Panini Makes Good

This post is overdue, but it’s kind of appropriate given the subject matter. I had the misfortune of dealing with Panini while their customer service and fulfillment departments were in a shambles. They claim that they are in the process of improving this, so until I have to deal with them again, I will give them the benefit of the doubt. Since I don’t buy anything from Panini, that probably won’t be any time soon.

After waiting over a year, dealing with extreme frustration and searching out someone through their personal Twitter, I got the following cards sent to me:

2010-11 Absolute Memorabilia Avery Bradley Rookie Premiere Materials 177/499. When I got this card, it was when there were rumors circulating that the Celtics might trade away Rajon Rondo. I joked that this card could possibly be a good one if that to occur. Rondo didn’t get traded, but a Ray Allen injury and eventual transition to a bench role paved the way for the emergence of Avery Bradley. The Celtics climb to the top of the Atlantic Division and anything they may do in this year’s playoff will be in large part to Bradley and what Rondo can now do in the open court with Bradley and Bass running with him.

2010-11 Gold Standard Kevin Garnett Gold Medalists Prime Patch 5/25. This is a pretty cool card and while I know that the patch in this card is most likely from a Timberwolves jersey, I’d love to think it was from one of KG’s USA jerseys. I don’t think Panini picked up a jersey from the 2000 games though. I’m still not even sure that the jersey swatches in the USA cards from the Basketball Hall of Fame set are from actual Olympic jerseys. One question that I’ve got about this card is concerning the jersey number. Garnett has worn #5 the entire time that he’s been in Boston, but his Olympic jersey number as pictured on the card is #10. So, would this card bring in a jersey number premium on eBay? It doesn’t really matter since I’m pretty sure this card will have a permanent home in my collection.

It was kind of disappointing to have an Avery Bradley autograph take the place of Cheryl Miller, a member of the Hall of Fame. The Garnett patch makes up for it a little bit, but a patch card, even if it is numbered to 25, doesn’t have the same prestige as a HOF auto. I find it hard to believe that Panini didn’t have a high numbered or unnumbered Rondo, Pierce, Allen or Garnett auto to send, but they made a good effort and worked within my request and in the end, I am happy.

Topps Support Failure

I feel like there’s far too much complaining that goes on in the hobby these days and I hate to pile on, but I feel like this is a story that needs to be told. When I opened my case of 2011 Topps Update, I was shorted a hit in one of the boxes. On top of that, it seemed to me that I was missing what should have been the case hit. I scanned my UPCs and receipt and mailed them off to Topps; following the directions given by them to make things easier when shorted a hit. Some time went by before I got an email from Topps Support asking me to call them. I called and spent time on hold before being told that my attached image didn’t go through and I would have to send it again. Why they couldn’t tell me this via email I couldn’t understand.

I ended up resending the email with the attachment time and time again with a smaller and smaller file size. Something is wrong with the Topps Support email because they should be able to get the tiny attachments that I was sending. Each time, the only response that I would get was if I Tweeted @toppssupport about the issue. Again, no clue why the email account isn’t being staffed properly. After months of back and forth (or more like back, pester Topps and then reluctant forth), I finally emailed them again with a link to the images hosted on Google. I got an email telling me that I had to send them the UPCs, receipt, etc in order to get my missing hit. That just goes to show that the people manning the Topps Support email really aren’t reading the messages that come in.

I finally got my image in the hands of Topps and waited a little while. The other day this card came in the mail:

At first glance, this looks like a great card to get from Topps. It’s a dual relic numbered to 50 copies with the real NL MVP on it. It’s only upon further inspection that things get a little shady. First off, there’s the fact that the Kemp jersey swatch has a pull and is unraveling. Second, the bottom right corner is smashed and feathered. Honestly, this looks like a card that someone else sent back for replacement that they then sent to me. Thanks, but no thanks Topps. I can’t even be bothered to contact them again about this. My time is more valuable to me. I see what awesome customer service looks like on a daily basis. If this is what Topps currently thinks of it’s customers then I’m not sure if I want to continue to be one.

Sometimes Sorry Does the Job

One of the cards that I pulled from my Panini Basketball Hall of Fame busting spree was a redemption card for Cheryl Miller. Every now and then I’ll check into the Panini website to see if there’s been an update that I may have missed. I did so the other day and there wasn’t any new news so I sent a message to investigate into what I could possibly get as a replacement if I decided to stop waiting for the Miller card.

While on the site, I remembered that I had sent in a Chris Kaman autographed card that I pulled from some packs of Studio that I purchased one day on my lunch break. I checked in on that card and was surprised to find that it had been about 4 months since I had sent in the card to be replaced. So, I sent in a message checking in on the status of the card and asking why it had taken so long since I had sent cards in for replacement in the past and they had been returned very quickly. (I also jokingly told them that they could just send me a Blake Griffin auto as a replacement if they no longer had the Chris Kaman card since they’re both on the same team so it seemed like a decent replacement. I’ve worked in Customer Service and it’s a thankless job most of the time. I figured I’d try to make whoever was reading my question chuckle.) This is the response that I got:

I apologized for the wait and delay in responses to emails and voice mails . The Customer Service department has undergone big changes in the process of moving buildings.Unfortunately the same card is not available for replacement and found another card with a little higher value than your damaged card from the same team to replaced your damaged card along with some packs for the wait and inconvenience. This replacement card is ready to go out today. We appreciate your patience and understanding in advance. Thank you and have a great day.

I had completely forgotten about Panini’s change of address even though I read all of the posts about it in their blog. Even if they had just explained about the move and said sorry, I would have been fine with that. Panini went above and beyond though and along with the replacement card will be sending some packs. How cool is that?

I also find it hilarious that because of my joke I will be getting a card of another Clipper as a replacement for the Kaman auto. If this had been a chore like getting a replacement from Upper Deck, I’d be annoyed about not getting a Celtic as a replacement. In this situation, I don’t mind a bit. I know that there’s no way that I’m getting a Blake Griffin, but it will be interesting to see who I do get. I’m not sure if I could even name another Clipper at this moment.

A Quick Google Later: I completely forgot Ryan Gomes was on the Clippers now. I loved Gomes when he was in Boston. The Celtics could have used him this season, that’s for sure. Jamario M-O-O-N (that spells basketball) is on the team as well.

Kudos Panini Customer Support for a job well done.

 

Technorati Tags: Panini Hall of Fame Basketball,Basketball cards,customer service,Chris Kaman,Blake Griffin

Now That’s Customer Service

Hooray! I just got off of the phone with Upper Deck customer service and I couldn’t be happier. I am sending back the Jeff Green and Deron Williams cards that were originally sent to me as replacements for my Michael Johnson Alma Mater /99 autographed card. In return, I got to pick from a couple of cards that the replacement department said that they had available. The main card is a Paul Pierce autographed card that is numbered to 34 copies. Since Pierce is my main current basketball player collection, I couldn’t be happier.

I’ve also got to say that dealing with this over the phone instead of through email was so much easier. I had to wait on hold for a couple of minutes, but I had no problem with that. In the end, I was thrilled with the final result. I had to go to the post office tomorrow anyway to mail out some trade packages so I’ll make sure that these cards get out to Upper Deck as quickly as possible because I can’t wait to see the Pierce card.

Thank you Upper Deck.

Replacement Time?

I just got the email from Topps that I can now request a replacement for my 2010 Luke Hughes Chrome autographed base card. Hughes’ first autographs were in Bowman way back in 2004. His minor league numbers don’t look that impressive and it has taken him this long to reach the majors. He had a hot spring, but maybe that will bump up the book value of the card so that I can end up with a better replacement. Anyone out there have a recent Beckett and if you do could you check the “value” for me. It’s card 187.

Right now, I’m leaning towards requesting a Red Sox replacement. If I were to get this Hughes card, I’d most likely end up trading it anyway. Might as well get something that I’ll keep in my collection. Let’s see how Topps does in selecting replacement cards compared to Upper Deck.

Soon - Adverb

Below is a listing of the redemption cards in your account. Redemption List: Pending Fulfilled Other

Redemption Code Date Received Description Status Status Date RUBDRWGNJ 12/31/2010 DEMAR DEROZAN - #4 2009-10 Draft Edition Basketball - Jersey card for 2008 Jordan Brand Classic In stock, item will be shipped soon. 12/31/2010 R3BM9BCQJ 12/31/2010 DEMAR DEROZAN - #4 2009-10 Draft Edition Basketball - Jersey card for 2008 Jordan Brand Classic In stock, item will be shipped soon. 12/31/2010 R4QG82XCE 12/30/2010 BRANDON JENNINGS - #3 2009-10 Draft Edition Basketball - Jersey card for 2008 Jordan Brand Classic In stock, item will be shipped soon. 12/30/2010 RD6KQ26XZ 12/30/2010 BJ MULLENS - #2 2009-10 Draft Edition Basketball - Jersey card for 2008 Jordan Brand Classic In stock, item will be shipped soon. 12/30/2010 RBNREYRVR 12/30/2010 TYREKE EVANS - #5 2009-10 Draft Edition Basketball - Jersey card for 2008 Jordan Brand Classic In stock, item will be shipped soon. 12/30/2010 RNH6Y8E6M 12/30/2010 BJ MULLENS - #2 2009-10 Draft Edition Basketball - Jersey card for 2008 Jordan Brand Classic In stock, item will be shipped soon. 12/30/2010 R7Z323CNW 12/30/2010 TYREKE EVANS - #5 2009-10 Draft Edition Basketball - Jersey card for 2008 Jordan Brand Classic In stock, item will be shipped soon. 12/30/2010

1. within a short period after this or that time, event, etc.: We shall know soon after he calls.
2. before long; in the near future; at an early date: Let's leave soon.
3. promptly or quickly: He came as soon as he could. (That’s what she said!)

Gold Medal Replacement?

I was pretty excited upon arriving home from work this evening when I spotted an envelope from Upper Deck in my mailbox. My replacement for the Michael Johnson had finally arrived! Which of the cards or players or teams that I requested would the envelope contain? Bill Russell? Larry Bird? Kevin Garnett? Mike Piazza? Big Baby? Watch the video and find out:

I’m not going to write a whole lot right now because I’m trying to figure out exactly what I think about this. What I’m curious about is what do you think? Was I overvaluing the Michael Johnson card? Can a card that doesn’t exist have value? Undervaluing these cards? What say you?

Collectors Want Upper Deck Back?

I can understand any collector wanting the cards that Upper Deck released to still exist because they did make some nice looking cards, but any company can do that with the right graphic designers and attitude towards cards. I’m wondering how many people who rave about Upper Deck have actually dealt with the company itself?

Back when it was a new product, I opened a box of 2008 Timelines. Unhappy with the ridiculous cards with the huge roller marks down the middle, I sent them in to be replaced. I didn’t get the replacement cards back until June 2009 after contacting them 5 or 6 times about the delay.

In May 2009, I opened two ridiculous boxes of Upper Deck. My basketball box shorted me a hit and the baseball box shorted me two hits and 4 of the packs only contained 10 cards instead of the 20 that are supposed to come in a pack. I sent emails that went unanswered. I got the attention of Chris Carlin via the Upper Deck Facebook page and finally got sent the basketball card that I was shorted. I continued contacting Upper Deck and then finally in January of 2010, I got some packs of series 1 and series 2 as replacements.

I submitted 7 “in stock” redemption cards from my Basketball Draft Edition case on New Year’s Eve. It is now March 2nd and the cards haven’t even been shipped yet. From what I’ve read online, in stock redemption cards are taking around 3 months to be redeemed.

I pulled a redemption card for a Michael Johnson autographed card that was never produced about 18 months after the release of the product. Even though it had been that long and the card still didn’t exist, I still had to wait 45 days before I could file a claim to have that card replaced with something else. Once I filed that claim, I was told that it would be 6-8 weeks until the card was shipped out. So, sometime in June I will most likely get some ugly card with no picture and a sticker auto from World of Sports that doesn’t come close to what the Michael Johnson auto should have been.

Last, but certainly not least, is my current experience in regards to the expired Ken Griffey Jr autographed box topper which is a case hit. I also pulled three other expired redemption cards for Stroke of Genius cards, but those don’t really bother me. I sent an email to Upper Deck about the expired redemptions stating that they were from 2007 Masterpieces and got the following reply:

Dear Valued Customer,

Please send us the following info so we can create a case for you to send in your expired redemption card:

Full Name:
Full Address:
Phone Number:
Redemption Code:
Expiration Date:

***Please note that all expired redemptions are handled on a case by case basis. Not all expired redemptions will be accepted***

Sincerely,

Upper Deck Customer Care

Silly me thought that this meant that they were considering doing something for my expired redemption cards. Today, I got this email:

Dear Valued Customer,

I am sorry to hear you have pulled an expired redemption from our product. Unfortunately, we are unable to redeem your card because it is expired. For more information regarding our redemption card policy please contact customer service at 1-800-873-7332. I am sorry for any inconvenience. I hope you have a great day!

Sincerely,

Upper Deck Customer Care

Have you ever read a smarmier less sincere email in your life? I don’t think that I have. Valued? You sure aren’t showing me that I’m valued. Why make me wait before sending this email? Did you not know the redemption dates for your own products? “I hope you have a great day!” Well, possibly if UD knew the first thing about customer service. I work for a company consistently rated as one of the best in customer service in any field and have worked in the customer service field even prior to that. The things that my current company does to make the customer happy is ridiculous sometimes, but it is worth it because you end up with loyal customers. I’m not quite sure what Upper Deck is trying to do here. I’m so glad that I didn’t purchase a single pack of 2010 baseball.

Then there’s the replies from Upper Deck on Twitter to I Am Joe Collector:

just got the run around from @upperdecksports on the phone regarding the redemption.  Their story keeps changing.

UpperDeckSports: We've shared before that expired cards cannot be honored: http://bit.ly/i6EtN7 MLB is very tough to help with now. Sorry!

That isn't true, the rep on the phone told me that UD will honor them if the haven't been expired for more than 1 year

UpperDeckSports: Again, MLB is difficult. We don't have a license, no new products & collectors who redeemed on time get priority.

[Note that one hand doesn’t seem to know what the other is doing.]

So which is it?

UpperDeckSports: You can work with the reps, but don't expect that Jeter. That ship has most likely sailed. One of the dangers of older wax.

I tried, but the rep flat out told I get nothing willy wonka style.

[Again, no one seems to know the policies that other people are quoting.]

UpperDeckSports: Then that would be your final answer. Sorry again, but you've got to be careful in busting older product.

so what you are saying is that the process is arbitrary? Great.

UpperDeckSports: More that havent had a MLB license for two years, the cupboard is bare. If you buy MLB product, you do so at your own risk.

[Remember, this is a valued customer being told to buy UD products, even 2010 Baseball, at their own risk.]

So, don’t mind me if I don’t get all nostalgic for Upper Deck and starting throwing pennies into wishing wells hoping that they get their licenses back. Right now, Razor seems like a more reputable company than Upper Deck. I won’t shed a single tear once Upper Deck closes their doors for the last time and is gone from the hobby forever.

Next up for a shiny, happy post: For those of you complaining about a Topps monopoly in baseball, be glad that it’s not Panini. Things could be a lot worse.

Waiting, waiting, waiting

There's far too much waiting involved in this hobby at the moment. I mistakenly bid on and won an eBay auction from Hong Kong which is estimated to arrive a month after the auction ended. That's a mistake that I'll never make again.

I'm still waiting for my two packs of Bowman Chrome wrapper redemption packs which were supposedly sent out by Topps last Friday. If they don't arrive tomorrow then I'll be sending an e-mail to Topps requesting replacements. There's no way anything should take a week to get from Duryea to Massachusetts.

On the Panini front, I'm waiting for a replacement of a Chris Kaman autograph card from Studio and redemption autographs of Pat Summitt and Cheryl Miller. It's been almost 4 months on the Summitt and 2 on the Miller.

Then there's Upper Deck which just might be the most frustrating of all. On 12/30 and 12/31, I submitted seven codes for redemption cards from my Draft Basketball case. The website stated that they were "in stock, item will be shipped soon."  Apparently, Upper Deck and I have differing ideas on the definition of the word soon. It is now the middle of February and these cards haven't even shipped from Upper Deck. Redemption cards are frustrating enough when they're for cards that don't yet exist, but there's no excuse for this kind of wait when the cards are supposedly sitting there in their warehouse.

There's also the issue of the Michael Johnson autographed redemption for a card that doesn't exist and never will. The first frustrating this is that they still made me wait 45 days to request a replacement from a set that's been out for a year and a half. There's no way that this card is ever going to be made. If anything, they would have tried to acquire Johnson autographs to include in the recent World of Horrible Pictureless Sticker Autograph Cards release.

So, I entered the code on January 3rd. 45 days after that is February 17th if I'm figuring things out correctly. I got an e-mail from them on the 2nd saying that "a replacement of comparable value will be sent out in 6-8 weeks." Here's the list of players that I sent to them. Who do you think that I'm going to get?

1. Larry Bird
2. Tom Brady
3. Bill Russell
4. Kevin Garnett
5. Multi-auto Celtics card
6. Mike Piazza
7. Ray Allen
8. Rajon Rondo

Looks like I'll have to wait two months to find out what they're going to send me. It's a shame that this isn't Panini or else I'd be looking forward to getting a nice 1/1 card in the mail.

I've never been more down on the hobby and it sucks. I don't want to be. I want this to be fun, but at times it can be tough to have fun when every major company out there currently producing sports trading cards is pulling ridiculous bullshit. Maybe I'll start busting cases of Rittenhouse Archives non-sports stuff instead. Sketch cards do pretty well on eBay.

I guess that's why other than the case break, I really haven't opened much of anything and have instead purchased a bunch of singles from eBay. I really hope things change because these companies have made me really good at waiting and I can wait a while before opening up my wallet to support them.

Upper Deck Replacement Package

Here’s a quick little video detailing the contents of the package that Upper Deck sent back to me for my damaged Upper Deck Draft cards.  I’ve got to say, I’m extremely happy with the quality of  the video from my new webcam.  The autofocus is amazing and the image is crystal clear. Check it out:

 

 

Technorati Tags: Upper Deck,Michael Jordan,customer service,2009-10 Basketball Draft Edition

What Do Card Companies Owe You?

My disastrous 2010 Topps Chrome box break got me thinking.  What are you actually buying when you slap your hard earned cash down on the counter to purchase a box of trading cards?

I’m not a prospector.  I don’t purchase cases of product to bust and then flip on eBay.  I’ve got a limited budget and therefore have to be selective when it comes to what I buy.  I have fun opening oddball sets just as much as I do anything else.  So, what happens when you open a box of cards and it becomes a chore instead of a pleasure?  Does the manufacturer owe you anything more than a replacement for all of the damaged cards?

No, the card companies don’t owe a collector anything more than the cards promised to come in the box.  That being said, it would be nice for them to acknowledge that this is a hobby, one that can be pretty expensive, and people collect cards as a way to relax and enjoy themselves.  If people give up on this hobby then that’s it for these companies, but often times it doesn’t seem like card manufacturers think that way.

When I sent back over half of a box of Topps Chrome to Topps for replacement, I included a note explaining that this is supposed to be a fun hobby for me, I was robbed of the fun of opening packs and asked if there was any way that they could make that up to me.  I didn’t care what it would have been.  It could have been half of a hobby box, a blaster, a handful of random Topps packs or a single redemption pack.  I just would have liked for them to do something.

What did I get back? Replacement cards for all of the damaged cards that I sent.  They’re all still as curved as the ones that I sent back so apparently Topps doesn’t deem that as a defect.  It must be a feature of 2010 Topps Chrome.  I also got the typical bullshit form letter from Topps explaining what the procedure is that I just went through to get these cards replaced.  No acknowledgement of the letter that I sent to them and nothing from them to say, “Sorry you had such a bad experience with a Topps product. Please let us make it up to you.”  So much for their renewed commitment to customer service.  It’s all just PR smoke screen to cover their asses on some cheaply made sets and burned collectors who paid way too much money on pre-sells amidst the Strasburg hype.

The only thing that made this whole process slightly better than just tossing all of the cards in dumpster was the fact that Topps is out of base versions of the Strasburg card that I sent back and so I got a refractor instead.  They also sent me a purple Tyler Colvin.  If I had gotten a purple Strasburg then this might have been worth my time, money and frustration.

Since this set is so ridiculously cheap these days, I purchased a complete set on eBay.  I now have a ton of extras for this set so if anyone is looking to complete it, drop me a line and I can help you out.  Also, if you won my last contest and don’t have this year’s Chrome cards of your favorite team/player then let me know and I’ll throw what I’ve got into your prize pile.

 

Technorati Tags: 2010 Topps Chrome,Stephen Strasburg

Topps redemptions are a fucking joke

From this point on, I’m selling each and every Topps redemption card that I get my hands on.  The ridiculousness that I’ve endured regarding 2009 Finest redemptions is beyond asinine.

I purchased my box of 2009 Finest 2 addresses ago which is very relevant to this story.  That was the address that I entered when I redeemed these cards.  I waited and waited and waited and nothing arrived.

Eventually, two of the six total redemptions that I was waiting for from Topps arrived.  One was a Finest redemption and one was a 2009 Red Hot Rookie.  Why would just one Finest card show up when all but the Hanson auto were sent out at the same time?  I’ve got no clue so I went back to waiting and waiting.

Getting sick of waiting, I contacted Topps Customer Support who I normally have good luck with.  They researched and found out that the other cards were shipped to a different address.  Why would some of the cards be sent to one address and others to a different address?  Again, I’ve got no clue.

So, one card trickled in with one of those “Please notify sender of your new address” stickers on it and another was re-sent from Topps.  I was still one card short and am still trying to have Topps send that card to me again.  That card is not the reason why I am writing this post though.

I’ve been obsessively following the progress of my Tommy Hanson autographed redemption ever since Topps tweeted about Hanson coming in to sign stuff.  It was marked shipped with a tracking number and so I checked it on an almost daily basis and waited and waited and waited.  Three weeks later, some tracking information finally arrived and… the card was sent to the wrong address.  Are you kidding me?  At this point my new address has been on file with Topps/Tristar Fulfillment for 6 months.  There’s no excuse for this.

Since the cards are now out in the wild, I decide to take a quick look on eBay so I’ll at least have an idea of what might someday magically appear in my mailbox.  So, I stumbled across this eBay auction.  A sticker auto!  A STICKER AUTO!  Are you fucking kidding me?  I’ve been waiting close to a year for this card and it’s a sticker auto.  What a joke that is.  There’s on-card autos in 2009 Topps Chrome, but this redemption card that was produced after that card is a sticker.

Not only is it a sticker, but it is a sticker stuck on an ugly card.  The area on the card is too small for the sticker and it ends up looking horrible.  Take a look at the completed auctions for this card and you’ll see some piss poor sticker placement.  There are crooked stickers.  Stickers that are partially covering the Finest logo on the card.  Stickers with off-center stickers.  I think I would have gotten better results if I had my four year old daughter put the stickers on these things.  So disappointed.

The only saving grace of this whole thing is that the card is selling for a decent price on eBay.  So, once the card comes in it is going to go right up on eBay and get the heck out of my collection.  I’ve got no tolerance for abominations such as this.  I’m also open to trade offers.  Anyone out there have a 1992 Fleer Update set or a really nice card of someone that I collect that you’d like to transform into this card?  Drop me a line and let me know.  I’d love to salvage something out of this fiasco.

Topps, if by any chance you end up reading this.  Please, for the love of god, cut way down on the number of redemption cards that you use.  The rookie redemptions rarely add any value to a set because by the time the cards are redeemed these rookies have a bunch of other cards that people are looking for instead.  I can see issuing a redemption card if it is for something like a dual signed card that you got signed by one player, but couldn’t hook up with the second player in time for the release, but issuing redemption cards for cards you don’t know if you’ll be able to get signed or for cards that you don’t plan on producing for another 6 months isn’t any good.  Just focus on giving those players great cards in an upcoming card instead.  Most importantly, redemption cards lead to frustration and wasted space in packs when you go and open older boxes.  It’s not the fault of the purchaser that you couldn’t get your cards done in time, but they have to suffer by getting useless, expired redemption cards in their boxes.  Hopefully you can keep redemptions out of Chicle and Ginter or else I think I’m done with Topps products for the year.

On a related note, these same Finest cards led to a terrible eBay experience as well.  Since these cards sell for next to nothing these days, I decided that I’d try and put together the set.  So, I found one sell on eBay that had three of the cards listed.  I asked if he combined shipping and he replied that he did.  I won three of the cards for .99¢ and one other card for $1.29.  The seller didn’t seem happy about that since no matter how many times I contacted him, he wouldn’t send me an invoice with the combined shipping.  I waited two weeks before leaving him negative feedback as directed by eBay.  I find it strange that they have non-paying bidder strikes, but not non-selling strikes.  That’s eBay for you.  I’ll end this tangent before it takes on a life of its own.

Sorry for the bitch session.  I plan to follow this up tonight with some much better content.  Who knows, maybe someone will benefit from this by adding a Tommy Hanson card to their collection.

Topps Customer Service Comes Through Again

Topps fairly takes a lot of abuse for their redemption card process.  They take far too long and give way too little information about the cards both as you wait and when they are shipped.  Topps’ customer service department on the other hand is spectacular.  I’ve dealt with them a handful of times and each time they’ve gone above and beyond what I expected.  Here’s the latest example of them doing just that.

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to sending in some 2009 Ginter cards that came out of packs damaged.  I was also shorted a hit on my box and wanted to get that third hit.  So, I sent off my cards and waited.  A couple of weeks ago, I got an envelope in the mail from Topps.  I opened it up and found… someone else’s cards.  I contacted Topps to see what was up.  They asked me to ship the cards back and they would ship out the cards that I needed to be replaced.  I later got a letter in the mail from Topps asking me to send the cards back stating that they’d send some packs in return for my inconvenience.  I figured, it cost me a couple of bucks to send the first package and a couple of bucks to send the second package so some packs of Topps or even Opening Day would be nice.

This is what I found in the package: 2 packs of 2009 Finest, 2 packs of 2009 Allen & Ginter, a pack of 2009 Ticket to Stardom and a pack of 2009 Unique.  Wow, that’s around $30 - $40 retail price on this packs if I’m adding correctly.  That’s a lot more than I expected in return for doing something that I would have done anyway.  I was especially happy to see the pack of Unique since it will most likely be the only pack of Unique that I ever open since it’s not something that I can afford.

I ripped open the packs and here’s the best of what I found:

I still can’t stand the microscopic autographs on the Finest letter patches so if there are any Brewers fans out there or anyone else interested in that card, please drop me a line.  The two blue refractors were in the pack that didn’t contain the autographed card.  The two Finest packs were great.  Ginter gave me an extra Ortiz card as well as The Turk hoax card.  Ticket to Stardom was all base cards, but I’ll hang on to the Ellsbury and Pujols.  The Unique cards are really nice looking and I’m going to have to pick up some base card singles.  The Lopez is numbered to 99 and the Reimold is numbered to 1199.  While they are great looking cards, they’re a little expensive for what you get in a pack if you don’t get a hit.  It’s definitely something where you are better off buying it by the box.


Here are some of the cards that I got back from Topps.  There were a lot of National Pride, but I completed most of that set and no longer need the cards that were damaged.  At least I still need the Nique for my set so I’m one SP closer to completion.

Topps is now shipping cards in these cool little boxes to keep them from getting damaged in shipment.  I was very impressed with how the cards were packaged.  Overall, I was extremely impressed with this package from Topps.

Technorati Tags: baseball cards,Topps

Customer service times three

I recently placed an order with Dave and Adam’s Card World that present four different opportunities for customer service from three different companies.  What went wrong and how did things get resolved?  Keep reading and find out.  I know this isn’t a post specifically about cards, but in this day and age when a lot of people have limited budgets for collecting, it’s good to know that if something goes wrong, someone is going to have your back and make things right.

The first problem that I came across was being shipped the wrong type of card holder from D&A.  Things started off a little wobbly and I’m pretty sure that the problem was compounded by the fact that I have the most inept UPS driver in the world delivering to my house.  The main problem to me in this situation to start things off was I wasn’t given a lot of information and that led me to feel that effort wasn’t being put into correcting the situation.

At one point, I got pretty fed up and sent an e-mail stating so and that’s when David from the premier account department contacted me and things got straightened out right away.  David went above and beyond and changed my mindset from being wary of placing another order there to eagerly awaiting the moment that I’m able to afford placing another order and giving them another chance.

Customer Service Grade: A

The next two customer service opportunities presented themselves when I opened two of the Upper Deck boxes from my order.  My 2008-09 Basketball box didn’t come with an autograph (on average).  My 2009 Series 1 Baseball had four packs that only contained 10 cards and was missing an autograph and a dual patch memorabilia card (on average).

I had opened the baseball box first and sent an e-mail right after opening it.  I sent another e-mail after opening the basketball box.  I was given a case number, which I thought was for the baseball box, and was told what I had to send in to Upper Deck.  I included the required items from both boxes along with a letter explaining the situation.

Yesterday I got a package in the mail from Upper Deck which included a Udonis Haslim autograph from 2005-06 SP Authentic and a pack of 2007-08 First Edition.  It’s a nice, on-card autograph that Haslim signed with his jersey number.  This was a perfect way to handle my getting shorted in the basketball box.  The only problem is that there was no sign of replacement baseball cards.  To me, that was the bigger issue since I was missing 40 cards including 2 out of the 3 hits that you’re supposed to get in a box.  I sent an e-mail to Upper Deck’s customer service asking if the baseball cards were coming in a later shipment or not, but I haven’t heard anything from them.

Customer Service Grade: Inc (B+ for basketball portion)

The final customer service opportunity involved the Dwayne Wade autographed mini that I’ve written about here previously.  I would have loved to add the card to my collection, but you couldn’t even really call it a Dwayne Wade autograph due to the shape that the autograph was in.

I started my correspondence with Topps via e-mail and wanted to see what the exchange process would entail since I was wary about sending this card away.  As far as I know, most of my communication was with Danny and he was great.

First, I found out that Topps did not have an exact replacement for this card.  I had a feeling that would be the case and so I wanted to find out what would happen if I sent the card in.  My worst fear was that I would be sent a Dwayne Wade autograph from this year’s Topps Signature and that wouldn’t be acceptable at all.

Through continued communication, I found out that Topps has a department where they determine what a card is valued at and send appropriate substitutions.  I wondered if I could talk to this department and was told to call Topps.  I got Danny on the phone and he went over what he thought some of the options might be if I were sent unopened wax as a replacement.  I had to stress that I didn’t want to be sent Triple Threads which seemed to surprise Danny because “most people ask for that.”

The package arrived on Wednesday via UPS, but I wasn’t around to receive it and so I didn’t get it until yesterday.  As a replacement for my Dwayne Wade autographed mini, I was sent a 2005-06 Topps Style ‘52 Dwayne Wade autographed Comic Card that was numbered to 49.  I was also sent a box of 2007-08 Bowman Sterling.

There’s no telling exactly how much the Wade card that was damaged would have been worth.  Topps goes by book value, but the card was too scarce to be listed in Beckett.  Since it was a tough pull out of a one-per-case rip card, Topps seemed to agree with me that the card was potentially very valuable.

I can easily say that Topps went above and beyond on this replacement.  The autographed card recently sold for $20 on eBay, but I just wanted to come out of this with a Wade auto and Topps granted that request.  The Bowman Sterling box blew me away.  This box sells for around $175 - $200 and if the rookie class that year had been better, it would be a $300 box.

Customer Service Grade: A+

Technorati Tags: Customer service,Topps,Upper Deck

Is older wax worth the risk?

Lately I had been drawn to 2007 Bowman Best.  I watched a bunch of box breaks online and looked at the checklist and it looked like a great product.  The checklist is small and since you get a veteran, rookie and prospect autograph in each mini box, you’ve got a good chance of pulling something good.  If you buy a full box of three mini boxes then you should get some great cards.

My card shop had a couple of mini boxes sitting around and I had sold some stuff on eBay and decided to take a chance on one of the mini boxes.  2007 had a good rookie crop that has held up pretty well over the years and more and more prospects are being sought after.

I started opening the first of five packs and right in the middle (where all of the hits are located) is a Joba Chamberlain autographed rookie.  Yay!  Wait, the card looks like it was bitten by a snake.  Boo!  Since this card was in the middle of a pack of pretty thick cards, the only way that damage such at this could have happened is either during production or packaging of the product.

I know that Topps will only offer replacements for cards produced in the current year, but I figured that I would e-mail them to see if they would do anything since this card was clearly damaged by them.  I’ve got my receipt, wrappers, DNA sample, etc. that Topps requires for people to get cards replaced.  I’ve also got a witness to the card coming out of the pack in this condition since I opened the box right at the card shop where I purchased it.

Topps wrote back stating that they only replace cards in the first year after being manufactured and that after that first year the product is considered memorabilia.  So, if you purchase a product on the day it comes out, you’ve got just under 365 days of a “warranty” on your cards.  If you purchase a product a year after it comes out, you’ve got no “warranty.”  Imagine if everything worked like that?  Buying a previous year’s car and having it come with no warranty when you buy it.  Buying a year old TV, trying to turn it on unsuccessfully and being told that you can’t return in.  Those comparisons might be extreme, but I don’t see why sports card manufacturers should be held to different standards.  Of course, they can’t be expected to replace cards if someone decides to open a box of 52 Topps or even something more than 10 years old, but something less than 2 years old?

I understand them not having the exact card on hand to do a one-to-one exchange, but even when you pull a damaged card from a current year’s product, there’s no guarantee that they’ll have an exact replacement on hand.  (As I found out the hard way.)  I just wanted Topps to make some sort of effort to make this right.  I might be spoiled because I work for a company that is considered to be one of the tops in customer service in any industry, but I don’t think that I’m expecting too much.  They have to send me replacement product for my damaged Dwayne Wade auto; why can’t they send me replacement product for this Joba?  (Out of curiosity, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau to see if that could get me anywhere.)

The risk factor gets even worse when you consider expired redemption cards.  Look at what redemption cards have done to prior years of Finest Basketball which become a rookie-less product with expired redemptions.  For a little while, I toyed with the idea of picking up a box of 2006 52 Rookie Edition, but there are way too many redemption autos in that product that are now expired.  It’s bad enough to pull an autograph of a player that you can’t sell for a dollar, but with my luck I’d pull a redemption card for a big hit that I now can’t get.

So, if you’re going to buy “vintage” (and by vintage I mean more than a year old) wax you’ve got to face far too many risks.  First off, you have to hope that you don’t get any damaged products.  Anyone reading this knows that damaged cards happen way too frequently these days.  Even when you can get replacements, having to pay to send the cards back and then wait for their return (which usually takes around 2 months) is ridiculous.  Next you have to dodge expired redemption cards.  Upper Deck has made things a little easier to bear by extending the time frame for a lot of their redemptions, but that’s usually the amount of time it takes to get your redemption fulfilled anyway.

(Now is probably not a good time to look for a card company to sponsor this blog.)

I’m getting sick of redemption cards in general and I think that card companies should start some sort of expired redemption card amnesty program.  You should get something for these cards.  It isn’t the fault of the collector that these cards weren’t ready when the product was produced.  It should be something along the lines of what is left over from unredeemed redemptions.  It might not be from the same sport as your redemption card.  It might not be from the same year, but you should get something.  I’d rather have an autographed scout card than a redemption card full of legal copy telling me why I just got screwed.

To me, it seems like card companies should be doing whatever they can, within reason, to keep collectors happy before even more people give up on the hobby.  I’ve got a whole series of posts about the level of customer service I’ve experienced from different card companies and after I move at the end of the month, I hope that get that series started.

Technorati Tags: customer service,joba chamberlain

Talking with Topps

The eBay auction for the Dwayne Wade card isn’t drawing a lot of attention.  I was honest in the description of the card and I’m sure that has a lot to do with it.  This card has a smudged autograph and lots of chipping on the back.  It’s great to pull such a rare card, but that excitement quickly fades when a card is in this bad of shape.

So, I was toying with the idea of sending the card back to Topps for replacement if there continued to be no interest on eBay.  Before sending it back, I wanted to make sure that I’d get the same card back and so I e-mailed Topps.  What follows reads like one of chemgod’s Craigslist Idiot posts.

Hello,

I pulled a Dwayne Wade autographed mini card out of a rip card and it is in pretty rough shape. The autograph is smudged and there is a lot of chipping on the back. Can I send this card in to be replaced? I have all of the required items (box, receipt, etc), but am wondering if there are extras on hand of a card this rare.

Thanks

Thank you for contacting the Consumer Relations department for Topps.

We are sorry to hear that your recent purchase of a Topps product contained damaged cards. Please note that the policy of the Topps Company regarding the request for replacement product items requires that the consumer include the following items with their submission:

1) A letter of explanation
2) A copy of sales receipt
3) All pack wrappers & or mini boxes from the product
4) The UPC code (bar code) from the Main box
5) All Damaged items

This should be sent to:

The Topps Company, Inc.
ATTN: Consumer Relations
401 York Ave.
Duryea, PA 18642
ATTN: Consumer Relations

We will then review your issue and begin taking steps toward rectifying it, please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery. We hope this information is helpful to you. As always, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Service team (By phone: 800-489-9149, or by Email:support@etopps.com) if you ever have any other questions, comments or suggestions. A customer service representative will be available to assist you between the hours of 9:00am - 4:30pm (EST), Monday through Friday.

Thank you once again for taking the time to write. We appreciate your interest in Topps and hope you continue to enjoy our products.

Sincerely,

Consumer Relations
The Topps Company, Inc.

This is the standard copy and paste that Topps sends out if you contact them about damaged cards.  You’d better have everything that they request or else they’ll just send your card back.  No Joke.  Since this reply didn’t really answer my question, I decided to write again.

Hello,

Thank you for the reply. Does this mean that you have replacements of this card on hand? I just want to be assured that I will get back the card that I sent (I can even send the ripped card it came in for further verification) because I have had issues with a redemption card due to Topps losing its basketball license. Can I please get a non-copy and paste answer assuring that I will be able to get the same card in return.

Thanks!

Hello,

Please be advised there is no guarantee as to what you will receive, The only guarantee is that you will receive something of equal book value. Thank you for your interest in Topps.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Service team (By Phone: 800-489-9149, or by Email:support@etopps.com) if you ever have any other questions, comments or suggestions. A customer service representative will be available to answer your questions between the hours of 8:30am-4:30pm (EST), Monday through Friday.

Sincerely,

Consumer Relations
The Topps Company, Inc.

This answer got me wondering because when I checked Beckett this card was not listed due to scarcity.  So, how do they determine book value for such a card.  Here goes another e-mail.

Hello,

The thing is that a card such as this one isn't listed in any book due to rarity and I can't find any previous sales on eBay. How do you determine the book value then?

Hello,

The book value is determined by our team of experts, it is your choice as to if you would like to take a chance regarding your exchange or to hold on to the Wade card.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Service team (By Phone: 800-489-9149, or by Email:support@etopps.com) if you ever have any other questions, comments or suggestions. A customer service representative will be available to answer your questions between the hours of 8:30am-4:30pm (EST), Monday through Friday.

Sincerely,

Topps Customer Service team

Team of experts?  That kind of intrigues me.  I think that I’ve got to follow up on this further.  I’m really not comfortable with the answer “take a chance regarding your exchange or to hold on to the Wade card.”  I feel kind of like I’m dealing with Monty Hall and I’m going to get Zonked if I trade in what I have for curtain #3.

What would you do in my shoes?  Click on the picture of the Wade card and look at the full size scan.  The card is in rough shape, but is that bad enough to discourage someone from buying it?  If it was a card of your favorite player, would you want a card looking like this in your collection?  Would you send it back to Topps and hope that they send some loaded Echelon (is there such a thing) in its place?

Technorati Tags: Dwayne Wade,Topps customer service