current turn around rates at CGC 79 79

[szav]

15 hours ago, skypinkblu said:

I have books that were delivered a week ago, more than a week ago, that don't show as received yet. Apparently they are now logging in books from 6/18. So forget the TAT's, because you really have to add 2 weeks to those dates.

 

Yep same here...a pretty disingenuous tactic to distort the real TATs.

[Callaway29]

There’s room for improvement, that’s for sure. And they’ve always seemed to be a company that quietly listens to their clientele, but without addressing them directly...rolls out independently derived solutions. Let’s hope something is in the works...

Edited July 5, 2019 by Callaway29

[Tony S]

23 hours ago, skypinkblu said:

I have books that were delivered a week ago, more than a week ago, that don't show as received yet. Apparently they are now logging in books from 6/18. So forget the TAT's, because you really have to add 2 weeks to those dates.

 

That's longer than even the new "normal". I'm usually seeing it take a week to get logged in. 

In fairness, every week for the last four weeks I've received emails of books received in on Saturday. So they have the staff in receiving working overtime.  I called a few times about the long wait in receiving. I was told that CGC is getting around 300 packages a day and they can't keep up in receiving. 

[joeypost]

6 hours ago, Tony S said:

That's longer than even the new "normal". I'm usually seeing it take a week to get logged in. 

In fairness, every week for the last four weeks I've received emails of books received in on Saturday. So they have the staff in receiving working overtime.  I called a few times about the long wait in receiving. I was told that CGC is getting around 300 packages a day and they can't keep up in receiving. 

Frustrating  to submitters, especially when you pay extra to have books fast tracked, but we should take it as a good sign indicating the health of the hobby. 

[jsilverjanet]

I’ve noticed a decline in their customer service. They aren’t as helpful as before. I used to be able to get grades as graded/QC but not anymore

 

[jsilverjanet]

Also they just give general answers with no real thought and investigation

i called about an express order on the 4th day and she said that they would ship next week. I reminded her this was an express order and she corrected herself to say that it would ship the next day 

they give the impression they could care less about helping anyone that calls in 

Edited July 5, 2019 by jsilverjanet

[skypinkblu]

7 hours ago, Tony S said:

That's longer than even the new "normal". I'm usually seeing it take a week to get logged in. 

In fairness, every week for the last four weeks I've received emails of books received in on Saturday. So they have the staff in receiving working overtime.  I called a few times about the long wait in receiving. I was told that CGC is getting around 300 packages a day and they can't keep up in receiving. 

It is absolutely great that they are busy.

However, it's probably hard to find people who are willing to work in receiving who won't be bored and  know enough to handle the data and unfortunately that is the first place things can get bogged down.

Also overtime is not always the best idea. People need time off to refresh, and it becomes a problem, when you are tired, you can be less efficient. Then of course for some people it becomes an ordinary part of your income and you can't manage as well without it, so you are tired and looking for OT.

Looking at the TAT's, I keep thinking that they have too many tiers to be efficient. If you streamline the operation a little, it can make it a little easier. Fast tracking may seem like a great idea, but in effect, it's adding extra tiers, making it more complicated.

If you eliminate fast tracking, then people who want to pay for faster service can just bump their submissions up to the next tier...and you can advise them of that in your ad. Then you also don't confuse your customers so much by having so many different dates popping up in the TATs.

300 packages might seem like a lot for such a small amount of staff, but  if you have the right system, it helps. Sometimes less is more. 

Just Walk Through, Express, Standard, Slower, slower and dearly beloved  would be enough.

 

[skypinkblu]

6 minutes ago, jsilverjanet said:

Also they just give general answers with no real thought and investigation

i called about an express order on the 4th day and she said that they would ship next week. I reminded her this was an express order and she corrected herself to say that it would ship the next day 

they give the impression they could care less about helping anyone that calls in 

They are probably getting a lot more calls than normal, because of the length of time it takes to process stuff. The more efficient you are, the less calls you get. Problem calls use up a lot of time, if they would work at the front end of the operation and make it more efficient, they would eliminate a lot of the calls. 

Also this new "scheduled for grading" thing that you see the day after the books are received, is not very helpful, especially since we are used to having more information up front. I bet they get more calls about that. When you see "scheduled for grading" for months on end, it gets a little frustrating. I actually liked the system better when it just said "received" until it actually went to the graders.

In my job, if you were not able to meet time standards, you could lose funding. CGC is not working under those constraints, but they might actually get more customers if they were a little more timely.

[mysterio]

1 minute ago, skypinkblu said:

I actually liked the system better when it just said "received" until it actually went to the graders.

Absolutely. 

[jsilverjanet]

I get that they do get many calls but still no excuse for poor service. I work in a call center that receives 13k daily. The expectation is to assist the caller on why they are calling. We get all types of calls, those we can help out and those we cannot help out but we are still expected to do our best on every call to ensure that they are given everything they need.

I get the feeling that I am bothering them when I call. I’m not being rude or mean and neither are they but they give me the impression they could care less what I think or how I feel the call or my concerns are being handled.

they have our books and give the impression with this poor service that they could care less since I need them more than they need me

[mysterio]

I had a recent signature series sub from Denver stay at Received for about three weeks. Once it switched to SFG it then moved on to QC about the time I would have expected. 

I completely agree that this change to the invoice screen has probably complicated their lives by causing more calls to customer service. It’s not often that this sort of system overhaul leads to a reduction in utility, leads me to wonder what was so broken or outdated about the old tracking system. 

[mysterio]

12 hours ago, Callaway29 said:

There’s room for improvement, that’s for sure. And they’ve always seemed to be a company that quietly listens to their clientele, but without addressing them directly...rolls out independently derived solutions. Let’s hope something is in the works...

The list of these independently derived solutions, namely the new case and this new invoice tracking screen, has not led to warm feelings with those of us who use the service. 

You can add the change of board software to that list too. 

Edited July 5, 2019 by mysterio
Second thought

[skypinkblu]

6 minutes ago, jsilverjanet said:

I get that they do get many calls but still no excuse for poor service. I work in a call center that receives 13k daily. The expectation is to assist the caller on why they are calling. We get all types of calls, those we can help out and those we cannot help out but we are still expected to do our best on every call to ensure that they are given everything they need.

I get the feeling that I am bothering them when I call. I’m not being rude or mean and neither are they but they give me the impression they could care less what I think or how I feel the call or my concerns are being handled.

they have our books and give the impression with this poor service that they could care less since I need them more than they need me

I'm not disagreeing that they need to assist you in a better way.  I'm just trying to give them some suggestions as to how to improve. I also worked in call centers, but my job was managing the work flow. We had ten thousand calls on some days, so 300 packages is not something that I see as overwhelming.

Complaint calls bog down the system, that's all I was trying to say. If you eliminate the complaint calls (or some of them) ..not by ignoring them, but by fixing the problems that cause the calls, it can really make your operation more efficient.

[Callaway29]

+1 on the new “status” system. Awful. I’m blind until the very end. If it’s actually “scheduled”, then tell me what day it’s scheduled for...

[jsilverjanet]

[skypinkblu]

11 minutes ago, Callaway29 said:

+1 on the new “status” system. Awful. I’m blind until the very end. If it’s actually “scheduled”, then tell me what day it’s scheduled for...

What makes it even less customer friendly are the new shipping rules. You can't have the addresses switched once the packages are going out. Before, I knew when it said "scheduled for grading" that I had a few weeks before the books would be mailed, so if I were going away, I could call and have the address changed, or the books held or notify Fedex to hold them, or send them somewhere else if need be. 
Now, it's SURPRISE! your books are going to your house tomorrow, forget the fact that you are going to be away for a week and they might get sent back. .

[skypinkblu]

I want this company to do well, not get bogged down, I love the boards and all the great people I've met here and I own a lot of their product.

So I hope they start tweaking a bit more.

[batmiesta]

My books have been in Graded quality control for over a week, is this the norm ? 

[szav]

7 minutes ago, batmiesta said:

My books have been in Graded quality control for over a week, is this the norm ? 

13 business days at grading/QC for my Economy Fast Track...so almost 3 weeks.  Also for the record, 12 business days beyond the still posted TAT.

[batmiesta]

3 minutes ago, szav said:

13 business days at grading/QC for my Economy Fast Track...so almost 3 weeks.  Also for the record, 12 business days beyond the still posted TAT.

Jesus!