PSA GRADING MIS-EXPERIENCE

jevancho

Let me share my just completed first experience with PSA in order to warn others to be careful, very careful with submissions. Without getting in to the background of why/how I made the mistake, I recently submitted a Topps Chrome Refractor Kobe Bryant Card which I thought was his rookie card (#138) but was actually his second year card (#171). I was excited to have found it in some old cards I had put away, so I read the PSA rules, reviewed similar cards on eBay, and declared it to have a $20,000 value which came with a $1,000 grading charge, During the submission process it was indicated that if PSA, upon receipt of the card, did not agree with either the declared value or the description of the card, the customer, me, would be notified before the card was graded. Obviously that situation applied here as I identified it as the 1996 (138) card when it was the 1997 (171) card. Needless to say, I WAS NOT notified and PSA went ahead and graded the card. I was excited when I got an email indicating it was given a 9 and couldn't wait until I got the card back, thinking I possibly had a $75k or above item. The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was that the copy of the submission form returned to me had the 138 crossed out in pen and had 171 written over it. The 1996 in my description was not changed. I first thought I was being scammed by PSA, that they had switched cards on me, only to realize it was my mistake after confirming the returned card was the card I had taken a picture of before my submission. Obviously the wind went out of my balloon, but after picking myself off the floor I then began to reflect on the entire process. Clearly if I had known/identified the card correctly, I would have realized its declared value and thus the PSA charge should have been much lower, more like $300 not $1000. I consoled myself by saying at least Ill get a $700 refund on the grading charge when I detail the facts to PSA's customer service, including emphasizing that there receiving/QC had not done there job of notifying me of the description error prior to moving it along for grading. Well the fact that I am writing this message should indicate all you need to know. I spoke to a customer service rep, a supervisor and sent an email recalling all the facts, and they essentially fell on deaf ears with robotic answers. Finally I simply had had enough on my call, said I would pay the charge, would write something like this publicly, and then hung up. The line that the supervisor gave me that really got my blood boiling was when she said, and I quote, "at least you still have a valuable card, that's probably worth 3 or 4 thousand dollars" So apparently I should still have been happy despite having a $5k card instead of a $75k card and paid $1000 for a service that should have cost $300, Let me be perfectly clear on one other thing, If you submit a card that you have clearly undervalued in your submission, you can be damn sure PSA would contact you about the need to revise the declared value and pay its corresponding higher grading charge, before going one step further, Apologies for my length and thanks for everyone who read the entire post. If anyone has a similar distasteful experience with PSA, I'm sure we would all love to hear about it. In the meantime, you can be damn sure the Kobe Bryant rookie cards I do have (not chrome or refractors) will never see the inside of a PSA office. James

PeakRarities

This post seems better suited for the sports card and memorabilia forum, this is the coin forum

PerryHall

This is the US coin forum. This belongs in the trading cards forum.

philographer

Seems to be a trend here…

jmlanzaf

@jevancho said:
Let me share my just completed first experience with PSA in order to warn others to be careful, very careful with submissions. Without getting in to the background of why/how I made the mistake, I recently submitted a Topps Chrome Refractor Kobe Bryant Card which I thought was his rookie card (#138) but was actually his second year card (#171). I was excited to have found it in some old cards I had put away, so I read the PSA rules, reviewed similar cards on eBay, and declared it to have a $20,000 value which came with a $1,000 grading charge, During the submission process it was indicated that if PSA, upon receipt of the card, did not agree with either the declared value or the description of the card, the customer, me, would be notified before the card was graded. Obviously that situation applied here as I identified it as the 1996 (138) card when it was the 1997 (171) card. Needless to say, I WAS NOT notified and PSA went ahead and graded the card. I was excited when I got an email indicating it was given a 9 and couldn't wait until I got the card back, thinking I possibly had a $75k or above item. The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was that the copy of the submission form returned to me had the 138 crossed out in pen and had 171 written over it. The 1996 in my description was not changed. I first thought I was being scammed by PSA, that they had switched cards on me, only to realize it was my mistake after confirming the returned card was the card I had taken a picture of before my submission. Obviously the wind went out of my balloon, but after picking myself off the floor I then began to reflect on the entire process. Clearly if I had known/identified the card correctly, I would have realized its declared value and thus the PSA charge should have been much lower, more like $300 not $1000. I consoled myself by saying at least Ill get a $700 refund on the grading charge when I detail the facts to PSA's customer service, including emphasizing that there receiving/QC had not done there job of notifying me of the description error prior to moving it along for grading. Well the fact that I am writing this message should indicate all you need to know. I spoke to a customer service rep, a supervisor and sent an email recalling all the facts, and they essentially fell on deaf ears with robotic answers. Finally I simply had had enough on my call, said I would pay the charge, would write something like this publicly, and then hung up. The line that the supervisor gave me that really got my blood boiling was when she said, and I quote, "at least you still have a valuable card, that's probably worth 3 or 4 thousand dollars" So apparently I should still have been happy despite having a $5k card instead of a $75k card and paid $1000 for a service that should have cost $300, Let me be perfectly clear on one other thing, If you submit a card that you have clearly undervalued in your submission, you can be damn sure PSA would contact you about the need to revise the declared value and pay its corresponding higher grading charge, before going one step further, Apologies for my length and thanks for everyone who read the entire post. If anyone has a similar distasteful experience with PSA, I'm sure we would all love to hear about it. In the meantime, you can be damn sure the Kobe Bryant rookie cards I do have (not chrome or refractors) will never see the inside of a PSA office. James

Meh...

Yawn...

This will shortly be deleted without a trace. Hope you feel better for the next hour or two.

Metal

This belongs in the I refuse to take responsibility for my own actions forum. This is the US coin forum.

MFeld

@Metal said:
This belongs in the I refuse to take responsibility for my own actions forum. This is the US coin forum.

If the portion quoted below is factual and it wasn’t adhered to, perhaps the submitter can take responsibility and at the same time, should be refunded a portion of the grading fee?

“During the submission process it was indicated that if PSA, upon receipt of the card, did not agree with either the declared value or the description of the card, the customer, me, would be notified before the card was graded.”

Metal

As a small business owner, this post comes across to me as someone who may have come across as accusatory and half-cocked to customer service,
In that regard, I'm not at all surprised he didn't get the credit he was looking for.

MasonG

With regards to PCGS submissions...

"Please note, the value you provide per coin is for insurance purposes only in the case anything were to happen to your coin while it is out of your possession, prior to grading."

https://www.pcgs.com/news/declared-values

HeatherBoyd

While this was posted in the wrong forum I have escalated this to our Vice President of Customer Experience to investigate. I hope that both our sister company and this customer can come to a happy resolution.