Transcript of the UD Discussion in the Chat Room earlier today! Part II

meatmancgy

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Please read Part I first, located here


meatmancgy
I'm going to jump in quickly here... how does something like this get through QA? http://www.hobbyinsider.net/forum/showthread.php?t=183369

gocarlin
Much more QA goes into higher price point products so this was base UD. We can replace it however, but most collectors again hang on to them because they are different. It's embarrassing, but it can happen sometimes.

meatmancgy
Next question #12 - pathshot

pathshot
My name is Michael Gallina, and I'm an addict. This question is about sending packages to customer service in Las Vegas, NV. First, thanks for taking the time to discuss these issues on the hot seat here, and spending enough time to do such. Every time I've sent a package to Upper Deck in Nevada, it has gone missing. In each instance, I have delivery confirmation verifying that it was received. In each instance, I've had to follow up with multiple phonecalls or emails to get a response. In one instance, I received another package that had the exact same card in it as a package I sent that was claimed to be missing. Even recently, I had a three month epic exchange of emails with Barry Sicherman, who sent a package to an incorrect address. My question is, why do these issues have to be dragged out to the point of hilarity? Are any of the shipping and receiving processes being streamlined to the point of say - getting the delivery confirmation of a package shipped by Upper Deck via web or email. These types of problems are expensive when reps spend this much time on a problem, and you stop buying because you've lost confidence in a company. Do you have any internal methods of tracking service issues, like an incident number? Your Better Business Bureau ratings have suffered as a result of similar issues. This, more than redemptions or market condition, is why I've dropped my budget for Upper Deck considerably this year. It stops being fun.

gocarlin
There's a variety of things that can be happening here. None of us work in Customer Service however, but we sure work with them. As we look at ways of streamlining the process to expedite the replacemetn process, things have gotten better, but it sounds like you've had a run of bad luck. If you want to provide Bruce more details on your situation, he'll get it off to me so I can share with the Customer Service Management staff. Last question for Karvin and Matt...

meatmancgy
Next question #13 – hatzosman6

hatzosman6
Specific checklist question from 2007-08 Be A Player. The eight-autograph "8S-NETS" card has -- one player different between the card picture and the text checklist. The image has Ryan Miller, the text has Tim Thomas. With the card limited to 6 copies I haven't seen any with my own eyes to verify, and wanted to see which was correct. and... Follow-up at Bruce's request: any chance of getting "subject to change" pre-release checklists on the UD site in advance of a product release? I know these are often available to distributors and would imagine it would be a good resource to have available on the official site.

gocarlin
It's and uncorrected error where Thomas may have been swapped out for Miller because the autographs didn't come in. To avoid redemptions, we frequently make last minute changes like this and that's what happened here. There are too many changes to checklists, the best way to get preliminary checklists is through distributors and shops.

meatmancgy
If you give the distributors the checklists, why not the collectors with "SUBJECT TO CHANGE" on it? At least we'd have a starting point.

hatzosman6
So is the final version the one that appears in the image on the site, assuming since that's the image that was actually printed off?

gocarlin
Checklists can't post to the site until they are final. We have a new Product Preview page coming up that will give you information earlier that you can see here: http://sports.upperdeck.com/collectorszone/newproducts.aspx I'm going to hang in here to answer what I can, but Karvin and Matt have got to get back to the grind. Chris Carlin

meatmancgy
Thanks to Matt & Karvin for being here... Chris has graciously stated he'll stay on to answer whatever questions he can. Those he can't, we'll forward by email to look for answers later.

meatmancgy
Next question #14 - dahabsfan

dahabsfan
In regards to redemptions (somewhat related to pathshots question) – I’m currently missing close to $700 worth of redemptions that the status shows shipped on Feb 4/09. In talking to several other collectors they seem to be missing redemptions from the exact same date. After talking to CS I was informed that they “have no access to shipping information” nor could he actually confirm if they even had been shipped.

dahabsfan
Seems to me when something is shipped shouldn’t there be some record of how and when it was shipped? I was also told to contact them on the 25th to fill out paper work for the missing stuff. How are cards that were /5 going to be handled? Also any update on 07-08 SP Authentic Roy/Brodeur/Price Triple Sign of the Times?

gocarlin
Hmmm. I apologize, I don't really have a way to check on that without doing some further research. I can share that what usually happens is that the orders are printed up in batches, then fulfilled. We build in a certain amount of time before they move to fulfilled, but sometimes, they haven't all shipped yet.

gocarlin
They are all shipped a way that allows us to send a large amount of items a traceable method. The tracking comes back to us and is then entered into the accounts which takes time as well. I know everyone loves a mail day, but I would say be patient on it. It's likely they just printed out more than they could get out and got a little behind.

dahabsfan
Then to me it would be better to just leave the status as pending so people aren't under the impression that their items have been shipped

gocarlin
On the triple auto I know at the All-Star game we gave Price several hundred cards to sign so hopefully that was included in that.

dahabsfan
hopefully that is the case with these items as I've since received items that were shipped a week after the missing batch

gocarlin
They are not shipped out one at a time, it's a pretty large process to package and pull all the cards. The process has it's flaws, but it's usually pretty accurate.

meatmancgy
Next question #15 – jetsman

jetsman
Thanks for doing this Chris. My question is this. Over the last couple years we've seen a couple cards of the Houston Aeros (reference - 04-05 UD Checklist of Gordie Howe, and 08-09 Masterpieces). Does UD have a deal in place for Aeros logos solely or do you have the potential to use all of the WHA team logos, and if so, will we see more WHA cards in the future (a full set maybe?)?

gocarlin
The NHL has rights to most of the WHL teams. It's something that we'll do again for sure since it's different, but it won't be a whole set as he has more value traditionally with mainstream NHL teeams Sorry, WHA teams. Typing quickly.

jetsman
all good Chris. A follow-up if i may, status of the Whalers logo?

gocarlin
We can use it. All the defunct NHL franchises and WHA franchises which were absorbed into the NHL. We have rights through the NHL.

meatmancgy
Next question #16 – Hama

Hama
Chris, first I'll duck since this is a non-hockey related question; two parts - 1. With the USA Baseball sets - the set price was jacked up between 2-3x last year's set - so for me - it'll cost around $250 to land one here - do you have any insight as to the reasoning for this? 2. with the 20th anniversary set - that started in UD1 BB - will this be across all UD products in 09 and is there a checklist for this set available?

gocarlin
The biggest reason was for the more limited production run. It was 3-4 times more limited. It was decided that it would help if all the core inserts were numbered.

Hama
It makes it more difficult for me - since I have to go secondary market obviously to get these. So at this point - I may have to interrupt my run of USA sets. I understand the numbering, but weren't all the autos and auto mem pretty much numbered to start with?

gocarlin
It will be across all baseball sets in 2009. They will be released in waves much easier to understand than a set like the Yankee Stadium Legacy. Early cards will be in the early sets, late cards will be in the late sets. We'll have a webpage up to show the breakdown in the coming weeks as more products release.

meatmancgy
Next question #17 – LumpyGumby

LumpyGumby
Thanks. Hi, my name is John Lovato. My question is about a card I pulled from 05-06 SP Game Used a while back, a Gretzky/Howe dual auto numbered out of 25. When I went to your site and redeemed it, it was marked as inventory depleted. I was wondering why such a high profile, low numbered card like this was depleted before the chit expired? I never really got an explanation.

gocarlin
I hear you on that and have heard similar comments. I know we and USA Baseball are taking that all in so we can review for next years set.
gocarlin When did you redeem it John?

LumpyGumby
I redeemed it about a year ago, I believe. It was a few months before it expired.

gocarlin
I can't speak specifically to that card, but I can speak from my experience. On limited cards like that there can be situations where cards are damaged or lost when shipping to other customers. We will sometimes use another card from that batch to send to the collector as it is not uncommon for some redemptions to be unclaimed. Likely that's what happened there. I highly recommend that if you want the card, you register it ASAP.

gocarlin
That being said, that's certainly not a great experience and I apologize for that. That's one of the reasons why we are working to create the new system.

meatmancgy
Next question #18 – cardz1976

cardz1976
I imagine that the redemption process has been a total nightmare that is costing a pretty penny, why do you keep inserting players that dont sign in a timely manner into new product. Also why are new cards being produced of those players when they have cards outstanding that are in need of the stickers?

gocarlin
Long story short is that they are usually players the hobby wants. By the time we realize they may be problem signers, there are several projects already created for them. We try to pull what we can, but many times it is too late. We have players that we blacklist from time to time. Ilya Kovalchuk used to be a real problem for us, but he has gotten a lot better. I saw first hand another player at the All-Star game when we were doing signings who basically told us he doesn't want to sign anymore and he just doesn't have the time. That's very depressing to see, but it happens.

meatmancgy
Next question #19 – hockeyguy2006

hockeyguy2006
The UD checklist website lists a ";2008 Russian KHL Box Set"; that to my knowledge isn't released. What are the plans for this?

gocarlin
Not something that's being produced. To my knowledge we talked about it and they did a preliminary checklist, but it's not happening.

meatmancgy
Next question #20 – pathshot

pathshot
Thanks again for hanging back, Chris. Just a quick question about the 2007-08 SPx set. I've only heard anecdotally about how many "SP" cards were produced for each of the Autographed Flashback Fabrics set (20 or less). I can count on one hand the number of Lemieux, Howe, Gretzky, and Beliveau cards I've seen hit eBay. Is there a more precise number you can give? I actually did put together this entire set by some miracle. Thanks for holding true to the "we'll do the Rask and Downie cards with 08-09 SPx" redemption promise, by the way. I did redeem those once I saw the cards released.

gocarlin
We don't share production info on those cards, but you are not far off. They are limited, but we like there to let the hobby figure out which ones are the most rare when the set comes out. That is amazing putting that set together, very cool, congratulations!!!

meatmancgy
Next question #21 – Howe1850

Howe1850
Hello, my name is Victor Beyer. My question is. Do you have any plans for International Legends related products or even subsets. Soviet Union Legend Alexander Ragulin made a quick visit in two products during the 2004-05 year, and has been the only other person besides Vladislav Tretiak to my knowledge, excluding the 2004-05 All-World release. Thank you.

gocarlin
I haven't heard about any products like that coming down the pipe. I can say All-World was a really difficult set to pull off on autographs in particular. We were all over the world trying to track these guys down.

meatmancgy
Next question #22 – me! How did a store in Los Angeles get a box of the Habs Centennial set when it isn’t supposed to be released for another week? One of our members got the base cards & inserts from the box opened by one of the store’s bigger customers. On top of that, the 05/06 SPx Flashback Fabrics of Mats Sundin was supposed to not be made, but the 1/1 version showed up last month. What’s with that? Are there other regular versions out there?

gocarlin
I heard some rumblings about that card because I think we got a Sundin label in and wanted to get that card done for someone who didn't want to exchange it. To my understanding the other cards will not be made.

meatmancgy
I don't want to exchange most of my redemptions, but don't get the option to choose usually... how did that guy get that specific card done?

gocarlin
Not sure how the UD store got that, but I actually got my sample products in last week as well which I thought was odd as usually I get it right or before launch. The street date hasn't changed, but the guys at the store may not have realized it wasn't supposed to be out.

gocarlin
Again, I'm not 100% sure so I don't want to assume anything on that, but that's what I recall when someone brought that card up to me. They must have really been determined to get that card.

meatmancgy
Next question #23 – cmacdonald1

cmcdonald1
First, thank you for taking the time to speak with the hobbyists. My question is one about the 20th anniversary contest you held. Religously for 8 months I logged into your site to participate in this contest (after spending a small fortune) only to have the last set of 8 cards arrive a week after the contest closed. Is there a plan to reopen this, or were the local card shops in Eastern canada just unfortunate in receiving the necessary product in time? I must admit it was very frustrating

gocarlin
We extended it and didn't draw until 2-3 weeks later than it stated in the rules. In the rules it said we would draw on or after (whatever the date was in January). We just drew the winner a week or two back.

cmcdonald1
Frustrating even more as the site stopped us in Halifax on the 8th when the cards arrived

gocarlin
I will say that is is uncanny how many contests Canadians won through us last year. I think about 2/3 of our winners on larger sweepstakes were Canadians.

meatmancgy
One last question from me... how in God's green earth does Upper Deck get Martin & Richard Brodeur wrong as father & son on hockey cards?!?!

gocarlin
Which card was that again? I know we talked about it, but I want to bring it up.

meatmancgy
SP Game Used Quartets Jersey & Quartets Patch

gocarlin
I was told it has nothing to do with them being father and son, just that they were both goalies that went to the Stanley Cup Finals. It was unique, but I don't believe they were called out as father & son.

meatmancgy
two Brodeurs... two Stastnys... two different generations, just odd

gocarlin
It was just a unique combo, didn't use them to be father & son, the guys said they did it to be unique.

wildfan1833
I'm building the 07-08 SPA SOTT set and the original checklist had 92 cards. But in the last few months there have been 3 cards that have just showen up that were not on the check list. The 3 cards that were not on the check list that were made are Anze Kopitar, Shane Doan, Nikolai Zherdev. I was wondering if there are any more cards that are not on the check list that were made, this way us set builders know what to look out for

gocarlin
The checklist for 07/08 SP is Final, no other cards will be on there.

cardz1976
Is there a max time for redemptions to sit in someones account until they are swapped out to a replacement

gocarlin
For the redemptions, it depends, in NHL we really chase the players down for as long as we can. It's not till we get a no that we move on with the replacements usually. That will change in the future. If we can't get them within 6 months we will likely cut ties.

meatmancgy
Please join me in thanking Chris, Matt & Karvin for joining us and answering our questions. UD has been kind enough to send up a bunch of hockey products for some prizes to celebrate the upcoming National Hockey Card Day. Check the contests section shortly! Thanks again to Upper Deck!
 
Thanks everyone from UD for Takeing the time to chat with us. Please don't be shy, come by anytime we are all willing to talk about what need to be done in the hobby. Thanks again, Cole
 
Very good read. Thanks to UD for taking the time, it goes a long way. Some good answers som generic ones, but I think there was lots they couldnt say or didnt know about (not their dept) But I think they will work hard to get us answers. Opens our eyes a little more I think, maybe not so much negativity towards UD in the future on H.I.???
 
A very good interview, I can't believe I forgot about it and missed it. It's too bad that they couldn't get somebody in from the Customer Service department (although maybe a good thing, as tempers may have flared) to answer some of those more specific questions, but they answered a lot of the tough questions that collectors have regarding UD. The question about the Artifacts redemptions is something that has been on a lot of people's minds, and while we all suspected that was the reason for the delay, it's nice to hear something official--I'm thinking that if they got Pogge in there, they will likely have Max Pacioretty as well. I don't know if I should start grabbing Wild Cards or hope that they make him instead of Ben Maxwell the Habs redemption.
 
Nice job, Bruce. I just sent Chris and Karvin a thank you for taking time out to be here, and also let them know they picked a GREAT site to do this with!
 
Bruce

Thanks for hosting this event - and allowing me to ask my question via proxy.
It is gratifying that this site is slowly evolving into a recognized Hobby leader in the Hockey area. Hopefully the other sports areas can grow as well.

Chris & Karvin & Matt

Thanks to you also for taking the time to attend this web-hosting and make an attempt to answer as many quaestions from our demented hockey collectors as time will allow. I hope you can also begin to understand the passion as well as the knowledge that is available on this particular site - as I feel it may have one of the most diverse and knowledgeable groups of Hockey Hobbyists around. We look forward to having you back at a future time, perhaps to segment into more specific areas in shorter time spans.

Thanks again!!

bruce (the other bruce!)
 
Also enjoyed the read very much. Thanks to the guys at upper deck for taking some time to stop by the best hobby site on the net.

:beer:
Nick
 
It's good to see UD participating in this kind of activity that any level of collector can be a part of. Hopefully they can be convinced to do this every few months so that any questions that seem to go unanswered on the regular calls can be answered. Thanks again for making that happen Bruce.
 
Enjoyed the read, was nice that they were able to jump in. Good to see some people with strong opinions get in to ask some questions and that everyone did keep it civil. Hopefully it isnt a one time occurence and that something like this could be done again at some point.

Ha, pretty neat that they did answer my question about Boutin as well. Boutin did sit back-up though due to an emergency recall on March 25th, 2008 against the Florida Panthers (Plante's team haha) here at home (season ticketholder) and then was sent back down the next day. Denis was placed on re-entry waivers the same time that Boots was called up, but could not join the team until the 26th as he had to wait to clear. I know I'm the only one that cares though :)
 
how do we get clarification on this apparent contradiction. Is the checklist on the website final, or is there a master checklist somewhere else that we do not see???

wildfan1833
I'm building the 07-08 SPA SOTT set and the original checklist had 92 cards. But in the last few months there have been 3 cards that have just showen up that were not on the check list. The 3 cards that were not on the check list that were made are Anze Kopitar, Shane Doan, Nikolai Zherdev. I was wondering if there are any more cards that are not on the check list that were made, this way us set builders know what to look out for

gocarlin
The checklist for 07/08 SP is Final, no other cards will be on there.
 
Gah I wish I didn't have class, I wanted to see if they had some answers about who signs for UD. Or more specifically, if Derek Roy doesn't sign because he doesn't want to or because he's not asked.
 
Yeah, I wanted to ask if Shea Weber was possibly the all-star he was referring to that said they are too busy to sign anymore. It would explain why his autos keep getting pulled from the checklists.
 
Ha, pretty neat that they did answer my question about Boutin as well. Boutin did sit back-up though due to an emergency recall on March 25th, 2008 against the Florida Panthers (Plante's team haha) here at home (season ticketholder) and then was sent back down the next day. Denis was placed on re-entry waivers the same time that Boots was called up, but could not join the team until the 26th as he had to wait to clear. I know I'm the only one that cares though :)

Correct. Except for the last part, since I care too.

[gocarlin] 6:42 pm: While we wait for more on that. There was a question about why Jonathan Boutin didn’t get a card made, but Tyler Plante had several. Both were called up from the minors about the same time. Plante dressed in a game on a bench which is the qualification for getting a card done of him while Boutin was the third goalie and didn’t sit on the bench. Same thing happened to Justin Pogge.

http://sportsdirect.usatoday.com/ho...e=/data/nhl/results/2007-2008/recap17552.html

Boutin dressed as the backup.

-------------------------------

Also, here was the checklist I noted in my other question:

http://sports.upperdeck.com/Hockey/cardset.aspx?q=5&r=1&sid=50603

    [hatzosman6] 7:16 pm: Specific checklist question from 2007-08 Be A Player. The eight-autograph "8S-NETS" card has -- one player different between the card picture and the text checklist. The image has Ryan Miller, the text has Tim Thomas. With the card limited to 6 copies I haven't seen any with my own eyes to verify, and wanted to see which was correct.
[gocarlin] 7:18 pm: It's and uncorrected error where Thomas may have been swapped out for Miller because the autographs didn't come in. To avoid redemptions, we frequently make last minute changes like this and that's what happened here.
[gocarlin] 7:20 pm: Checklists can't post to the site until they are final.

Seems sort of contradictory, and I guess I'm still not sure which version of the card was produced...

Well, that said, I do appreciate the time they put in. Oh, and Wes wins the chat. I could hear their phones dialing the lawyers in the 6 minutes it took to respond :D :D
 
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I wish they would have a sweepstakes for HI where everyone could put in their name and then get personalized reponses back for the winners as to whats happening with their redemptions. As of right now it still looks like none of the 06/07 Lettermarks were created that were redemptions (there was 11 different players). Also looks like no 07/08 Numbermarks or lettermarks that were redemptions have gone out. We were told in the past that these cards were waiting until they received all the players cards back to put them into production but still nothing. Will be interesting to see how people are treated with their replacements on this last big batch..
 
Good on you for hosting this Bruce. Good for the three UD guys for allowing some time to hang out and answer some questions. I know it won't happen but maybe in the future, they could bring a Customer Service or Quality Control person along. Seeing as how everyone was playing nice :)
 
how do we get clarification on this apparent contradiction. Is the checklist on the website final, or is there a master checklist somewhere else that we do not see???

Exhibit Trilogy Personal Scripts:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110354849228

This is the first I have ever seen of a 07-08 Trilogy Eric Staal Personal Scripts autograph card. Unless this guy went and created his own, it does not exist per the UD checklist or beckett..

Trilogy Personal Scripts Checklist:
http://sports.upperdeck.com/Hockey/cardset.aspx?q=5&r=1&sid=47605


Ive been watching ebay religously since feb 07, and this card has never appeared...

Trilogy collectors go wild.. pickup this nonexistent card.
 
As an eBay Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Very interesting read, thanks guys at UD for doing this and I hope it happens more often!!
 


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