Where in the world was the Quality Control at CGC??? 44 44

[BlowUpTheMoon]

[grendelbo]

On 8/14/2021 at 8:25 PM, BlowUpTheMoon said:

Geez. And people are still submitting?

[Domo Arigato]

On 8/14/2021 at 9:25 PM, BlowUpTheMoon said:

Excuse me......is this CGC customer support?

I wanted to let you know I recently got my 200 book submission back.  There are books in it that have the wrong label.

What was that?........you want to know how many?

All of them.

 

[Galen130]

On 8/14/2021 at 8:25 PM, BlowUpTheMoon said:

I only submitted 20 books back in May.  I may be sending them all back. 

[HotKey]

On 8/14/2021 at 10:25 PM, BlowUpTheMoon said:

I legitimately don't understand how a company doesn't do a full audit of its QC department by now and implement stricter guidelines for these with rule #1 being MATCH THE LABEL TO THE COMIC.

Months and months of issues unaddressed is not a solid business model. 

[wombat]

I've said it before, if you are a QC person and have proven to not actually look at the book in the slab and the label on the slab you should be fired immediately. You can't even do the absolute bare minimum that one would be required to do your job. 

[Galen130]

On 8/14/2021 at 8:43 PM, grendelbo said:

Geez. And people are still submitting?

Not me.  Only 20 for the year.  I’m done. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/15/2021 at 8:47 AM, wombat said:

I've said it before, if you are a QC person and have proven to not actually look at the book in the slab and the label on the slab you should be fired immediately. You can't even do the absolute bare minimum that one would be required to do your job. 

How do you think CGC actually do it Wombat? Is there a person(s) whose sole job is to look at every single book from a QC perspective, prior to it being released to the customer? If so, that person should indeed be identified and severely retrained given that, as you say, they have failed on the functional prerequisite of matching the comic to the label. And the person who encapsulates the book: is it really such a stretch to ask / expect that person to notice that the book that they are encapsulating does not match the label details? And, further back in the process, the person whose job it is to put the book in the tray after grading with the unique bar code, if that is where the error manifested. Even the chap who packs them up might be expected to notice. So many chances for the error to be noticed. For these mistakes to exist in the numbers that they do implies a factory model running at break neck speed where the process step is the only important factor to the agent - don't think, or pause - no time for that - just slab, record, pack etc

My belief is that not all books are QC'd. If CGC have more volume than they can handle, and recruitment difficulties (hence sign on bonuses) then I don't think it too much of a stretch to imagine they would introduce, say, a one in ten QC check to help speed things along. In their March TAT update, CGC say "Expert grading should not be rushed, and we will never compromise on the quality and integrity of our services". All these examples show that the integrity of their services is being compromised though, don't they?

If every book is QC'd, this should not happen, even taking into account natural human error. In the example above, the agent has missed five consecutive mistakes, not one. So my suspicion is that not all books are QC'd. Or, perhaps, not QC'd when the QC bloke goes to the loo. Or is off sick. The conveyor belt doesn't stop for breaks, I'll bet. Something like that.

And the internal scuffs mentioned again earlier are likely there by design to prevent Newton Rings. One of our volunteer mods - you know, those people who effectively work for CGC for free - asked that question in the 'Ask CGC' forum (appropriately enough). They were ignored. Charming, eh? So we'll never know for sure.

Meanwhile, lots of people in the CGC operating model are likely getting very wealthy, doing online videos with the hip and happening and meeting famous people. Famous people whose involvement, incidentally, in never ending signing events, increases the very volume that CGC are struggling to manage, and for which they ask our year long forbearance. 

Every company makes mistakes. It is how they deal with them that matters. We all know that. I'd be interested to see how CGC manage a submission like the one above, where every book is mislabelled. Maybe one of those books does not belong to the new owner, and one of theirs may be in another recipients box. I would expect CGC to offer compensation as well as a fast track remedial process. Does anyone know if they do that? Based on earlier Newton Ring communication episodes, I wouldn't surprise me to hear CGC say that mislabeled books are a 'normal and acceptable' part of the grading process, and only egregious examples will be redone. They will judge whether your IH #181 being swapped with a Bugs Bunny #57 is sufficiently bad to warrant a return though, and you'll have to pay the return shipping.

Probably... 

[KEY ISSUES Comics]

On 8/14/2021 at 11:26 PM, Domo Arigato said:

Excuse me......is this CGC customer support?

I wanted to let you know I recently got my 200 book submission back.  There are books in it that have the wrong label.

What was that?........you want to know how many?

All of them.

 

This type of negligence from QC is unacceptable. Seriously, how does one let the example pictured above slip through the cracks? The only skill required is the ability to read to notice that the labels have been assigned to the wrong books.

What really concerns me though are situations where the labels are mixed up during a submission with multiple copies of the same book. Imagine submitting 10 UF4s for instance with the result consisting of copies graded 9.4-9.8. It's not as easy to identify a 9.8 assigned to the 9.4 of the batch, etc. Mistaken labels are less obvious in that scenario and it really makes a buyer question whether or not they are getting what the label claims. I can understand that type of QC slip up, but not the type where it's the wrong title/issue.

I'm truly concerned about my latest submission, as should we all be with our submissions. I'd rather wait another month or two to ensure better QC.

 

Edited August 15, 2021 by KEY ISSUES Comics

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/15/2021 at 12:35 PM, KEY ISSUES Comics said:

Seriously, how does one let the example pictured above slip through the cracks?

...by not QCing it, perhaps....?

[Namtak]

On 8/14/2021 at 10:25 PM, BlowUpTheMoon said:

 

[DR.X]

On 8/15/2021 at 6:35 AM, KEY ISSUES Comics said:

This type of negligence from QC is unacceptable.

100% and will go unanswered.

[WolverineX]

On 8/14/2021 at 10:25 PM, BlowUpTheMoon said:

What the heck.  I would be furious 

[KEY ISSUES Comics]

On 8/15/2021 at 7:50 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

...by not QCing it, perhaps....?

That seems to be the case (pun intended), right? Otherwise those doing it are incompetent. 

[KEY ISSUES Comics]

On 8/15/2021 at 9:00 AM, DR.X said:

100% and will go unanswered.

Then it's up to us to cease submitting books and/or go to the competition. Speaking with one's wallet is the most persuasive tool of change.

Edited August 15, 2021 by KEY ISSUES Comics

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/15/2021 at 2:19 PM, KEY ISSUES Comics said:

That seems to be the case (pun intended), right? Otherwise those doing it are incompetent. 

Indeed. All we can do is speculate. The one thing CGC rarely do is explain the aspects that are wrong in their business model. They will never, say, pop on here and explain what is going wrong in their QC model and what steps they are taking to address it. The model, to me at least, always seems to be the same - tout for as much business as humanly possible, make the product look slick and inviting, then ignore all justified criticism when things don't go right. And often, as we have seen with newton rings and case scuffs, try to normalise production failure in a way that would not be tolerated in any other business. They get away with it because they can.

The ten measly books I have in my CGC submission pile - which have been there since before the pandemic - will likely stay there now as I am reluctant to support the current model, even if it means the resale value of my books is diminished. Personally, I don't like how CGC operate. Yes, there are good and friendly people in the business, with whom you can converse. But the collective for me feels like a money making, rule asserting juggernaut with little empathy for the customer and a reducing respect for the product being encapsulated (see calling non-US comics what they aren't). 

I like this forum, the people, the knowledge contained within it and the friends I've made here. I wish CGC didn't own it. 

[wombat]

On 8/15/2021 at 7:35 AM, KEY ISSUES Comics said:

This type of negligence from QC is unacceptable. Seriously, how does one let the example pictured above slip through the cracks? The only skill required is the ability to read to notice that the labels have been assigned to the wrong books.

What really concerns me though are situations where the labels are mixed up during a submission with multiple copies of the same book. Imagine submitting 10 UF4s for instance with the result consisting of copies graded 9.4-9.8. It's not as easy to identify a 9.8 assigned to the 9.4 of the batch, etc. Mistaken labels are less obvious in that scenario and it really makes a buyer question whether or not they are getting what the label claims. I can understand that type of QC slip up, but not the type where it's the wrong title/issue.

I'm truly concerned about my latest submission, as should we all be with our submissions. I'd rather wait another month or two to ensure better QC.

 

Absolutely. How in the heck would they ever catch the wrong grade label on the same book if they can't even get the right label for the book? I never even thought about that. 

[MatterEaterLad]

On 8/15/2021 at 3:11 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

My belief is that not all books are QC'd. If CGC have more volume than they can handle, and recruitment difficulties (hence sign on bonuses) then I don't think it too much of a stretch to imagine they would introduce, say, a one in ten QC check to help speed things along. 

I have no doubt this is what's happening. 

I also suspect high value books get lumped into the same QC as the rest. 

That being stated, the last 30+ books I've received have all been perfect. 

Now I just jinxed myself. 

[MatterEaterLad]

On 8/15/2021 at 7:33 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

They will never, say, pop on here and explain what is going wrong in their QC model and what steps they are taking to address it.

I wish the would. I think it would relieve a lot of the anxiety around these issues. A little customer interaction can go a long way.

People can bash the other place all they want, but Borock is on the boards. There's also a company presser posting before and afters on the boards and discussing the process.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/15/2021 at 3:52 PM, MatterEaterLad said:

I wish the would. I think it would relieve a lot of the anxiety around these issues. A little customer interaction can go a long way.

People can bash the other place all they want, but Borock is on the boards. There's also a company presser posting before and afters on the boards and discussing the process.

It's not because it hasn't occurred to them - I have made several attempts down the years to get CGC staff to consider some well placed communications here and they never go for it, always citing other time pressures. I suspect CGC are making a lot of money collectively if they can afford sign on bonuses for staff who cannot even identify one comic title from another. I will never understand why they choose not to allocate a tiny fraction of that income to establishing a regular communication presence here on this forum that they say they value so highly. They can't even make a single post or announcement here when the forum goes offline for two days. 

I noticed too that key personal post regularly over at the competition. It does so much for the community and gives a strong sense of how they value it. It's such a shame the forum software itself is so unforgiving otherwise I think many more collectors might take up residence there.