Chicago area family accuses estate salesman of taking advantage of them in their hour of grief
PARK FOREST, Ill. (CBS) – When a family lost a loved one in the south suburbs, they turned to a local estate sales business for help.
But the family later accused the business owner of taking advantage of them in their hour of grieving, and then CBS 2 got involved.
The loss of a loved one can leave anyone feeling empty and missing the most mundane of conversations.
Couponing calls from Mary Lewis' brother, Andrew, stopped in December.
"He'd call me. He says, you know, such and such store has butter on sale this week," Lewis said.
"When first responders arrived, there was nothing they could do," said Ronald Lewis, Andrew's brother-in-law.
Andrew's death came as a shock. What was also unexpected was the long to-do list that followed, including making funeral arrangements while also calling creditors, returning TV equipment, and more.
"He had like doctors appointments that were coming up," said Lea Queen, Andrew's niece. "We had to let them know that he passed away. So it was very overwhelming."
Queen felt some relief after hiring Hughes Estates Sales to sell her uncle's furniture and belongings. The goal was to clear everything out so they could check off another task: selling Andrew's Park Forest home.
"The estate sale person comes in, they analyze everything that you have in your home and of course there's a value on it," Mary Lewis said.
Their contract with business owner Corey Hughes stated he gets a 40% cut of sales, but the Lewis family said he took off with all of the profit. The money was meant to pay for Andrew's memorial and other expenses.
"He stopped responding to our texts, and that made us very suspicious," Ron Lewis said.
Their intuition led to the discovery of a second business owned by Hughes called Trucare Estate Sales.
"Which led me to a Yelp page, and his reviews were not positive at all," Queen said.
One alert from the Better Business Bureau stated that Trucare Estate Sales failed to address disputes.
The customer who left a one-star review told CBS 2 that she expected $2,000 from Hughes after he conducted her family's estate sale in southwest suburban Romeoville. The woman alleged that Hughes strung her along for months and made up excuse after excuse for not paying her.
"That was very hard just to read," said Mary Lewis. "To realize that you have a person that's out there preying on people when they're at their lowest."
Queen added Hughes "is essentially stealing from a dead person." She said that's why she reached out to CBS 2 because "if I don't say anything, this is going to happen to someone else."
That desire to protect others is what brought CBS 2 to a house in Joliet.
Mary Beth Gannon invited CBS 2 to see how she runs her estate sales. One does not need a license for the job. The industry isn't regulated.
"Anybody can do this," Gannon said. "So you can get some good people and get some bad people, and that's true with anything."
So how does a grieving customer, with so much on their mind, sort out who to trust?
"I want them to know what I'm doing," Gannon said.
She has an open-door policy. Gannon suggested watching how the salesperson organizes and prepares their customers' valuables.
Reporter: "By having a price tag, your customer knows ahead of time how much you're planning to charge for this?"
Gannon: "Yeah."
She also encouraged families to be at the estate sale itself if the company allows it.
"If they're available, I always welcome them to be there with me," Gannon said.
Another must for the salesperson is to pay clients on the last day of a sale and provide documentation of what was purchased and for what amount.
"I might not write down that I sold four forks and three knives and two spoons," Gannon said. "I'll say 'silverware, $8.' But I'm still going to write it down."
Despite promises of itemized lists and signed contracts, some of Hughes' customers said they were left high and dry during their time of need.
But then, in the end, it appeared to be a case of someone scared by questions from a television reporter. After CBS 2 asked about the months-long delay in payment, Hughes sent Andrew's family $600. The other customer in Romeoville magically got her money, too.
CBS 2 gave Hughes several opportunities to explain his business practices in an interview, but he said his lawyer would get back. That never happened.
