My results of a large CGC/CCS submission 3 3

[Point Five]

1 hour ago, dem1138 said:

I would agree that it would make more sense to charge more and include pre-screening in every press rather than have it as an additional service.  Again I think a lot of submitters make the assumption that someone is going to look over your book before pressing even if you didn't pay for the pre-screening but that would be a mistaken assumption.  You need to pay for the pre-screening for someone to make an actual determination on the benefits or risks of pressing your book.

I can appreciate that you are trying to be fair to CCS but this is nuts. So the pressers don't even glance at the book, they just press, unless you pay extra? What other pressing service works that way?

If this is indeed an official explanation it sounds like 'quantity over quality' is built into their business model. This makes them sound worse, not better.

And as others here have suggested, there is often no obvious correlation between the book that went in and the damage that came back.
 

[lou_fine]

21 minutes ago, Point Five said:

1 hour ago, dem1138 said:

I would agree that it would make more sense to charge more and include pre-screening in every press rather than have it as an additional service.  Again I think a lot of submitters make the assumption that someone is going to look over your book before pressing even if you didn't pay for the pre-screening but that would be a mistaken assumption.  You need to pay for the pre-screening for someone to make an actual determination on the benefits or risks of pressing your book.

I can appreciate that you are trying to be fair to CCS but this is nuts. So the pressers don't even glance at the book, they just press, unless you pay extra? What other pressing service works that way?

If this is indeed an official explanation it sounds like 'quantity over quality' is built into their business model. This makes them sound worse, not better.

I am afraid you don't seem to understand that CCG is a business and as such, a good business model is to be able to take a simple task and break it down into as many component steps as possible and charge for each step accordingly.  

This only makes sense from both a top line and bottom line business point of view.  If I remember correctly, haven't they already broken down the actuall pressing process into multiple levels whereby you pay different amounts based upon the level of pressing that is actually done on the book.  After all of these complaints here about the quality of the end job, I would not be surprised if they decide to institute a paid post-screening process.  This would then become a new additional service whereby you pay for them to take a look at the quality of the press job in order to determine if a subsequent additional paid pressing is required or not in order to truly maximize the potential of the book.   And to all those people who were not worried about a potential conflict of interest when CCG purchased CCS and "seamlessly" linked it up with CGC's services.    

Why, this could be an endless cycle and go on forever as long as you keep paying.   

Edited June 11, 2019 by lou_fine

[Dark Knight]

If there were any doubts or questions regarding your book to be pressed, I would've sent scans of the books to CCS first and get their opinion about it

Edited June 11, 2019 by Dark Knight

[buttock]

15 minutes ago, Dark Knight said:

If there were any doubts or questions regarding your book to be pressed, I would've sent scans of the books to CCS first and get their opinion about it

I disagree. As I've already pointed out one of the books that they damaged was a white paged pedigree high-grade golden age book. They popped the staple and the pop did not occur at the spine where it should be most fragile, this was popped at the portion of the staple coming toward the front cover. 

 

My other book was popped at a similar area.  this would imply that the problem is with the process, rather than the book itself.

Edited June 11, 2019 by buttock

[lou_fine]

13 minutes ago, Dark Knight said:

If there were any doubts or questions regarding your book to be pressed, I would've sent scans of the books to CCS first and get their opinion about it

I doubt this strategy would actually work that well.

Especially when many of the almost invisible tiny non-color breaking creases for which they whack your book on can only be seen if you hold the actual book up at a certain angle to the light.  There'as absolutely no way they can tell with these types of NCB creases through a simple scan.  

Besides, how would they be able to charge you for this service if you simply sent them a scan?  

[Dark Knight]

2 hours ago, buttock said:

I disagree. As I've already pointed out one of the books that they damaged was a white paged pedigree high-grade golden age book. They popped the staple and the pop did not occur at the spine where it should be most fragile, this was popped at the portion of the staple coming toward the front cover. 

 

My other book was popped at a similar area.  this would imply that the problem is with the process, rather than the book itself.

In your case, which would be less obvious and difficult to determine if a press would benefit, than yes sending it in for review in hand is best. I guess they were a little bit more aggressive with your book during pressing unfortunately than a more conservative approach or it just happened so to speak. This is generally the risks involved in having books pressed from anyone no matter how experienced they are, mistakes can happen.  Hopefully CCS compensated you for the damage. 

I was looking over the online submission form right now and there is an option for pre-screening under "Additional Services" where you select your tier.  As others have mentioned, I wish that every press would automatically come with a "pre-screen."  Just makes a lot of sense.  I'm sure not every presser works this way. 

[Dark Knight]

2 hours ago, lou_fine said:

2 hours ago, Dark Knight said:

If there were any doubts or questions regarding your book to be pressed, I would've sent scans of the books to CCS first and get their opinion about it

I doubt this strategy would actually work that well.

Especially when many of the almost invisible tiny non-color breaking creases for which they whack your book on can only be seen if you hold the actual book up at a certain angle to the light.  There'as absolutely no way they can tell with these types of NCB creases through a simple scan.  

Besides, how would they be able to charge you for this service if you simply sent them a scan?  

Years back, I would send scans of the book asking if a press would benefit, in which I would get a yay or a nay.  I believe this was before Classics Inc. merged with CGC.  Looks to be a different policy now.  I know also another way is if Matt/CCS are set-up in a show, he can look at your book and let you know, with a small fee.  

I also remember that if a book would need a press, the pre-screening fee would be waived.  If  the book did not need a press when you send it in, than you will be charged for the pre-screening fee.   

As a tip for newbies who may have not sent a book for pressing, it would be wise to take pictures of your book before you ship it out covering all areas, with emphasis on the spine/staple areas.  I know some people don't really think about this, but I do this if I needed a book to be pressed.

[Point Five]

6 hours ago, buttock said:

"Well if you didn't want any organ damage you should have paid more up front for my opinion." 

Still laughing at this. 

 

[Bomber-Bob]

I was always under the impression that the CCS pressers do not grade, they only press. If submitted and paid for evaluation, CCS will utlize a grader for evaluation. 

[lou_fine]

3 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

I was always under the impression that the CCS pressers do not grade, they only press. 

Sounds as though that's the crux of the problem.  

They probably never saw a comic book in their life before they started to work for CCS.  Based upon some of the comments here, it sounds as though they could be nothing more than minimum wage workers that knows absolutely nothing about the possible ramifications of pressing a book.  

Like you said, all they do is press and possibly even without thinking.  

[telerites]

7 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Like you said, all they do is press and possibly even without thinking.  

Don't you still have to think to just press to do it right.  I said earlier and it may not be correct but there isn't just one press setting for every book, is there?  Different heats, moistures, time lengths, book flaws needing book adjustment (e.g., spine rolls).  Does a grader tell the presser all of these things?  If so, the grader should also be the presser.  

 

[blue808]

I would never send my books to CCS (it's not like Matt Nelson is doing the pressing). There are many better options (like our very own @joeypost) who provide incredible service and actually care about their "craft."

[lou_fine]

4 hours ago, blue808 said:

I would never send my books to CCS (it's not like Matt Nelson is doing the pressing). There are many better options (like our very own @joeypost) who provide incredible service and actually care about their "craft."

Definitely some serious competition here for CCS as I have heard nothing but good things about joey's work from many of the board members here.  

[Point Five]

3 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Definitely some serious competition here for CCS as I have heard nothing but good things about joey's work from many of the board members here.  

Joey sounds great. Does he look at the books he is pressing or is that extra?

 

[entalmighty1]

2 hours ago, Point Five said:

Joey sounds great. Does he look at the books he is pressing or is that extra?

 

Let's not get carried away.  You're asking for a helluva lot here.  You want him to take his blindfold off just for you?  

You should go home, sit down, and think about what you just did.  We're ashamed of you.

[Point Five]

[Joey's office]

Joey: NEXT BOOK

Assistant: It's a Supe--

Joey: DID THEY PAY FOR PRESCREEN?

Assistant: No, but it's a Superman number on--

Joey: OK, WHATEVER THEN, CRANK 'ER UP

Assistant: But sir, it's a Superman #1 and the spine looks really brit--

Joey: CRANK. 'ER. UP.

Assistant: yes sir.
 

[BarristerBaker]

Another fun one. I bought a book that I knew had a (very) tiny bit of color touch. I dropped the book off at C2E2 for resto removal and grading. I get charged for the restoration removal. I get charged for the grading. Book comes back with a purple label with no attempt to remove the restoration. So, I have to pay for shipping again to send them my book and now hold in queue once more. 

CCS is far and away the most expensive service. I’m fine paying a premium, but services should match the fees. They don’t. Certainly not on pressing (where my books weren’t handled well) and it appears not on resto removal (at least in process).

Joey for pressing. I need a restoration removal option. Recommendations?

[SuperBird]

They do pre-screen to an extent, as one I recently sent in they rejected due to a fragile spine. 

[Inaflash]

On 6/11/2019 at 5:38 PM, Dark Knight said:

In your case, which would be less obvious and difficult to determine if a press would benefit, than yes sending it in for review in hand is best. I guess they were a little bit more aggressive with your book during pressing unfortunately than a more conservative approach or it just happened so to speak. This is generally the risks involved in having books pressed from anyone no matter how experienced they are, mistakes can happen.  Hopefully CCS compensated you for the damage. 

I was looking over the online submission form right now and there is an option for pre-screening under "Additional Services" where you select your tier.  As others have mentioned, I wish that every press would automatically come with a "pre-screen."  Just makes a lot of sense.  I'm sure not every presser works this way. 

This is absolutely ridiculous. Obviously there is an inherent risk that a book may get damaged with a press but it's up to the customer to pay more for someone doing the work to take the time to make that determination? I can't think of another business where you have to pay MORE if you expect the work to be done well. This is a disservice to the customer and the hobby in general as we know that even pedigree golden age books are suffering damage due to a complete lack in quality control.

Ken

[joeypost]

3 hours ago, BarristerBaker said:

Another fun one. I bought a book that I knew had a (very) tiny bit of color touch. I dropped the book off at C2E2 for resto removal and grading. I get charged for the restoration removal. I get charged for the grading. Book comes back with a purple label with no attempt to remove the restoration. So, I have to pay for shipping again to send them my book and now hold in queue once more. 

CCS is far and away the most expensive service. I’m fine paying a premium, but services should match the fees. They don’t. Certainly not on pressing (where my books weren’t handled well) and it appears not on resto removal (at least in process).

Joey for pressing. I need a restoration removal option. Recommendations?

Ze-Man. That’s who I use and recommend.