PSA cross over service gripe

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

So here's the thing. I'm a PSA guy. I'm a California native and they're a California company. I like their clear plastic holders with the red trim labels. More than anything, I like their registry and website. They have superior technology to the others. (Yes SGC I'm talking to you). For the record, SGC has better customer service...but oh man their website is really bad...even their pop report is harder to read than PSA's.

But I gotta say my dealings lately with PSA has me thinking....Mr. Orlando I hope you're reading this. Maybe SGC is the way to go? Customer service vs. technology. It sucks these are the criteria on which to choose. I'm not even going to get into the grading differences as that I'm sure has been hashed out here in the past.

I recently sent in two SGC graded 1914 Cracker Jacks to PSA for crossover. I used PSA's "express" service and asked for a minimum grade equal to the SGC grade. I also asked that should they not make the min grade, that PSA call me and let me know what grade they did get as there was a possibility based on that grade that I would accept it. Unfortunately when you specify a minimum grade, PSA either gives you that grade or returns the card with a "MG" - minimum grade designation and doesn't bother giving you a PSA grade. Does that make any sense? I'm paying $100 to have the card evaluated, graded and hopefully crossed over and if they don't agree with SGC they don't even give you a PSA grade. Why not have customer service call the customer and give them the option to cross over at a lower grade? No one in their right mind will send in a high value card for crossover and just accept any grade designation.
After speaking to customer service and then to a customer service manager, PSA allowed me to change my min grade designation to a half point below the SGC grade and then re-evaluate the cards.
It's a shame that they make crossing over such a hassle. Going the extra mile to make things easy for the customer will win business long term.