The Therapeutic TPG Rant

[dembums]

This rant is for therapeutic purposes (i.e. to make me feel better). All people and events are not fictionalized, although it may seem so.

Let me also preface this rant by allowing all the TPG haters a resounding “I told you so!”

There. You said it.

Let us continue.

I submit only once or twice a year, usually waiting for a good Collector’s Club special or when my membership expires (so I can use the six grading vouchers). I’m also a set registry collector and have been working on one set for over ten years, all with PSA. Never have I strayed from said company – I am very loyal. I’m an ideal customer, no questions asked, pay my dues, take my lumps (usually during my submissions), and they profit. A good little boy.

In January on my last submission, I included a “mechanical error” which needed to be fixed. I purchased a card on ebay and found I could not enter it in my set. It was a 1955 Bowman John Podres PSA 7, which was listed in the database as a 1958 Topps Baltimore Team Card in PSA 8. O.k., no big deal, I’ll just send it in as “mechanical error” on my next sub.

A day after my submission, I see that they have fixed the Podres and now amazingly they have bumped up the grade in their database to an 8! And it’s already been shipped! Dang, I thought, it’s my lucky day! A free review and bump of a whole grade! PSA my savior! Later in the week, I realized my lucky stars were not quite in alignment. Package arrives, I open it and start immediate dropping “Fbombs” and “MotherFbombs” in PSA’s direction. Same old slab on the Podres, same old grade – no bump, no review, just another “mechanical error.” Now I have to send it back again! How many times will this Podres go through the system till the flip and database is accurate?


RANT INTERMISSION.


O.k., during this same time I also submitted 10 tall-boys for grading. The most important of the bunch being a rare 1947 Bond Bread Exhibit Gil Hodges. It was really the pinnacle of the whole submission for me and I was very exited to get it graded (yes, I'm a nerd). Anyways, grades pop and I see that there is an N9:NO SPEC INFO, listed where my Brond Bread should be. What this meant was that they could not correctly identify the card, and therefore they were not going to grade it. I'm somewhat of a specialist on what Brooklyn Dodger cards PSA grades in the years I collect - almost out of necessity because all of my cards get graded.
I knew for a fact that PSA graded the issue, not to mention there were currently eight PSA graded Bond Exhibits on ebay, at that specific moment! PSA's own population report listed a total of 58 Bond Bread Exhibits having been graded. Additionally, a Jackie Robinson Bond Bread Exhibit was featured in May's SMR! There is literally a picture of one graded in their own magazine!

So, I called. Talked to customer service, told him that they did in fact grade this issue, blah, blah, blah. He told me he would get back to me later in the day, which did not happen. So I called the following day, when he told me they were still having issues identifying the card (mind you, I have it clearly identified on the submission form), I then gave him the page number in the Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball cards so he could find the issue, and two cert numbers of Bond Bread Exhibits that were on ebay. If I wasn't on vacation this week, how could I have done all of their work for them?

In short, it was a PITA.

B.en An.derson

(and yes, I'm still a PSA fanboy)

The Data Entry Outlier: John Podres

[chaddurbin]

not worth your one post for the year!

[glynparson]

frustrating i am sure but not the end of the world. sorry it happened but i hope the venting got it out of your system. it is honestly not worth dwelling on.

[Harford20]

Just a note, PSA has had difficulty with the Bond Bread Exhibits in the past. My experience is with the Ted Williams. I originally sent in my Williams exhibits about two years ago-- none for Williams had been graded at that time. I received the card back, also with that N9 note. PSA then graded a 7 about 18 months ago. I saw that card sell, realized that PSA would now grade mine. As I was planning my next submission, on eBay, another "Ted Williams Bond Bread Exhibits" was advertised, an Authentic. The card stabbed in this auction was the reprinted square-cornered 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 inch card and not the exhibit size card. I sent the photos of both of the PSA graded cards, the real exhibits and the mistake "exhibits" to PSA Customer Service and then on to the Specs. I received an email back that they indeed had made a huge mistake.

Six months later, sent my exhibits in, received a PSA 5. Of note, they have never taken that error PSA Auth "little" card out of the population report.

Yours, the Hodges has even been graded several times previously.

Bond Bread cards, other than the Jackie series, seem to stump these experts.

Dave Ha.rford

[HRBAKER]

Hope that made you feel better.

[dembums]

You guys are right, it's water under the bridge, and honestly not that big of a deal. I know I'm overreacting to some extent. However, its not the scope of the mistakes that PSA made, but more what they imply. In the case of the Podres, how many times must one card go through the system, until the database and flip say the same thing? So far it is two consecutive misses. You figure when a card gets sent in as "mechanical error" you would be extra diligent to get it right. That is just the logical assumption.

In the case of the 1947 Bond Bread Hodges, if I did not do the extra leg work, and catch my order before it had been shipped - it would not have been graded. O.k. not that big of a deal - but when it is in fact a card that they grade, and I am paying for this service and expect no problems with the "Spec" department identifying the card - then it becomes a PITA.

When both of these things happen on the same order it's highly frustrating.

And I'll post more, so you guys won't think I'm such a crotchety bitch.

B.en An.der.son

[Zach Wheat]

Ben,

I like your writing style. Unfortunate that this happened.


Z Wheat

[dembums]

Thanks Zach!

[Bunker]

You have every right to complain, if it happened to me I would also be upset.