CGC Customer Service - Damaged Holders

[WernerVonDoom]

You are not going to believe what I was just told by CGC.

 

Here's the deal:

 

I just got back a group of books from being graded. The box held about 25 books(annual-size holders). For packaging material, CGC used those "L" shaped Styrofoam pieces. Those "L"s normally work great, but with the larger size box, they did not sit tightly across the whole box. 2 of the books slid down the side between the cardboard and the Styrofoam, so basically they had no packaging material. Needless to say, one case has a good crack, and the other has a corner that is completely shattered. The box showed no signs of damage.

 

No problem, these things happen. I figure I'll just call customer service and I'll send them in for a reholder. The response was "Make a claim at the post office". When I explained that the two books had no packing material and the box wasn't damaged, they said, "That's was postal insurance is for" and basically told me to stick it.

 

There is no way USPS will pay out for an undamaged box with fragile items and weak packing material. If this is CGC's policy, why do they use packaging material at all? Just throw the books in an empty box and if anyone calls send them to USPS.

 

This policy is just plain bad business.

[Darthdiesel]

Did you want them reholdered for free? I don't think CGC would have turned you down if you submitted them for reholdering @ $7 each plus shipping. Otherwise, that IS what we all pay that extra insurance amount for. Try to file a claim with USPS first and see what they say. It was packaged well but if the handling by USPS causes packing material to shift, then I don't know how they (the USPS)are not liable for it.

[OldGuy]

With that attitude they could put me in charge of customer service.

[murph0]

I don't really see how you could file a claim with post office..the damage doesn't devalue the book..I guess you could claim that the money you spent to have it CGC'd is all in the case..eh who knows.

 

Brian

[WernerVonDoom]

Darth,

 

I have no problem going to USPS for a claim if they are at fault. However, in this case, the packaging material was not adequate. USPS insurance is for USPS negligence, not improperly packed fragile items.

 

And yes, I'd expect CGC to pay for reholdering if they did not pack the books well. Paying for my shipping to them would be nice also, but not expected.

[Darthdiesel]

You could claim for the value that you put down on the invoice when submitting it, because that value should be fair market value or what you can prove cost to be via receipt or ebay/paypal.billpoint transaction data. Technically this is the value that you would receive if CGC lost the book completely.

[Darthdiesel]

I've received those big boxes before several times. the recent 33 book that I wrote about came in such a box. they used the same broken "corner" styrofoam and the foam sheets. I believe that is adequate to protect the corners from shock if the book is dropped. If USPS drops the box full on its corner, you will have the front books shatter their corners regardless. If the box is dropped accidentally, even landing squarely, there's a chance that there will be cracks. CGC insures and registers the package to return to you, so they are paying to pass the liability on to the USPS, in my opinion. I don't think you could hold CGC responsible for inadquate packing when this is the same packing that they use to send out countless graded books to everyone and a good number come out just fine. Obviously the variable here is the way the USPS trates the package. Accidents can happen and if the insurance was paid for by CGC to the USPS to handle the box with care, then the fault is SOLELY on the USPS and not the packaging of CGC.

[greggy]

That's strange. Steve Borock in the past did post that if the holder was damaged to just call customer service and they would replace the holder for free. However, you would still have to pay for shipping. What I normally do is to hold on to my damaged holders and submit with a new batch to save on postage fees. What are you planning to do now?

[greggy]

Needless to say, the last batch that I received was in a small box. It was snug with books but it had on more book - An incredible hulk annual 1 which couldn't fit in sideways. So the brainiac at CGC decides to ripped off the top part of the L shaped foam protect and layed the book on top with only 2 pieces of cardboard to protect it. That book got killed! If it wasn't for the sticker on top, I could probably rip the top left hand corner off! Other than that, they have been much better than before. Especially when they started reinforcing the box with their cardboard pieces! My previous big box one arrived fine!

[WernerVonDoom]

Darth,

 

I'm sure every package you have received has been packaged nicely, but the one I received was not. Basically, one corner of the box had a corner of a CGC holder wedged into it. Just a little packaging material on the sides of the box would have problably prevented the damage.

[WernerVonDoom]

The one book with the shattered corner I'll have to send in for reholdering. I'm a little worried about damaging the book itself if I leave it. The other one, I'll just hold with my other damaged cases until they come up with a stronger holder.

[Guest]

Here, here!

 

I have had the same experience with cracked books and I blame it totally on poor packing. I have had hundreds of books slabbed by CGC over the past year and a half. Up until about 2 months ago, the packing was impeccable. CGC did everything in its power to minimize the risk of cracked holders. The past two months, however, the packing of my books has deteriorated. The past 3-4 orders I have received have had no upper styrofoam inserts and no cardboard inserts between books, a staple of earlier orders I received. In speaking to CGC about cracked holders that I inevitably receive, I get the same runaround! It appears to me that CGC is trying to save money on packing materials and then transferring liability on the USPS.

 

This is an emerging problem with CGC that needs to be addressed! I posted a note about this to the Ask CGC board three days ago and it has not been approved and, hence, not been posted! That says to me that CGC is trying to gloss over this issue.

 

I have 60-80 books a month graded. I will cease all business with CGC if this continues. CGC, I hope you are listening!

[Darthdiesel]

Welcome to the board Grayson! Another No. VA poster! WOOHOO!

[Guest]

Thanks, Carl! Sorry my post had to be such a bummer!

[Darthdiesel]

**IT happens, and I hope you get it all worked out! that's a lot of books submitted in a month's time....

[Guest]

Another word on this subject from one who is trying to get the same situation rectified...I just returned from the post office to get a claim form to file a claim for broken holders in my last shipment. USPS has informed me that I cannot file the claim for a shipment originating with someone else. CGC must file the claim because they have the paperwork. Get back to CGC with this info and I bet they will reholder them for you as opposed to dealing with the insurance paperwork.

[Guest]

A new broom sweeps clean.... but after 3 years and increasing demand for their services, cracks are starting to show in CGC's customer service -

 

-An e-mail used to be sent notifying you of receipt of a submission - this no longer happens.

-The packing method is deteriorating

-They used to call if S+H costs overran what had been paid for S+H, esp. for return to Canada - this no longer happens.

-grader's notes are gone (perhaps, in this case, by customer demand; perhaps due to the burden of work).

 

[greggy]

Well, I think that there packaging is limited by the crappy boxes that they use. They should have double walled boxes like the boxes that Diamond uses. Also, they should hire some packagers with some brains! I don't know what they are thinking sometimes when they take out the foam protection from the top just to put an extra book in and protect that book with only 2 pieces of cardboard! What do they expect fed-ex to do? Not throw their boxes around? Incredibly stupid!

[Guest]

Corners are being cut...

 

When I got my last submissions back in 4/01, the boxes and packing were sturdy.

[greggy]

Yes, corners are being cut to catch up with the backlog, which I may add seems to doing quite well now in the economy tier. However, the San Diego submissions at the end of July have not been touched yet so we'll see what happens! Damn, I'll be pissed if my next submission has some damaged CGC cases!