the company in April for pretty much everything they're doing to Mario right now - failing to timely pay consumers for auctions, issuing checks with insufficient funds and failing to respond to consumer complaints.

The terms of the judgment clearly say T.W. Conroy must make payment to clients within 30 days. They have not done that in Mario's case.

“I'm going to take every legal avenue to try and collect my money,” says Arena.

The AG’s office tells us they have received additional complaints about the auction company and are actively reviewing them.  If the company is found to be in violation of the court-ordered judgment against them, they could face a number of additional penalties.

The owner, Tim Conroy, could even be held in contempt of court and arrested if he's found to be knowingly violating the terms.

Our calls and e-mails to T.W. Conroy also went unreturned Monday.

Syracuse, New York (WSYR-TV) - Since last fall, we have been helping customers of T.W. Conroy get The Real Deal on why the auction company had sold their items without giving them their money.  Now the company has reached a $160,000 settlement with the state.

The state Attorney General’s office has reached the settlement with T.W. Conroy and its affiliated e-Bay listing company My Sister the Lister, both located in Elbridge.

Viewers had contacted us beginning last fall saying their items had been sold, but owner Tim Conroy had never paid them after the auction, sometimes owing thousands of dollars.

We passed all the complaints we received on to the Attorney General’s office, and those along with other complaints led to an investigation.

The settlement requires T.W. Conroy and My Sister the Lister to reimburse approximately $160,000 to 22 customers.

Customers told us his contracts pretty much allowed him to take as much time as he wants to pay because they read, “auctioneer shall pay the owner the net amount due pursuant to this agreement within 30 business days from the day of the sale, if it's the last item the owner has consigned.”

In the future, the settlement says the companies must give customers detailed contracts and documentation including the final price obtained for their items.

Dozens of T.W. Conroy customers told us that they had not been able to get in touch with the company, because phone calls and e-mails have not been returned.

As part of the settlement, the businesses are required to respond faster to customer questions and pay all customers within 30 days of the sale of their items.  T.W. Conroy must also pay $15,000 in costs and penalties.

The company has 13 months to settle all past due accounts with its customers. If the company does not comply with the settlement, the state could impose even heavier fines that might put the auctioneer out of business.

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - They're owed thousands of dollars from a local auction company and have been waiting years for them to pay up.

We're talking about customers of T.W. Conroy in Elbridge.  For months we've been investigating the business and the owners have admitted they've stretched themselves far too thin.

Back in September, customers of T.W. Conroy started telling us how the business wasn't making good on their contracts.  We’ve gotten 40 complaints since, from people who say their items were sold but owner Tim Conroy never paid them.

Some of these have since been taken care of, only after we brought them to Conroy's attention, but others are still waiting for their money.  We have The Real Deal on what’s causing the hold up.

Morgan Cooper brought an antique chest to T.W. Conroy on November 2, 2005.  It was prominently featured in an advertisement for one of their auctions back in early 2006, but 2 years later, Morgan hasn't received a dime for it.

When he calls, he’s told “we can't send you a check until we collect some money from our auction.”

Morgan's patience is running thin.  So, we went to Conroy's Elbridge showroom to why their not holding up their end of the bargain.

The owners wouldn't go on camera, but would you believe Morgan finally got return phone with good news?

$2,500 now, the other $2,500 in few weeks.  It’s not exactly what Morgan wanted, but it's a start.

From the start Conroy has told us they moved buildings, lost paperwork, and fired employees so they got behind on a lot of their contracts.  They have made good on some of them but admit there are still some people like Morgan who are waiting to be paid.

We have passed on all of our complaints to the Attorney General's office and are waiting for them to investigate how this company is running their business as we have been doing for months.

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - The complaints about a local auction company just keep pouring into the Your Stories line, more clients of T.W. Conroy that claim they're owed thousands of dollars.

Now, owner Tim Conroy is admitting, he stretched himself and his business too thin.

Some customers are owed as much as $40,000 and after their stories aired over the past few evenings, Tim Conroy finally returned NewsChannel 9’s repeated phone calls for an explanation Wednesday.

He admits he needs to make good on several of his contracts and really has no good excuse for what's taking so long, but he claims in light of all of this, he's going to be changing the way he does business.

Dozens of T.W. Conroy customers have complaints that they have not been able to get in touch with the company, because phone calls and e-mails have not been returned.

Owner, Tim Conroy claims he's now ordered his employees to pick up the phones and return e-mails during businesses hours everyday.

Another big complaint:  his contract with customers pretty much allows him to take as much time as he wants to pay because it reads, "auctioneer shall pay the owner the net amount due pursuant to this agreement within 30 business days from the day of the sale, if it's the last item the owner has consigned."

Which means, if something doesn't go the day of the sale, he can technically take as much time as he wants to sell it elsewhere before cutting you a single check.

He claims he's now changing that, he will pay customers within 30 days of the sale regardless of what's left over.

The Attorney General's office tells us they've got a drawer full of complaints against T.W. Conroy as we do.  But like the viewers who've contacted us, Conroy has been making good on the outstanding contracts once the pressure is on.

On his website, Conroy brags about being the only nationally certified appraiser in Central New York, and we called the American Society of Appraisers and they say while he had to take an exam at first to get certified, he still has to uphold ethical standards to remain that way.

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - The list of complaints about a local auction house is growing.  People who hired T.W. Conroy say after months of waiting, the company still hasn't paid them after auctioning off their belongings.

We've taken several phone calls and e-mails, following a story we aired Monday night about Carolyn Berry who had T.W. Conroy auction off more than $40,000 worth of artwork and furniture back in June.

She was told all of her items sold, but still hadn't been paid, until we stepped in.  The owners post-dated her check, which is illegal, for Tuesday, but when she went to cash it Tuesday morning the funds weren't there.  The owners didn't get around to covering the check till mid-morning.

Other clients of T.W. Conroy have not been as lucky though.

A number of people who contacted us, some who've been waiting much longer than Carolyn for their money, say there contracts with the company are being ignored.

Marge Maynard says, “Either they're really, really dishonest or they have really big financial problems, take you're pick.”

Maynard is beyond frustrated with T.W. Conroy, she hired them more than a year ago to auction off about $1,000 worth of furniture.

She was told it all sold in January, yet she hasn't received a dime for any of it or a call back to explain what the hold-up is.

“I called all spring long, I was gone to Florida, I called when I came back and by June I was sick and tired of the whole thing.”

The owners are now blaming a move for dropping the ball with Marge, Carolyn, and several other customers.

Renee Conroy says she lost her bookkeeper and misplaced some paperwork while moving T.W. Conroy and their other business, My Sister the Lister, to Elbridge.

But like Carolyn, Marge isn't buying it until she's got the check in-hand and the bank telling her it's good.

Conroy tells NewsChannel 9 she has reached out to all of these folks, promising them checks at the end of this week.  She says they're still trying to get organized from their move.

We of course will keep you posted to make sure they make good on their agreements.

Manlius (WSYR-TV) – A Manlius woman has been paid close to $40,000 after a local internet-auctioning company kept it from her for close to 2 months.

Carolyn Berry has been waiting for her check from a local auction house for months now.

Back in June, Berry hired T.W. Conroy to auction off thousands of dollars worth of art work, furniture, and antiques.

“Thirty days went by and I had no check, I wrote him, I phoned him, I e-mailed him - no responses. We are now at 58 days,” Berry said.

The auctioneer apparently owes Berry nearly $40,000.

T.W. Conroy also owns “My Sister the Lister”, which is an E-Bay auction house in Elbridge. The same auction has house that has been featured on our Your Stories segment a number of times.

Its owners wouldn’t talk to us on camera, but told NewsChannel 9 Berry’s estate contract included a clause saying T.W. Conroy has 30 extra days to pay Berry after her last item was sold.  But Carolyn has an itemized list which she believes to be final - and if it wasn’t, no one returned her phone calls for e-mails to explain.

Less than an hour after we left T.W. Conroy last week, one of the owners showed up at Carolyn’s apartment and hand delivered a check for $38,000.

Berry plans on cashing it on Tuesday.

“I appreciate Channel 9’s help with this a lot,” she said.

We mentioned how T.W. Conroy’s owners also own “My Sister the Lister”. NewsChannel 9 has received calls from folks who dropped some items off there to be sold months ago. They followed the items on E-Bay so they knew their belongings had been sold, but they still hadn’t been paid.

Well, the owners of “My Sister the Lister” tell us they ran into some staffing issues a few months ago and some of their accounts got backed up.

After our repeated calls, all the clients waiting for money have gotten what they were owed.