International Shipping -my story of Cgc's customer service. 1 1

[Fiacs0.o]

So, I sent in a standard submission from Australia back in April sometime.

It contained about 10 cards, one of which was a 'stage error' Blastoise.

Prior to sending the submission to CGC I emailed them and asked if the submission could be returned as a single package, so as to avoid paying $100 USD to return only the Blastoise (error grading forces it into a seperate submission on the site) and another $100USD to return the other regular tier cards.

I was told they could do that no worries, and just to write that on the submission sheet, so I did.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I find bank account being charged $150USD and a notification that the Blastoise only had been shipped. Great, now I'm worried!

(Not too mention that they've not used the credit on the account that they presumably give you when signing up)

So I email them to make sure I'm not going to be charged for shipping the others, as per my request of sending everything together.

No reply....

This morning I wake up to bring charged for everything, including shipping, for the remainder of the cards.

Apart from the fact of how CRIMINAL that $100USD is to charge international customers to have their cards returned, the total lack of customer service is abysmal, and I will NEVER use CGC again.

[revat]

Whether you use them again or not, I’d say don’t stop fighting,  Call and email and keep calling, keep escalating until you get what was agreed to.  
 

if they don’t answer emails or phone calls try social media’s, privately first then publicly if necessary.  
 

there’s also an “ask cgc” section here in the TCG subforum and another one in the main area.  I don’t think it would hurt to post there too.  no need to hide your frustration, but focus on the facts, make sure they’re presented clearly and logically.  
 

 

[PaulS.]

I am sorry about this situation. I reached out to Giovanna, and she should be contacting you to get it resolved.

Thank you,

Paul

[Fiacs0.o]

On 9/28/2021 at 11:45 PM, PaulS. said:

I am sorry about this situation. I reached out to Giovanna, and she should be contacting you to get it resolved.

Thank you,

Paul

Just received the reply today. A $50 credit for 'next time' and basically her going back on what was agreed. Not even close to good enough.

Membership credit doesn't seem to have been applied either.

Will just use socials in future for updating people, especially those in Australia who are getting railed with your $100USD shipping charges.

You literally charged $100 to send 1 card. Then another $100 to send the remaining 9. I'm done.

[Yeahiwasder4dat]

On 9/28/2021 at 7:45 PM, Fiacs0.o said:

Just received the reply today. A $50 credit for 'next time' and basically her going back on what was agreed. Not even close to good enough.

Membership credit doesn't seem to have been applied either.

Will just use socials in future for updating people, especially those in Australia who are getting railed with your $100USD shipping charges.

You literally charged $100 to send 1 card. Then another $100 to send the remaining 9. I'm done.

I'm beginning to wonder what they do guarantee. 

[HomeGrownPoke1]

Wow this is disgusting.......

[Fiacs0.o]

On 9/29/2021 at 4:01 PM, HomeGrownPoke1 said:

Wow this is disgusting.......

You're telling me! At this point it's even starting to put me off buying CGC graded cards on the second hand market!

[Fiacs0.o]

On 9/29/2021 at 9:50 AM, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

I'm beginning to wonder what they do guarantee. 

I'd say they probably guarantee anything that'll get your money into their pockets, and nothing related to a pop report or customer service 😡🤬

[Yeahiwasder4dat]

On 9/29/2021 at 3:55 AM, Fiacs0.o said:

I'd say they probably guarantee anything that'll get your money into their pockets, and nothing related to a pop report or customer service 😡🤬

What gets me is the wording. They sound like they're doing you a favor to give you a $50 credit after giving you the shaft. Assuming that you did everything properly, that would have me worked up just on how patronizing that email is 🤣

[Ron Churches]

So, it's pretty common to build customer service rules around refunds to do stuff like this as the first pass. Companies are very resistant to refunds, in general, to combat fraudulent requests. But, boy, sometimes you need to have a customer service manager be able to read the room, and this was one of those times. Paul is PRODUCT management, but he's running around here doing the CSM's work. If /I/ had my own grading company, the CSM would be living on these boards. Maybe not responding to it all, but I'd sure as heck understand where my process was breaking down (and this was a major process mishap). It would be so easy for this to be done more effectively, I cannot imagine how they could screw it up.

[Yeahiwasder4dat]

On 9/29/2021 at 9:58 AM, Ron Churches said:

So, it's pretty common to build customer service rules around refunds to do stuff like this as the first pass. Companies are very resistant to refunds, in general, to combat fraudulent requests. But, boy, sometimes you need to have a customer service manager be able to read the room, and this was one of those times. Paul is PRODUCT management, but he's running around here doing the CSM's work. If /I/ had my own grading company, the CSM would be living on these boards. Maybe not responding to it all, but I'd sure as heck understand where my process was breaking down (and this was a major process mishap). It would be so easy for this to be done more effectively, I cannot imagine how they could screw it up.

I feel like he does a lot of stuff unrelated to his job trying to help us out.

Isn't the first time I've wondered why they don't have a dedicated person on the forums trying to cover it. I would think he's high enough up there to have more pressing things to do than deal with issues like this. I'm thankful he takes on the task though. Don't think we'd have anyone if not for him 🤣

Edited September 29, 2021 by Yeahiwasder4dat

[Fiacs0.o]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:13 PM, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

What gets me is the wording. They sound like they're doing you a favor to give you a $50 credit after giving you the shaft. Assuming that you did everything properly, that would have me worked up just on how patronizing that email is 🤣

Yep, followed the instruction to the T. When I woke up this morning and read the email I wasn't far short of livid.

It's just going to have to be dealt with through social media I feel... That and telling anyone and everyone over here in Australia about it.

I work in Retail management, and if either I or any of my staff mislead and then shafted a customer like this there'd be hell to pay, and I wouldn't blame them.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Fiacs0.o
Additional thoughts.

[Fiacs0.o]

On 9/29/2021 at 11:58 PM, Ron Churches said:

So, it's pretty common to build customer service rules around refunds to do stuff like this as the first pass. Companies are very resistant to refunds, in general, to combat fraudulent requests. But, boy, sometimes you need to have a customer service manager be able to read the room, and this was one of those times. Paul is PRODUCT management, but he's running around here doing the CSM's work. If /I/ had my own grading company, the CSM would be living on these boards. Maybe not responding to it all, but I'd sure as heck understand where my process was breaking down (and this was a major process mishap). It would be so easy for this to be done more effectively, I cannot imagine how they could screw it up.

Yeah from what I've read on these forums, Paul is about the only one who helps anyone with anything. Hopefully he can do something about it, even though it definitely wouldn't fall under his job description.

Sadly, the total lack of customer service alone is such a negative for CGC that it pretty much destroys any upsides they may have over PSA.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Fiacs0.o
Typo

[Drew99]

One thing I learned in my issue with CGC when I contacted customer Service before submitting my cards because I had some alters, corner trimmed collectors editions, (CGC does not encapsulate authentication… they give you a label in a top loader believe it or not.  That’s their service)

Anyways… my story is important because there are details here, very specific ones which CGC should be able to answer right because the specialize in only MTG and Pokémon really.  
 

Here’s the problem.  They are in a que within a larger collective.  I realized this very early on because I am a coin collector primarily and came to this company by way of NGC, which I will also no longer be a part of when my membership expires.  
 

The person answering your phone and the number you have if you get aN email from them is part of a collectibles group that does allot of things.  
 

Now I’m not expecting to talk to a grader… but I do expect to be able to ask a person at the company about their company’s policies with some specificity such as… what is an altered card?  Your website says it is “anything changed to be deceptive”  that seems weird…  and not accurate but okay… 

turns out I did get and answer… and it turned out to be inaccurate and I spent hundreds of dollars and months of time to find it out.

If you call PSA,you are talking to a business that specializes in grading cards.  If you call this place… you are dealing with a baseline customer service person.  They do the best they can with the information they have.  But there are 10 different companies, the kinds of issues and questions are very specific and they simply don’t even know anything about cards in general.  Most of the people I talked to were very nice, extremely.  They didn’t know what a magic card was other than it was a game that people play…that’s about it.

 

[Yeahiwasder4dat]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:34 AM, Drew99 said:

One thing I learned in my issue with CGC when I contacted customer Service before submitting my cards because I had some alters, corner trimmed collectors editions, (CGC does not encapsulate authentication… they give you a label in a top loader believe it or not.  That’s their service)

Anyways… my story is important because there are details here, very specific ones which CGC should be able to answer right because the specialize in only MTG and Pokémon really.  
 

Here’s the problem.  They are in a que within a larger collective.  I realized this very early on because I am a coin collector primarily and came to this company by way of NGC, which I will also no longer be a part of when my membership expires.  
 

The person answering your phone and the number you have if you get aN email from them is part of a collectibles group that does allot of things.  
 

Now I’m not expecting to talk to a grader… but I do expect to be able to ask a person at the company about their company’s policies with some specificity such as… what is an altered card?  Your website says it is “anything changed to be deceptive”  that seems weird…  and not accurate but okay… 

turns out I did get and answer… and it turned out to be inaccurate and I spent hundreds of dollars and months of time to find it out.

If you call PSA,you are talking to a business that specializes in grading cards.  If you call this place… you are dealing with a baseline customer service person.  They do the best they can with the information they have.  But there are 10 different companies, the kinds of issues and questions are very specific and they simply don’t even know anything about cards in general.  Most of the people I talked to were very nice, extremely.  They didn’t know what a magic card was other than it was a game that people play…that’s about it.

 

You mean similar to an SGC ""A" label, or PSA "Authentic". Where the card is altered and doesn't warrant a numeric grade but is an actual real card?

[Drew99]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:39 AM, Yeahiwasder4dat said:

You mean similar to an SGC ""A" label, or PSA "Authentic". Where the card is altered and doesn't warrant a numeric grade but is an actual real card?

Yes, correct 

they send you their label.  Like what goes inside the encapsulation… but they don’t encapsulate because they have a policy against encapsulating altered cards.  So the service is you get a card in a top loader.  
 

I was very careful with these and knew they might be a problem so I called in advance.  Their definition is very convoluted and says an altered card is something “changed with the intention of being deceptive” which honestly is not true.  I actually agree with the graders.  An altered card is anything that is changed regardless of the deceptive issue.

 

deceptive cards/fakes area are a whole other area and a real problem.  These cards were not like that.  They were trimmed in the corners like allot of collectors edition so they could be shuffled in the days when we didn’t use sleeves.  One of these I trimmed myself as a kid.  It is still gold bordered collectors edition/ugly and not pretending to be from another set.  I submitted it clearly as from the collectors edition set and did this because the price has shot up onthese during the pandemic.  
 

I did not want them graded… they are altered cards.  I wanted them to do exactly what they did… but then set the cards in plastic when they were finished.  They will not do that… so their service is worthless

[PaulS.]

I am not happy with the wording of the email regarding combining shipments. I will have that changed to make it more clear that it is not guaranteed. But I will get you a refund on that extra shipping charge because I agree with you that the fact that it was not guaranteed is not made clear in the email. Accounting has already been contacted and will issue the refund. 

 

Thank you,

Paul

[PaulS.]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:47 AM, Drew99 said:

Yes, correct 

they send you their label.  Like what goes inside the encapsulation… but they don’t encapsulate because they have a policy against encapsulating altered cards.  So the service is you get a card in a top loader.  
 

I was very careful with these and knew they might be a problem so I called in advance.  Their definition is very convoluted and says an altered card is something “changed with the intention of being deceptive” which honestly is not true.  I actually agree with the graders.  An altered card is anything that is changed regardless of the deceptive issue.

 

deceptive cards/fakes area are a whole other area and a real problem.  These cards were not like that.  They were trimmed in the corners like allot of collectors edition so they could be shuffled in the days when we didn’t use sleeves.  One of these I trimmed myself as a kid.  It is still gold bordered collectors edition/ugly and not pretending to be from another set.  I submitted it clearly as from the collectors edition set and did this because the price has shot up onthese during the pandemic.  
 

I did not want them graded… they are altered cards.  I wanted them to do exactly what they did… but then set the cards in plastic when they were finished.  They will not do that… so their service is worthless

 

On 9/29/2021 at 10:47 AM, Drew99 said:

Yes, correct 

they send you their label.  Like what goes inside the encapsulation… but they don’t encapsulate because they have a policy against encapsulating altered cards.  So the service is you get a card in a top loader.  
 

I was very careful with these and knew they might be a problem so I called in advance.  Their definition is very convoluted and says an altered card is something “changed with the intention of being deceptive” which honestly is not true.  I actually agree with the graders.  An altered card is anything that is changed regardless of the deceptive issue.

 

deceptive cards/fakes area are a whole other area and a real problem.  These cards were not like that.  They were trimmed in the corners like allot of collectors edition so they could be shuffled in the days when we didn’t use sleeves.  One of these I trimmed myself as a kid.  It is still gold bordered collectors edition/ugly and not pretending to be from another set.  I submitted it clearly as from the collectors edition set and did this because the price has shot up onthese during the pandemic.  
 

I did not want them graded… they are altered cards.  I wanted them to do exactly what they did… but then set the cards in plastic when they were finished.  They will not do that… so their service is worthless

These cards are altered to make them look like more expensive cards. We will not grade cards that are altered to make them appear to be a completely different type/issue, even if it is just from the front. 

 

Thank you,

Paul

[Drew99]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:53 AM, PaulS. said:

These cards are altered to make them look like more expensive cards. We will not grade cards that are altered to make them appear to be a completely different type/issue, even if it is just from the front. 

Umm what cards would those be?  
 

if you say alpha I would request that you look at an alpha card and check again.  Because you may not understand what an alpha card looks like. These are not close. 
 

this demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the game if magic itself.  These are not changed for that purpose and many cards from this set will be found in this state.

the reason is that in the 90’s we did not sleeve our cards.  This was the only way you could shuffle the cards into a deck.  That is why they are like this.

You again miss the point sir.

 

your company DID do what they were supposed to do.  You apparently didn’t read closely.  They are not gradable.

 

the problem here is several fold.

one, I can’t demonstrate that I’ve paid for a service.  You did the service… you just won’t encapsulate the authentication.

second… why are you sending out copy’s of your supposed secure labels to people?  That is a real nightmare and really is not a serious business practice for secure grading

 

lastly, if you don’t want to do this, the. Have people on the phone that can answer these types of questions so that when people call to make sure they are following the rules, they don’t get screwed over.  
 

explain the lotus… it isn’t trimmed by the way.  It was just damaged… but okay.  Everything you don’t like is just altered.  
 

you won’t encapsulate several thousand dollar cards that I submit under their real set name so that they can be garaunteed under their real set name because someone might confuse just the front part with another set in a picture of they’re and insufficiently_thoughtful_person is the logic here?

[Drew99]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:53 AM, PaulS. said:

On 9/29/2021 at 10:47 AM, Drew99 said:

These cards are altered to make them look like more expensive cards. We will not grade cards that are altered to make them appear to be a completely different type/issue, even if it is just from the front. 

I would like a point of clarity here because this is a philisophical question.  Are you saying that any card that anyone who might confuse a card with another card is altered?

to be clear altered in my opinion is any card that is changed but I’m going to use your definition.

If someone colors in a border and tries to submit a card under the incorrect set… which is the precise example your company uses this is a problem because we are in the are of fakes/fraudulent market.

The problem I’m having here is that not all altered cards are meant to be fraudulent cards and when someone submits a card under it’s accurate set name, especially something like this set which is gold bordered and has COLLECTORS EDITION on the back you are by definition misapplying the rule.

you said yourself even if one side… well, you don’t grade one side of a card… you grade the whole thing.  You are parsing because you just don’t want to do it.  You have to look at the card as a whole.

by the way.  You don’t have to do anything I want.  I don’t expect that.  I am simply reflecting to others my experience and I’m at complaining that your rules are not clear, not practical, and that I called in advance to try to understand them and was not given accurate information.

 

the lotus is currently at PSA and has received the AA authentic altered status and I will be happy to share a picture of that on the forum when it arrives.  This is a service that some companies do provide and it is important for people to understand what is available when people are choosing what grading company to go with.

cheers