My issue with PSA isn’t that they make mistakes on cards, that’s to be expected every now and then even if they are a huge pain in the ass. The issue is when PSA starts to deceive customers as to what’s going on with their cards, refuse to take responsibility for the issues that do happen, and generally give bad customer service.
Assuming Jeremy’s suspicions are correct and the card suffered an incomplete attempt at cleaning, or maybe there was residue on the case which transferred to the card, PSA should fess up to that and immediately reimburse the full declared value of the card if not more.
The entirety of PSA’s business model is based on trust, objectivity, and guarantees. Trust that the card that you submit will be the card you get back, in the same condition you submitted. Objectivity in that the card you submit will be graded according to an established and well-known scale. Guarantees that if you receive a card that isn’t graded accordingly, you will be reimbursed for the market value. Take away any of these pillars and there’s a big problem.
Take away enough of those pillars and you’re looking at pick-your-own-grade from a guy in his basement who posts stock images of an office full of staff.
I couldn’t agree more! Mistakes are bound to happen, and as I’m sure many of us who have sold cards before can attest, reputation means everything (especially in this line of business). Own up to your mistakes and people are generally very understanding and appreciative! Unfortunately, PSA is developing a very poor track record as of late. Hopefully, they correct their policies before it’s too late, as we all recognize the value of having a standard, 3rd-party authentication service in our hobby.
PSA does pay attention to the Better Business Bureau and their parent company does too. Their BBB complaints can affect their stock prices.
If you have a problem that doesn’t get handled properly, file a complaint.
I was just thinking of this. Wasn’t cullers banned because he wouldn’t give them back his graded FPO Charizard? There was someone else who was banned last year as well, for asking too many questions and complaining too much about one of his cards.
Easy to open memberships at PSA. There’s been times I had multiple accounts.
Do you think after cullers problem that he never submitted another card again.
Well, after going back and forth with PSA for the last 3 months we finally have come to a conclusion on this whole ordeal.
After calling PSA weekly, and calling again with a more stern attitude this morning, PSA finally reached out via email with an update. They apologized for all the incoviences they caused, and deemded that the card no longer fit the PSA 9 grade. It would instead be changed to a PSA 8. They won’t strictly say they are at fault, but obviously with the grade being lowered, they are at fault.
The Operations Manager orginally tried offering me $600. This was based off the price of other sold Art Academy examples, a PSA 9 being $1500 and an 8 being $900. I obviously didn’t agree with that and presented what evidence I could. There isn’t much to go off of since public sales for this card are low imo and not many sales have taken place. None the less I was able to get $1000 for the difference in grade, $104 for my grading fees and my card back graded a PSA 8.
Feeling so-so about the whole situation. It sucks this all had to go down and PSA didn’t properly handle an Express Service Level Order like you hope they would, but I’m looking at the glass half full and happy I’m getting something back.
ALSO, I will be cracking the card open, cleaning it, and sending it back *Insert Skull emoji* lol Back to having our arm twisted and being forced to use them
@swolepoke, This might be a bit over cautious, but I would suggest having another individual submit it for you when regrading rather than yourself. It’s not unprecedented for PSA to behave vindictively to those that have stood their ground (If I recall correctly, I remember reading about a collector who was banned for refusing to return an FPO card that they had previously graded).
I am glad you received some compensation for your card, though!
