People who were selling at an East Dallas consignment store say they were ripped off when the store unexpectedly shut down -- and kept their items.
Olga Quintanilla, who makes her money as an artist, said she wasn't happy when the Red Cat Consignment Boutique didn't return her paintings.
"I'm willing to do anything to get my stuff; and not just my stuff, everybody else's things," she said. "I mean, this is a crime. This is a crime that these two people have committed, and it makes me angry."
Don Marcy also had a few things at the store when it closed down and didn't receive them back.
"I had jewelry and household goods, paintings, mirrors," he said.
Marcy said the store was only open a few months, but he had trusted the owners with his business. He sold a few pieces at the store and didn't see any red flags.
"About once a month, they would send me a check with a list of the items that were sold. And that went on for several months," he said.
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But the checks stopped coming in November. When he went to the store to check in, Marcy said he was told the bookkeepers had messed up a few accounts and that things would get straightened out. He returned in January and found the store empty, the doors locked and no contact information for his goods posted.
"You're sort of like, 'Uh oh, I've been screwed,'" Marcy said.
Several frustrated patrons have written on the glass storefront, telling the owner they plan to bring theft charges or file a class-action lawsuit. One scribbling even talked about a meeting of the "Red Cat Consignment victims."
Marcy said he understands other customers anger.
"I would definitely file charges for theft," he said. "I would be part of a class-action suit. I would contribute to that."
Repeated calls and e-mails to the Red Cat's owners were not returned.
Patrons asked the property manager if the owners left any forwarding information but were told they didn't.
Quintanilla and Marcy said they have a few words for the store's former owners.
"I trusted you," Quintanilla said. "I thought you were honest and good people, but I was wrong. And it makes me very sad that you did something like this."
"I'm really disappointed in them," Macy said. "That I liked them, and I had hoped to to business with them for a long time."
