Sharing info from PCGS customer service call
Proofmorgan
Posts: 758 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have a couple regular submissions that have exceeded the 40 day estimated total turn around so I called in the event there was an order issue.
There was no order issue , but they let me know they only consider orders late at 15 business days beyond the estimation and only then will act to expedite them.
In case this isn’t common knowledge I figured I’d pass the info along.
Collector of Original Early Gold with beginnings in Proof Morgan collecting.
7
Comments
Interesting. I have a regular order that has been sitting in "received" since 5/16, 1 month and eight days so far, and I'm starting to get a little worried. I have to think they are extremely backed up for orders to be over a month before even getting to grading.
Collector, occasional seller
I was told 6-8 weeks at Baltimore... My coins were just marked "received"... but now there's an issue with my submission. Grrrr...
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Per the call, they currently have 2.75 months (55 business days) to grade a regular submission before they feel they need to expedite it and consider it "late".
The submission I was calling on was received mid April.
I called today on a coin in for Restoration and left for return call, which occured in an hour, yaay, and found it had not even made it thru restoration yet. So, IWII. I expected long turn around, so no issue. Was tickled though that the return call was prompt, third time that has occurred, so definitely an improvement over last year. Congrats PCGS. Also, just to add, I have never spoken with a discourteous person at PCGS, so another plus.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
All tiers except Regular have been very fast for me. All of the "Grading" were in "Grading" status within a calendar week of being put into the system. They were put into the system 2 days after being delivered to PCGS.
You seem to be one of the lucky ones. You’d think it would be first in and first out based on when received in the same tier.
I have had some Regulars go through in a week while hearing others were months out for the same service. No real complaint on my end but I’m curious how some seem to get hung up while some speed through.
Note: this doesn’t include orders with issues
I've posted here several times that I think when they get an order there is some form of a "wheel of destiny" for which your order could get whisked through the system or fall into a black hole. I have not been able to discern a rhyme or reason. I would have expected a Regular submission to be faster than a modern value or Economy submission but time and time again Regular - even though the most expensive tier - is also the slowest.
Trouble with "Grading" status is any other service must be completed first and has no terminology associated with it other than in Grading, so you never truly know when your coin is actually being graded.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
"late"
Different queues for different caliber graders. The guys grading bust dollars and three dollar gold aren’t the ones flipping coins to pick 69 or 70 on boxes full of silver eagles.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
Why doesn’t pcgs change their estimated turnaround time to 55 days for regular service (40 + 15)? Wouldn’t this reduce the number of phone calls inquiring about orders, and provide a more productive work force?
The first thing that jumped into my mind when you wrote that was pcgs essentially starts chasing their tail once an order hits day 40, a flurry of activity then begins to try and scurry along that order before it hits day 55. I know this thinking is wrong, but it just seems like if better planning was executed originally when the coins arrived, the words “15 business days beyond” would never need to be spoken.
I remember when this was happening last time (last year?), lots of coins in white holders started showing up in my favorite dealers' cases
Everybody keeps complaining but everyone keeps sending..............
DEAL WITH IT OR DON'T SEND ANYTHING
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
What's the current turnaround time for NGC and CACG?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
“Everybody” doesn’t keep complaining and “everyone” doesn’t keep sending. Some do one or both.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Was it Yogi Berra who said, “PCGS is so busy, no one submits coins to them anymore”?
I just sent 4 coins off to NGC, spanning 3 different 'tiers'. They were amazingly fast, the coins entered the system the day after the post office showed the package arrived, and were graded and shipped within a week. Besides one little disappointment with a 'details' grade I am thrilled.
The point I'm trying to make is, stop complaining!
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
I love them guys.... and Feld, too.
I called them last week because these coins were received on 4-19. Today I got an email that grades are in. Not quite parking lot finds.
By my count a submission received on 5/16 is only on business day 25, with Memorial Day and Juneteenth in there.
I finally sent in four coins with my voucher, along with an error coin, they logged everything on 6/6, I figured I'd be lucky to get everything back by Labor Day.
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
My submission moved to "grading" today. I think this post may have had some influence (though not my intent, I was just aiming to inform and set expectations for others). I did receive an unprompted PM from PCGS staff that they would work to expedite my order and apologized for the delay. Class act and I am appreciative.
As others have stated, I wonder if the coin series or any other factor plays a role in grader availability, etc that may cause delays? Or if it is simply random and there are system issues where its possible for someone to "cut the line" somehow. (Ex: A Morgan submission vs half cents vs patterns, for example) It seems that the standard is 40 business days +/- 15 business days. I just wonder what contributes to the 30 day range within the estimation and order beings being graded out of chronological receiving order.
I'm not saying it's late, we have a long time before it would be considered late. I'm just stating how long it has been in received status, which is longer than I've seen in the past.
Collector, occasional seller
Significantly quicker. I just sent out a sub to the Florida guys. I’m ambivalent to holder for the particular series involved and I can’t justify a three month or longer wait - easily when I factor in shipping across the country and back. My sub took one day to arrive and one day to get into the system. That’s stunningly quick.
Having fun while switching things up and focusing on a next level PCGS slabbed 1950+ type set, while still looking for great examples for the 7070.
Really? At the end of last year when I sent the Florida guys some coins it would take around 3 weeks to get logged into their system. I'm guessing it helps them fudge their stats. Good to hear they're doing better now too.
FWIW,
Express Tier is always consistent at 15 days, usually faster than that.
i once submitted a walkthrough on mint thur release date that arrived there on friday, it didn't go out until the week after.
what am i crying about?
it was mint release date thur and no one had them in hand until then. bys aturday actual photos of actual graded coins were on ebay. i complained to pcgs but was told "maybe it was a dealer"
granted we've had this two-tier discussion on pricing, but not yet on sub times. if I can't get a walkthrough in the time on the little ol me form, then I want some type of compensation, like a voucher or something
Not 3 weeks but my last 4 submissions (all within the last couple of months) have all taken 4-5 business days to get logged in. Even during covid this was always lightning fast, usually same day, sometime next day. Interesting to consider possible reasons for this change.
Chopmarked Trade Dollar Registry Set --- US & World Gold Showcase --- World Chopmark Showcase
This new slowdown (not the Covid supply chain issues associated with particular areas) might be from the dark room. How hard is it to hire a few qualified photographers.
My NGC sub discussed previously arrived Monday. Picked up Tuesday. Entered Wednesday. Scheduled for grading Thursday. Grading Friday. And today in encapsulation/imaging. Granted, it’s a 10 coin modern sub, but this thing is flying!
Edit to add. I had a small regular sub in the same box. Entered at same speed and is currently scheduled for grading. To be expected as the TAT is twice as long.
Another edit: as of around noon today, 7/3/24, my modern sub was in Quality Control/Finalized and still relatively zipping through the process. I was giddy with anticipation. Three hours later status changed to Grading/Quality Control. Ugh. I guess somebody saw something they didn’t like. This leads me to believe something(s) getting downgraded. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when that happened. I sincerely doubt many coins get kicked back to grading to go up. Good thing is I know the integrity is there and N is putting I t he work to be as accurate as they feel that can be.
Having fun while switching things up and focusing on a next level PCGS slabbed 1950+ type set, while still looking for great examples for the 7070.
Who are willing to work for the payrate being offered. You might find it instructive to look at the posted jobs
https://www.indeed.com/q-coin-grading-jobs.html
APMEX is hiring "Experienced Numismatist- Onsite OKC" $60-90K PA
Collectors is hiring "Quality Control Specialist (2nd Shift)", $18.50/hour and a "Receiver - PM Shift (Temp To Hire)" for $17/hr
"Customer Relations Supervisor" for $57,920 - $94,035 PA
"Continuous Improvement Lead Specialist (Operations)" - $17 an hour
"Brand Protection Specialist" - $57,920 - $94,035 a year
"Equipment Maintenance Technician (2nd Shift)" - rate not specified
(there are other jobs with other brands outside of Santa Ana, CA and ICG/NGC have postings too)
vs https://www.indeed.com/q-mcdonalds-l-santa-ana,-ca-jobs.html
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
None of those jobs sounds like a photographer but your point is a good one. My point well, I have to pay my technicians the going rate otherwise I don’t have any technicians and if I don’t have any technicians, I’ll begin to lose customers quickly. And of course, if that happens, then I lose my business.
Yeah - we kind of put graders and others working at the TPG up on high tables. We forget it's a job. A good job, an important job, a job where you are trusted with very valuable items, but at the end of the day it's a job. The company has to make money to stay in business, employees need to be paid enough to keep working. And we the customers always want the service(s) to be less expensive. It's a delicate balance.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
The hyperbole cops are out in force.
?
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
Typo. I meant "The hyperbole cops are out in force."
Still not understanding it
I meant what I said, no exaggeration, and it was meant to be taken literally.
The point is If you don't like the service don't use it instead of complaniing about it
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
You also said “Everybody keeps complaining but everyone keeps sending..............”, which was obviously greatly exaggerated. That’s why this “hyperbole cop” was out in force.😉
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
What ever, twist it anyway you want. So change "everybody" to almost everybody if that makes you feel better
It really gets old when some people have to disect every word that is said, really old!
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
I didn’t twist anything - I quoted your words, verbatim. And gross exaggerations used to make points get really old, too. You know, like when someone says “some people have to dissect every word.”
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Like I said "really old"
I don't think it was a Gross Exaggeration at all
The End...............
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
My last sub to them, standard service, was 12 days received to shipped, not including shipping to or from. This is why I let me host subscription expire this year. Well... part of the reason, but a big one. Express is like 3 days, and the last 2 gold pieces were graded and shipped within a few days of receipt in the system.
https://www.the4thcoin.com
https://www.ebay.com/str/thefourthcoin
Just received my latest modern value crossover sub:
By my count, 14 business days, 13 if you count Juneteenth as a holiday. Can't complain about that.
Consider yourself lucky. I lost count on the number of business days.
Right around 5 pm my grades posted and is shipped with FedEx. That’s 7 business days to get grades for moderns at N. Pretty stoked at this speed. Oh, and 8 out of 10 were exactly as predicted. One a point higher. One 2 points lower. I must’ve missed something on that one…..
Having fun while switching things up and focusing on a next level PCGS slabbed 1950+ type set, while still looking for great examples for the 7070.
I simply will not send PCGS anything until they fix the turnaround times and TrueView issues.
Full stop.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Sent my 1st submission in April 24th thru a dealer. It's a bust quarter error. Do error coins take longer and is there a way to find out what the status is when using a dealer. Thanks Dave
Check with the dealer.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Yes. Error coins take longer..... sometimes. This time, apparently is one of them times. Others may disagree. Your dealer can call customer service who will remind him to wait.
Here are the current TATs. What do you think they should be?
