Upper Deck Has Finished Me Off!! Leaving The Hobby Selling Off Everything

S

Steelers79sbc

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Hello all it was fun while it lasted, I am selling it all on ebay (steelers79sbc) if you see something you like bid there and we can finalize deal here for both parties to save $. LOTS OF CARDS HIGH AND LOW END GOING UP. Here's why;

Not to long ago I requested an exchange for a 13-14 artifacts kris letang # to 3 patch tag auto because it was over two years since I submitted it for redemption. I am a avid penguins collector, as you can see from my account, when I was asked for replacement teams and players naturally my answer was ONLY pittsburgh penguins and as for players Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, Marc Andre Fleury, Olli Maatta, Chris Kunitz, Matt Murray, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.

The day had finally come when the exchange arrived for me to pick it up. I was so excited to see why I would get and how amazing he card would look. To my complete shock, utter disbelief and most of all let down I removed from the package a Jeremy Roenick Philadelphia Flyers card auto'd with two 2 color windows (orange and white in both) #'d to 3. I couldn't believe what I was seeing (what was the point of giving my alternate players for exchange) as well I didn't get a tag in the card. The real kicker came after when the Penguins ended up winning that thing they call.................The Stanley Cup, which in turn would have increased the value of my Kris Letang patch tag auto #'d to 3 card by leaps and bounds. I paid hard earned money to get "that specific card", when I had to make a request to get an exchange that was my first disappointment, then when I received a non penguins card (again which would have gone up in value, I felt cheated ripped of and let down in the integrity of upper decks process for fulfilling a CUSTOMERS FAIR request. I was told "ha ha ha get use to it bud they do that all the time" from many fellow collector's and that was just shocking to hear. I chalked it up to first time learning experience and to this day still have the Roenick and can't sell it for a decent amount as it has no place in my Pittsburgh PC.

I had a second experience with a EVGENI MALKIN 2014-15 NHL TRILOGY TRYPTICH SIGNATURES CD# T-VET2 #'D TO 60 redeemed on 2/16/2015 and received 10/16/2016 (20 MONTHS LATER) and only because I had two of the same redemption and it was taking FOREVER to get the card so I exchanged one thinking odds are great I'll get something for Evgeni Malkin different and unique that I don't already have in my Pittsburgh PC. I get the package, open it in the Fed Ex parking lot to see what treasure I got and again to my dismay I was sent two cards (which was nice at first) then after looking them over realized one of the Evgeni Malkin cards had a auto (09-10ultimate ultimate signatures and the other card a piece of jersey all black. I quickly realized I already had that auto'd card in my pc and basically was left with a jersey card and no auto which is next to nothing for my exchange. According to "Beckett" the tryptich #'d to 60 Malkin auto is worth $50, the two cards I got are worth MAYBE $30 (generous side of value) based on Ebay sales as the beckett has them as $10 for auto and no price for jersey card. Man is that being ripped of or what????

On 8/18/2016 I find this card on Ebay and work out a price with the seller SIDNEY CROSBY 2013-14 NHL THE CUP SCRIPTED SWATCHES CD# SW-SC #'D TO 35. I wanted this specific card because of the larger window for a nice patch or swatch piece with a fair sized auto on it. I submitted the code seconds after paying for the redemption and the message I got was "Athlete committed to signing soon, please be patient." I was very happy. I checked back a week later and AGAIN to my shock and let down I saw this as my status for the Crosby " Inventory depleted. Please contact customer service for exchange. 1-800-873-7332" So I did just that, gave them the same exchange info as the first time and stressed it has to be a Sidney Crosby scripted swatches The Cup card, I bought the redemption for that specific player and large material window. The agent assured me yes it will be a Crosby The Cup card and have a additional higher value of $50 then the scripted swatches card, according to Beckett, which I may add NO ONE FOLLOWS. Again the day comes when the card arrives and to my let down I get a Sidney Crosby Signature Patches plain all black piece of patch (which one should never get a one color anything in "The Cup" for the price you are charging for it) and a window which is literally 1/3 of the size. Long story short I am not remotely happy with the replacement considering all the facts I stated. I paid for that card specifically and then too find out and be let down that inventory is depleted all the while the redemption is still out there and unaccounted for???? Every redemption should have a card that is reserved for each one if still unclaimed until expiration date, just common sense. Don't offer stuff you don't have or can't get.

I recently purchased 5 boxes of 15-16 SP Authentic and noticed, as mentioned on the front of the box near the bottom,"Collect 3 auto's per box on average, including 1 future watch auto". I noticed after opening
my 5th box that I wasn't getting many auto's. So I decided to check and here what the results were. (please see Redemption's 2 of 2 emails for picture proof).

I have to say the quality of these cards is less then acceptable, pack after pack I opened the front 1-3 cards were bent on the top corners, the cards them selves were stuck together very well (it was like cracking a glow stick, loud crack noise and firm pressure) to separate them and I have 3 witnesses who can attest, foil numbering and lettering was missing or patchy at best (example can be seen on the Marian Gaborik card and the numbers on a future watch auto card /999, which reminds me why does redemption card say F.W.A /949 and card shows /999??? little embarrassing on the quality control and assurance team you have working or not as it appears?).

If I am paying $150 + 13% tax on NEW cardboard I EXPECT to get mint to near mint quality product, kinda goes without saying. I mean who buys a car with no engine right, just cause you didn't check under the hood doesn't mean it shouldn't be there. It is "expected" to have new cards without dinged/bent/stubbed corners and edges that look like they were cut with a dull hand saw (take the time to replace or sharpen cutting devices MORE frequently) and current years product, NOT last years, in the box I purchased. No where on the box does it say older product inserted instead of new! In a tight economy as we are experiencing one would think upper deck would be treading a little more carefully as to not loose a large base of customers which I'm sure your are noticing already with your take over and repricing of the hockey world without Panini.

As of right now Nov 18/16 I still have 16 Pittsburgh & 3 non Pittsburgh redemption's as far back as 3/4/2015 to today waiting to be fulfilled. I want these specific cards as I searched for them and paid for that exact card, if I wanted another card I wouldn't have bought the ones I did!
Upper Deck NEEDS to be held accountable for the redemption's it offers and fulfilling them in a much more accountable & timely manner. I mean really 2 years , 24 months 1/5 of a decade to get a card shipped (shaking my head) WOW really.................

The public, who help upper deck function with lots of money by purchasing over priced cards and merchandise, deserve better and will at some point will put a financial pinch on upper deck and significantly reduce their spending and upper deck will feel it where it counts.

I look forward to your response regarding each topic and especially the Sidney Crosby The Cup replacement let down.

STRAW THAT BROKE THE CAMELS BACK
Hi, I have another very surprising let down by upper deck yet once again. This one just blows my mind as to how the hell this even happened or got thru your quality control steps, if there are any. This Crosby redemption ( AB-SC Sidney Crosby - Team Canada : A 1:15,228) was sent to me just recently upon opening it I find a huge long scuff mark down the middle left side of the card. The line starts at the gold metal and goes down to the bottom middle of the card and there is a second vertical line as well. WTF???????????????????????????

IS THIS A JOKE OR SOMETHING TO UPPER DECK



Thank you to all the people I have met and done deals with, time to focus on other things in life that make me happy! All the best to everyone and hobby adventures.
 
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Very sorry to hear about all of these issues. I believe you should make the decision that is right for you and whatever you choose to do as long as you are happy with the decision than I wish you all the very best.

While these issue are terrible, unfortunately it is a reality within this hobby. If you do decide to stay in the hobby or re-enter the hobby at al later point, I think you should stop dealing with redemptions. I myself never ever buy redemption cards. If a card I want is a redemption, I simply wait until the actual card is live and is put up for sale.

This way i know exactly what I am buying and won't have to deal with any potential issues. If the card for some reason is never made then I simply cross it off my wantlist.
 
This is exactly the problem when one company controls the entire hockey landscape in licensing for cards. I used to love cracking Crown Royale boxes from Panini. I always found the customer service with them to be great!

Upper Deck continues to put out crap. Today I broke a box of 15-16 Ultimate and the best card I got was a $30 John Tavares jersey auto card. Like I'm not expecting monsters but when you pay $300 you should get something better than a $30 Beckett value card.
 
Just to be Devil's Advocate here, you are buying redemptions. These do carry risk involved with them. Now I am not saying that UD is not at fault. But....you knew the risks when you bought a redemption.

Sorry that you didn't get what you expected for the redemptions, but even something you didn't want/need, is better than nothing at all.
 
Actually I did not realize there were risks with redemption's until this happened, like I said there should be a card for every redemption released and that's that! False advertising should be sued for that! Think if everything you have ever known operated like this we as world would be SCREWED. Sorry no food arrived you have to go hungry, or food committed to growing soon, please be patient.
 
I understand the frustration, but as was just mentioned, any time you buy a redemption card, especially an UD redemption card, you are inviting undue stress into your life. It's not like this is a new issue, these exact complaints have been posted too many times to count for the last 10-15 years? Honestly I don't know why anyone would spend the money to buy an UD redemption card anymore. You're better off asking your neighbor to give you a swift kick in the junk, at least that pain goes away in a few minutes and it didn't cost you anything.
 
LOL yes very true, as they say you only need to learn once the hard way then you never forget!

I never really read any redemption horror stories, ignorance is bliss......
 
There are other parts of the hobby that is very enjoyable. Find something else in the hobby that you like and collect that. It keeps you communicating with your friends on line as well still in the hobby. Just a thought, hate seeing people leave for these type of reasons. Big business is ruining the hobby for most. Seems like a lot of people are jumping ship, it's sad to see so many post like this one.
 
I posted this on another forum (in response to your post), wanted to post it here too in case you wanted to see it. I don't want to see people leave this hobby. This hobby isn't perfect, but this hobby is awesome. And sometimes perspective is a good thing in my opinion. Again, sorry to hear about your experiences man. All the best for you moving forward in this hobby or another.

Here's what I posted:


I think your redemptions were handled well, actually. I've heard of a lot of worse cases. I don't think you should give up a hobby based on a few experiences.

The Roenick for Kris Letang exchange was not that bad in my opinion. Yeah it would have been awesome for them to cater to your team, but that's the way it is sometimes when asking for replacements. Upper Deck only has a certain amount of Artifacts cards in their inventory, after all. At least the print run was /3. If they did in fact gave you a Penguins card with a higher print run, then that could have upset someone as well, so they thought at least matching the /3 print run is fair. Replacing a /3 print run with another /3 was very generous in my opinion, especially since there are only 3 out there. Plus Roenick, who's had a following over the years, has had a lot of collectors. You could move it for more Penguins stuff. And yeah the Penguins won the cup, but it's not Upper Deck's fault that the Penguins won the cup. And since there are many Penguins players/cards out there already on the secondary market, I don't think the original Letang would have increased by "leaps and bounds". That's the risk you take with redemptions, which we all hate but are very necessary if you want a product with so many players to be released.

For the Malkin Trilogy Signatures /60, it was nice that you got 2 cards in return. And again, it's not UD's fault that you have one of the cards already. Upper Deck can't read minds, and you can always sell the Malkin auto for more Penguins cards. Maybe loss a little on value, but the secondary market is loaded with Malkin, which isn't UD's fault either. It's like that for a lot of players.

For the Crosby Scripted Swatches, I understand you wanted a nice big window patch, but that just isn't going to happen all the time. There are only so many sets to go around, and a lot of them don't have massive windows and patch pieces, which is what makes the Cup Scripted Swatches so unique to begin with. If every set was a copy of Scripted Swatches, the desirability of the set would tank and a card like that wouldn't be a hard hit anymore. So although they couldn't replace it with another scripted Swatches (I highly doubt they have a Crosby Scripted Swatches lying around), I think a Crosby Signature Auto Patch from The Cup is still a very nice return all things considered. And the black swatch is not ideal, but when you're UD and you buy a Sidney Crosby Game-Used Jersey ( or any other NHL jersey for that matter, since they aren't cheap), you better use every inch of that thing to maximize your return on investment. And hey, I'd gladly take a Penguins black swatch then a white swatch all day long. It's not perfect, but it could have been a lot worse.

As for the SPA card quality, I too have been a victim of that (I break SPA yearly the past few years), but I don't expect perfection. If cards get packed out, ship to distributor, then to the LCS', then to me... Yeah, some cards will have dings. That's just the reality of shipping slim tiny pieces of cardboard (cards).

If I were receiving cards straight off the printer at UD's manufacturing wharehouse ? I want those things as mint as they can get! However, when receiving them in a pack, stuffed in a box, I don't expect all cards to be mint or nr mint. Not realistic, and shipping every card in a toploader is not business savvy either. UD is a business first, and need to be smart with their money and budgets, which includes how they get cards into collectors hands. Like it or not, that's what it is.

As for UD's timing with the redemptions. They don't like it, and we don't like it either. UD is not sitting there like: "Haha, we are going to have this collector purposely wait 2 and a half years for this redemption, even though we have the card right here the whole time". No, not how it works. UD waits on these cards to be produced, signed, returned, then shipped out. That can be a very lengthily process, especially if the athlete (yes, the athlete themselves), doesn't sign the card. UD would love to have you card out tomorrow, but they need to card in-hand first. That falls on the athlete's camp. and it's not the athletes fault, either. They are busy people, and can't sit around and sign cards all year. Sure, some are 'better' signers then others, but the point is it can be a very lengthy process for a lot of players. When you're a card company sending thousands and thousands are cards to get signed per year, some of them will be lightning quick, others will not. This process does not fall on Upper Deck. Many moving parts involved here.

And that Crosby booklet is a great card, and I'm hoping UD can replace it. But if not they will have to send you a different Crosby. So it won't be a sweet booklet, but I'm sure you'll get something great in the end. And as for the damage, it really, really sucks but cards are delicate and get damaged. That's just the way it is. Damage and accidents has no favourites over a Crosby auto booklet V.S that no-name rookie card who'll never get another crack at the NHL.

Upper Deck isn't a perfect company by any means, but I think they didn't do that bad with your replacements. Just my 2 cents. Feel free to get mad and disagree with what I just said, but I just wanted to express my personal opinion on what I've learned from seeing other replacements (good and bad), and from my experience in the hobby these past 10 years or so.

All the best moving forward, shame you had to leave the hockey card hobby. It's a really fun hobby, but I really hope you find a hobby that makes you happy.
 
Same thing happened to me! You get tired of waiting on a redemption to ever come in. You want something for the money you dropped on a case, box, or pack or even eBay!

You call Upper Deck and sure they ask for players you collect and what teams you like. Package arrives and more times than not, Somebody totally different. I seriously doubt UD is paying much to whomever is picking out these cards so what difference does it make to them? They get the package out the door and can mark off one more from their long list of redemption customers.

Over and done.
 
It's dirty pool really. UD promotes a new product with X amount of super hits of a player, like Sid, and then packs everything out with redemptions b/c as we all know Sid doesn't sign much. You try to redeem, it sits in the queue for ages and you forget about it. Then a year later, a newer product comes out and IS SIGNED BY THAT SAME PLAYER. Simply unacceptable that the older cards are not FIRST in line to be signed.

Don't worry, soon UD will just take photocopies of all player signatures once and then print them off onto sticker sheets or they will just stop printing cards altogether and everything will be epack with no option to ship. All epack cards will be BGA 10 pristine. Coo coo coconuts.

Really, the players are inundated with cards to sign on a monthly basis. The market is flooded with too many products. Doesn't UD see this year in and year out with the amount of overhang left at the distributors and local stores?

As for Steelers79sbc, I feel your pain and it sucks when you don't get the card(s) you had your heart set on. As for that Crosby team Canada booklet with the scuff, I think you best hold onto that as-is.
 
It sucks to hear about what UD did to you, but it is not surprising.

After dealing with them over redemptions years ago, I stopped buying boxes. I was told I forgot how many times that my redemptions were sitting on a shelf, and even had a post-it note on them with my name on them, that they would be shipped out. Called every few months, was told the same story. The last time I called, I mentioned that the value of the cards have now decreased significantly. I never asked for anything except my cards. The guy on the phone apologized and said he would send something extra for the long wait, and for the decrease in value (which he agreed about the decrease), and that I would be very pleased with what they were sending.
FINALLY get the package. For the long wait, and decrease in value, the sent me................1 pack of fleer. Yup fleer. Not even fleer ultra, but fleer. Nothing in the pack except base cards as well.
I stopped buying boxes after that, not their products, but that Chris Carlin guy is the guy who broke the camels back for me. Thats another story.
Only thing I learned about UD is that everyone that works for them is about as useful as an ejection seat on a helicopter.
 
i feel your pain steelers, if your through banff stop by and we can have a couple beers and watch a game, i have a couple sid's in the que and would love dearly if they got redeemed sometime as I would love to have the cards in my collection but wait i will and try not to be disappointed when they screw it up, lol
 

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