Will PSA Correct This Mistake???

[JollyElm]

I know that approaching PSA about removing a (wrongfully given) PD qualifier from one of your cards leads down a long and winding road to the middle of Frustration Junction, but what happens when they unquestionably mislabeled a card? Will they change the label for you (at no cost)?

Here is the card in question. An otherwise beautiful (great corners and centering) Mike Schmidt rookie card that clearly has a large stain on it (I upped the contrast, etc., to really bring it out), muddying up the wonderful 'rookie' (guess they forgot about his 1972 card) Ron Cey...

1973schmidtrc615PSA8PDa.jpg1973schmidtrc615PSA8PDb.jpg

The (very old) label has it as a print defect (PD) and not as a stain (ST). Does anyone have experience in this area? The card is available for trade, as I'm not looking to sell it or anything, but at some point I need the label to be accurate. Right now, a normal person would think, "Okay, if that's not a stain, then something must've happened with the ink during the printing process, so there's nothing really amiss." But, it is truly a stain (unless I am somehow wildly missing something), as you can see it on back as well.

On a side note, the seller was quite forthright with me. He didn't try to convince me it was anything other than a stain, and we chatted and I made an offer on it knowing full well what I was in for.

If I approach PSA with this (and they actually respond), are they going to say something to the effect of, "Well, if it says 'PD' on it, then clearly the grader recognized that area as a print defect, so we won't change it." Or will they actually see that the card was LITERALLY mislabeled and change it to a PSA 8 ST??

Any hope of a proper resolution?? I just want accuracy.

Oh, and in case it wasn't clear, I'm not looking for any sort of regrade. I just want the 'PD' to be correctly updated to 'ST.'

Thanks!

[swarmee]

Email them with a request for Mechanical Error and see what they say. None of us can answer this for you.
They might require you to pay the reholder fee, or they might do it for you for free. Shouldn't make any difference to the value.

[jchcollins]

Yikes - that's pretty misleading. Interesting though - let us know what the response is if you send it back to PSA.

[JollyElm]

Well, lookie here!!

PSA actually took my issue seriously and worked to fix the label in a timely manner. Not going to lie, I put a lot of effort into imploring them to do the right thing, but it went relatively smoothly and now the card has been 'corrected'...

1973schmidtrc615PSA8ST.jpg

Of course, the 'value' was hurt by this undertaking, because I assume if forced to decide, collectors would much rather own a card with a 'natural' 'PD' than an 'ST,' but now it is honestly graded (and looking much better in the new slab)...and pretty sweet otherwise, I do declare.

So the answer to my original question, "Will PSA Correct This Mistake???" is a resounding, "Yes, Ma'am!!!"

[STL1944]

I am impressed they took your seriously. I am 5-10 emails in with no response asking PSA to correct an error on some reprint cards they graded at real.

Any tips for how you got them to respond?

[JollyElm]

The basis of my e-mails was to really drive home the point that the blatant mistake really made them look bad (especially with all of the negative attention they're getting with the trimming scandals), plus I employed the term "literally" over and over again to point out that the label was literally wrong. That it wasn't simply an opinion that the card didn't deserve a 'PD' qualifier, but that it was literally stained. Don't know if those tactics will work in your situation, but they were certainly helpful (I believe) with mine. Just stress how bad it makes them look, and that more and more people on the chat boards are really getting frustrated by the fact PSA doesn't seem to care about the ridiculous mistakes they seem to regularly make.

Good luck!!