D
Dang
Guest
Before you read this, please understand that I am using this thread to express my personal opinions about Upper Deck. Any feedback, positive or negative, that you wish to leave is appreciated.
I used to think UD was miles ahead of the other card companies. I purchased their products because they where superior, their ideas were incredible, and they gave the impression that they cared about their consumers. But, now I feel like Upper Deck has forgoten who their target market is (the collector) and is focusing on who knows what.
As of late, every time I open a UD product I finish with an unpleasaunt feeling in my stomach. $100 to $200 spent... a pile of cards worth about $20... a spacer that says "Bonus Rewards Points at upperdeckrewards.com"... and then... the feeling. Similar to being kicked in the crotch, the feeling has become all too common. I don't get this feeling because I got a bad box, I get this feeling because I continually get bad boxes. The saddest thing about all of this is that I am not a hard person to please when it comes to sports cards. I love sports cards and collect all types from all sports. I never expect to pull Gretzky autos or 1 of 1 cards with Lebron and Wade. If the cards are unique and I get an auto or a couple of nice looking G.U. swatches I'm usually happy.
I recently opened a box of 2005/06 UD Ice Hockey. My $125 bought me 94% of the base set, 5 RC #ed to 2999 ( not exactly short printed), and two plain vanilla jersey cards of Eric Nystrom and Jordan Leopold. Ohh, I almost forgot... add one kick to the crotch!
For a while I was suspecting that it was just my bad luck when it came to UD products, but at the last card show I attended I saw that it wasn't just me. I looked at a box that contained two cases (24 boxes) worth of 2005/06 UD SPA Hockey pulls and saw 24 kicks to the groin. At the same show I watched a friend open two boxes of 2005/06 Ultimate Collection Basketball. When he was done I said a short prayer for him and one of thanks for not being financially involved in the $800 whooping he just took.
Not to bore any one with more bad box breaks, I would like to change the topic to UD customer service. I have been waiting on an Erik Cole redemption card for eight months exactly. And, for eight months the UD website keeps saying "Autographs are in house. Please be patient while cards are being produced." I don't know what this actually means. It seems as if Upper Deck hasen't made my card yet, but they do have Erik Coles signature. I always thought they made the card and waited on the player's signature, but does it really matter? I still don't have my card.
I would normally call and express my concerns about the tardiness of my card, but I know what will happen because I've played this game before. I will speak to someone who actually knows very little about sports cards. He or she will keep me on the phone for 30 minutes only to ask me what types of replacements I would like (either player or sport), and in the end they will send me exactly the oppisite of what I wanted or asked for.
The last thing/point I wanted to comment on is the UD rewards spacers. I initially liked the idea, because they offered the chance to accumulate points that could be used to bid on UD products. Yes, you needed probably 20,000 points to win anything, but everytime you entered the code from one of these special spacers you were 60 to 80 points closer. I usually wait until I have a stack of these spacers to enter the codes at udrewards.com. In the past not every spacer yielded points. Normaly one in every five was a 15% or 25% coupon redeemable at the online Upper Deck store. Not a bad thing to have tucked away, in case you need it, but what keeps me interested and saving the spacers are the points. The last time I entered codes, I had 24 spacers. Don't forget that these spacers come one per box, so they aren't cheap or easy to come by. With 24 spacers I estimated I would get around 1440 points, but instead I received a goose egg. All of my spacers were 25% off coupons. Why does this have to happen? The spacers say "Bonus Rewards Points" at the top, and the website advertises bonus points as the prize for entering the code online. If the spacers were titled "Bonus Coupon", I probably wouldn't have a problem. In the end however, it is just another example of how Upper Deck, one of the leading card companies in the hobby, is dropping the ball.
I used to think UD was miles ahead of the other card companies. I purchased their products because they where superior, their ideas were incredible, and they gave the impression that they cared about their consumers. But, now I feel like Upper Deck has forgoten who their target market is (the collector) and is focusing on who knows what.
As of late, every time I open a UD product I finish with an unpleasaunt feeling in my stomach. $100 to $200 spent... a pile of cards worth about $20... a spacer that says "Bonus Rewards Points at upperdeckrewards.com"... and then... the feeling. Similar to being kicked in the crotch, the feeling has become all too common. I don't get this feeling because I got a bad box, I get this feeling because I continually get bad boxes. The saddest thing about all of this is that I am not a hard person to please when it comes to sports cards. I love sports cards and collect all types from all sports. I never expect to pull Gretzky autos or 1 of 1 cards with Lebron and Wade. If the cards are unique and I get an auto or a couple of nice looking G.U. swatches I'm usually happy.
I recently opened a box of 2005/06 UD Ice Hockey. My $125 bought me 94% of the base set, 5 RC #ed to 2999 ( not exactly short printed), and two plain vanilla jersey cards of Eric Nystrom and Jordan Leopold. Ohh, I almost forgot... add one kick to the crotch!
For a while I was suspecting that it was just my bad luck when it came to UD products, but at the last card show I attended I saw that it wasn't just me. I looked at a box that contained two cases (24 boxes) worth of 2005/06 UD SPA Hockey pulls and saw 24 kicks to the groin. At the same show I watched a friend open two boxes of 2005/06 Ultimate Collection Basketball. When he was done I said a short prayer for him and one of thanks for not being financially involved in the $800 whooping he just took.
Not to bore any one with more bad box breaks, I would like to change the topic to UD customer service. I have been waiting on an Erik Cole redemption card for eight months exactly. And, for eight months the UD website keeps saying "Autographs are in house. Please be patient while cards are being produced." I don't know what this actually means. It seems as if Upper Deck hasen't made my card yet, but they do have Erik Coles signature. I always thought they made the card and waited on the player's signature, but does it really matter? I still don't have my card.
I would normally call and express my concerns about the tardiness of my card, but I know what will happen because I've played this game before. I will speak to someone who actually knows very little about sports cards. He or she will keep me on the phone for 30 minutes only to ask me what types of replacements I would like (either player or sport), and in the end they will send me exactly the oppisite of what I wanted or asked for.
The last thing/point I wanted to comment on is the UD rewards spacers. I initially liked the idea, because they offered the chance to accumulate points that could be used to bid on UD products. Yes, you needed probably 20,000 points to win anything, but everytime you entered the code from one of these special spacers you were 60 to 80 points closer. I usually wait until I have a stack of these spacers to enter the codes at udrewards.com. In the past not every spacer yielded points. Normaly one in every five was a 15% or 25% coupon redeemable at the online Upper Deck store. Not a bad thing to have tucked away, in case you need it, but what keeps me interested and saving the spacers are the points. The last time I entered codes, I had 24 spacers. Don't forget that these spacers come one per box, so they aren't cheap or easy to come by. With 24 spacers I estimated I would get around 1440 points, but instead I received a goose egg. All of my spacers were 25% off coupons. Why does this have to happen? The spacers say "Bonus Rewards Points" at the top, and the website advertises bonus points as the prize for entering the code online. If the spacers were titled "Bonus Coupon", I probably wouldn't have a problem. In the end however, it is just another example of how Upper Deck, one of the leading card companies in the hobby, is dropping the ball.
