Hi everyone,
Just got one of my orders back from PSA and even before I had opened it, PSA was already sending me an e-mail saying there was a mistake with the order.
As i come home and check my order I realise that instead of my FA Mario Pikachu, they sent me a Goldstar Charizard. Obviously that Charizard belongs to someone, so I immediately replied confirming that indeed the two cards got mixed. I have no interest in stealing someone else’s Zard, and also I want my FA Mario Pikachu as my set Mario Luigi set is incomplete without it.
Today, I get a reply from PSA advising me how to send the Zard back, saying they cannot send me a shipping label and that I need to pay for postage and they’ll refund. I understand their explanation and am happy to comply with this request as I cannot imagine how the other person must be feeling getting a Mario Pikachu instead of a Goldstar Charizard.
Much to my surprise though, there was no mention of how or when I will get my card back, so my honesty and cooperation are being rewarded with something along the lines of “Hey, we screwed up, please put some money upfront to sort our mistake and send us back the item and we’ll give you back the shipping cost later, nevermind that you’re still missing a card”.
In the end I am hoping everything will be sorted, despite PSA’s aparent lack of empathy, but I decided to create a post regarding this matter as a way to timestamp this issue publicly, so I have a post I can fall back to, should they fail to retrieve my card.
Also, if anyone has experienced something like this in the past and can shed some light on how efficient PSA are in handling such cases and how long it takes them to sort things out please let me know how it went in your personal experience.
It would be nice to get an answer about your card as well before taking any real action. You’re doing the right thing returning the Charizard but make sure your card comes back too. Otherwise it’s up to PSA to reimburse you the declared value and refund grading fees.
Thanks for the advice guys. I will indeed wait until they get back to me with some kind of assurance.
PSA is a large company, and I trust they will be able to sort this issue, but their latest e-mail was so dismissive of the problem that it got me a bit defensive. Anyway, I’ll keep everyone updated as the case progresses and hopefully my last comment on this post will be one of joy.
What??? I don’t know how that’s even possible. A couple questions.
Is the Charizard’s serial number sequential with your order? If not I s the pika sequential with your order?
I don’t recommend it necessarily but this is what I’d do. I’d tell them to return my proper card along with a grading voucher that covers all expenses and only then would I return the Charizard. The purpose of this is that I know then they’ll expedite my cards return. It was their error so they’ll have to go the extra mile to correct it…not me.
I’d still love to know how that could happen because I know the process and it makes no sense.
I don’t see anything in their terms and conditions about this but I agree with the above. There is no way in hell you send the card back until you get your proper card back or a good explanation of how this happened and when your card will be back. You also don’t send the card back until they send you a label. Tell them they can conveniently enclose a prepaid label inside of the shipment containing your proper card. I’m sure they knew before you received it as the actual owner of the gold star zard was probably making some calls once he opened a pikachu.
They don’t get to set the rules when they make a screw up of this level. Hopefully if it is lost in it’s entirety for whatever reason you’ve put a decent declaration because that is all they would pay out likely.
Good on you for being honest and bad on PSA for asking this level of request from you despite such a monumental mistake.
The ball’s on your court, and they should compensate you for the mistake they made, not the other way around. Like the others have said, make sure you receive all compensation and your card back before sending the charizard back. Time is money, and this is also a huge waste of your time so make sure you put that into consideration.
Interesting how many companies think similarly…I remember my friend when applying to graduate programs in universities across the world he received one application from an international university which included his acceptance information along with some other applicants information. When he informed the university, they flipped shit and told him that he must sign a couple of NDA forms, seal the application back in a special envelope and mail it back with signature and tracking back to the university within x amount of time at his own expense.
My friend simply replied with a “No.” As a courtesy, he told them he’ll shred the papers.
That was the last he heard of from that university.
Once again, thanks for the advice everyone, now feeling like I was a bit naive in my initial assessment of the situation. If it wasn’t for their careless reply the card would already be on the way to them and I would have no assurance that my card would be sent back safe and sound.
Ok, I was not so sure whether I should share the communication with PSA, but everyone seems to be on the same page regarding this issue, so I’ll post what I’ve got so far, names hidden for privacy reasons:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Original E-mail
On Monday, 9 July 2018, 15:54:55 GMT+1, N***** ****** <N****@collectors.com> wrote:
Good Morning,
We received a call from a customer who claims she received cert # 40954856. This cert number is linked to Order # 2******.
Please check your Order to confirm you received all your cards. All the cert numbers in your Order begins with the numbers 409.
You may have received a certified item starting with the number 290. The other customer states she is missing cert # 29041544 (or close to that number).
Please reply confirming this information and I can help you to resolve this major oversight.
Thank you,
N****** *****
PSA-PSA/DNA Customer Service
p 800.325.1121 | f 949.567.1311 | PSAcard.com
Enter to Win the PSA Monthly Memorabilia Sweepstakes
My replyFrom: Kaldoverde [mailto:*******]
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2018 10:02 PM
To: N******* <N******@collectors.com>
Subject: Re: PSA Order # ******* - cert # 29041544/cert # 40954856
Dear N*****,
I just checked my order and am indeed missing Cert # 40954856 and received Cert # 29041544 instead.
This is a major inconvenience for me as this card is part of a set, so a bit of an hinderance. Kindly advise me how to proceed in regards to returning the wrong card and getting mine back as quickly as possible.
Yes, we would agree that this is a major inconvenience. I am sorry about this.
Normally, we would send you a FedEx shipping label with priority overnight but I cannot offer a FedEx label for international customers.
Instead, you will have to purchase your own shipping and send this card back to PSA. Please take an image of the postal receipt or send us a scan of it so we can reimburse you for the shipping.
Please return cert # 29041544 to PSA with the following mailing address:
PSA Attention: *****
PO Box 6180 (If submitting via local post office)
Newport Beach, CA 92658
PSA Attention: *****
1610 E. S.t Andrew Place Suite 150 (if submitting via FedEx ground)
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you for your cooperation,
N**** ****
PSA-PSA/DNA Customer Service
p 800.325.1121 | f 949.567.1311 | PSAcard.com
Enter to Win the PSA Monthly Memorabilia Sweepstakes
My Reply
Hi *****,
I’ll gladly send it tomorrow and pay the shipping as long as you cover those costs.
The main question I have at this point is how long will it take me to get my card back.
Thank you,
Carlos
This is the story so far. I haven’t heard back from them since, but will be sure to post any updates here.
At least make sure they have your card. It’s unclear if it was even sent back to them. You don’t want to end up waiting 2-3 months to get your card or money. It’s actually weird they can’t pay International postage up front. Even if for some reason they can’t print the label, they could at least send you a cheque to cover the costs.
Also I’m not one to ask for freebies, but in this case it’s safe to say I would at the very least expect a few free grading vouchers for this inconvenience.
Hershey, I totally understand your reasoning and respect your way of handling this matter if this issue occurred with you.
However, in all good consciousness I would not recommend kaldoverde to simply ship the card out as is. In a customer vs company situation, the response of the company is almost always crappier than the customer (e.g. company rules are relatively inflexible while customers have a wide range of options). Therefore, if the company screws up, they should escalate this and become flexible in resolving the issue, and the fault lies on the company to go above and beyond and not the customer.
PSA IS able to print an international label if they wanted to, it’s just not up to the customer service staff to do so because it’s out of the norm. There’s simply no way in hell a public company worth millions is unable to print a simple prepaid label for an international customer. They need to escalate this to a higher up staff in order to execute this exception. If the PSA customer service staff can’t even do something this simple in printing a prepaid label form when they screwed up this badly, why should kaldoverde trust them in regards of receiving back his PSA graded card and a refund in a timely manner? Also, what will the refund be? Is it going to be first sent off to accounting for them to approve and then send kaldoverde a cheque in a different currency which would cost him more money? These things all bring him massive inconvenience while PSA basically chugs along after making a huge mistake.
I have similar situation happen to me, and I’ll use it as an example. I bought a video game off Best Buy and decide to return it by mail, instead of going to the store to do a return. I shipped it and it was delivered back to them, but no refunds were made on my card. I am now stuck in limbo for two months with many calls and emails with them telling me to basically to take a hike or drive 380 miles to a flagship store to get my refund. I don’t have the game anymore, so I am essentially screwed. When you have no more leverage, you have to rely on the professionalism of the company and staff to handle your problem. Best case scenario kaldoverde gets his card back with a bonus for his troubles. Worse case scenario if he returns it now is that he gets screwed with no card and no refund from his shipment back to PSA. I don’t think he should take that risk.
I agree! I think it’s just a matter of company vs individual to me. PSA as a whole is trustworthy, but individual staff members may not be. Just as like how 99.9% of all PSA card comes back graded accurately and intact, there’s that 0.1% where they either misgraded the card or the card came back damaged (as you can tell from previous threads). Just like my Best Buy example, 99% of all my transactions went well with them. This is the first time I got royally boned by the company. I think the importance is to try your best not to be that 0.1 to 1%!
If the staff member handling this case is not putting the effort in doing the prepaid shipping label and is not really providing some important details about the issue (like if kaldoverde is getting his card back or if his card is already sent back, etc. ), I would be wary in regards of trusting them 100%.
I’m pretty sure Gary has stocks in PSA and he also recommended holding off on sending the Zard back, I’m not sure where your undivided faith is coming from, PSA have a habit of making getting reimbursements/compensation/reparations drawn out and will try their best to pay out as little as possible, which any company with profit in mind would do. Be careful who you give your trust to
I don’t agree with the advice to hold onto the card and wait until yours arrives.
For all we know, the other owner could be doing the same thing and that leaves you both in an awkward stalemate.
I’ve had exceptional dealings with PSA when mistakes have been made. You should have confidence when dealing with them.
My advice is ship the card, take note of the costs, email the receipt, taking note of the different currency and await further. PSA will likely go out of their way to compensate you.
