SGC is cranking on recent subs....WOW!!!!!!!

[prestigecollectibles]

I'm done with SGC. I sent them four Japanese cards to be graded that were already in their database and I had previously graded as well with no issues. They just called trying to extort an upcharge for "research". They did this to a friend of mine as well. This is incredible considering I was the one they used to contact about identifying Japanese cards. I told them to send the cards back and I will never use them again.

[Yoda]

That's obscene. They seem to forget that that customers have long memories and actions like these will hurt their base, loyal or not. Yet again money rules the hobby. I have been considering trying one of the new grading cos. but haven't yet pulled the trigger. Maybe this attitude by SGC will spur me to action. 'Research' my ass.

[toledo_mudhen]

Originally Posted by prestigecollectibles

I'm done with SGC. I sent them four Japanese cards to be graded that were already in their database and I had previously graded as well with no issues. They just called trying to extort an upcharge for "research". They did this to a friend of mine as well. This is incredible considering I was the one they used to contact about identifying Japanese cards. I told them to send the cards back and I will never use them again.

So instead of $75 per card they wanted to up to $100 each?

Did they have any response to "send them back and I'll never use again"?

PSA/SGC seem to be completely out of their minds at this point - I'm done with both of them also. At some point they are gonna wish that they would have treated their "longtime" base much better. Unbelievable!

CSG is still currently at $15 per card (economy - 75 days) and $8 (Bulk 50 card min - 80 days)

[prestigecollectibles]

SGC refunded my $300 in fees and they are sending them back. I wasted $30 in shipping even though I live 30 minutes from them and could easily drop off and pick up which they stopped allowing that last year.

PSA actually has a consultant for Japanese cards and they never upcharge for doing research.

I sent some UD Tiger Woods golf cards to CSG and were told after they returned them to me that they were a bit oversized and they are waiting for slightly larger holders. I've read the same thing happened to other people as well.

Originally Posted by toledo_mudhen

So instead of $75 per card they wanted to up to $100 each?

Did they have any response to "send them back and I'll never use again"?

PSA/SGC seem to be completely out of their minds at this point - I'm done with both of them also. At some point they are gonna wish that they would have treated their "longtime" base much better. Unbelievable!

CSG is still currently at $15 per card (economy - 75 days) and $8 (Bulk 50 card min - 80 days)

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by prestigecollectibles

SGC refunded my $300 in fees and they are sending them back. I wasted $30 in shipping even though I live 30 minutes from them and could easily drop off and pick up which they stopped allowing that last year.

PSA actually has a consultant for Japanese cards and they never upcharge for doing research.

I sent some UD Tiger Woods golf cards to CSG and were told after they returned them to me that they were a bit oversized and they are waiting for slightly larger holders. I've read the same thing happened to other people as well.

I always let out a groan when I see a grading company mention a "research fee".

That should be part of expanding your own knowledge base as a grading company. That's what you freakin' do. Authenticate cards.

R&D should be built into the already existing price structure.

As far as CSG, I was cheerleading them at first, but how do you open a business like this, and not have access to anything other then a perfectly sized standard holder.

The way it's going over there, by the time they have holders big enough for Upper Deck Tiger Woods and Ken Griffey Jr. cards, they'll have a year long wait over there to.

[kmac32]

Originally Posted by toledo_mudhen

So instead of $75 per card they wanted to up to $100 each?

Did they have any response to "send them back and I'll never use again"?

PSA/SGC seem to be completely out of their minds at this point - I'm done with both of them also. At some point they are gonna wish that they would have treated their "longtime" base much better. Unbelievable!

CSG is still currently at $15 per card (economy - 75 days) and $8 (Bulk 50 card min - 80 days)

I had a similar issue with them earlier. They tried to upcharge me with Silks. I had sent S74 silks in before and it was like any other card I had sent in. Had 5 I sent in on next submission and they wanted $20 additional for each card. Had them sent them back as I was not willing to pay $20 for Mylar. Was also annoying as it took 4 1/2 month to get cards back. Did try them again after the backlog was resolved and had better luck. Then the raised price to $75 so I am out unless something really good comes along that I want slabbed.

[steve B]

Pretty easy to clear the list and "crank" on subs when you do no work...

A
A
A
Send away with a bogus upcharge
A
A
A

and so on.

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by prestigecollectibles

I'm done with SGC. I sent them four Japanese cards to be graded that were already in their database and I had previously graded as well with no issues. They just called trying to extort an upcharge for "research". They did this to a friend of mine as well. This is incredible considering I was the one they used to contact about identifying Japanese cards. I told them to send the cards back and I will never use them again.

Good decision.

[HexsHeroes]

.
Submitted 3/30 @ $25 old price.
SGC posted as received 4/06.
Graded/slabbed.
Return shipped 4/16.
Delivered to me on 4/22.

Interestingly, even though I paid for and shipped my submission on 3/30, the invoice returned with my slabbed card notes rate charged as $90 ($75 rate + $15 shipping) but amount paid = $40 ($25 + $15). Thinking I better check my recent credit card transactions to make sure SGC did not collect on difference based on new pricing.

[Yastrzemski Sports]

Originally Posted by HexsHeroes

.
Submitted 3/30 @ $25 old price.
SGC posted as received 4/06.
Graded/slabbed.
Return shipped 4/16.
Delivered to me on 4/22.

Interestingly, even though I paid for and shipped my submission on 3/30, the invoice returned with my slabbed card notes rate charged as $90 ($75 rate + $15 shipping) but amount paid = $40 ($25 + $15). Thinking I better check my recent credit card transactions to make sure SGC did not collect on difference based on new pricing.

I have a sub into them as well, at the old rate, that did the same thing - went to $75 per card. I was told it was a bug on their site and that the rate you paid for at submission was the rate you will be charged.

[Frankish]

Originally Posted by prestigecollectibles

I'm done with SGC. I sent them four Japanese cards to be graded that were already in their database and I had previously graded as well with no issues. They just called trying to extort an upcharge for "research". They did this to a friend of mine as well. This is incredible considering I was the one they used to contact about identifying Japanese cards. I told them to send the cards back and I will never use them again.

It's still happening, and it seems clear to me that it's a scam at this point. If they have a new policy, not only should it be explicitly stated at submission (not the vague language they have now) but it should register automatically at the time of submission.

For instance, if you try to submit a 1959 Topps baseball card to PSA under a quarterly special for 1960s cards, you are informed that it doesn't qualify when you try to add it to your order. If SGC doesn't grade certain cards at their advertised fees for non-obvious reasons (such as them being oversized for that category), it should come up in the online submission form. This isn't rocket science. It might have been an execution challenge to small company in 1998, but now? High school kids could handle this.

It seems, rather, that SGC management has decided that it's preferable to have customers send in cards and then, when the customers are already pregnant with the costs of having shipped the cards to SGC and having to pay for return shipping, tell them they need to pay an extra $25/card (or whatever) to process the order.

All of this is, of course, setting aside the absurdity for charging "research fees" for cards they already have in their database. And it's particularly galling that they would charge you given that you helped them identify the cards in the first place.

For myself, at this point I guess I'll stick with the devil I know and just wait for PSA to open up other levels of submission. It's a shame. I thought SGC was smart with the general moves it has made to keep their turnaround times reasonable. And if that involved higher fees or limiting the kinds of cards it grades, that makes sense to me. But the hidden fees and/or uncharges are disappointing.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by Frankish

It's still happening, and it seems clear to me that it's a scam at this point. If they have a new policy, not only should it be explicitly stated at submission (not the vague language they have now) but it should register automatically at the time of submission.

For instance, if you try to submit a 1959 Topps baseball card to PSA under a quarterly special for 1960s cards, you are informed that it doesn't qualify when you try to add it to your order. If SGC doesn't grade certain cards at their advertised fees for non-obvious reasons (such as them being oversized for that category), it should come up in the online submission form. This isn't rocket science. It might have been an execution challenge to small company in 1998, but now? High school kids could handle this.

It seems, rather, that SGC management has decided that it's preferable to have customers send in cards and then, when the customers are already pregnant with the costs of having shipped the cards to SGC and having to pay for return shipping, tell them they need to pay an extra $25/card (or whatever) to process the order.

All of this is, of course, setting aside the absurdity for charging "research fees" for cards they already have in their database. And it's particularly galling that they would charge you given that you helped them identify the cards in the first place.

For myself, at this point I guess I'll stick with the devil I know and just wait for PSA to open up other levels of submission. It's a shame. I thought SGC was smart with the general moves it has made to keep their turnaround times reasonable. And if that involved higher fees or limiting the kinds of cards it grades, that makes sense to me. But the hidden fees and/or uncharges are disappointing.

That's a pretty strong opinion of SGC as a company. Not saying I disagree with you; however, it would be unfair to post something like this without including your name.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Eric72

That's a pretty strong opinion of SGC as a company. Not saying I disagree with you; however, it would be unfair to post something like this without including your name.

Some members don't read the rule in bold letters at the top of every page. That's ok. We have ways of mandating it.

.

[Frankish]

Originally Posted by Eric72

That's a pretty strong opinion of SGC as a company. Not saying I disagree with you; however, it would be unfair to post something like this without including your name.

Fixed it, Eric. Sorry about that. In the past, I've commented on quite a few companies, including SGC, usually in a positive light, and no one has pointed it out before.

As for my opinion, it's not a very strong one. Maybe I worded my initial post a bit strongly. In retrospect, though, it is only that I am disappointed in SGC, who I had hoped to make my new grader of choice. I'm not personally outraged (years of serving on corporate boards and as a private investor has left me thick-skinned to this type of thing), but (as a fellow collector) I do find their charging Robert a research upcharge after he helped educate them on the cards in the first place a low blow.

In general, these TPG companies don't seem shy about making announcements. It would have been an easy fix (and a few minutes work) to make an announcement that, in order to keep turnaround times low, the company has decided only to grade major, widely collected sets in its main submission pipeline. Other cards can expect additional fees due to more experience personnel needed for grading. This would especially helpful since many long time customers of the company are simply sending in the same cards they have had graded before without any upcharges and are suddenly being called for more money.

That this hasn't been fixed yet suggests to me that either the company is hoping to collect these fees (more likely once the customer has already sent the cards in and faces two-way shipping charges than if the initial bill said $55/card instead of $30 (or whatever)) or that it no longer cares that much for a portion of its traditional customer base and would rather replace them with customers breaking out Justin Herbert parallels. That is not a bad business decision. In fact, depending where the company plans to be in a few years, maybe it is the best one for them. But being transparent about it would be the better solution...in my opinion.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by Frankish

Fixed it, Eric. Sorry about that. In the past, I've commented on quite a few companies, including SGC, usually in a positive light, and no one has pointed it out before.

As for my opinion, it's not a very strong one. Maybe I worded my initial post a bit strongly...

No worries, sir. As I said, it wasn't me disagreeing with your statements.

[prestigecollectibles]

This is posted on the SGC site below their grading fees. Although it is quite vague. Does this mean they will upcharge on certain "obscure" W cards, E cards, etc?

[Eric72]

Perhaps it would benefit SGC and their customers to publish a list of "Standard Issue Cards" on their website. At the very least, make it part of the back end of the site - alerting the submitter that "...additional charges may apply."