Harley Yee: Talk About Excellent Customer Service!

[Aman619]

My experience with Harley during the 1990's is that he would UNDERGRADE books. Sounds great, right? THINK AGAIN! Here's why: he takes a VG book and grades it G, but the rub is he would price it at VG. OK, so you buy the VG book at a VG price, but he was calling it a G. No harm, no foul, right? WRONG! Because Harley reported his sales to Overstreet during the 90's (no idea about now or how he runs his show now). Why is this an issue? BECAUSE THIS EVENTUALLY DRIVES UP PRICES FOR COLLECTORS UNFAIRLY! Think about it: Harley reported the sale of a G book to Overstreet at a VG price, people! Does everyone understand what I'm saying? It's a long running dirty little secret of the comic hobby that some dealers operate this way...

 

thi sreally makes no sense. Dealers dont want or need higher Overstreet prices. If anything they conspire to keep them lower so they pay less when buying collections from widows and orphans.

[Rickdogg]

I agree that Harley usually has great customer service. I have purchased several CGC books from him in the past under my orignal ebay ID as well as my gf's at the time. He sends me his catalogs as well as heads up letters to let me know when he will be in town on a regular basis. However this last transaction, which was the cheapest of all of the transactions we have ever had has been terrible to say the least. 3 months is way too long of a period to wait for a transaction to be completed. The only reason why i even gave him this long before posting this here on the forum is because I gave him the benefit of the doubt and he blew it.

[sterlingcomics]

HOM and HOS are near and dear to me-thanks for clarifying. Some of these are unfamiliar because I haven't started collecting them...yet.

 

I just gave you 5 virtual stars!

 

Chuckie Boy mentioned in a few 'Tales of the Database' CBG article about dealers reporting sales when in fact they were just exchanging inventory in an effort to increase demand/prices, so I guess it isn't too much of a stretch. I think he keeps archives on his MH site...as I am paraphrasing something I read months back....

[precodekeith]

thi sreally makes no sense. Dealers dont want or need higher Overstreet prices. If anything they conspire to keep them lower so they pay less when buying collections from widows and orphans.

WHAT PLANET are you living on?! Dealers don't "want or need higher Overstreet prices." ??!! Dude, I hope you are being sarcastic! What orphan or widow knows the freakin' Overstreet value/ has a grasp of Overstreet grading, anyway?! It makes complete sense... either that, or you are right and all comic dealers should give it up & start selling Magic the Gathering cards for a living.

[musicmeta]

I agree that Harley usually has great customer service. I have purchased several CGC books from him in the past under my orignal ebay ID as well as my gf's at the time. He sends me his catalogs as well as heads up letters to let me know when he will be in town on a regular basis. However this last transaction, which was the cheapest of all of the transactions we have ever had has been terrible to say the least. 3 months is way too long of a period to wait for a transaction to be completed. The only reason why i even gave him this long before posting this here on the forum is because I gave him the benefit of the doubt and he blew it.

 

Yes, Harley did blow it. Why would a supposedly decent dealer ruin a relationship with a steady respectable, reliable..on and on... buyer like you. He's cutting his own throat for business as word spreads. Geez, he should just give you the freaking refund and be done.

The very last resort(probably already done this) is a firm letter or phone call letting him know how much business you've had with him in the past, how wonderful the service was and how much business you were planning to do with him in the future. Now he's about to blow it(might be too late!) all on this one transaction for as you say, not much money involved. MAKES NO SENSE!!

 

[Red Hook]

Just for the record, my two dealings with Harley via mail went well. Could he grade a bit tighter? Yes.

 

But the books arrived before I blinked half a dozen times, were packed beautifully and he even made a follow up call. So I will continue to deal with him.

 

One thing I would love is if more dealers updated their websites more often. It's a waste of everyone's time if they don't.

 

 

[Aman619]

I agree with all th egood thing ssaid baout good ol Harley.

But, wastn there a similar situation about a year ago where he took a long time to finish off deal like this? We were guessing a cash flow problem...?? ANyone remember what I think Im remembering?

[chrisco37]

Chuckie Boy mentioned in a few 'Tales of the Database' CBG article about dealers reporting sales when in fact they were just exchanging inventory in an effort to increase demand/prices

 

You are correct, sir! The specific issue in question is Conan #3 which Chuckles admits that he and other Denver area dealers marked as "low-distribution" in an attempt to maximize profit on back issue sales. It seems ripping off the Church's wasn't enough.

 

I really wish Chuckles would get back to some good TFDB (Tales from the Database...another acronym for you! ), instead of this boring distribution stuff. I miss his mescaline and ether fueled treks cross country, wheelin' and dealin', building his empire.

 

(Wait a sec...maybe I'm getting him confused w/ 'House? )

[lighthouse]

Chuckie Boy mentioned in a few 'Tales of the Database' CBG article about dealers reporting sales when in fact they were just exchanging inventory in an effort to increase demand/prices

 

You are correct, sir! The specific issue in question is Conan #3 which Chuckles admits that he and other Denver area dealers marked as "low-distribution" in an attempt to maximize profit on back issue sales. It seems ripping off the Church's wasn't enough.

 

I really wish Chuckles would get back to some good TFDB (Tales from the Database...another acronym for you! ), instead of this boring distribution stuff. I miss his mescaline and ether fueled treks cross country, wheelin' and dealin', building his empire.

 

(Wait a sec...maybe I'm getting him confused w/ 'House? )

 

No mescaline for me... reacts badly with Viagra...

[Rickdogg]

I agree with all th egood thing ssaid baout good ol Harley.

But, wastn there a similar situation about a year ago where he took a long time to finish off deal like this? We were guessing a cash flow problem...?? ANyone remember what I think Im remembering?

 

Yeah someone mentioned it before about how he received a check from Harley that bounced. The situation was ugly, but I don't remember who posted it.

[drice6900]

Just my 2 cents... Harley has been an excellent dealer in all the transactions we have made. I usually only buy CGC graded books from him, so I can't comment on his raw books, other than I think they are a bit overpriced.

 

His business in not too far away from where I live, but since he doesn't have a store front, I can't just stop in and ask about your situation. If he is at the MotorCity Extravacon tomorrow, I will ask. It is a little, monthly Con here in the Detroit area that I have seen him at once or twice.

 

[CentaurMan]

I just got a book in the mail from Harley today. This is my 4th transaction with him in a year. 3 were mail orders, 1 was at a convention. I've never had a problem with him at all. I think he overgrades a bit, but no worse than Metro does, and I don't begrudge him that. His prices are fair-to-high, but he gave me a discount at the convention after minimal haggling. All the comics that he's sold me as unrestored do in fact appear to be unrestored, and I take every book I buy and put it through a pretty rigorous inch-by-inch exam, then black-light it the same way.

 

It's disappointing that you're having this problem with him, but I can't help but feel that it's some sort of bad slipped-through-the-cracks kind of thing, as opposed to flat out intentional negligence. Hopefully it will get worked out ok.

[Red Hook]

To support that supposition, the first order I placed with Harley was for about $200. I gave him all my debit card info over the phone and the books arrived two days later. Funny thing, he never got around to putting through the charge. I asked him about it and he had completely forgotten.

 

So these things happen, and it's not always in his favor. I really think things just get by him once in a while.

 

 

[namisgr]

I, too, have had excellent experiences buying from Harley over the course of many years, both through the mail and at shows. He is, in fact, one of the very small handful of dealers from whom I am willing to buy books unslabbed and unseen via the mail. My experience is that he has been lightening-fast with shipping, and is always willing to take back a book.

 

Sorry to hear about a negative experience, but I suspect it is just an isolated screwup.

[Timely]

Just for the record, my two dealings with Harley via mail went well. Could he grade a bit tighter? Yes.

 

I bought a book from Harley that he graded as 7.0, I sent it in to CGC and it got an 8.5! No problems on grading that book for me!

 

Timely