Grading company blues

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Posted By: Bob

Got an email from GAI today, they are sending out my graded cards which I submitted at National. Fast service. Anyway, when I checked the grading site it shows 9 cards graded. I submitted 10, no mention of my red Cycle back Moriaty. Great...
Then feeling in the dumps I checked the SGC website to see how that shipment was doing. I clicked on the order status and noticed the cards had not yet been shipped. That's cool because they still have time. But when I clicked on the link to see a list of cards I submitted and which would be sent soon, there were no 17 pre-war cards, no Zeenuts, no E94s, no T207 cycles. Instead it listed a single card, an E98 Lajoie. That was a card I paid $35 to have graded on-site and received that day. Great....
I hope these things get untangled or Adam W. is going to really believe I was born under a dark cloud

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Posted By: dennis

think positive they probably are overwelmed after the natl and you'll get all your cards.

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Posted By: Bob

SGC just added the last submission 2 weeks ago to their website 5 minutes after I posted so that looks ok. Still crossing my fingers on the T207 Moriarty from GAI.
Dennis- If you had the kind of luck I have had (UPS losing a near set of E98s coming back from GAI a few years ago, never found), you'd see why I flinch so much!

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Posted By: Ken McMillan

Hey Tbob,

when did you submit your cards to SGC? I submitted 11 cards which were signed for and recieved 8/09/2007 and the invoice shows 11 cards recieved but no detail as to what cards were recieved like they normally do. I figure that they are overwelmed due to the national and the prewar special going on. Does this make sense? What are your thoughts. There were over $1000.00 worth of cards sent so I am a little nervous.

Ken

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Posted By: bcornell

I had the same SGC experience - submitted a 15-card lot in Cleveland with Express service and didn't see it show up on the site until today. I think they got swamped. It's always worth sending an email to Michael Goldberg if you have questions.

Bill

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Posted By: barry arnold

I had a similar experience with tardiness due to the national.
I, too, found myself worried as they (sgc) 'had'my Elberfeld Washington,
Tinker bat off, and Seitz SL! And they weren't even listed as checked in
on the sgc website.
I spoke with Michael Goldberg who was very helpful, as always, and my cards
were sent out the next day priority mail. And they did arrive fine and dandy.
Calls to him are most helpful methinks.


best,

barry

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Posted By: Ed Hans

Sgc's been swamped since way before the National. I sent in a shipment in early July that took two+ weeks to record. After a couple conversations with Michael Goldberg, the cards were graded and returned in a timely fashion.

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Posted By: peter ullman

bob...hopefully all will work out fine. i don't have much experience w/grading companies...but it seems, from your responses, that they have issues w/the clerical stuff...hopefully they get the rest right...good luck!

pete in mn

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Posted By: Jared

Doh, I just sent my first ever cards to SGC (I've never submitted to any company before)...I guess I couldn't have picked a worse time.

I do have a question about SGC though: When do they send you your customer number so you can check the status of your invoice?

I sent my cards last weekend and haven't heard a peep. I sure hope I did it right, their online instructions and FAQ leave a lot to be desired.

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Posted By: Rob Dewolf

Jared,

Don't hold your breath waiting. Like just about everything else with SGC, you'll need to call or e-mail to get the information you need. I was in your exact situation earlier this year, and it took three e-mails before I got a response with my customer number.

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Posted By: Anonymous

Sounds like lots of folks got in for the pre-war SGC special. My submittal was received on Aug. 6th but it took a while to get in the system.

Adam B

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Posted By: Matthew

I thought the point of getting a card graded at Nationals was to have the card graded there & not take a chance on it getting lost. I am confused. Do you just turn them in & then they send them back to the officeto be graded & then ship to you at home?

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Posted By: Bob

Matthew- It costs $35 a pop to have cards graded on site, $10 a card off-site. You figure that if you actually hand then the cards in person to take back for grading you eliminate one of the two possible chances of having them lost in the transit. I guess with GAI I forgot the 3rd possibility-lost in the shuffle at the company. Mastro lost a T207 Lowdermilk of mine somewhere in their offices once when I consigned a T207 set for auction. They made good on it financially but I always felt the set lost more than the value of Lowdermilk by having that card missing when it was auctioned...

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Posted By: Matthew

Thanks for the response. I did not know there was an extra fee involved to get it graded while there.

Holy crap, Bob. I remember the E98/UPS story but the T207/Mastro one is a new one for me. I think I'd be more ticked off about it getting lost at the Mastro office than a lost-in-transit.

BTW and totally OT, any new news on Monk?

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Posted By: Bob

Looks like he will miss Troy, Alabama and Kentucky at least. Sad, he could have turned pro but came back to be a leader of the team. He was tackled from behind at practice by Michael Grant of all people, who is coming back from an ACL last year.
Look for the true freshman Crosby Tuck from Shiloh Christian to beat out his competition and play a lot during Monk's absence, maybe even starting.

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Posted By: Bob

Well, 4 weeks ago GAI finally acknowledged that they had indeed lost the T207 Moriarty with Cycle back which I submitted (along with 9 other cards) at the National. After Mike Baker contacted me and agreed they had misplaced the card, I patiently waited for a response or resolution. After two more weeks passed and the card still hadn't turned up, Steve Rocchi emailed, then called to make it right. I was offered the value of the card or twice that amount in grading fees. I took the check, which was supposed to have been mailed right out. Two weeks later I am still waiting on the check. I called GAI today and the receptionist had no knowledge of a check being sent to me, so I still patiently wait. I will post a response when (and if) it arrives for anyone who might be interested.
The ironic thing about this is that I gave the cards to them at the National to minimize the danger of the cards being lost in transit by mailing them in....

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Posted By: quan

for a supposedly legitimate company i don't understand how they can lose so many cards.

i still remember the days when tbob collected raw and wouldn't even know the difference between GAI and SCG.

edit-anum: lately i've enjoyed cracking cards out of slabs and putting them back into penny sleeves/cardloaders. most of my stuff these days are in the G range so it's a wash value-wise.

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Posted By: Frank Evanov

Same thing happened to me with a bunch of 1950's vintage wax packs in 2005. I handed them in at a show and weeks later they finally admitted that they lost them. I got my check about 3 weeks later after a few phone calls.

Frank

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Posted By: Matt

Sure, they "lose" a lot of cards, but in an unrelated story, you should see the owners private collection!

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Posted By: Paul S

I don't really get my cards graded but do cards get lost more than just in a blue moon? Has it happened to anyone on more than one occasion. It seems to me that there are only three things that can happen: they were never initially pulled out of the mailer, they slipped under some desk papers that got tossed, or they ended up in someone's bag/pocket. Is there a checklist step-by-step protocol they have to follow, maybe there should be. I dunno. I can only imagine how aggravating this is to the card owner.

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Posted By: boxingcardman

Bob, with all that's been put out there about GAI over the last year, why on earth would you trust them with a card you valued?

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Posted By: Bob

Adam- If I don't get a check soon, that will be the last time....
tbob

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Posted By: Bob

Finally got the check. 2 months after the card was lost....

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Posted By: Phil Garry

My advice:

Stick with SGC and you will be much better off in the long run as well as being much less stressed out today and tomorrow.