Impacted CGC orders from Polaris Grading

I know there are many Ludkins-PSA threads already but I wanted to create this for the 30 individuals who got their CGC orders impacted using Polaris Grading as their middleman service. As they are lacking communication I wished we could all be updated on anything that comes up on this thread, so I ask permission to keep it on float.
I paid the express 5-7 business days on July 9 and have been looping in circles for 4 months till I finally got the large filled with excuses impacted email. In the meanwhile I contacted CGC personally in late September and they said they had my card ID on their system, which can also be a mistake, I really don´t know. I will drop some questions here if anyone got some answers from Peter so we can at least have a common ground:
The submissions reached CGC? Are they in the limbo?
It’s a matter of waiting a couple months to be resolved or there is a risk of losing them?
Even tho they were using a Ludkins UK account, why there is an issue if the subs were sent to CGC and not PSA?

Thanks and I hope we can all have our cards back somehow.

9 Likes

I’m sorry this is happening to you. This is insane considering at this point bulk tier is 1-2 weeks at most for turnaround time, and you submitted express 4 months ago.

5 Likes

I got the email as well as I am one of the 30 customers. I have a 3 card bulk ($15 per) sent in at the end of May I have not received back.

Basically it sounds like instead of Polaris setting up their own CGC dealer account, they piggy backed off the pre-existing Ludkins UK account and were submitting under that. Based on the email it sounds like CGC is having a hard time collecting payment money from the Ludkins UK account so some pending orders are held up.

For anyone who didn’t get the November 4th email:

" You’re getting this email because your order is currently impacted. For a six week period this summer, we were submitting on an account related to Ludkins Collectables, the UK company with whom we used to do business. Approximately 30 individual submissions are impacted, the vast majority of which only have a few cards. While we are still working directly with the professional authentication group to understand the specifics of the timeline for returning the submissions, we’re being told that resolution is expected in the next couple months.

Prior to even knowing there was an issue, we had already begun moving to use direct accounts with the same discounts so that we could offer the same pricing but have direct control over our orders. We are currently in good standing with all companies that we submit to. In our attempts to get these impacted orders released, we have offered payment in full for the fees we owe for all of our impacted submissions, and replacement collateral from my personal collection to offset whatever they may be worth or held for. We have not had success getting them released with any of our offers.

It’s been a long process, in part because the information I’ve been receiving has not been consistent from the authentication group. When I made my initial inquiry regarding the package containing the majority of these orders, I was told that registration was behind by nearly two months. In having dealt with years of slow registration, this didn’t immediately raise red flags. Obviously now, we can see that these orders have not returned when they should have been and we are actively advocating with the highest levels available to us within the company administration to try and see these orders returned. Our offer remains on the table to pay for them in full or to have them simply transferred to our account in good standing.

It is difficult at times for me to provide succinct explanations because full explanations often require information that I do not have at this time. I’ve worked on this every single day since it became obvious there was an issue, and poured every resource available to me into resolving it. But at the end of the day, without cooperation from the company to do what’s right for the customers, my hands are tied. I have to wait for them to participate in a resolution. This is the first time I’ve navigated these waters, so I accept criticism that maybe more could have been done to avoid this if I had been able to see that this was a possible problem. Preemptively, we’ve already made sure that this cannot happen again through the establishment of our own accounts and discounts through our proof of volume.

It is with full confidence that I can say no ongoing submissions are or will be impacted. This issue ended with this block of submissions in late July and we’ve successfully processed many submissions since. Thank you for your patience, you’ve already been more patient than you should have to be, and I share with you the frustration of the lack of resolution so far. I’ll make additional information available as I have it. I appreciate you submitting with us, and I remain grateful every day for the opportunity to serve this community.

Very best,

—
Peter Chipouras
Founder
Polaris Grading LLC"

4 Likes

I believe they have other issues going on besides whats siad in that email.

I sent to a Canadian middleman in Jan and some people had metal celebrations cards in the sub.

Those got held up and we believed it was because if the new case Cgc promised.

So i sent more bulk in June.

Now the middleman confirmed Polaris isnt working on getting the orders with the metal cards unstuck and just letting them sit there vs returning the sub and returning the metal cards ungraded

1 Like

First time grading a card for me, and sadly it was an unique high end, so losing the submission is not really something I can accept. I’m still waiting confirmation from CGC regardless of the subs location so I will update as soon as they reach back, which in times of caos seems like never to be honest.

1 Like

"Thank you for contacting CGC Trading Card

If your inquiry is time sensitive, please contact our Customer Service Team at 877-662-6642."

Can someone from the US give them a call?

Neither PSA nor CGC will give you any information about orders submitted through middleman, nor would I honestly expect them to. You aren’t the name on the account or submission, so they can’t just reveal customer and order information to anyone.

10 Likes

I thought Polaris was ludkins us? and didn’t ludkins us just say they aren’t affiliated with ludkins uk in a email the other day? this feels like another lie.

This entire ordeal is just an unmitigated disaster.

Ok here is the info I gathered so far in case someone is in the same situation:

-Order was delivered I guess to CGC in late July (attach pic below)
-Order was registered by CGC in late September
-CGC had in theory my card’s ID on their system by late September
-Package is not stolen or lost confirmed by CGC today

1 Like

My cards were “impacted” as well. Been waiting 6 months for a CGC submission with no real answers until now. I’m hoping CGC will release our cards soon. At this point I’m fine just getting them back ungraded if that’s a last resort. We have all waited a ridiculous time. We deserve answers, we deserve our cards back. Enough is enough!

1 Like

100%

1 Like

I also have an outstanding order with Polaris.

My order was received by Polaris in early May, and registered at CGC on June 6, I promptly paid my invoice to Polaris the same day it was issued. I did not receive the promptness in return.

There was no proactive communication from their side until this past week in the form of the email posted above. I think they were forced to send something out due all the PSA/Ludkins UK news.

3 Likes

What ticks me off the most is that CGC turn around times even in June were 30-60 days, and they’ve only gotten better since. It should have been obvious to Polaris if something was up with those orders just based on the days outstanding. Either they knew and chose not to communicate with affected customers, or they’re incompetent.

1 Like

Just thought id add this, after commenting in Ludkins UK page. My orders been at cgc since May aswell

1 Like

HUH?! More confusion to add to the mix. Unreal.

Wait so Ludkins UK doesn’t handle cgc orders sent to them?

3 Likes

A wtf moment indeed

1 Like

At this point, i don’t even know either, for context my order was sent by an Australian middleman who claim to use Ludkins US (Polaris now). So i’m beyond lost on what’s happening too.

Ah ok so this order was never sent through UK, it was sent through the US?