Showcase #4 3x mechanical error, 3 months of time wasting, still damaged slab 0

[texmurphy2099]

I'd like to preface this summary of events with the statement that I am usually not very nit picky.  But given the cost of grading and value of the book, I find this unacceptable.  It's also strange given how many slabs I've gotten back ok.  For whatever reason they can't fix this one book.  How many months will it take?

1) Crossover CGC Submission sent April 20.  I get from a 7.0 in other holder to a 6.5.  I'm ok with it.

2) May 17 I get the book back.  The inner well plastic holder (inside) has a crack in it, over a portion of the back cover.  I'm worried it will damage the comic so I ship it back.  Mechanical Error #1.  See pics.

3) June 16 I get the book back a second time.  They literally just kept the book for a month and mailed it back.  It's exactly the same.  Except this time I do notice the book moves around a bit inside the holder.  Mechanical Error #2.

4) July 24 I get the  book back a 3rd time.  The crack is gone, but now back cover, once again, inner well, has all of these scuffs everywhere on the inside.  Also, it still moves around inside just a little.  Re: Scuffs, If you shine it over light you see it.  There's quite a few.  The pic shows it but there's even more as you reflect under the light.  Very similar to a post I saw on the forums from someone else posted July 16 for a venom lethal protector gold cover.

Waiting on a call back now from CGC.  Customer Service escalated....  How much time and money and shipments and waiting, insurance, does it take to get it right?  What's the point in all of this if there isn't someone looking at the comic before it's sent?  And on High Dollar books, have someone a bit more senior. 

Just wanted to share my experience.  I'm completely underwhelmed and feel like my time and money has been wasted.  It makes me want to just focus on other investments  (I'm a collector and reader but when a book is this expensive...)

Thanks for reading, and pray for me.  I've lost faith.

[Bluemedgroup]

You state that you are not nit-picky, but I feel like you are being a bit too nit-picky.

I've got plenty of slabs back from CGC and I would say the more often then none, slabs will have a few scuffs or even light scratches on a brand new slab. This is sadly somewhat normal.  Recall that the main reason for encapsulation is protection, not visual clarity.

Your comment "I do notice the book moves around a bit inside the holder." Well correct me if I wrong, but I believe the comic is somewhat supposed to do that.  Say if the comic is completely fixed in place, well there would not be any give and the cover could tear upon movement.  Seems contradictory but since there is some wiggle room, there is actually less chance of damaging the book.  

[KCOComics]

 

I'm a little torn on this. 

I don't think Bluemedgroup is wrong.  This is the company that expects us to accept Newtons ring as reasonably acceptable.  So I think the shown scuffing is reasonable based on that threshold.  

I think CGC would argue,  you pay for the grade, the ability to sell the comic quickly and to protect the book....and they've convinced many of us (myself included) that having a clean slab isn't a reasonable expectation.  

You paid a lot of money for a service on what I imagine is a grail book. And it seems only reasonable that you should get a clean case. And while I would likely look the other way (as I have with several books with Newtons rings, scuffing and little things floating in the case), I don't think it's right that we are expected to. 

[texmurphy2099]

Just an update, I got in touch with Melissa and I believe they're going to make it right/ they have the book again.  The crack in the inner sealed plastic was the more concerning issue.  It seems like it could possibly damage the back cover with time.  Once that was fixed, the scuffs were really just frustrating after having it mailed back and forth 4 times.   If I got the book back the first time with just the scuffs I wouldn't have been as ticked off over it.

 

 

 

[Prince Namor of Atlantis]

I just received a bunch of slabs from CGC and almost all of them have these internal scuffs. I've never had this happen on any books I have sent to them the last couple of years. Is this a new thing people are experiencing? Is it the plastic sleeves that are scuffed or the inside of the holder? This is a defect as far as I'm concerned. You should be able to look at these books without seeing this type of stuff. Outer scratches can be buffed out but this internal stuff needs to be caught before they seal the slab.