Upperdeck's great customer service

euphoria18 · February 24, 2004 3:31AM

Here is an email i sent to UD... because of some damaged cards.

Hi there,
I recently purchased a large quantity of UD boxes... and must say that
most were great looking products. I must say that Upper Deck makes some of
the nicest products out there today. The addition of Trilogy, and bring
back Black Diamond was the best things out there. One of my purchases was
a case of 02-03 UD MVP. Unfortuantely.. in that case, a number of cards in
the sealed packages were damaged. Most of them i am not worried about..
however, 2 of the cards.. 2 MVP Prosign Henrik Sedin autos... had small
creases in them. As you probably know, the Henrik Sedin autos were very
rare, with only 33 being released. Now i am pretty sure that the cards
cannot be replaced... however, i am hoping that it is possible. Doing a
bit of research, i have found that one of these cards on ebay sold for
$80+.. so that is why i am rather concerned with these being damaged.

Canyou please let me know if there is any way that we can rectify the
situation... with either replacing the cards, or possibly something else
to replace these.

Please advise on what your thoughts are.

Thank you.

And their response:

Upper Deck replaces damaged cards on a card for card basis, up to forty (40)
per mailing, for eight (8) months after the product is released or until
stock is depleted.

Replacement turnaround time is between 12 and 16 weeks.

Thank you for supporting Upper Deck.

Upper Deck LLC.

5909 Sea Otter

Carlsbad, Ca 92008

What is the point of even having a "customer service" email if they do not even read what you wrote. All they send is a generic response.. probably based on the header you use. Well.. once again.. UD proves themselves to be the worst in customer service.

ThisIsSportsCentre · February 24, 2004 3:52AM

Call them.

dherm360 · February 24, 2004 4:02AM

If you call them you just get mad with their ignorant responses--they are also no help

Allen · February 24, 2004 4:07AM

They had to cut all their customer support staff to hav ethe money to sign LeBron.

dirtmonkey · February 24, 2004 4:09AM

They do SUCK!!! I'm still battling with those buttmunchers over a bunch of BS!!!

ctsoxfan · February 24, 2004 5:13AM

I recently received a # card back from them that was damaged. It took them almost 4 months, but they replaced it exactly for me after a few phone calls (and sent it FedEx). I think they are getting hammered because their redemption process is making a lot of folks unhappy (me included).

duncangal · February 24, 2004 6:07AM

It's no surprise to me, have had nothing but problems with them. I sent in an auto to be redeemed and they sent me back a common insert...Will not deal with them again!!!!

MXracer · February 24, 2004 8:43AM

I have had awesome customer service with Upper Deck. I bought a box of cards that was supposed to have a guaranteed gu and it did not - they sent me a 1999 500 HR Club Eddie Murray bat bv $350 (at the time). I had redeemed a Hee Seop Choi auto and the cards never got signed by him so they sent me a $150 A-Rod auto/jersey. Sweet.

Bobstar · February 24, 2004 11:42AM

We both feel very bad for you. If you decide to pursue this matter with Upper Deck, be prepared to handle alot of frustaration & grief.
That's what we had to endure for a YEAR just to get 1 redemption card from them. Believe us, we NEVER did find anyone there that actually cared or knew how to perform proper customer service.
We even had a manager of a department assisting us in the last 3 months & even he had extreme difficulty in getting the redemption department to perform thier job.
After a year when we finally got our card, he felt so bad since then, he still sends us Lebron cards along with a nice note of some kind & we don't even collect basketball! We both wish you the best of luck but don't expect much; if our experience was any indication that's all you're ever going to get from them; is not much of anything!

Quasar31 · February 24, 2004 11:50AM

good lick calling them cause they dont like to answer the phone...... guess they figure that if your on hold long enough that you will give up...... they still oew me some free packs and if i ever get a friday off i`ll stay on hold if i have to just so i can chew someone out, lol

i hate upper deck

kr580 · February 24, 2004 11:54AM

Haha Chris.... you actually expected some help from them?

... they're a joke... I think MXracer's tale was the first GOOD i've heard of their customer service

JErik20 · February 24, 2004 12:35PM

Isn't this sad??? Post after post of people complaining about this pi$$-poor company, and yet everyday there are posts stating "Busted a box of 02/03 Upper Deck Blah Blah today". You know-- if you ran a company where you made millions, and your service sucked, but people still pumped tons of money into your product, would you be motivated to change the way things work? Their system works, it sucks for us, but is great for them, b/c they have like 3 retards manning their customer service dept probably making minimum wage, and we complain constantly, yet STILL buy the products. If you people want change-- then stop buying their crap. Send their cust service e-mails and hand written letters stating that b/c of their crappy service-- you are no longer buying their products.

If enough people call and write them and complain and STOP BUYING THEIR CARDS AND THEIR B.S., then, AND ONLY THEN, will they make a change So let's se less complaining and MORE ACTION, or else just hush up about it

Erik

duncangal · February 24, 2004 12:42PM

I have stopped!

Bobstar · February 24, 2004 1:29PM

We stopped buying all Upper Deck products for over the last year & a half. We did buy 1 box of UD Black Diamond Hockey recently because we found out it had NO redemptions in it. Other than that 1 box, they haven't seen any of our $$$ at all.
Hearing some of the lousy pulls people are getting from a bunch of thier product it sure doesn't look like we missed much either.
We did get lucky with our Black Diamond Hockey, pulling the Fleury Rookie & the Yzerman Black 4 Diamond #7/10.
Thankfully, we didn't have to deal with any redemptoions or exchanges.

SoDoMoJo · February 24, 2004 2:03PM

The only reason I Think people (i'm included) still buy UD is because they have some of the best sports figures representing them. For example my goal from this year is to pull 1 LeBron James Auto and of course you cant get it in topps or anything else so I have to still buy UD to try and obtain that goal w/o shelling out 600 to get one! i'd rather pull one outta a $5 pack than pay 600!!!!!!!

JErik20 · February 25, 2004 11:19AM

"anything else so I have to still buy UD to try and obtain that goal w/o shelling out 600 to get one! i'd rather pull one outta a $5 pack than pay 600!!!!!!!"

Yeah, but drop that $600 and you are guaranteed a Lebron auto, but buy $5000 worth of boxes and you still might not get one.....

Erik

Quasar31 · February 25, 2004 12:56PM

i dont buy upper deck anymore..... i like playoff donruss and leaf

epag64 · February 26, 2004 12:12AM

actually customer svc came thru for me..i brought a box of 03 sp gu bsk, and never got a card #d to 100 or less which is stated on the box..after a email i sent and a follow-up phone call they sent me 4 packs of the same product, after pulling a larry bird jersey i was happy

bjork73 · February 26, 2004 7:41AM

The redemption process sucks to no end (I've gotten cards from redemptions that I totally forgot that I sent in... that's NOT a good thing!) but the NPN is nicer... recently got a MJ insert and a LeBron GU floor from Hardcourt's NPN

Davino · February 26, 2004 7:57AM

I just got the one and only redemption card from them today, over 3 months from when I sent it in: Sosa/Griffey/Palmeiro/Mcgriff bat card. I'm not impressed with their service...

ajbry · February 26, 2004 8:00AM

I've been waiting since the summer for a Blake auto redemption. Worst company out there.

knicks644 · February 26, 2004 8:02AM

yea right i am still waiting for my kobe auto a year later

euphoria18 · February 26, 2004 3:27PM

Well.. i sent another email to UD.. maybe they will do something:

Well.. i must say that i am EXTREMELY FRUSTRADED and upset with the
treatment of this so called "customer service". Here is an copy of the
first email i sent to you:

Hi there,
I recently purchased a large quantity of UD boxes... and must say that
most were great looking products. I must say that Upper Deck makes some of
the nicest products out there today. The addition of Trilogy, and bring
back Black Diamond was the best things out there. One of my purchases was
a case of 02-03 UD MVP. Unfortuantely.. in that case, a number of cards in
the sealed packages were damaged. Most of them i am not worried about..
however, 2 of the cards.. 2 MVP Prosign Henrik Sedin autos... had small
creases in them. As you probably know, the Henrik Sedin autos were very
rare, with only 33 being released. Now i am pretty sure that the cards
cannot be replaced... however, i am hoping that it is possible. Doing a
bit of research, i have found that one of these cards on ebay sold for
$80+.. so that is why i am rather concerned with these being damaged.

Canyou please let me know if there is any way that we can rectify the
situation... with either replacing the cards, or possibly something else
to replace these.

Please advise on what your thoughts are.

Thank you.

The response i got was:

Upper Deck replaces damaged cards on a card for card basis, up to forty (40)
per mailing, for eight (8) months after the product is released or until
stock is depleted.

Replacement turnaround time is between 12 and 16 weeks.

Thank you for supporting Upper Deck.

So.. Is it to much to ask for someone to actually read what i had wrote??
Rather than send a typical generic response? This is beyond frustrating..
especially after spending over $2000 in one shot on UD products. It
appears that.. Upper Deck is living up to its name.. in being the worst in
customer service. Here is a link to a post i made on a sportscard trading
site.. which as you can tell... reveals a lot of other people having
problems with UD.
http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=264622

So back to my original question... what can we do to fix this situation. I
doubt that you can replace these exact cards.. since they were limited to
only 33. Perhaps you can replace them.. which would be best... but if
not... then what can be done to fix this.

I am looking forward to your response.

Chris Melnyk - CAIB
V.B. Insurance Brokers Ltd.

GemmyI0 · February 26, 2004 11:15PM

lol since you're in Canada do they make you answer that 0+2-1+10-3+5= question before they replace your cards like they do with npns?

KLS23 · February 27, 2004 1:55AM

Hey guys,

I along with many others from Beckett and TR are boycotting UD products for all of the reasons described in this thread. I have had far too many negative encounters with their customer service over the past 2 years. I can proudly say that I did not purchase 1 box of Upper Deck cards this football season.

JErik said it perfectly....there is no incentive for them to improve until they see a dramatic decrease in sales of their products. Topps/Playoff/Donruss/Leaf have great cards and excellent customer service. I highly urge everyone to purchase their products instead.

Ken

BECKETTSUCKS · February 27, 2004 2:22AM

Should card companies be held to a deal or trade the same way two collectors would be?

I made a deal awhile back with UD for them to replace a card with a mistake they had made. The deal was 6 packs of 2001 UD Graded Football. Well they ran out of the UD Graded packs so asked me if 2003 SP Signature Football would be ok. They said if it would be just accept the package that was on the way. If not just refuse the package.

Well after three weeks of nothing I emailed back and they said sorry but it was going out. So after another week I finally got it, except it wasn't what we had agreed upon.

Instead of the six packs of 2003 SP Signature Football they sent two packs of 2003 UD Ultimate Collection Football.

I emailed them back but still no response.

Quasar31 · February 27, 2004 4:09AM

i just called UD and gave them an earfull and time them that people are starting to not buy their product and i for one havent bought anything UD for over a year. they said its a problem they are aware of and are working on, lol. i said hey its up to you cause there are many better card companys selling better quality cards. also they redemptions come much faster as well. he said hes sending me something so woohoo i got some junk packs on the way.

i bet i never get anything..... they suck

euphoria18 · February 29, 2004 2:15PM

Well... we shall see. I did a redemption online... and it came quick. But... the mailed in redemptions that i sent in.. 2 months ago still are nowhere. So... i dont know. Its a shame some companies just dont give a damn about their consumers.

oskaramericaonebay · March 1, 2004 9:47AM

They are BRUTAL Except for 1 Guy there ! I Ripped into them about Similar matters and this Chris guy REALLY took the bulls my the Horn or is it the Bulls To the Horn ANyway His name is CHRIS and he is REALLY fantastic. Chilled me out on Several issues !

His email Chris_Carlin@upperdeck.com

He is great u will see !

seth2720 · March 1, 2004 10:01AM

I dont know why people even buy UD to begin with. Its loaded with crappy GU and autos, redemptions that either take 2 years to fill or dont fill at all, or damaged cards they dont end up replacing. Id stick to Pacific or BAP if your a hockey collecter. They put out really nice cards and there quick on Customer Service. I would not buy UD unless it was a pack or two. I quit buying there boxes along time ago when they dicked me around.

Seth

onegaucho · March 1, 2004 10:23AM

I'm not impressed with their service either. Bought a few packs a little while ago and a bunch of cards are damaged out of the pack. Sent the cards back a few months ago and still haven't heard anything.

Anyone try and alert UD about this post yet?

Upperdeck's great customer service

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