Gaard

I know I'm being cruel, but they remind me of Britney Spears.

I was just reading Joey's post where he mentions the creep engine case. That was what...5 or 6 years ago? So lets roll back the submission numbers to what they were 7 years ago, when confidence in CGC was high, relatively speaking. Would all these QC (and nonQC) issues not occur? Scratches, smudges, hairs, damaged comics, phantom flaws, incorrect labels, upside down books, swapped labels, on and on and on. Sure, you can blame some (if not most) of the problems on increased submissions, but ALL of them?

You would probably be correct when you say that one could find pretty much the same amount of complaints for every shipper. I'm certain it has to more to do with your particular driver and where you live than with the company itself. Personally, I'm fine with any of the big 3. I usually had CGC ship vis USPS simply for insurance reasons, though that reason appears moot now. The last part of your post, however, is rubbing me the wrong way. You use the words "ridiculous" and "lame" to describe using CBCS. Your justification for this seems to be that their case and label are inferior. To assume, however, that your opinion is shared by everyone is ... ridiculous and lame. Not to mention borderline narcissist.

Store stamps count towards the grade?

So I take it, unless the presser is lacking in the integrity department and doesn't say anything, we can rule out the presser having caused this?

Yep. Just the homepage.

I'm not seeing it.

It hasn't shipped yet, but I won this off CL a few days ago. I like the colors. The wrap could be better, though.

This is what the page looks like. No tracking number.

I have that number. The tracking number is not on the submission page.

Is there a way to get the tracking number for a shipped submission that has fallen off the status page (which is quite common these days)? Because of the fact that it's Saturday, I'm hoping there's a way to get it other than calling.

I wrote lots of letters back in my teens. I never had a single one published. I'm such a failure.

I was told prominent members of the community asked for this. Will those members please step forward and take a bow?

One of my biggest disappointments in my 45+ yrs of collecting is never owning a copy of FF25.

Lack of communication rates very high on my list of most hated things. It really grinds my gears that YOU had to contact CL about your book, and that they didn't have the decency to keep you informed ... even after taking your money.

Agree 100%. It's not only fair game to discuss the deal, but also the lack of integrity of the reneger.

Can't state a specific time or comic, but Peter David got me to laugh plenty of times.

debatable

Help me to understand this. I'm really not trying to be a richard, though I'm sure it seems like it. I'm just trying to understand how something like this could happen, especially when "every book does go through quality control before being shipped." So we have this submission of 4 books. All 4 have the incorrect issue on the label. Does this mean all 4 books were examined by QC and deemed correct? Similarly, we've all seen the numerous examples of 2 books with swapped labels. Does this mean that they were both deemed correct when they were examined by QC?

I have no idea of the process pressers have. It seems like part of the process would be to look the book over even before starting the pressing process. I know Tony does this, and I'm pretty sure Joey does as well, but I have no idea if this is part of CCS's (or pressers in general) process. It would seem like the presser would know what the major flaws of a book are before and after the process. I guess what I'm trying to say is ... wouldn't the presser know if he inadvertently split the spine?

Congrats. How'd it look after?

The dreaded Phantom Flaws rear their ugly head again! The employee who cleans CGC's toilets is a 'professional'. If he glanced at a comic to make sure it wasn't torn in half, he 'inspected' it.

I agree that this line of thinking comes dangerously close to falling in the realm of conspiracy theory, but to quote Angela Bassett in the movie Contact, "we won't be suppressing any opinions here today". It's quite obvious, to me, that when it comes to CGC grading lately, something is rotten in the state of Denmark. There's just too much...grades far off, phantom flaws lasted in the notes, and from my own personal experience, the exact same flaw listed for every book in a multiple book submission. Even the naysayers have to agree that there is way too much inconsistency going on. What is debatable is the level of deliberateness. My opinion, and I realize many, many people will disagree with me, is that there is a certain underhandedness going on down there. I understand that mistakes will happen. That's a given ... and expected. But there's just too many lies for me to believe these are all just honest mistakes.

Can you confirm/deny that they do? It's been my understanding that the graders do not know if a book went thru CCS. Of course, that's just what CGC has told us.

I share this opinion. It also seems like some of these graders think that the more flaws they find (or say that they find) makes them a better grader.