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CGC Paradigm Shift and Losing My Religion
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78 posts in this topic

So far the more i see,  myself and many others have lost faith in CGC. One of the reasons I have not sent in another submission this year with turn around times hitting up to 5/6 months on some tiers, status updates that have no consistency,  fast tracks that have taken longer than regular submissions,  No movement on the Registry Requests since June 9th, glitches signing on saying host was down , HORRIBLE NEWTON RINGS ,  random trash in slab,  multiple size slabs on same books, mislabeled books, and now damaging reholder books? This has just become sad. it appears they have just given up on taking pride in the product they sell and us as customers.  "The only reputable company " is quickly fostering a reputation that will have more of us giving up on them. It has just become unacceptable and enough is enough.  

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I freely admit to being a hypocrite on this matter. I bad-mouth CGC for that stuff you mentioned (& not just thru the internet), but I continue to submit. One of the biggest reasons I continue to submit is the resale value. In all honesty, I would've left for the the other guys a long time ago, but the flipper in me won't allow it.

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I would have to agree. Which is the only reason I have brought all this up. The list of issues keeps growing, and I really would like them to either fix them or the other to step in enough that the resale value of theirs becomes competitive.  Which is why I say it's sad , and at the same time used the southern colloquialism " Losing My Religion " as in at the end of my rope. Just disheartening and disgusting,  as it has made me view many of my treasured collection as pure resale value. 

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9 minutes ago, faster friends said:

How is it obvious? If the page colors and staple holes match this would be hard to detect.

  1. The tear at the top goes through the entire book except the centerfold. 
  2. The book has a slight miscut while the centerfold is square.
  3. The rusty staples have migrated to the paper of every page except the centerfold.
  4. The staples are off center while the holes in the centerfold are centered at the crease.
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How about we start an actual petition online that people can sign requesting a formal acknowledgment and statement from CGC that they are solving the Newton ring issue?  If it becomes a PR issue and enough people complain they will have to solve it.  It has become a huge issue just this year.  

I will not be submitting anything until something changes pertaining to NR. 

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3 minutes ago, porcupine48 said:

I wouldn't wait 100 days for oily looking slabs.Wouldn't wait two weeks.

Why fix something broken when people are still more than happy to pay?

I have been waiting 8 months for CGC, although I did ask for comic to be pro pressed also. I am used to having slower service in Canada so keep on politely waiting, and waiting.

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3 minutes ago, aardvark88 said:

I have been waiting 8 months for CGC, although I did ask for comic to be pro pressed also. I am used to having slower service in Canada so keep on politely waiting, and waiting.

I'm in Canada as well,so that cap on postage covered on reholders is another reason to just say no.

Hope it comes back fig newton free.

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24 minutes ago, namisgr said:

For dealers who have cash flow considerations, I understand that long turnaround times can be potentially damaging to business.  But for the majority of Collectors Society membership, I've never understood the frantic rush and need to be informed immediately about every change in status.  The monetary advantage of the 'slow' tiers is not insignificant, and since I'm never looking to immediately flip newly slabbed comics it doesn't matter to me at all whether the process takes two or six months.  Finally, having been submitting since the time when there was no database access to the status of the grading process or the finalized grades themselves, I've always been content to get the Registered Mail package back whenever CGC is finished with my comics and see the grades for the first time with the comics in hand.

Is it that everybody here concerned with turnaround times and status updates is essentially a comic dealer concerned about their cash flow and looking to quickly flip their slabs?

I think time is money in this case.See what I did there?But I'm just speculating I can't stop!

Hot new flavours only stay hot for so long?

(not saying everyone's a flipper folks,I wouldn't want to wait forever for my books back either,make me antsy)

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I know this is a pipe dream, but a flat 30 day turnaround on everything would be an acceptable and a winning business model. There is absolutely no reason for it to be taking 6-8 months. This is ridiculous. Expand your staff to accommodate the demand like any other business would do. To not do so just displays your greed, lack of concern for your customers and your faith in your near monopoly. Your product and service are suffering and based on the comments here, your customers are getting fed up with it. I for one have really pulled back on my submissions because I can't stand to wait the months and months it takes to get my books back and judging from what I've seen in some other threads, books and slabs are coming in damaged and there has been no working resolution to the newton rings. I had to send 2 books back from my last order for newton rings and a slab that wasn't even sealed, it just fell apart in my hands. Good grief!

Edited by Jaylam
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1 hour ago, namisgr said:

For dealers who have cash flow considerations, I understand that long turnaround times can be potentially damaging to business.  But for the majority of Collectors Society membership, I've never understood the frantic rush and need to be informed immediately about every change in status.  The monetary advantage of the 'slow' tiers is not insignificant, and since I'm never looking to immediately flip newly slabbed comics it doesn't matter to me at all whether the process takes two or six months.  Finally, having been submitting since the time when there was no database access to the status of the grading process or the finalized grades themselves, I've always been content to get the Registered Mail package back whenever CGC is finished with my comics and see the grades for the first time with the comics in hand.

Is it that everybody here concerned with turnaround times and status updates is essentially a comic dealer concerned about their cash flow and looking to quickly flip their slabs?

I am "just" a collector, but I can tell you that if I have a target grade for a book, I want to know ASAP if the raw books I submitted will hit the mark or if I have to go shopping.  The problem is exacerbated significantly when I know certain books are only going to get harder and more expensive to obtain.

I submitted basically my entire collection in 2017 and 2018, then expanded to submit the rest of my ASM run through #400 looking to see how many would come back 9.8.  Waiting months and months with no indication of when I can expect my books is really frustrating.

Edited by Sweet Lou 14
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1 hour ago, namisgr said:

For dealers who have cash flow considerations, I understand that long turnaround times can be potentially damaging to business.  But for the majority of Collectors Society membership, I've never understood the frantic rush and need to be informed immediately about every change in status.  The monetary advantage of the 'slow' tiers is not insignificant, and since I'm never looking to immediately flip newly slabbed comics it doesn't matter to me at all whether the process takes two or six months.  Finally, having been submitting since the time when there was no database access to the status of the grading process or the finalized grades themselves, I've always been content to get the Registered Mail package back whenever CGC is finished with my comics and see the grades for the first time with the comics in hand.

Is it that everybody here concerned with turnaround times and status updates is essentially a comic dealer concerned about their cash flow and looking to quickly flip their slabs?

While I can understand and agree with what you are saying about these specific issues. I mean who doesn't like the anticipation of that Christmas like box of goodies you can't wait to open . The real issue comes from this compounded by that the longer they have and hold them the more likely they are to be damaged  and or come back with Newton Rings, trash in slab, multiple size cases for identical books, etc that after this wait, you only have to look forward to paying more, and sending it back to wait and hope that yet again that it survives this process all over again without any other issues. Which is another of the issues is how many of us have already gone through this process multiple times only to get back the same or worse issues to the point its obvious that they will not address it. 

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I agree with everything being said here. I hadn't subbed a book ever since they brought out the new holders (which was what...two years ago now? Longer?) because I was afraid of the books being damaged, newton rings, turnaround times, etc. I finally decided I wanted a book slabbed, so I sent it walkthrough. The newton rings aren't too bad on my copy, but the fact that we have to worry about it at all is ridiculous.

If turnaround times are now pushed out several MONTHS, that is simply inexcusable. If there are that many books coming in, then they are making money hand over fist. They need to expand their operation to get TAT and quality control back in shape. I have a few more I'm considering subbing, but until the TATs and ringing are resolved, I won't be sending any more in. I gambled on one book and did ok, but that's all I'm comfortable with at this time.

I was so excited when Voldy came to town, because it seemed like we'd finally have some competition, which would make things better for EVERYONE. But that turned out to not really be the case. I don't know where a new competitor would come from at this point, who has the capital and experience to provide a strong challenge. I suspect that ship has sailed. So, at this point, the only competition CGC has is their customer base. As long as everyone is subbing, they have no pressure to improve.

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4 hours ago, namisgr said:

For dealers who have cash flow considerations, I understand that long turnaround times can be potentially damaging to business.  But for the majority of Collectors Society membership, I've never understood the frantic rush and need to be informed immediately about every change in status.  The monetary advantage of the 'slow' tiers is not insignificant, and since I'm never looking to immediately flip newly slabbed comics it doesn't matter to me at all whether the process takes two or six months.  Finally, having been submitting since the time when there was no database access to the status of the grading process or the finalized grades themselves, I've always been content to get the Registered Mail package back whenever CGC is finished with my comics and see the grades for the first time with the comics in hand.

Is it that everybody here concerned with turnaround times and status updates is essentially a comic dealer concerned about their cash flow and looking to quickly flip their slabs?

While I'm sure that's part of it, I think it's more that we as a society are so used to instant gratification these days that waiting patiently (for anything) just seems to be a thing of the past.

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