Woolleyandwallis Reviews 4

After I complained about an item I received, the company treated me like a liability rather than a customer. The next time I tried to register for an auction, my access was restricted without explanation—I was only allowed to bid on select items, and only after requesting condition reports directly through them. If you no longer want someone as a client, be upfront and block the account instead of making them feel at fault for your own past mistakes.

To make matters worse, there is no clear way to delete an account from their website. I have asked twice for my account to be removed and received no resolution. Overall, this feels like a punitive, outdated approach to customer service. Avoid unless you’re comfortable being treated as a problem rather than a paying client.

I bid on a lot of ethnographic textiles in an auction of Woolley + Wallis in late Sept 2025 and just received my items in early Oct 2025 (via a 3rd party shipper).
Staff members Demi, Will, etc were all truly friendly and helpful on email and on telephone. The items are exactly as I hoped for, and the whole transaction ran smoothly.
Big thanks, 100% trustworthy Woolley + Wallis, in my experience!

The fact that on the day of the auction i get an email saying i need to send in proof of address and a form of id is laughable why wait 20 minutes before the auction starts also even sothebys havent asked me to provide those details so who or what woolworths auctions thinks they are is beyond me anyway awful experience good luck to anybody dealing with these guys

I believe Woolley & Wallis to be dishonest (telling customers falsehoods), incompetent (staff do not register bids / do what they are meant to), nasty (when caught out) and even criminally fraudulent (tampering with sale / hammer prices). I make this report in the public's best interests (especially of other buyers and sellers / vendors alike) and to try and get my property from this auction house.

I have bid at Woolley & Wallis many times before. In their 30th May 2024 auction / sale, I decided to leave absentee commission bids using my registered account with them on their own web site. I did this because I wanted to scale down my auction purchases, so I would / could leave lower than normal bids and not be tempted to bid higher live. I placed 6 absentee bids, increasing my maximum on one lot, lot 314, described thus;

Lot 314. A British 1846 pattern Royal Naval officer's presentation sword, straight fullered blade with conventional etched decoration and an engraved dedication: "Presented to Mr H. Ham, by the Carpenter's staff of H.M.S. Donegal ON HIS PROMOTION TO WARRANT RANK April 1904", regulation gilt-brass hilt, sword knot, gilt-brass mounted black leather scabbard; hilt and scabbard fittings re-gilded, sword knot a replacement. The property of a lady of title. H.M.S. Donegal was a Monmouth class armoured cruiser completed in 1903.

I have an email from Woolley & Wallis confirming my maximum bid of £260 which, by the way, IMHO is well below the normal auction value (which I believe to be at least £360 for a RN presentation sword in very good condition); a sad testament to realizing good prices as a vendor at Woolley & Wallis .

I actually watched the auction live on Woolley & Wallis' own live bidding console. When lot 314 came up, I thought I had the bargain of the say when the auctioneer was about to put the hammer down at £220 to an absentee bidder, but he tempted a bidder in the auction room to bid £240. OK, so I was going to get it for £260. But no, the auctioneer awarded it to the £240 bidder in the room!

I immediately contacted Woolley & Wallis by email and almost immediately heard back from their militaria expert manager, Ned Cowell. But instead of awarding the lot to me (in law, the highest bidder at the fall of the hammer wins) or, at least, reopening the bidding for that lot, Ned Cowell accused me first of wrong doing, then (when that failed) of having only bid £240, then £250 with miraculously the bidding sold price register having subsequently jumped from £240 to £250 (I believe the only way this could / did happen was because someone manually went in and changed the hammer price) as Ned Cowell mistakenly believed my absentee maximum was £250 at best, not MY actual confirmed maximum of £260. Then he went quiet after I pointed out that I had a confirmed bid of £260.

So I complained to the MD of Woolley & Wallis, Natalie Milsted FCCA, and demanded she award the lot to me. Natalie Milsted made it clear to me she was not going to do that, nor offer me an apology, let alone any redress / compensation, instead threatening to close my account and ban me if I persisted! Well, Natalie Milsted FCCA, I persist. Lot 314 is legally mine, and I want it.

If anyone reading this knows of the whereabouts of my sword, the RN Presentation Sword for H. Ham, please get in touch, hand it into the police as suspected stolen property, or return it to Woolley & Wallis for a full refund.

NB Natalie Milsted FCCA has not contested the above but has failed to provide me with the video recording of lot 314's bidding and sale, plus the data log of the hammer price, so I can file criminal complaints against them (presuming the evidence confirms what I have said here of course)