DonLaGreca

3 hours ago, DonLaGreca said:

12/21 Economy: Still received. Wish I never got baited into this terrible service tier haha of well.... 

Update: Scheduled for grading. 

12/21 Economy: Still received. Wish I never got baited into this terrible service tier haha of well.... 

2 hours ago, geraldfordfan69 said:

If card quality is high, then there should be lots of 10s on the market. There shouldnt be a bunch of 9's and 9.5s if thats the case since if there isnt any imperfections, there is no reason to artificially downgrade cards. Lots of the japanese cards have zero issues since they have the card production almost down to the science, yet theres tons of japanese cards that arent perfect 10s. Same could be said with certain US sets. Ive done mass box openings on some of the recent sword & shield sets and some of them have no quality control issues, so not to give out 9.5's or 10s on new cards with no factory issues, doesnt make any sense.

I'm already starting to notice inconsistencies in some of the cards I been graded. That is grading in general though, its all subjective and CGC isnt any different. What makes me not like the CGC/BGS system is that when its on a 9.5 scale (since the 10 is non-existant for the most part), the cards naturally get graded lower. I end up with lots of 8's and 8.5s when with SGC or PSA, i would have more 9's since they use the 1-10 scale.

At the end of the day, I just care what the number is since thats what the market cares about. People sadly buy the label. But its not much dfiferent than buying luxury goods. People dont buy rolls royce or louis vuitton because its the best quality. They buy it since its a status symbol. And PSA, even with their crappy slabs, is a status thing. So Im not really incentivized to grade with a company that realistically, just has a different methology really. They care alot about centering while the rest of the companies dont. And the secondary market doesnt care that CGC cares about centering, so theres that.

This kinda just goes back to my original point. If you need to use a microscope to see a miniscule defect within a card then you are trying too hard. Again, these cards are being graded for humans, not robots. I If the human eye cannot detect flaws in the card than I strongly believe the card should be a 10. This is how PSA feels and this is why they will always control the market. 

5 hours ago, C2N0 said:

No. Lol.

Yes. Lol.

8 minutes ago, geraldfordfan69 said:

No, your not being remotely reasonable. Your acting extremely inappropriate. I have a reasonable complaint that Im trying to talk about with an employee at the company yet your coming here acting like a manager telling me to screw off when you have zero authority whatsoever. Its embarrassing that Paul is even allowing this and this is a good reason too why Im not coming back to CGC since the culture is very reflective in its superfans.

Welcome to the block list. No point in trying to have a conversation with someone who refuses to listen and just keeps talking over me. I dont know on what planet you think your defending CGC well but your just digging the hole deeper and im not interested in talking to you future.

Maybe CGC can send you a lollipop or something 

2 minutes ago, geraldfordfan69 said:

All the orders pre-february 17th were prepaid on. They are sitting at CGC not being worked on. They moved from early December to mid December on bulk in an entire month. I dont know how your going to keep defending this since its just poor business practices.

You cant keep changing estimates to unrealistic times and think its ok. It doesnt matter what the actual circumstances are. There just comes a point to where CGC is at fault. People paid money to get their cards back at a reasonable amount of time. Half a year isnt very reasonable. And not even a "yeah we are sorry" is just like a big middle finger to everyone.

Regardless, I dont know if your an employee or a superfan or what your problem is, but the fact that Paul tolerates, yeah your looking at some awful business relations in your future. Telling people to off because their service was delayed half a year without any form of compensation or at least acknowledgment of it being an issue, yeah thats extremely bad business and any potential graders in the future are going to read this and think poorly. 

 

I am not an "employee or a superfan", just a reasonable person that can understand the complexities of a situation. Complaining does nothing.

1 minute ago, geraldfordfan69 said:

Ok first off Don your acting very inappropriate. Your on a moderated board and you keep telling CGC's own customers to go away. I dont know when you thought you became CEO of the company or think your some kind of decision maker, but your not. I have a legit concern and I dont know why you keep dismissing it.

Second, an estimate has to be appropriate. Giving out a 30 day estimate and changing it to 144 days is not appropriate. Do you really think going from 30 to 144 is acceptable? I dont see how it is. Thats a huge different in time frame, as in we are talking almost half a year difference in time. And my orders were PREPAID. That is what makes it worse, even though I paid to have most of my orders upgraded since im not waiting half a year for my cards back.

Finally, regardless of whos fault it is, the changing in TAT's LOOKS BAD. It just looks like CGC has no idea what they are doing. Maybe they have something going on behind the scenes like some secret algorithm through the OC3 optical lines that will fix the TAT's, I have no clue, but regardless, changing the TAT's consistently to very length amounts of time feels bad. It doesnt make me want to come back. It looks like CGC is disorganized and is taking peoples money and not doing anything. Again, that is what it LOOKS like. Nobody knows what is really happening since communication isnt very good. Regardless, yeah I mean going from 1 month to half a year in bulk, like at some point you have to take some accountability for a huge change like that. You cant keep blaming the customers forever.

Do you suggest they not give you an estimate at all? I am not sure why it is so hard for your to understand that things changed since they gave those original estimates. Why is this so hard for you to grasp? And they don't take your money until your card goes into grading.... so they aren't taking anyone's money and haven't since February 16th when the policy changed. Once they grade your cards they charge you. And they issued a full blog post a few weeks ago discussing the turn around times and the process going forward, did you happen to miss that? 

20 minutes ago, geraldfordfan69 said:

Is this a reflection of CGC's culture? "Sorry but we cant keep promises and dont want to accept any responsibility, so go away bye". Lol what a joke. You cant be serious if you think thats appropriate way of doing business.

It was never a promise. But all you entitled people that come on these forums and complain every day as if CGC is not doing their best to meet the demand. Their initial estimates where not just numbers on a freaking dart board like ohhh hey lets choose this. I am positive it was a calculation they determined based on the number of orders they were expecting, the amount of staff on hand, and the allotted time it takes to grade cards. Obviously they received incredibly more cards than they could have ever imagined and they had to adjust this calculation on the fly and its been getting adjusted continuously as the numbers still increased. So yeah if you dont like the company or the service they provide because they couldn't meet an estimate during unprecedent times, than yeah go away. Or stay, but you don't need to let us know on a message board. 

3 minutes ago, geraldfordfan69 said:

Ya know Paul I been defending you guys for a while but this is getting kind of unbelievable. You cant say that 30 was your best estimate and now 144 is your best estimate. You dont think that makes no sense? Its literally a 100 day difference. Your "best" estimate was pretty way off.

And I get the jargon at this point. "Nothing guaranteed", "Estimate that that time", "We have too many orders", "We are hiring more people and getting a bigger building" etc etc. But these are not very good excuses. You keep neglecting the bulk and finding reasons to not take responsibility. At one point is it not going to be the customers fault?

Im just saying it right now that your either going to have an even more ridiculous TAT or your going to shut down at some point. A credit would be nice but at this point, I dont expect anything except more excuses. Id like to do business with CGC in the future but right now, this is not a very good look. Regardless if its your company'ys fault or the industry's norms or whatever, the lack of acknowledgment of the problem just looks very bad. Sorry man but I probably wont submit again unless things are taken control of. It just looks amateurish from my PoV of the handling of the bulk.

Lol ok don't submit again. You don't need to announce it on a message board, cya!

4 hours ago, Wyatt Love said:

Bulk - 72 Cards

Received 12/17/20 ("Current turnaround" when received = 30 working days)

Scheduled for grading 4/9/21 (actual TAT = 85+ working days)

 

Finally! Super happy this is finally scheduled for grading, but there is something that I must say. I understand they are doing their best, the market for graded cards in unprecedented, and they are new to the 'card' grading scene, I get it I get it, so all is forgiven and I am happy to continue working with CGC. However, I kind of feel like I was somewhat misled here. Yes there is a disclaimer that TATs are estimates and not guarantees, and yes bulk orders are the least prioritized, but lets be honest with ourselves, 85+ working days compared to 30 is not too good of an "estimate" to put it mildly, and the TAT isn't complete until the entire process is complete so I still have some more time. This post is not meant to be hostile, but to give everyone a little more transparency as to how this process will play out for them, and also to generate a conversation with some constructive suggestions as to how CGC might go about fixing this problem so their customers do not feel misled when TATs jump up 3x after sending their cards in.

The only real suggestion I can come up with is to have an entirely separate staff for each grading tier to be more precise with TATs. That is probably not feasible, so at the very least spruce up that disclaimer so we all know what to expect here. That all I got, so more suggestions are appreciated. Thanks. 

 

 

 

Lol do you really think when they gave this initial estimate things would blow up like they did? Obviously not and they have since drastically changed TATs to reflect the massive influx in demand. PSA shut down entirely due to demand, I am just try and be logical here. CGC is a business and they would certainly like to retain customers. They gave a rough estimate that they felt at the time they could meet and obviously things have drastically changed. They have adjusted their TATs accordingly and are beginning to meet these new times. Its unfortunate for the people that submitted cards in the beginning, right before the massive influx of cards, buts its simply the reality of the situation. There is really no simple fix to this problem. Card grading is a difficult business to scale, especially scale rapidly, just take a look at PSA. If shutting down submissions completely is the only way to catch up then you should realize how unprecedented these times are.. 

13 hours ago, Sp33dy said:

Because more value has to be put into that account. It jus doesn't cost 10 for the card. The money used to pull the card, then the grading fee, then the shipping fee to send that card and then the shipping fee into getting the card back and whatever materials used. Its alot more than jus saying u spend 10 and sell for 20. Ur losing 

People are still making plenty of money when the price for bulk is 9 dollars per card, even after everything you mentioned. Certainly not losing. 

3 hours ago, Sp33dy said:

I don't believe thats true. Its a card that doesn't hold that much value so why would u raise it. Cap is 100, no need to raise unless u raising the cap substantially 

I mean if it costs 10 bucks to grade the card and you sell it for 20 you doubled your money. Not sure how a 100 percent return is worth it to you. 

2 hours ago, Bahamuta said:

The problem lies from when the Logan Paul Pokemon craze happened, people started submitting every common known to man in bulk submissions of thousands at a time. People are grading cards that have no business getting graded (commons, obvious damage, etc)

I mean yeah when its $9 a card why not. Bulk is far too cheap. It needs a substantial price increase. Take advantage of it while you can. 

16 minutes ago, Wyatt Love said:

Bulk Received 12/17/20 - 72 Cards

     Approximate turnaround time when received (30 days)

     Status as of 4/6/21....Received

Bulk Received 2/2/21 - 102 Cards

     Approximate turnaround time when received (50 days)

     Status as of 4/6/21....Received

Bulk Received 2/15/21 - 130 Cards

     Approximate turnaround time when received (60 days)

     Status as of 4/6/21....Received

I understand that they are doing their best, but 110+ days compared to 30, 50, & 60 is not approximate.

 

You do know that those estimates are business days right? These are all bulk orders and unfortunately the least prioritized submission for CGC. But when you take some time to look at a calendar you'll come to realize that its been:

72 business days since your 12/17/20 submission was received - obviously far past original 30 day TAT but are working on this weeks submissions currently. 

45 business days since your 2/2/21 submission was received - still under the original 50 day TAT by 5 days

36 business days since your 2/15/21 submission was received. - still under the original 60 day TAT by 24 days

Based on some of my submissions it seems like they are starting to meet the new extended TATs so that's at least good. Obviously they did not see this massive influx coming, no one did, but lets not blow the TATs out of proportion. 

On 4/5/2021 at 8:55 AM, DonLaGreca said:

Update:

3/30: Scheduled for grading

4/5: Still schedule for grading

4/6: Grading / Quality Control

2 hours ago, LordSherman said:

Other with sub now scheduled as well

My 12/9 has been scheduled for grading for over a week... sigh (well nvm, see below lol)

1 minute ago, Buzzetta said:

I will flat out say that this is the most ridiculous comment I have ever read on grading.

 

Would love to hear some explanation to your blanket statement. 

On 4/3/2021 at 2:01 PM, geraldfordfan69 said:

To be fair, Paul is just a customer support rep and not a main decision maker, so its not like what hes telling me is really what the company means.

The work CGC does in itself seems fine. Im not in love with their methology behind how they get the grading score (since it seems like a bunch of made up BS) but overall, service itself is fine I guess? Not really much different than any other grading company really. Most grades seem kinda consistent but then some are just extremely subjective.

In terms of how they are handling orders, yeah its making no sense. The fact that I can pay them 12 more bucks and have an order that wouldnt get done in 3-4 months get magically moved to grading and shipped 2 weeks later, is extremely sketchy. There was basically an unofficial price spike it seems like. And when they are giving out lower grades and their high end stuff isnt hitting similar values to PSA, yeah I cant see myself running it back with this company. Like dont get me wrong, I dont like PSA at all since I dealt with them and its miserable, but at the same time, if they are offering the most money resale wise and both these companies are headaches to deal with, well I guess then Im just going to go where the most money is if customer support sucks all over.

Also CGC only grading Pokemon/MTG and having Sports being a seperate company is another reason I wouldnt go back. Im personally getting sick of Pokemon outside of selling it and am starting to shift more towards Yugioh since its criminally undervalued and the crowd is less drama in general, but CGC isnt adding Yugioh anytime soon, or if they did then its another 2 years of TAT LOL. So I might start hunting down only high end Yugioh and Pokemon and paying 75 with SGC. 1 week turn around time and no BS, they were on point. Even with a walkthrough with CGC, it took me 3 weeks to get a 9 on a Charizard VMAX Shiny that had zero issues and would easily be a 10 or a 9.5 with another company. It just seems like the boat has sailed on CGC. They started off good but like anything, they were ruined by social media.

The real problem is your last point. CGC grades cards for robots with microscopes and computers. They ding your cards for imperfections the human eye cant even see. They really need to loosen up on their grades and realize they are hurting their brand with these unrealistic grading practices. No one wants to collect 9.5s, its just reality. Stop hurting your own brand with this nonsense. 

On 3/30/2021 at 5:28 PM, DonLaGreca said:

Economy submission: 9 cards no subgrades

12/9: Received

3/30: Scheduled for grading

Total days: 111

Business days: 78 minus 4 days for holidays so 74 total business days. 

So I guess that's beating the current TAT of 110 working days by a month. 

Update:

3/30: Scheduled for grading

4/5: Still schedule for grading

3 hours ago, PokemanDude90 said:

A late night streamer watch sometimes got a Bulk submission back from PSA a month ago or so and it was literally almost straight 10's. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Infuriating that these things are the 'pinnacle of condition' in the community. Absolute joke. Another Poketuber ZandGemporium got a big Japanese bulk return of nearly straight 10's, and quit his day job!!! He listed all the cards on Ebay, made sure he was the lowest priced on each card (didn't matter because he still made BANK with that 10 premium) sold out and then made a video complaining he had nothing to sell a few months later. You know there is a serious inefficiency when people are quitting day jobs over bulk submissions. And I think the new owners of PSA recognized this because.....

Anything returned within the last month or so I see TONS of 8.5's, 7.5's which has never been the case. Either the new ownership put a stop to the madness of handing out 10's like candy due to depreciation of their brand long term, or they recognize that in the long run CGC's harsh but impartial grading is going to win out as the grading community becomes more and more optimized (buy the card not the grade), so they started getting way more strict and also implemented .5's more often as well.

 

I like CGC. I do enjoy their stricter grading and I truly appreciate the few cards I have gotten back that received pristine 10s. And I know there are people that say CGC 9.5s are PSA 10s, which in theory is correct from a grading standpoint, but I just do not want to collect a bunch of 9.5s. Its just not a collection I want to build or hold long term and CGC has a real problem when it comes to this. 

PSA caters to sellers and CGC is great for buyers. The PSA TAT extension, followed by the price increase, followed by the recent shut down should help CGC cards close the gap in price on the Ebay market, which I feel is far too large right now. PSA is far too laxed with their handing out of 10s and this benefitted sellers tremendously. I see soooo many PSA 10s that are just straight up 9s, and there are tons of people who are perfectly accepting of them and buy them up. Gone are the days of sending in tons of cards to PSA, getting 10s, and flipping them for cash, at least for now. Ive got a few CGC 10s in my collection, unfortunately no perfect 10s yet, but I anticipate these are severally undervalued currently and this PSA shutdown should clearly point that out. 

6 minutes ago, ShiningCollectibles said:

At a certain point they would cut off the line and catch up like PSA did.

The first astute observation you have made. Wouldn't be surprised if that happens within the next week or two. 

8 minutes ago, ShiningCollectibles said:

Guess you don't mind if you order a burger and it's 4 hours late. 

Imagine you rolled up to Burger King to order this cheeseburger you speak of and there are 250k cars in line in front of you all trying to get the same 2 dollar cheeseburger. Oh and also there are another 150k people that paid for the deluxe cheeseburger, that burger costs about triple the price of yours and gets delivered much faster. Oh and also when you got to the window to order your burger, the worker specifically tells you that you may not get your burger back within the estimated time frame and it could be much longer, with no guarantee of when you may even get it back, and you smile and nod. And now you are sitting in your car honking your horn annoying all the other people waiting in line..... 

Just now, ShiningCollectibles said:

Lol, many other (Real) people who have had this done to them on a big order are just as furious.

Well get over it and just wait like the rest of us. 

6 minutes ago, Dr. Dank said:

Anything about what?

You must clarify, did you ask for your property back, and they refused?

Did you ask why your property hasn't moved to the next stage of grading?

Are you saying they are forcing you to have your property graded?

His items haven't moved because he's not the only freaking person trying to get their cards graded. Its a line, a que a god damn system that must be maintained in proper order. But this guy thinks the world revolves around him. Please don't use this company or this forum again and CGC and everyone here would be better off. Some people are so damn impatient its insane. Do you think CGC is just guna wave their magic wand because you cry on a message board? Holy hell