News From SGC
 

Effective August 25, 2010, Brian Dwyer will be resigning his position of Business Development at Sportscard Guaranty. He has been with SGC since 2008 in that capacity. Brian will be leaving to pursue other interests within the industry but will remain available to SGC as a consultant on special projects.

“My time at SGC has been a valuable and rewarding experience that allowed me to come in contact with countless people within the hobby,” said Brian. “I’m thankful for my time there and look forward to continuing the good relationship into the future.”

Many customers have been in regular contact with Brian or looked to him for assistance with issues relating to SGC. Going forward, these inquiries may be directed to Sean Skeffington (x101) or Michael Goldberg (x105).

Sean Skeffington, Vice President of Operations, acknowledged Brian’s contributions to SGC during his time with the company. “Brian has been a great asset to the company over the past two years. While we are sorry to see him go, we are pleased that he is remaining within the industry, and we wish him nothing but the best.”

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Brian (x114) or the SGC offices (800-742-9212).

Sorry to see you leave SGC, Brian. I worked with you on many submissions, and you always provided excellent customer service. Always very quick to respond to emails and postings in this forum and the SGC forum. Definitely a huge loss for SGC.

hey brian i hope psa offered you 4x the money :)

Brian,
Best wishes and thanks.
Jeff

Brian - you will be missed.

Sorry to see you go, always a pleasure to deal with. I wish you the best in the future.

Hey Brian
 

Hey Brian
It's always been a pleasure to deal with you. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. If I can ever help you let me know....best regards

Brian, you will be truly missed. It was a pleasure dealing with you the last couple years and I wish you much success.

Rob

I too am sorry to hear this (for greedy reasons). I'm a low volume submitter but enjoyed working with you and discussing the occassional (what is this submission). Are you able to divulge what lies ahead for you?

Hey, Brian:

Thanks for all of your help over the past couple of years. I will see you tomorrow morning in person to wish you the best of luck in the future.

Phil

Brian
 

Congrats Brian on the move. You are a great asset to the Collecting industry thanks for all you have helped me.

Kirk

Brian was a HUGE asset to SGC. I am sorry to see you go. Good luck in whatever you chose to do. Glad to hear you will remain in the hobby.
JimB

brian
 

sorry to see you go but wish you all the best!!!


barry

Brian is the epitome of a company representative and should be the bench mark for not only a hobby company but any business wishing to provide the best customer service possible.

Where is he going? To PSA?

I couldn't agree more, always tough to find a good people person for the face of any company. Best of luck in whatever you do Brian !

In an industry/hobby full of whiners, snivelers, bitchers and moaners - you are one of the few guys I never heard a negative word about. Whatever you do or where ever you go, you will be successful.

Good luck Dude!

Hey Brian---Will miss seeing you @ Wilmington this Fall. Best of luck on your next endeavor!

Brian GOOD LUCK
 

Brian,

GOOD LUCK!!!
SGC is a great company...they will miss you....Michael Goldberg is GREAT ALSO!!!:)

PEACE

Johnny

Hey Brian,
It was great working with you! Best of luck in your future endeavors!

Mark

NO say it an't so.

Brian was an amazing help with all my registry sets and locating my stolen cards. He will be missed.

Best of luck in your future plans.

I hope the SGC guys get someone to help poor Michael out, as there is just too much to do and he is already over worked and under paid :-P

James G

I seriously doubt he's going to PSA, for several reasons, but also because he will remain a "consultant for SGC on special projects."

Think of all the knuckleheads on this forum (myself included). Imagine having to deal with all of their odd requests and complaints related to grading 100 year old cardboard. Brian did it for several years without fail, very impressive!

Thank you all for your kind words and support. It's been a total pleasure dealing with the board members along with countless other collectors whom I've met and helped.

I am not leaving to work for PSA or any company within the hobby. Upon leaving SGC, I will begin dealing cards full time with a focus on baseball from the 19th century to the 1960s.

I will continue to be on this board and others and will continue to attend shows around the country. I have no doubts that I will deal with many of you into the future, but now it will just be in a different capacity.

Thanks again.

Brian

Brian, will miss you at the Chicago shows, you made working with SGC a pleasure - surely will be missed. Glad to see you'll still be here and in the biz, best of luck in your new endeavors!

Ed

Brian is a class act. I wish you the best. It was always nice working with you at SGC.
Looking forward to seeing you at shows now and hopefully buying some cards.

This is a terrible loss...
 

...as Brian was terrific to deal with at SGC. Fortunately SGC has a lot of people that are terrific to deal with, including Michael Goldberg and Sean Skeffington, both of whom are tremendously responsive, helpful and friendly.

Hi everyone! On December 31, 2010, I left my position as Customer Service Manager of SGC to pursue other endeavors outside the hobby and return to school to complete my degree.

Over the course of my 4 ½ years at the company, I saw and handled an incredible amount of rare and unusual cards, and learned a great deal about this hobby. I added volumes of knowledge to what I already knew from my 30+ years in the card & memorabilia industry, and met a lot of wonderful collectors and dealers – many who have become close friends.

I strived each and every day to provide all of the company’s clients with outstanding customer service, answer every question asked, and treat everyone the way I would hope to be treated if I was the customer.

I feel confident that everyone at SGC will continue to do their very best to provide outstanding customer service and accurate grading, both of which have always been the hallmarks of the company.

Hopefully I will see many of you in the future at various shows around the country.

If anyone would like to contact/email me for any reason, please feel free to PM me through this board.

In closing, I wish continued success for SGC, my former clients, and the entire collecting community. I still intend to be a part of this hobby which has been so good to me for many years to come!

Sincerely,

Michael Goldberg

MG,

I think that most everyone that has used SGC has a positive attitude towards the customer service that was provided. PSA could have learned a lot about customer service by following what you did at SGC.

I don't know you personally but I've spoken to you on the phone in the past and have only positive thoughts about SGC because of what you brought to that company.

Best of luck to you in your future endeavors,

Fred

Mike, I have almost 1,000 slabbed cards and you have handled just about all of them. Whatever you decide to do I know it will be a success. I am glad I can call you a friend, and please stay in touch...nice to see you on the board!!

Rob

Michael
 

You were always most helpful to me and I, along with many others, will surely miss your sage help at sgc.
great having you on the board, though.
all the best, ole friend

barry arnold

Michael and Brian were the face of SGC for me and I appreciated their friendly and personal service each time I made a grading submittal. I wish all businesses I deal with offered the same quality of customer service; my life would be a whole lot easier. I am confident that both of these young men will be successful in their future endeavours.

Best of luck Michael. Thanks for your prompt responses to queries in the past!

Ricky Y

Hi Michael- I know we never met in person- you met my wife, but not me- and it was always a pleasure working with you. Good luck in your upcoming studies. I was sorry to see you leave SGC, but as I always say, nothing lasts forever. Be well.

Regards,
Barry

Re: News From SGC
 

Best of luck Michael. You were always a pleasure to deal with.

Best Customer Service Ever
 

You understand the needs of the client more than most people in most industries. If you continue to bring that level of game, you will certainly be successful in whatever you do.

Mike good to hear from you, always a class act & hope success finds you in the future.
Been dealing w/ SGC the last few years as their customer service has always been top notch.
Though all the people I worked with are now gone, Mike, Sean, Glyn & Brian.
Those are big shoes to fill and hopefully SGC will maintain their fine customer service.

I, too, have had the pleasure for the last several yrs of dealing personally w/ Michael, Brian, Glyn & Sean, mainly at the Shriners Show in MA and on the phone. I always appreciated the very quality fine service from each & every one of them and all 4 are & will be missed.

My best to all of you in your future endeavors.

I just called into SGC today to ask a question, and was informed that head grader Derek Grady is leaving the company with today being his last day. Has anyone else heard about this or know the reasons behind it?

in keeping with the former post
 

too many of our great friends are leaving or have left sgc, it seems.
does anyone have an update as to how things are running.
thanks for any help.
best,
barry

my understanding...
 

My understanding is that Derek is leaving for a better opportunity in the industry and it's not with a grading company. I don't know if all of the details are final so don't want to say too much else. I consider Derek a good hobby friend and am very happy for him. When the rest of the info comes out ya'll will understand why :). And no, he won't be coming to B and L auctions. best regards

So much for SGC

What in the world
 

I must say that after they didn't do onsite grading at the last Philly show I was pretty ticked.
That being said the submission I gave them at the show was back VERY quickly and in much less time then the 10-15 day turn around.
However part of what I really loved about this company was that I knew the people I was dealing with by name and they knew me. We had a nice working relationship and I was able to do a lot of registry work as a result. I do not think that I would be able to do that at this point although I won't know for sure until I have some further interaction with the new customer service guys.
That being said shouldn't a company try really hard to keep good people.
In the last few months SGC has lost the VP, head grader and both customer service guys. This does not sit well with me, especially after everyone said well the customer service guys are gone but the graders are still here. Now that isn't the case either.
I also understand that there are other graders who are more then capable, it just doesn't sit right with me to have so much turn over in a short period.
James G

Sgc
 

I wish Derek and the gang the very best as they pursue other options.

As an FYI
 

Although I can't speak as to the future of the operation they do still retain 2 of their former graders, so the grading should remain as before. And, customer service is alive and well as I spoke to them several times today.

HOWEVER, they no longer have the PO Box 6919 in Parsippany. DO NOT mail any submissions there using USPS. Send them all to the office address at 1 Gatehall Dr Suite PO11 Parsippany, NJ 07054 whether it be by USPS, FedEX or UPS

With new ownership will always come changes, especially at the top. That is typical of any company. How SGC responds, in terms of customer service and grading consistency is anyone's guess. But it is hard for me to envision them doing a better job than they had done under the prior regime. I would just hope they are more consistent than PSA, which in my opinion, gives them some room for error....

.

Poll
 

I'm sure the people at SGC would be interested in the results of the poll also.

Good experience
 

I had a very positive experience with customer service person there, Joe DelGrippo. Very quick to respond to questions, provided tracking numbers when requested and followed up when asked. This was only a couple of weeks ago.

They seem to be keeping the ship afloat through the rough seas.

Couple of things
 

1) I realize all those people left about the same time, but the standard question to ask is,, did they leave for the right reason. And the right reason is usually, is this a better opportunity or fit for that person's skills.

From what I met of Brian, he probably needed to spread his wings a bit more, Michael posted that he wanted to do something else but he loves cards and is a lifer and we'll see him in the business, Sean may have needed a break -- his position was probably very stressfull and I don't know Derek except by face -- but with a talented son who was on AI and other interests in his life, it may have been time for him to try something new as well.

2) Joe DelGrippo is a long-time hobbyist so he does understand the business and Jimmy S is an old friend of mine going back to our dealing/collecting days in the New York area in the 1980's. He has had a lot of the same people working with him in the autograph part of his business so I would think he has a good idea there on working with people

3) Sometimes change is needed as well, it's good to get fresh blood in sometimes -- but granted a grader as well respected as Derek is hard to replace. But remember this old saying, the graveyards are full of indispensible people.

I would just watch what happens at SGC but not panic at this point

regards
rich

I don't think these changes make me lose confidence in SGC, but they just make me nervous. Heck, I don't even know who the head grader is at PSA, and I can barely remember the first names of any of the customer service reps there. However, Brian and Michael just provided such an excellence of service, it simply feels as if it would be hard for the newer reps at SGC to beat. Even though I personally feel that PSA is beat up a little too much on this board, I do agree that SGC has been simply more consistent in grading overall than PSA. You simply see many more mistake grades from PSA than you do at SGC, and that's definitely the product of the people who have been there a long time.