some issues with grading services

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Posted By: ali_lapoint

there are some major problems with the business of grading cards. some of the business practices the big 3 (psa, sgc, and gai) have in place are extremely infuriating. i recently submitted a few T3's to sgc and 2 of the 3 came back unslabbed because i didnt check the box that says i will accept a grade of authentic. even though i paid for their grading service, an average of 65 dollars for each card because of the oversized holders, only 1 of my cards was actually graded and slabbed. i might be wrong here, but isn't the inflated price for grading T3's due to the larger sized and more expensive holder the cards require? if my cards aren't being placed in the holder, why am i still being charged for it? i feel as though sgc and the other grading companies who also charge regardless of whether or not they grade a card need to take the time to devise some ways to remedy this problem. if i'm paying for a holder that isn't used, i dont think its too much to expect whatever portion of my grading fee that goes towards buying the holder to be returned. there needs to be some sort of grading and slabbing fee that is different from a submission fee. im tired of feeling like ive been ripped off.

edited for spelling and typos

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Posted By: quan

beckett and gai have pregrades.

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Posted By: Steve

A phone call to the customer could have helped here.

PSA uses a voucher system for certain problems like this.


A call to SGC may get you 2 free grades.


Steve

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Posted By: ali_lapoint

its not the free grades or refund that i'm concerned with. what bothers me is that this practice is in place at all. in most other situations where a consultation occurs before service, payment is only necessary for services rendered. i find it really annoying that grading services think its ok to charge even when they haven't done anything. for this reason i think there should either be no charge for a non-grade or a difference in price from the actual grading fee and the charge for a card not slabbed.

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Posted By: barrysloate

They did render a service as they spent the same amount of time reviewing your cards as they would ones that are slabbed. But part of what you pay for is unquestionably those two pieces of plastic.

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Posted By: Steve Dawson

The thing is though Barry, part of the fee we are paying goes to the "slabbers" for their services. If the card isn't slabbed, we shouldn't have to pay for their (non-existant) service. There should therefore be a discount if the card is not slabbed.


Steve

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Posted By: T206Collector

You can bring your complaints to a public forum, but SGC would have been quite responsive if you called them on this.



_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

http://www.t206collector.com

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Posted By: Tim

I don't have a warm fuzzy for grading services right now either. Namely SGC. Since I've been reading and posting on this forum SGC receives most of the praise. Having never had a card graded before and looking at buying a rare card raw, I called SGC to see if they would authenticate it for me. The person that answered the phone was rude, talked over top of me most of the conversation, and was dismissive to my call in general. We established SGC couldn't help me which is fine, but the 90 seconds it took to come to that conclusion may keep me from ever calling back.

I'm in sales for a living and have been for a long time, and I would never handle a potential client the way I was regardless of how much or little they may spend.

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Posted By: bigfish

Barry's point is correct. The graders have to take the time to evaluate the card to determine if it should be put in a holder. That time is money. Even if the card is sent back, they spent the time to look at it. That is what you are paying for....Their opinion. It has happened to me several times.

I agree with the folks above that a call to SGC's customer service department would have been the right move. Despite what is said above, they are very easy to deal with.

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Posted By: Matthew

Sgc gives you the choice to check box if you want it slabbed AUTH for what ever reason they find it cannot get a numerical grade. So not checking box they dont slab it. That dont mean you dont pay. You are paying for them examining the card and all the other overhead they have. Not getting it put in slab shountnt warrant a refund. They did grade it AUTH but you chose not to get it slabbed. My opinion Have great holiday weekend Matthew

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Posted By: barrysloate

Steve- I agree. A grading company does two jobs: Reviewing and grading a card; and placing it in a holder. The first step is a service, and the holder is a product. So there really should be a discount for a nonholdered card.