Funny - BVG response on holder with invalid serial #...

[jchcollins]

So, you all may be well aware of this - I wasn't:

Beckett / BGS / BVG policy on "old" holders (older than 15 years, anyway):

Apparently, they have absolutely nothing to do with them.

I sent the folks at Beckett an email earlier today. One of my recent pickups was an upgrade to my '69 Topps Reggie Jackson RC. My SGC 2.5 was ok for the grade, but my LCS recently bought a collection that had a very nice and bright BVG 4.5 copy of the same card, in an old holder. The holder is so old, that it includes subgrades along with the cert on the back - which I know from experience occurred briefly during the early 2000's. Maybe they stopped in 2005 or so, I'm not sure - but there aren't a ton of BVG holders where the cards have subgrades. To me when looking at this one at the shop, this was even cooler - the subgrades were neat - and pointed to the fact that corner and not surface wear was the reason the card got a 4.5 and not like a 7. Ok cool - all checks out and the price was right - so I took it home with me.

A few days later I got kind of bored I guess, so I decided to lookup the cert number on the Beckett website to see exactly how old the grade / slab was. Through no combination - searching BGS, searching BVG - including leading zeroes, leaving them off - could I get any card info. to pop up. It just kept saying invalid cert. (I later read that this problem is apparently incredibly common with old Beckett slabs). So today - I emailed their customer service about this - and they were both surprisingly quick and definitive in their response:

Because "grading standards have changed" and the card was graded "more than 15 years ago" - both the grade and the cert are now considered invalid. Please send us the card, and we will regrade / reslab for you.

Um, what now?

Beckett is in worse shape as an organization than I thought. I had a few more exchanges with the rep (who did not have a great command of the english language...) and quickly got the point. I'm not sure if it would have been offered at some point for them to regrade for free - but she sent me forms with pricing on them.

I guess I would have understood, if still have been somewhat less than thrilled if they fessed up honestly to a database error, or losing cert numbers or something - but to not stand behind your product at all is pretty piss poor, if you ask me. I had a '61 Mantle a few years ago in an SGC 5.5 that was a nice card, but the slab was ancient and carrying a lot of patina. I looked it up on the SGC website and it had been graded in 2001! Anyway, as you might imagine I packed this card up, sent it in to SGC for a reholder, and was given one with the same grade with no questions asked. Oh, but "grading standards have changed, all the graders do this..." Is that right BVG?

Any similar experiences? I just find it a bit off-putting. I wouldn't have sent the card back to Beckett anyway, but jeez. Certainly won't be giving them any business now.