Sketchy Troostwijk auctions cross border debt collections risk
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Hi, I made a bid on a lot with Troostwijk - an auction site in the Netherlands as soon as I discovered the site in good faith and excitement.
It turned out too good to be true as I contacted the logistics delivery partner recommended on their site and it would cost 50% of the total cost of the goods to deliver to me.
Still, I thought I might be able to win the bid at a low price and make it worth my while, and swallow the delivery costs. But when I won the lot, I then noticed that the lot was immediately reposted in multiple places on the site.
My alarm bells rang, and I researched them a little more and found on here multiple bad experiences and scams people had fallen for. Considering this was now a 6,000 Euro endeavour for the flooring + delivery to my country of residence - Czechia, I sent them a really nice note saying I couldn't take receipt of it due to the cost of delivery - the exact same day I was to pay for it. And I sent along screenshots of the same item being reposted immediately after the "bid was won", So I could assume the seller was okay with not selling it to me .
I never got a response for 10 days, until I asked for the cancellation of my account, and then got a note that I had to pay, I referred them back with my reference number and cancellation request, and got one sentence response - you have to pay.
By now the scam was real in my eyes, there were these multiple postings and bids for the same item in these locations and I sent it back to the customer service to say - hey, can you confirm this item is real since the exact same auction keeps happening over and over again at different locations - four different postings last week - two weeks later in Belgium, Netherlands . Please assure me that this transaction is real. Same image, same weird number of items.
No response, but an email today that "my debt will be sent to collections", since I agreed with their T&C's by registering on the site.
Here are those T&C's https://www.troostwijkauctions.com/en/general-terms-and-conditions?srsltid=AfmBOooGA9iX2\\\_w3JrecWU\\\_\\\_k-Dl7lMf7R-C3vh19120Ed0U52-0vWHP
Chat gpt says I need to get a lawyer or I will have a severe collection risk.
Does anyone have advice or experience with reporting these folks to an ombudsman or getting them to back off. It is the worst customer service and interaction for a site that claims to be "legal" and professional. And I am convinced I'd be losing 6,000 euros to a scam. Can they claim collections between the Netherlands and Czech Republic?