With CGG....When It Rains It Pours....

[Calamerica]

Sorry that this happened to you. This was uncalled for and hope you can somehow make the most of a bad situation.

 

Another straw in the CGC© barrel - forget CGG(G). Sure, C might have a "rare" mishap, but believe me, they have a very high percentage of doing things right. They have done thousands of comic books by now and they are willing to fix oversights. I always thought G was poorly thought out and a "cut-n-paste" right off of C. Nothing wrong with trying to be a competitor, but if you are going to compete, at least get it right and fix ALL problems. Just my rant on this. I kept very quiet on G to give them a chance. Then I read the Threads here, and I am not impressed with G. I read them with open mind and was objective. They have NO chance of getting my comics. C will get them. C had earned the business.

 

CAL

[BassGMan]

I didn't want to start a new thread on this but I did just receive an e-mail from Daniel of CGG that he mentioned I could post, here it is in it's entirety followed by my response to him:

 

I am sorry to hear we are losing your support. It is unfortunate that every single error we have made has to be publicized and torn apart by everyone. Every error we have made we have offered to fix, and then we try our best not to make that same mistake in the future. We have now had 23 books that have had errors on them. 23 out of 8000 does not seem to me to add up to us being an incompetent company, as it seems to read with all the people bashing on us. We are at about a .0028 error percentage, not great but hardly high enough, in my opinion to warrant public ridicule. I believe the majority of companies in the world would love that percentage of errors and mistakes. Apparently though it seems in our case if we are not perfect, and avoid all the people that search for the smallest thing to use to publicly bash us, then we can't be a viable company worthy of people's business. We will continue to work toward being error free, and continue to offer our customers a solid service. Thank you for reading my venting email, and you are welcome to post this email if you want. I doubt it will do anything but somehow further fuel the fire of dislike toward us, but one can always hope.

Thank You, Daniel Patterson

 

And here was my response that I just e-mailed back:

 

Daniel, thanks for the message. As you brought it up I will post this message on the CGC thread in question. My problem is not so much with the errored labels as I know CGC has made similar mistakes. That really is a minor oversight and I believe many people realize that. However the bigger problem is the "perception" of a PVC holder harming the books over time, as well as the mystery about who you guys are and your credentials, especially the "restoration guy". Personally, I do not have a problem with CGG's service but the main reason that I have had books slabbed, whether by CGC or CGG is in order to sell the books on Ebay. I know this is not the case with many who get their books slabbed to keep and for long term safe storage. But for me, I rely on the reputation of the grading service knowing that my buyers will bid accordingly for the product they are receiving. Word is getting around that your inner well is PVC. Again, harmful or not, the preception is that IT IS harmful, and that is what people will bid on. I may lose some bids from people who do not want their book in a PVC well. I suggest that you make a change in that area as perception is everything these days. Also, as I suggested before you guys should really start making legitimate convention appearances which includes your own table and display, as well as listing who you are along with your experience and credentials on your website. Good luck, and I hope you can make these positive changes as we all know that competion is good, and having a legitimate competitor to CGC would be a great thing. Thank you-------Sid Anschell

[supapimp]

hmmmmm....no mention of their shoddy restoration detection.

[DiceX]

hmmmmm....no mention of their shoddy restoration detection.

 

You just did.

[BassGMan]

hmmmmm....no mention of their shoddy restoration detection.

 

I think somebody else can bring up that matter with them as I have not had any personal experience in that area with CGG. Daniel is obviously reading this so just state your case on that matter here. ------Sid

[THE_BEYONDER]

Daniel is obviously reading this so just state your case on that matter here.

 

Hi Daniel

[Calamerica]

Offer some free submissions to make up the ones that were mislabeled would be a good start. If it were me, I would offer 3 free submits for every comic that was mislabeled. If that did not make customer happy, think of something else. Keep trying. If it was CGC©, they would keep trying to fix problem(s). If CGG(G) thinks that they are under the microscope( maybe they are), remember C is too. They always will be and I can't speak for C, but I can assume that they know and accept that.

 

CAL

[DiceX]

Apparently though it seems in our case if we are not perfect, and avoid all the people that search for the smallest thing to use to publicly bash us,

 

I think doctoring a scan to cover your [!@#%^&^] is not a "small" thing.

 

It's not the mistakes. People can forgive mistakes.

When you push the blame off on someone else and lie to cover it up...that's when *I* have a problem.

If they had just fessed up and said they missed *another* trimming resto, I would give them more credit.

But passing off a doctored scan as "proof"...

I'll start collecting beanie babies before I send another book to CGG.

 

Just for the record...My CGG submission had an error on the label.

It says VF 8.5

Not as bad as some of the others posted in this thread, but still *ANOTHER* mistake.

[supapimp]

that's a start but they would have to do more than that. first they would have to change their slabs to a more archival quality, second they would have to detect restoration more efficiently, third even though they may grade more strictly than CGC, that will hurt them in the long run. they need to be more consistent with CGC's grading, there's no reason to drive yourself out of the market. every new company has problems, but CGC didn't up this bad when it first started out.

 

my two bills,

 

sp

[deathlok]

good points. Among the many problems CGG has, is its deniability. Everything is an isolated incident, yet it keeps happening over and over. The doctored scans were not their but a lowly employee. The missed restoration had to be somebody else.

 

CGG is NOT making things better by offering free resubs, or free grading. This is just an attempt to correct previous errors on their part. It does nothing to correct obvious Quality Control issues within their company. Until they make serious changes to their QC they will continue to make these kinds of errors. Anyone who uses their service deserves to get a shoddy product.

 

As to the issue of PVC for an inner well, big F'n deal. I highly doubt most books will stay a CGG slab anyway. They buyer/submitter will probably crack the slab and submit to CGC for the resto detection anyway. Plus if CGG grades a grade lower than CGG, I'm sure plenty of people will take a chance for the "correct" higher grade from CGC.

[Joanna]

He's right in that every little error gets picked on. But the same goes for CGC. People are constantly bringing up all faults, perceived or real, with CGC. One difference between the two companies that I can see, is that CGC tends to be much more upfront about things.

 

I, personally, had no real opinion of CGG for a long time. I'd never used their service, didn't own any of their books, and because graded comics were such a small part of my former business, knew that it was unlikely that I'd ever have any interraction with them.

 

However, the "doctored scandal" was indeed something that caught my attention. I wanted to hear the explanation for that one. It felt like the crucial moment for CGG in that this was their chance to prove they were open, honest, and willing to admit to a mistake. They did not. Instead, they blamed their customers. The scan did not come from their customers. The only thing we got from them was a vague reference to discipline of a low-level employee for "compressing a scan".

 

Errors on the label should not be a make-or-break thing for a grading company. CGC has made the occasional error, and they immediately replace it on their dime. But in this case, the label errors are just one more nail in the coffin. Everything is an isolated incident. PVCs, good or bad, are PVCs and they don't have a good rep. Missed restoration happens, but while CGC admits to it, CGG blames anyone but themselves. Messed up labels -- they'll fix them, but you're not allowed to tell anyone about them. Quick -- blame the customer for squealing. Don't let anyone realize that no 'squealing' would have happened if there had been no mistake in the first place. And don't mention that when people 'squealed' on CGC's mistakes, Daniel wasn't complaining about that at all. It's not squealing he's upset about. It's his company's inability to get away with anything that is bothering him. "It's not fair!" ::stomp::

 

I hope they can get their act together. Take some truth serum, CGG, and stop blaming everyone else in the world for your problems, errors, and coverups.

 

-- Joanna

[BachelorOfComix]

Offer some free submissions to make up the ones that were mislabeled would be a good start.

Maybe they need to offer free CGC submissions.

[DiceX]

 

You're the only person I've ever seen that can turn a slam into literature.

[Joanna]

 

You're the only person I've ever seen that can turn a slam into literature.

 

Well, that put a big ole smile on my face!

[FlyingDonut]

"It is never the crime. It is always the coverup."

Richard Nixon, 1972

[Red Hook]

You serious? They messed with a scan? .........

 

That sucking sound you hear ladies and gentlemen is the sound of CGGs credibility continuing to go down the drain.

[FFB]

You serious? They messed with a scan? .........

 

That sucking sound you hear ladies and gentlemen is the sound of CGGs credibility continuing to go down the drain.

 

What credibility? That sink has been empty all along. 8,000 books graded? Total? You've gotta be kidding me. That's about $112,000 TOTAL revenues, before taxes, since the company started (assuming an average submission fee of $14).

 

And who is this restoration detection guy? How much is he getting paid? What about the typists, encapsulators, materials designer, cost of materials, money spent on testing to make sure the PVC was archival quality, and then the grading team? What are they working for, minimum wage? Do I want someone who would otherwise be working at McDonalds to be grading my books?

[awe4one]

My problem is not so much with the errored labels as I know CGC has made similar mistakes. That really is a minor oversight and I believe many people realize that.

 

I don't find it to be "minor" but I'm the one that the botched labels actually effects.

 

However the bigger problem is the "perception" of a PVC holder harming the books over time

 

I popped one of the books (not one of the 3 posted here) out of the holder last night and cannot detect the smell of PVC that others have experienced....

 

Jim

[Red Hook]

Wait, FFB, you mean to tell me you didn't realize that RS is the head quality control guy at CGG?

[Harvey Dude]

Hi. It is a shame about the label switch. Several years ago, I sent CGC a Spider-man #1and a Fantastic Four #48. CGC returned the books with the labels mixed-up. CGC was responsive to my e-mails and they did correct the labels but they did not reimburse me for my shipping charges on the second resubmission nor offer me any discount. I was just happy to eventually

get the books returned with the correct labels. So far, I have been lucky with CGG. I submitted three books and they were returned with the grading that fell on the low side of my expectations. Nonetheless, they were on target with the grading and more importantly, the labels were correct.