Metropolis is Suing Voldemort 5 5

[Aweandlorder]

I wonder if voldy knows his name is Voldy

[Aweandlorder]

15 hours ago, Ride the Tiger said:

I once used to like Voldy. Once.  What movie is that from?  1st one to guess gets 1 free graded comic (from Voldy) with fast track so you should receive your book in about 9 months.

I always thought voldy was short for Valderrama 

 

 

[Bird]

12 hours ago, batman_fan said:

Obviously you weren't aware Greggy was signed by Stan Lee !

with golden "ink" containing Stan's DNA?

Edited May 8, 2018 by Bird

[mackenzie999]

17 hours ago, Silver Ager said:

Voldy was sold? That's how much I've been paying attention to goings-on lately. I hear Kirby is moving over to DC, too.

Dude, get with it. Kirby's been at DC for a while and now he's coming back to Marvel.

[JazzMan]

But who gets custody of Greggy?

[HENRYSPENCER]

It sounds to me like CBCS had a deal to grade X number of Metro's books for a flat fee (say for example $50k for 10,000 comic book submissions per year).  Amazon and other large vendors have similar agreements with the post office, UPS, and FedEx.  When Beckett bought/partnered with CBCS, they no longer wanted to adhere to the agreement, and now Metro is paying the going rate (the same as everyone else, which is undoubtedly costing them more money).

It's $15k in damages no way in heck it's headed for a "jury trial".

 

 

Edited May 22, 2018 by HENRYSPENCER

[John Campbell]

15 hours ago, comicquant said:

Are tramp stamps like date stamps?

Question of the year, here!

[Ryan.]

1 hour ago, HENRYSPENCER said:

It sounds to me like CBCS had a deal to grade X number of Metro's books for a flat fee (say for example $50k for 10,000 comic book submissions per year).  Amazon and other large vendors have similar agreements with the post office, UPS, and FedEx.  When Beckett bought/partnered with CBCS, they no longer wanted to adhere to the agreement, and now Metro is paying the going rate (the same as everyone else, which is undoubtedly costing them more money).

This could all be settled in 30 minutes between two contracts attorneys.

[justafan]

...aaand so we're back to 1 grading company and a couple of sketchy competitors.  I had high hopes for them early on and tried them out a few times.  You'd think after having started and spinning off 1 successful grading company they would have had the kinks ironed out by now to do it again but after continued mistakes on my submissions I pretty much had to call it quits for them. 

First they had a plastics supplier issue causing delays and forcing them to give credits and reholders at steep discounts

Then they had logistics/personnel issues with comics that were supposed to be pressed or sent for pressing before grading that never got sent to the pressing service.

Then they had major delays due to being unprepared for the amount of volume

I tried to give them more chances but one key detractor was the lack of a forum where I could sell their slabs.  It took 7 months after their initial forum announcement to bring their boards live and it was all a mess.  Then 2 years after launch and they still didn't have an official sales forum on their site.  (I wonder if that had anything to do with a contract with a dealer). 

Then I found one of the 9.8's I had got back had sustained damage due to the inner well causing a small tear-bend to the bottom edge.

The last straw for me was the easy way in which their older cases could be tampered with minimal sign of tampering leaving me and others with a mistrust for all those slabs further devaluing them.

Maybe they can come out of all this ok after settling with Metropolis and maybe Beckett can restore them to a top tier grading company again.  But if this law suit is over $15k in assets (not sure by how much over $15k) and they couldn't have just settled before the sale, then they might as well just dissolve the company, declare bankruptcy, allow Metropolis to try and reclaim what they can from asset fire sale and have Beckett start over with Borock and the core graders since there might not be enough good name recognition to make it worth holding on to the 4 letter acronym at this point.

[D84]

Let's not jump the gun here.  A lawsuit filed deserve it's day in court.  Metropolis could be way off base or the other company could have done something wrong.  This is why we have courts, attorneys, etc.  There is no reason to assume guilt because of a charge filed.

I'm not taking a side here, just waiting for an actual outcome.  The burden of proof is on Metropolis, and if they prove it, they win.  If they can't, the other company wins.

[SteppinRazor]

4 hours ago, justafan said:

...aaand so we're back to 1 grading company and a couple of sketchy competitors.  I had high hopes for them early on and tried them out a few times.  You'd think after having started and spinning off 1 successful grading company they would have had the kinks ironed out by now to do it again but after continued mistakes on my submissions I pretty much had to call it quits for them.

It appears they aren't in the grading business anymore, but Beckett now is.  Beckett's reputation is the one to consider IMO

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

Voldemort is not called 'The Dark Lord' for nothing...just sayin'.  

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/4f01c18d-b4b7-41c3-aaa1-07e0239cdac4

[Larryw7]

I like all of the guys over at Voldy, so I hope this gets straightened out.

[Old Fashion PB and J]

17 hours ago, justafan said:

...aaand so we're back to 1 grading company and a couple of sketchy competitors.  I had high hopes for them early on and tried them out a few times.  You'd think after having started and spinning off 1 successful grading company they would have had the kinks ironed out by now to do it again but after continued mistakes on my submissions I pretty much had to call it quits for them. 

First they had a plastics supplier issue causing delays and forcing them to give credits and reholders at steep discounts

Then they had logistics/personnel issues with comics that were supposed to be pressed or sent for pressing before grading that never got sent to the pressing service.

Then they had major delays due to being unprepared for the amount of volume

I tried to give them more chances but one key detractor was the lack of a forum where I could sell their slabs.  It took 7 months after their initial forum announcement to bring their boards live and it was all a mess.  Then 2 years after launch and they still didn't have an official sales forum on their site.  (I wonder if that had anything to do with a contract with a dealer). 

Then I found one of the 9.8's I had got back had sustained damage due to the inner well causing a small tear-bend to the bottom edge.

The last straw for me was the easy way in which their older cases could be tampered with minimal sign of tampering leaving me and others with a mistrust for all those slabs further devaluing them.

Maybe they can come out of all this ok after settling with Metropolis and maybe Beckett can restore them to a top tier grading company again.  But if this law suit is over $15k in assets (not sure by how much over $15k) and they couldn't have just settled before the sale, then they might as well just dissolve the company, declare bankruptcy, allow Metropolis to try and reclaim what they can from asset fire sale and have Beckett start over with Borock and the core graders since there might not be enough good name recognition to make it worth holding on to the 4 letter acronym at this point.

  Somebody get a shovel QUICK.

 

 translation.. "I had a submission messed up and am upset"...

 

 Don't worry, you will have the same thing happen here. Or were you not around for the "new cases" with all the newton rings, books coming back way, etc?

 

If you think CGC and the other guys are that much different, I have some lovely ocean front property in Montana for sale.

I will give you the message board thing, but 99.99% of people sell on ebay and auction houses. If you sell on facebook, or strictly forums, idk...

Edited May 9, 2018 by The Resurrection

[HENRYSPENCER]

It was probably hard for Metro to decide how to handle this -that is hiring an attorney and filing the lawsuit.  On one hand, if they're owed money or part of a  previously agreed to contract prior to the Beckett acquisition they want what was promised to them.  On the other, they are in the comic business and can't afford to upset one of the two major comic book grading companies and jeopardize the relationship to where grading gets a whole lot tighter or they are somehow blocked from submitting books altogether.

Edited May 9, 2018 by HENRYSPENCER

[justafan]

11 minutes ago, The Resurrection said:

  Somebody get a shovel QUICK.

 

 translation.. "I had a submission messed up and am upset"...

 

 Don't worry, you will have the same thing happen here. Or were you not around for the "new cases" with all the newton rings, books coming back way, etc?

 

If you think CGC and the other guys are that much different, I have some lovely ocean front property in Montana for sale.

I will give you the message board thing, but 99.99% of people sell on ebay and auction houses. If you sell on facebook, or strictly forums, idk...

of course I WAS upset but I still went back and tried them 2 more times over the years hoping things improved and still ended up disappointed compared to CGC. Also, it wasn't just me this happened to. But I REALLY did want them to succeed.  Comics Grading needs competition. And you're right, even CGC had it's growing pains early on and went through their fair share of controversies throughout the years (yes I have newton ring slabs but they didn't damage my books like Voldy's Holder design did), but CGC was pioneering.  Voldy had already been there/done that/learned from many of those mistakes.  Sorry I didn't mean to sound like I was whining. I was just listing all the issues that hit them in such a short time span which may have been too much weight to carry and led to them seeking to sell the company.  Maybe they were a victim of their success.

My points are that I had too many bad experiences to continue using their service when there was already a more reliable service for the cost and that if you are the same guy that built the previous one and dealt with all that mess before, you'd think you would have applied the lessons learned with the new company.  I get that the plastics issue was not their fault and they handled it admirably with reimbursements and discounts/credits.  However, from there things kept snowballing to the point where they just lost my trust.  Maybe I held them to a tougher standard due to them trying to be the "better" alternative but I also gave them more than the benefit of the doubt with my business.  The fact is any potential CGC competitor is going to be compared with CGC to determine whether they are worth the try. I learned my lesson so I stopped using them. 

I am hopeful that Beckett can turn that ship around and restore a competitor to the comics grading market place.  If and when they officially relaunch and I get a chance to see what they are offering I will definitely check them out and give them a try.  But I probably won't be among the first customers or even that first year.

So how much is that Montana property you're offering?

[1Cool]

15K - sounds like a molehill being made into a mountain.  I'd love for the other guys to be a better option but I just hate their label.  I look at it and kind of flinch inside - not appealing at all.

[1Cool]

Interesting experiment - Type in CGC into E-Bay search and get 125,672 available and then click on sold button and get 80,584 or 64.1% sold vs available.  The other guy gives you 14,725 available and 6,207 sold or a 42.1% sold to available ratio.  The sheer numbers can be much higher based on the length of time one company has been around compared to the other but the sold/available ratio should be fairly equal if both companies are equally desirable in the market.  They are not even close.

Edited May 9, 2018 by 1Cool

[Old Fashion PB and J]

58 minutes ago, justafan said:

of course I WAS upset but I still went back and tried them 2 more times over the years hoping things improved and still ended up disappointed compared to CGC. Also, it wasn't just me this happened to. But I REALLY did want them to succeed.  Comics Grading needs competition. And you're right, even CGC had it's growing pains early on and went through their fair share of controversies throughout the years (yes I have newton ring slabs but they didn't damage my books like Voldy's Holder design did), but CGC was pioneering.  Voldy had already been there/done that/learned from many of those mistakes.  Sorry I didn't mean to sound like I was whining. I was just listing all the issues that hit them in such a short time span which may have been too much weight to carry and led to them seeking to sell the company.  Maybe they were a victim of their success.

My points are that I had too many bad experiences to continue using their service when there was already a more reliable service for the cost and that if you are the same guy that built the previous one and dealt with all that mess before, you'd think you would have applied the lessons learned with the new company.  I get that the plastics issue was not their fault and they handled it admirably with reimbursements and discounts/credits.  However, from there things kept snowballing to the point where they just lost my trust.  Maybe I held them to a tougher standard due to them trying to be the "better" alternative but I also gave them more than the benefit of the doubt with my business.  The fact is any potential CGC competitor is going to be compared with CGC to determine whether they are worth the try. I learned my lesson so I stopped using them. 

I am hopeful that Beckett can turn that ship around and restore a competitor to the comics grading market place.  If and when they officially relaunch and I get a chance to see what they are offering I will definitely check them out and give them a try.  But I probably won't be among the first customers or even that first year.

So how much is that Montana property you're offering?

 I can say that I will use both. They are both good companies, and they both have their flaws. CGC lost me for a few years due to the fiasco with the slabs with wavy books, creep engine, newton rings, slow TAT's, and finally no consistency in grading. Now that being said..

 You are absolutely right, competition is good, and there are still only two "real" choices (my opinion). So I am hopeful that both clean up their acts and get the ships righted. But currently, the other company is more consistent with grading, and CGC seems to have better turn around times. And the message board, and ESPECIALLY the registry are what separate the two and will keep the two separated for the foreseeable future.

 Lots of land in Montana, great beaches, the very BEST beaches.  

[Old Fashion PB and J]

14 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

Interesting experiment - Type in CGC into E-Bay search and get 125,672 available and then click on sold button and get 80,584 or 64.1% sold vs available.  The other guy gives you 14,725 available and 6,207 sold or a 42.1% sold to available ratio.  The sheer numbers can be much higher based on the length of time one company has been around compared to the other but the sold/available ratio should be fairly equal if both companies are equally desirable in the market.  They are not even close.

 Simple answer, the registry. People are competitive in nature, therefore allowing them to compete with each others collections drives them to grade more books. I could probably sit and start getting into other issues like when were the books graded (one company has a decade jump start). You could argue that the majority of flippers use CGC due to familiarity within the market. Also, out of the "sold" listing how many will say CGC but are a PGX or brand X? Because we both KNOW people love to use the "like CGC" or "not CGC".