Call Kurtis: Consignment Conflict, Again

Consignment shops can be a great way to sell your things but let others do the work. They take a percentage of the sale price and you get the rest, at least you're supposed to.

"This is where the furniture was," says Ida Ogden while showing us her new living room set.

She'd changed her decor and decided she'd sell the old stuff on consignment, a leather couch and two oak end tables that matched her dining room set. She'd done business with Pruitt's Once and Again in Elk Grove before, and had good luck.

"But this time it's different."

She had the owner, Gary Pruitt, pick up the furniture last April. When a friend of hers stopped by the store in August, she noticed that Ida's pieces were gone; it appeared Gary sold them.

But by October Ida still didn't have a check for her share, 60% of the agreed-to price. She says she called Pruitt many times but never talked to him or got return calls.

So in November she paid the store a visit.

"I said I'm just here to pick up my check. And he looked at me and says have you seen the roads? I don't have your money."

She says he claimed road work kept patrons away from his store.

"But I said I got here. And he just sat there with a very smug look on his face and he says bad times I don't have your money."

That lack of business meant that he didn't have the money to pay her.

"I said you had my money when you sold my furniture. What did you do with it then?"

She said he said he could get her the money in one to four months. So she waited then made more calls. But her patience ran out in January; she thought she'd given him enough opportunity to pay her the $570 he owed her.

"This is fraud. Not only are you taking the furniture, but you're getting the cash."

Our producer paid a visit to Pruitt's Once and Again. Before Gary Pruitt tired of our questions he admitted to us off camera he used Ida's money to pay his rent. He refused to show us proof of the sale price but did call Ida while we waited; it was their first communication in two months.

Then in a bizarre move Gary and his brother set off the alarms to their trucks outside. It was on that day Ida decided to take him to court.

But Pruitt beat her to the punch, suing her for storage fees for the time her furniture sat in his store before it sold. So, last Wednesday, in a Sacramento small claims courtroom, it was suit-countersuit.

But ultimately it came down to this.

Judge: "Did you ever pay her the $562?"
Pruitt:    "No sir I didn't."
Judge: "So, the court is ordering that you pay her $566, and the court is ordering that she pay you nothing."

Outside the court, a Call Kurtis producer questions Pruitt:
Producer: "So do you have any intention of paying her this time?"
Pruitt: "Oh, yeah. She'll be paid."

Ida, who was standing nearby has her own thoughts on that.

"He'll say that, but he won't do it. I've heard it too many times… If business owners would do the responsible things this (small claims court) would've never happened. I am not the only one he's done this to."

The Better Business Bureau give's Pruitt's Once and Again an "F" rating for the five complaints he hasn't responded to.

So if you've got problems with Gary Pruitt, take his own advice.

"...always go before the judge."

Pruitt made claims against Ida in court but couldn't provide any evidence, so he lost. Be sure to insist on a detailed contract, document everything, and in Pruitt's case, look them up on the BBB's site; he had an "F" rating, it's the worst.