PSA dispute
mbothner
Posts: 762 ✭✭✭
I sent in a 100 card set on a $15 grading special. PSA sends me an email that one of the cards got destroyed in the sealing process. This in not the first time this has happened to me. PSA tells me they will subtract the $20 declared value and the $15 grading fee from the submission. On the surface this sounds fair but it is really not. Since this is a 100 card set I will obviously have to replace the one card PSA destroyed. Now I will have to go buy the card again, pay to ship the card to PSA (which I had already paid for), and I will have to pay the full price of grading when the card I sent in was on a $15 special and then I will have to pay for return shipping (which I had already paid for) so I am looking at a $30 to $40 loss because of PSA destroying my card. I asked PSA to give me one free submission not only for my inconvenience but also for the $20+ shipping I am going to have because of their error and that the card I sent in was being graded for $15 special. They said "no" they would only give me the declared value. They did offer to encase to damaged card which has no value. I have been a PSA member for 20 years and have paid to have thousands of cards graded. I do not feel the customer should lose money for their mistake. I thought I offered a fair compromise.
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that sucks. sorry to hear this. they should definitely knock something off for you on the next order. $1 off grading or something like. Would keep both parties happy.
That is what I thought. I asked them for one free comp for the financial loss I am going to have. Does not cost them a thing.
I feel like they should go above and beyond when something like this happens rather than just offer the very minimal. I don't think they would break the bank offering you a voucher for a free future submission. If anything it also helps lock in the customer for future orders in addition to the obvious goodwill.
You are being 100% reasonable in your request to a situation created by THEIR mistake, and this is bad business on their part. Did you do this through the web portal, or call? I'd really try to push this up the chain, because I can't imagine a business would be so hardcore with such a loyal customer.
(I know I'd never do that with one of our clients/customers)
It was through emails. Last email I requested a manager to call me. I have not heard anything yet but now they have my entire submission which is in step 7 on hold.
Customer service is such a big factor for any business. PSA makes lots of money from slabbing cards, and they will make errors. When those things happen, they should go the extra mile to compensate you. I learned a long time ago as a small time eBay seller that it's better for your customer than yourself be happy when something doesn't work out. One (or even 5!) free submissions is a grain of sand on a beach for them. To you, it'll will always be a reminder of how they handled it, and may affect your decision whether to go with them or another company in the future.
That's my two cents, at least. Hopefully it gets rectified to your liking.
When you send in the replacement card, they should grade and ship it at no charge.
Unfortunately, I doubt they will.
They should also process any card incorrectly graded by more than 1 grade for free.
Customers should never have to pay for a service improperly done.
You have been inconvenienced and a $75-100 voucher would of been a better gesture. We all make errors, and compensate the customer for the hassle factor here. Just my take.
I know someone at PSA has read this thread. Hope they respond. They are obviously not being fair. Once again, all I asked them was for 1 free submission to compensate the $30-$40 loss I will have from their error.
Agreed with all of this. Super frustrating that cards getting damaged during holdering seems to be happening more and more frequently lately. I had a couple about the value of your loss a few months ago which left some disappointment, but then I ended up losing out on more like approx $700 to $900 on another one they damaged more recently. The settlement issued was only about 10% of the card's value in the grade it was assigned prior to assembly.
Huh? What am I missing? As I understand it, PSA offered you full value for your card, waiver of any grading cost, and to grade the (damaged) card for free. In what universe is this not adequate? Surely PSA's obligations don't extend beyond you being made whole.
Instead we're asked to assume that a customer who has sent thousands of cards to PSA would be hurt because he would have to pay round trip shipping on just the one replacement card and that PSA should hod the line on the special for just the one card. I doubt the OP would be satisfied with an offer of the $20 declared value and a voucher for free grading on just the exact set and card number that was destroyed (and of course it would be a record-keeping nightmare for PSA), but that is the only thing I can see otherwise.
Sounds like the declared value you used was what you thought the raw card was worth, not the value of replacing its graded counterpart. Therein lies the lesson for all of us.
Could you buy the replacement card already graded with the $35 savings?
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Seems like most understood but I will explain it again. It is not PSA 's policy to destroy a card but if it happens there should be more than just handing back the declared value. This is one card out of a 100 card set. I sent in the entire set. I guess I could break even if I just left one card missing in the set of 100 but most would not do that. I can replace the card for the $20 compensation but why should I have to repay to mail both directions and why should I not get the grading special cost for the card I have to get regraded? If PSA offered to pay shipping both ways and give me the grading special cost I would be fine with that. I was trying to make it easy on PSA by simply asking for 1 free comp and I would still pay shipping both ways. That would be an easy break even solution. I have previously stated the reasons why this would be a $30-$40 loss for me which should be unacceptable to anyone. I am not trying to profit from PSA's mistake just break even but looks like PSA expects me to take the loss.
There is a PSA 9 listed for over $100. Seems high to me. An 8 would be cheaper but I do not see one.
Not sure about the OP's card; in my example above though, mine was a card that graded as what would have been a pop 1 / none higher 9 and the only same-item sales data for comp's sake was a mid-grade one from a few years ago. Though I did provide an objective analysis for calculating what the item's value should have been, they still were only willing to base the settlement on prior sales data without extrapolating for mine. Disappointing, but it is a reminder of one of the risks we all take when submitting cards for grading.
It is not the declared value (DV). Instead, what they offer is what they determine to be the fair market value (FMV). Sometimes DV and FMV are close enough to equivalent amounts, and sometimes there may be a much more noticeable disparity.
Has PSA did their bare minimum to be fair? Probably, but I would think going the extra mile to keep the customer happy would be worth it. I can't help to think that if Joe was still around, this is how it would have been handled.
No, I understood. You just didn't like the answer. PSA's compensation was a fair offer. That they offered to slab and return the damaged card made it more than fair. Your desired compensation makes no sense from anyone actually running a business.
If PSA were to offer $30-40 extra compensation that might make sense. It makes no sense for PSA to allow members to submit one single specific card for free including two-way shipping at some unspecified future time. The bookkeeping costs would be immense. Can you imagine me writing PSA "OK, I replaced the 1977 Ernie Whitt from two years ago. Can you please send me a shipping label?" "Sorry, we checked and your voucher was good for Alvis Woods."
Why would you want to send one card to PSA all by itself, and a $20 card at that? Why should PSA hold the value of the grading special open for you indefinitely but not for anyone else?
I'm sorry this happened to you, but PSA has done more than enough to make it right.
We will just have to agree to disagree.
that's a bummer. In the cases where i had something damaged or questioned a grade, PSA always went above and beyond. That created my loyalty. This was all back when you could actually speak with someone. My good friend had a damaged GPK that graded a 10 that was destroyed and they gave him the max value of the service level which seemed very appropriate. This was last year.
The best solution going forward may be to just set the max value of the service level as the value on all the cards. It is tough to predict grades so this might be a good way to protect both parties in this situation
That's a good idea.
This is what I do on every submission. I've never had an issue with PSA so far, but it just makes sense to put the max value since you're paying for that level anyway.
The one time I got a damaged holder back they turned it around easily, quickly and without an issue at all.
I agree with you -- had they not damaged your card, you wouldn't have to go thru shipping back and forth to PSA a second time as well as incur a potentially higher grading fee...you'd have the card back along with the other 99 cards under the initial grading cost and the initial shipping fees...pretty straightforward to me
Unfortunately I just put the actual value instead of the max value of the service level for the submission. I was just trying to be honest. I learned my lesson the hard way. They still have my submission on hold and haven't responded to me since last Friday.
Again, remember that for damaged items they will pay you what they determine to be the Fair Market Value of the item, which is not the same data point as your declared value of the item that you put on the sub form.
Correct. Your declared value is mostly used for them to determine how much to insure your return package for.
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That is the policy in place, yes.
Under normal circumstances, as a former business owner, I would agree completely. However, considering PSA's pricing decisions of the last couple of years, I think they should do more here.
That being said, they are not obligated to do so.
I have not submitted anything since before the insanity, and doubt I will be sending anything in under the current pricing structure.
Well PSA just released the exact same special for the non sports cards at $15. I guess this will work out but it's more of a coincidence. I just called PSA and I'm calling number 110 on the list.
I would send one card in because I have nothing else to send in. The 1 card was damaged because of PSA and that leaves me 1 card short of a 100 card set that I sent in for grading. I would not consider it holding the special open but just giving the credit for the special that I was supposed to have on the card they destroyed.
If a policy is unreasonable then it will never change unless someone speaks up.