Will never use CCS again 3 3

[DoctorWyoming1]

On 1/13/2023 at 7:52 PM, StillOnly25Cents said:

Dry cleaning a comic to remove soiling and any unwanted substance is also considered a non-restorative process, and is included in the CCS pressing service when necessary.

Thanks. I don't quite get how I paid for CCS to clean and press only for CGC to tell me that it took a hit mainly based on staining. What gets me is that on one of my books I can still see non color breaking creasing...  do they just close the press with their eyes closed and pass on whatever comes out 10 minutes later? (That was on my ASM 149)

 

As for my Peter Parker issue 98, it came back with a 7.5. Only grader notes:

 

Comic Description:
Spectacular Spider-Man 98 1/85 Marvel Comics

Grader Notes:
staining to cover

Edited January 14, 2023 by DoctorWyoming1

[StillOnly25Cents]

On 1/13/2023 at 7:02 PM, DoctorWyoming1 said:do they just close the press with their eyes closed and pass on whatever comes out 10 minutes later?

nah

 

 

they probably don’t let it sit that long

[joeypost]

Assembly line pressing! Genius. 

[DoctorWyoming1]

On 1/13/2023 at 8:12 PM, joeypost said:

Assembly line pressing! Genius. 

Granted, their pricing is cheap, but how can you offer clean/press services and then grade a book as stained? It's like taking your car to a mechanic and him returning it to you saying "won't run."

[dzbad]

How long will the CGC message board allow a thread bashing its service to stay open?  I am grabbing my pop corn and stop watch. 

Though for the record, I also am never using their pressing service again.  Same issue with stained books coming in my grading notes on books that did not have stains.  Also I now learned to take a spoon ton of pictures before I ship stuff out.  Still looking for a good reasonably priced presser in Chicagoland where I can drop off my books and get them shipped to CGC. 

[joeypost]

On 1/13/2023 at 8:13 PM, DoctorWyoming1 said:

Granted, their pricing is cheap, but how can you offer clean/press services and then grade a book as stained? It's like taking your car to a mechanic and him returning it to you saying "won't run."

Dry cleaning will not remove stains. You need techniques that are considered restorative.  Surface dirt and other foreign substances…yes and maybe.

 

[Phill the Governor]

On 1/13/2023 at 8:13 PM, DoctorWyoming1 said:

Granted, their pricing is cheap, but how can you offer clean/press services and then grade a book as stained? It's like taking your car to a mechanic and him returning it to you saying "won't run."

As others have said, dry cleaning and pressing does not remove stains. Contrary to what some hacks on facebook or other groups would have you believe.

That said, CGC has become WAY too harsh on stains, overall, in the last few years - to a completely unacceptable level. The grading is inconsistent and all over the board as it is. But the staining downgrade is near the top of the list of problems.

[JollyComics]

CCS rejected my two major keys for restoration removal.  I waited for almost one year and received them back. I forced to sell them off.  Very disappointing results.

I remembered I had happy days when Matt Nelson ran his own business before merging with CGC.  He did well with my books before but never again.   Matt Nelson is CGC president and I don't know how much time he can spend at CCS.

Wished it went back where it was.

[Kevin76]

On 1/13/2023 at 7:38 PM, DoctorWyoming1 said:

Just got a book back that was pressed by CCS, the grader's notes noted: Stained. Um, does their pressing service not include cleaning? I don't even recall seeing a stain...

Dry cleaning is mainly for dirt and pencil marks, you can't remove stains without chemicals if you want a blue label  

[fishbone]

On 11/30/2022 at 10:01 PM, DoctorWyoming1 said:

I still have my emails to him back from 2012. He pressed a copy of ASM 194 for me that I had from my own childhood collection. Came back a 9.6. Every book I submitted back then went through his pressing service. He also gave grading estimates.

 

Now I know he's at CGC and boy do I miss working with him as a presser/pre grader.

...and as a restorer! worked magic for me a few times @ Classics Inc.

[Beyonder123]

I never complained, but I had a copy of hulk #5 that I sent to CCS. Came back with a small pinhead size piece missing under the number. Probably wasn't bad enough to lower the grade, but when you send a book off to CCS you expect it to come back nicer than it was sent off.

[thehumantorch]

On 1/14/2023 at 10:59 AM, JollyComics said:

CCS rejected my two major keys for restoration removal.  I waited for almost one year and received them back. I forced to sell them off.  Very disappointing results.

I remembered I had happy days when Matt Nelson ran his own business before merging with CGC.  He did well with my books before but never again.   Matt Nelson is CGC president and I don't know how much time he can spend at CCS.

Wished it went back where it was.

And that's the problem.  Matt is certainly highly skilled and experienced at restoration and pressing and all things paper but realistically how much time does he spend in that department?  And who's managing that department now and how skilled are they?

[MAR1979]

On 1/14/2023 at 8:49 PM, thehumantorch said:

And that's the problem.  Matt is certainly highly skilled and experienced at restoration and pressing and all things paper but realistically how much time does he spend in that department?  And who's managing that department now and how skilled are they?

Don't look for anything to improve until Blackrock divests themselves of CGC. It's not if but when and that will likley be as soon as profits skew lower.

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by MAR1979

[JollyComics]

On 1/14/2023 at 7:49 PM, thehumantorch said:

And that's the problem.  Matt is certainly highly skilled and experienced at restoration and pressing and all things paper but realistically how much time does he spend in that department?  And who's managing that department now and how skilled are they?

 

On 1/14/2023 at 8:18 PM, MAR1979 said:

Don't look for anything to improve until Blackrock divests themselves of CGC. It's not if but when and that will likley be as soon as profits skew lower.

It's all about money not passion on the comic books.  Somehow, those people need to gain the passion once again.

[Lazyboy]

On 1/14/2023 at 10:31 AM, Phill the Governor said:

That said, CGC has become WAY too harsh on stains, overall, in the last few years - to a completely unacceptable level. The grading is inconsistent and all over the board as it is. But the staining downgrade is near the top of the list of problems.

Unless they're downgrading otherwise-9.8 comics to 0.5 for small stains, I disagree. Stains are a terrible defect.

[Courageous Cat]

y'all need to start pressing your own books. Takes a bit to master, but once confident, you can bypass the turd burglars over you know where

[Gaard]

On 1/14/2023 at 9:18 PM, MAR1979 said:

Don't look for anything to improve until Blackrock divests themselves of CGC. It's not if but when and that will likley be as soon as profits skew lower.

 

 

[CGC Mike]

I have slightly edited the title to remove "CCS is garbage".  We allow plenty of criticism but, everything has it's limits.

[Stronguy]

On 1/13/2023 at 6:38 PM, DoctorWyoming1 said:

Just got a book back that was pressed by CCS, the grader's notes noted: Stained. Um, does their pressing service not include cleaning? I don't even recall seeing a stain...

No, it can include dry cleaning but dry cleaning will not get rid of most stains.

[JL Peralta]

Just had to add my recent experience to the thread. I have not used CCS in more than 3 years because I wasn't happy about the results. Since then I taught myself to clean/press and I am pretty good at it and the resulting grades back that up. I've been able to upgrade books I cracked at home and raw books come back with great results too. Now, why would I use CCS again recently? Well, I had two books that I bought based on the grader notes hoping to bump them. One of then (9.4) had an indent on the front cover that I could sort of see with grader notes stating the same, and the other (9.2) did not look pressed at all with a stacking bend, some spine ticks and some dirt on the back cover, but no grader notes.

These are bronze age books that I would normally take care of myself, but I was curious about having CCS have a crack at them, and I felt sure that the defects were definitely pressable and just maybe I had a better chance of getting those bumps. I fast tracked them too. Unfortunately, the book with the indent came back same grade (9.4) with grader notes still saying there was an indent on the front cover - ok maybe I was wrong, the indent was not pressable. Maybe. The other book that clearly was never pressed came back same grade (9.2) but went from white pages to off-white to white.

I am going to chalk this up to a bad decision on my part, but I do have to note that the reason I stopped using CCS a while ago was because the pressing just wasn't any good. They didn't press out what I knew then and know now is pressable. Comic book condition and defects and all the rest is subjective of course, and even though I own officially thousands of CGC books (don't remind my wife) and I have been submitting/cleaning and pressing for a bit, I am no expert, just someone with more experience than the average bear. However, I can't help but feel that I wasted my money on a service that I should have known was going to disappoint. No I won't use CCS again, doing it myself works out way better. I just had to remind myself of that.

Edited January 19, 2023 by JL Peralta