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Alternatives to DCBS?
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109 posts in this topic

On 4/7/2018 at 5:59 PM, MadGenius said:

I just said I wasn't expecting a guarantee on grade, but I do expect to not received damaged items on a regular basis. Trust me, I'm not new at this. I've been ordering from DCBS for 8 years now. Never a had problems until very recently. It's been mentioned in other threads that others have had similar experiences since DCBS moved their warehouse location to TN. However, I've reached the point where I'm no longer willing to give them a pass for declining service.

Actually, I think many mail order online comic shops will find that the expectation of grade IS a requirement to use their service. Otherwise, why would I use their online mail order sub service over someone elses or just go to an LCS? there are now more online mail order sub LCS than ever. some are very good (Midtown, UnknownComics) others are hit or miss (DCBS), and others are down right terrible (ComicXposure).  

If an online sub service wants to earn my business they have to offer me something comparable to what I can get at a LCS where employees check for damaged comics shipped from diamond, pull out the best copies for its subscribers, place the rest on the rack OR if all are damaged, return to diamond and request a new batch. another benefit of the LCS that online shops have to compete with is if I don't like the condition of my pull box copy I can go to the rack and find a copy in better condition. So yes, when 90% of the value of a modern after it is read is tied to its condition for grading, of course I expect the condition of the comic to come as MINTY as possible.

I used DCBS for a year until I started receiving damaged comics and attempts to resolve wiht replacements or refunds were denied. 

I recommend the following shops for quality packing and customer service:

Midtown

UnknownComics 

My comicshop

mutant beaver (canada)

they have been very reliable with NM or better comics carefully shipped. most are NM+/MT. they always pack them extremely well. they do sometimes ship a damaged comic.

Why i keep using them is each time I received a damaged comic or had an issue with the order they were quick to respond and resolve with either a new copy in better condition, an order adjustment, or a refund.

they are also diligent about updates for pre orders and notifying you if a batch of comics they received was bad and had to be reordered. In other words, they understand their customers expect and deserve a comic as close to NM/MT as possible and work to provide it.

Edited by justafan
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I ordered a series that ships monthly with 50/50 covers and they generally ship one of each cover to me (they indicated this is their policy).

Well, I received duplicates in one of the orders and since then they have sent me four replacements... although the replacements have ALL been the cover that I originally received duplicates of. When e-mailing their customer service departement I literally asked if they were doing this on purpose -- because how else can you mess up 5 times in a row?

Some other notes on their recent service:

I ordered a Batman Shakespeare bust bank that comes in a pretty large window packaged box and it was put in a box with nothing but peanuts. Needless to say the peanuts crushed the window of the box. I had planned on opening it and displaying it so it wasn't a big deal, but that's a big no no.

Recent orders they have been putting rubber bands around the books (another big no no).

I rarely order variants, but when I do they have recently packages these on the outsides of the grouped book lots instead of the middle for extra protection.

I have quit ordering from them -- since they've moved their service has rapidly gone downhill.

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I don't have any suggestions, unfortunately, but am another who dropped their service due to an order arriving in similar condition. No bags or boards even though I always pay for them and the books naturally arrived beat up. This was a few years ago for me and I was almost done with moderns anyway. That was the final straw. I remember when Amazon's shipping devolved in a similar way. They used to care about their shipping, but that attitude has long since passed as they got too big to care. 

I do still use InStockTrades, though. I absolutely love and highly recommend them for TPB and HC's. They're part of DCBS, but their shipping is rock solid. I switched over to IST after repeatedly receiving my Omni's from Amazon with dinged corners because one little air bag is not going to cushion an 800-page book. And they're cheaper than Amazon, so it's a super-win.

Edited by Martin Sinescu
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So I asked DCBS to stop putting rubber bands around the comics in my order. This was their response:

"We recently made a very large capital investment in a machine that places a bag around the bundles and shrinks them to a nice snug fit. This has been something we have been planning to add to speed up the process of hand taping each bundle into a magazine bag, which is the most cost prohibitive part of order processing. We did several trials with all types of product with the machine, to determine the best way to run product through and get the cleanest result. For bag and board customers we found the best way to run bundles through the machine would be to use the rubber bands to hold the flaps of the bags in the correct direction and then a board underneath for better protection. For non bag and board customers we use a board on the top and bottom of the bundle and then the rubber band length wise so that spines are not affected. Because the machine has a conveyor that the bundles are set on, and they move down to the bag maker, there is a bit of movement, so we decided to use a thin rubber band to hold them in place. This allows the bundle to stay stationary and keeps it in the nice, neat, little bundles that you would have received in your last shipment. "

In other words: too bad, so sad we're still going to use rubber bands. I've already decided to jump over to Midtown. Now I just have to pray that the rubber bands don't strangle by last two DCBS shipments.

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3 minutes ago, MadGenius said:

So I asked DCBS to stop putting rubber bands around the comics in my order. This was their response:

"We recently made a very large capital investment in a machine that places a bag around the bundles and shrinks them to a nice snug fit. This has been something we have been planning to add to speed up the process of hand taping each bundle into a magazine bag, which is the most cost prohibitive part of order processing. We did several trials with all types of product with the machine, to determine the best way to run product through and get the cleanest result. For bag and board customers we found the best way to run bundles through the machine would be to use the rubber bands to hold the flaps of the bags in the correct direction and then a board underneath for better protection. For non bag and board customers we use a board on the top and bottom of the bundle and then the rubber band length wise so that spines are not affected. Because the machine has a conveyor that the bundles are set on, and they move down to the bag maker, there is a bit of movement, so we decided to use a thin rubber band to hold them in place. This allows the bundle to stay stationary and keeps it in the nice, neat, little bundles that you would have received in your last shipment. "

In other words: too bad, so sad we're still going to use rubber bands. I've already decided to jump over to Midtown. Now I just have to pray that the rubber bands don't strangle by last two DCBS shipments.

Hey quit making capital investments on stupid things.

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Haven't been a DCBS customer since last October.  Just got a package sent notification from them with 3 FCBD issues.  LOL  I bet they are all banged up  :facepalm:

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I use MCS for monthly subs and am satisfied with the service.  Bag and board is included, securely packaged with box corner foam things, and $5 flat shipping.  My only complaint is that you can order the variants like Cover B, Cover C, but not the retailer incentive 1:50 types that I know of.  I guess they hold those back and sell them at market rates.

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I'm in the same boat here.  Been using DCBS for quite some time, and pay for the mylar bags/fullbacks or halfbacks.  They used to always ship very nice books with a few exceptions which was ok to me; obviously we can't get all 9.6/9.8 books from a preorder site.  My last 3-4 orders have been very bad.  4" bends on covers, very bad edge bends/tears/creases that look to be from forcing the comics into the mylars instead of placing book on board, and sliding them into the mylar together, finger dents on covers like the copy was used as the warehouse reader for 3 days before it was placed in my order etc!!!  I've been waiting 4 months now for replacement on the worst order ever, still no books.  Finally emailed again 3 weeks ago and was told she was "calling warehouse in morning and would get back to me with info", nothing!  Emailed again 2 days ago stating I believed I was not getting the replacements, again, nothing.  More very bad books have shown up on newer orders but I know to just rush and find replacements on my own because this place is in the toilet.  I'm now buying 4 copies of books I only wanted 2 copies of.  I have just put in one last preorder, and think I'm going to bring my $$$$ elsewhere next month moving forward.

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A few months ago I had 5 copied of Walking Dead ordered from DCBS along with some other stuff. 

They never shipped them. When I emailed and asked why they said :

As stated in the previous e-mail from Danielle, we were shorted this item from our distributor, and they were unable to send us replacements for this item. We apologize for the inconvenience.

 

I Preordered months ahead.  Shorted my azz 

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Well, just got my latest order today from DCBS......:pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair:

 

Almost every book in the order has the same massive finger/thumb/machine denting on the FC that travels all the way through the book to the BC.  Color breaks on both sides, edge bends, corner bends, tears etc. etc. etc. This is not from shipping as we know they actually ship well with those Airseal fitted pads, but a picking and bag/boarding issue as many of my orders from the last few months.  I would NEVER take almost any of these books off a shelf and pay for them, never.  

I've had it. I'm packing up this whole order and sending it back.  A lengthy and blunt, yet not abusive email has already been sent. These books are mess and I refuse to accept them, period.

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40 minutes ago, gradejunky said:

Well, just got my latest order today from DCBS......:pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair:

 

Almost every book in the order has the same massive finger/thumb/machine denting on the FC that travels all the way through the book to the BC.  Color breaks on both sides, edge bends, corner bends, tears etc. etc. etc. This is not from shipping as we know they actually ship well with those Airseal fitted pads, but a picking and bag/boarding issue as many of my orders from the last few months.  I would NEVER take almost any of these books off a shelf and pay for them, never.  

I've had it. I'm packing up this whole order and sending it back.  A lengthy and blunt, yet not abusive email has already been sent. These books are mess and I refuse to accept them, period.

pics ?

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On 5/22/2018 at 2:58 AM, MadGenius said:

So I asked DCBS to stop putting rubber bands around the comics in my order. This was their response:

"We recently made a very large capital investment in a machine that places a bag around the bundles and shrinks them to a nice snug fit. This has been something we have been planning to add to speed up the process of hand taping each bundle into a magazine bag, which is the most cost prohibitive part of order processing. We did several trials with all types of product with the machine, to determine the best way to run product through and get the cleanest result. For bag and board customers we found the best way to run bundles through the machine would be to use the rubber bands to hold the flaps of the bags in the correct direction and then a board underneath for better protection. For non bag and board customers we use a board on the top and bottom of the bundle and then the rubber band length wise so that spines are not affected. Because the machine has a conveyor that the bundles are set on, and they move down to the bag maker, there is a bit of movement, so we decided to use a thin rubber band to hold them in place. This allows the bundle to stay stationary and keeps it in the nice, neat, little bundles that you would have received in your last shipment. "

In other words: too bad, so sad we're still going to use rubber bands. I've already decided to jump over to Midtown. Now I just have to pray that the rubber bands don't strangle by last two DCBS shipments.

It is a standard reply. I got the exact same reply

 

On May 15, 2018, at 7:02 AM, Discount Comic Book Service <customer.service@dcbservice.com> wrote:
 

Hi,

 

We recently made a very large capital investment in a machine that places a bag around the bundles and shrinks them to a nice snug fit. This has been something we have been planning to add to speed up the process of hand taping each bundle into a magazine bag, which is the most cost prohibitive part of order processing. We did several trials with all types of product with the machine, to determine the best way to run product through and get the cleanest result. For bag and board customers we found the best way to run bundles through the machine would be to use the rubber bands to hold the flaps of the bags in the correct direction and then a board underneath for better protection. For non bag and board customers we use a board on the top and bottom of the bundle and then the rubber band length wise so that spines are not affected. Because the machine has a conveyor that the bundles are set on, and they move down to the bag maker, there is a bit of movement, so we decided to use a thin rubber band to hold them in place. This allows the bundle to stay stationary and keeps it in the nice, neat, little bundles that you would have received in your last shipment. 


Thanks,

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On 5/26/2018 at 1:10 PM, Awax said:

A few months ago I had 5 copied of Walking Dead ordered from DCBS along with some other stuff. 

They never shipped them. When I emailed and asked why they said :

As stated in the previous e-mail from Danielle, we were shorted this item from our distributor, and they were unable to send us replacements for this item. We apologize for the inconvenience.

 

I Preordered months ahead.  Shorted my azz 

Happens quite a few times in the past for me that they cancelled orders because they set the wrong price (for variants) or they did not qualify for the number of variants

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Just received my second to last new comics order from DCBS. Not completely terrible, but not perfect either as a couple books have some obvious handling wear including a tear on one. Not worth my time to fight DCBS for a credit I won't be able to use, but I can't wait for my next shipment to arrive so my business with them can be done.

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