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People Concerned About Their Cash After Consignment Store Closes

LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4) - It's a liquidation sale that might be a good thing for some people, but it's a whole different story for customers of a consignment shop wondering where their money is.

Room Design on a Dime is a store near Broadway and Littleton Boulevard that's now closing. 4 On Your Side Consumer investigator Jodi Brooks wanted to help ease the concerns of those who were promised cash.

The people who contacted CBS4 had not heard from the store's owner in months. They're frustrated and possibly out hundreds of dollars.

"I am owed $978.89," customer Melissa Barrett said.

Last May Barrett brought in a number of pieces of furniture, and in a few days several were sold.

"I asked when I'd be receiving the checks and they said it would be the first of the next month," Barrett said.

She waited.

"And then they said it would be the first of the next month. They said it was an oversight," she said.

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(credit: CBS)

The story didn't change for interior designer Don Carlsen.

"Of course I feel ripped off. I mean, who wouldn't," Carlsen said.

He had several items for sale for a client and when some sold he asked for his compensation.

"'Where's our compensation on this?' 'Oh, you'll get it next month; you'll get it next month.' And here we are today and still have nothing," Carlsen said.

Now there's a liquidation sale and prices are slashed. Brooks tried to ask the liquidators if the people would ever get paid, but they didn't want to talk. So Brooks tried to track down the owner and found her son, Tanner Marston.

"We were going to close the store, to do liquidation to get everyone their money," Marston said.

He said the family had a death and went to Texas, leaving the store in the hands of a friend.

"By the time we came back we were $20,000 in the hole," Marston said.

He said bad business decisions then followed and contracts were broken.

"They weren't honest with us," Barrett said.

All the people want is their money back.

Barrett still has a lamp inside the store the liquidators won't give her. But Carlsen was able to get his items that had not yet sold.

An attorney told CBS4 people need to know the contract, know their rights and the company's rights. But in this case he said small claims court maybe the final option if the people don't get paid.

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