A new reason to hate Topps

The saga continues. Some of you might remember that a while back, i was considering requesting a replacement for this redemption card that is long overdo.




Well, after about a month of deliberating, I finally decided to request a replacement. It takes forever sometimes to get ONE guy to sign, and here I am waiting on possibly a few guys to sign, I don't have the patience to wait ANOTHER 6 months for this card. I have run up a few hundred dollar Bill Me Later balance, and figured I would just sell whatever replacement they send me and pay off a big chunk of it. So I made the call and requested a replacement. The gentleman at Topps took my request and said I would recieve the replacement in 2 - 3 weeks. So today marks 4 weeks later and I have nothing. So i called Topps this morning and the guy informs me that the fulfillment center rejected the replacement request due to scarcity of the card and difficulty assigning a value to it. They're now forcing me to wait for the card to be produced, and will only replace it when it becomes obvious that the card will never be able to be made. I asked at what point they would give up, and he said it would be when one of the signers breaks the terms of the contract by not sending the cards in by the spicified date.

I don't have a HUGE issue with this decision or with Topps having a policy like this, because this type of card is tough to replace. This policy also goes for 1/1's and opther rarer, high end cards. My issue is with the typical pathetic communication from Topps. Why didn't the person who took my request know about this policy? Why didn't the 2 or 3 other Topps employees that I spoke to when I was checking on the status of the card know about this policy? Why wasn't I sent an email telling me that the request was rejected? I also have an issue with the fact that Topps requested the card to be replaced, yet the company Topps contracts the redemption fulfillment to are the ones that rejected the request. Who works for who here?!?!

Well, just wanted to vent. Looks like I could possibly be waiting another 6 months or more to get my card or a replacement.

Do you know which players are holding up the process?

markakis8 said:

Do you know which players are holding up the process?

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Hell Topps CS seems to have their heads so far up their asses even they won't know which player(s) it is.

It's clear that Topps uses a consultant to assign values to replacements, and in this case the consultant couldn't come up with any figure. I'll bet the minimum wage guys answering the phone don't know their own corporate policies on replacements, and the only reason one was able to tell you that "rejected/unable to assign value" explanation is because it was written in the file when they checked the last time you called.

Keyser Soze said:

Why didn't the person who took my request know about this policy? Why didn't the 2 or 3 other Topps employees that I spoke to when I was checking on the status of the card know about this policy? Why wasn't I sent an email telling me that the request was rejected? I also have an issue with the fact that Topps requested the card to be replaced, yet the company Topps contracts the redemption fulfillment to are the ones that rejected the request. Who works for who here?!?!

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Because all the Topps CS reps are clueless and could care less about helping their customers. THANKS (for nothing) TOPPS!

markakis8 said:

Do you know which players are holding up the process?

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Sure don't. They originally thought it was Chapman, but Topps tweeted over a month ago that he had signed "all" of his outstanding redemptions. There is a 2nd version of this card that I have seen, but it only had one player different than mine. It had Mike Moustakas on it instead of...... i don't remember really. I asked the Topps rep and he looked it up and said that it also is not ready to ship.

I have done some more research, and I think I am glad they're making me wait. I was really torn, but I just saw that this card is a 3-panel book card, which I am very interested to see how that looks. I was, however, bummed to find out that the "patch" they are referring to are not jersey patches, but a manufactured RC logo patch. I think it will be a very cool card when i finally get it, it's just a matter of how much longer will i have to wait.

cmnkb8 said:

markakis8 said:

Do you know which players are holding up the process?

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Hell Topps CS seems to have their heads so far up their asses even they won't know which player(s) it is.

It's clear that Topps uses a consultant to assign values to replacements, and in this case the consultant couldn't come up with any figure. I'll bet the minimum wage guys answering the phone don't know their own corporate policies on replacements, and the only reason one was able to tell you that "rejected/unable to assign value" explanation is because it was written in the file when they checked the last time you called.

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Agree 100%. They use Beckett to valuate the cards, which I told the Topps rep is an absolute joke since Beckett can't properly assign market values to commonly sold cards, how would they valuate a rare card?!?! WHo knows, the way they inflate values, they might say mine is worth..... ONE MILLION DOLLARS

I'm wondering if it's Alonso or Drabek or both.

There are tons of Freeman, Hellickson, and Morel autos out there. And you said Topps stated Chapman signed everything.

Let me put this as simply as I can... the hobby is starting to get way out over their skis... The hobby has got to the point where they are inserting cards which are even created yet LOL! Seriously think about this for a second... sorry but this entire thing just makes me go ::facepalm::

Thank god I don't bust a lot of new product and only collect Albert Belle. I have been waiting on a Museum Collection Auto (on-card) for Belle for probably 6 months now and it is still "pending". I paid cash money for the redemption and there is a good chance it will never get filled.

Which brings me back to my initial thought. The new Topps Tribute set is coming out and Albert Belle is going to be in there as well. He is projected to have nearly 200 on-card autos! So if I'm still waiting on this on-card auto, does that mean every Belle auto in this set will be a redemption? What about the next set? The hobby is starting to get WAY ahead of itself.

This is just my take but good luck getting your booklet redemption.

markakis8 said:

I'm wondering if it's Alonso or Drabek or both.

There are tons of Freeman, Hellickson, and Morel autos out there. And you said Topps stated Chapman signed everything.

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Alonso has plenty of Topps autos. Though they've all been on card except for Tribute which were the trapped "stickers"

I waited for over a year to get a card redeemed at Upper Deck....They ought to do away with redemptions completely!!

ktho540 said:

I waited for over a year to get a card redeemed at Upper Deck....They ought to do away with redemptions completely!!

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+1

ktho540 said:

I waited for over a year to get a card redeemed at Upper Deck....They ought to do away with redemptions completely!!

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I have no problem with them, in theory. They get a bad name because companies don't utilize them properly.

ktho540 said:

I waited for over a year to get a card redeemed at Upper Deck....They ought to do away with redemptions completely!!

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I see some good reasons for having redemptions. Cards that are of any non-standard size. But I think they shouldn't put in redemptions as a way of promising something to come. I think redemptions should exist only for things Topps has in-hand. It's cardboard credit, and it's a really bad way to do business. Stop buying expensive redemptions, people! They're too much of a gamble.

All in my opinion, of course.

Im not sure why anyone buys Topps products anymore.

This thread reminded me of War Bonds, because Topps gets your money and you may or may not get the card you thought you were going to get. I found an image of an old War Bonds poster and used my Photoshop skills to modify it. It's not perfect, but pretty good for half an hour of work.

It originally said:

This war will be over some day-
Don't get caught with your pants down-
Buy G.I. war bonds

mrwhitesox30 said:

This thread reminded me of War Bonds, because Topps gets your money and you may or may not get the card you thought you were going to get. I found an image of an old War Bonds poster and used my Photoshop skills to modify it. It's not perfect, but pretty good for half an hour of work.

It originally said:

This war will be over some day-
Don't get caught with your pants down-
Buy G.I. war bonds

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:lol:
That is fantastic, well done.

I also have no problems with redemptions, but as noted the lack of communication or real status updates is what ruins it. If it can't be fulfilled, the company should make it abundantly clear proactively. Also, seeing autos of players that haven't fulfilled past redemptions is infuriating. How that's allowed to happen is beyond me. If I were the company trying to attain such autos and know that Player X has a history of not following through, then why bother putting them in?
Oh, that's right, $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Keyser Soze said:

Well, after about a month of deliberating, I finally decided to request a replacement. It takes forever sometimes to get ONE guy to sign, and here I am waiting on possibly a few guys to sign, I don't have the patience to wait ANOTHER 6 months for this card.

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It would be funny if you took the case to small claims court in your area asking for the small claims court maximum plus filing fees plus a court-set deadline for Topps to make payment. You could make the case you got a redemption, you gave them 6 months or a year or whatever, and now you've decided to call your redemption and they failed to provide the card. I don't know where the legalese is that binds you to have to wait forever for your redemption card so you probably will win the case.

If Topps fails to pay by the deadline, you may be able to get extra money for punitive damages and I wonder if you can eventually go to Topps headquarters or production facilities and take some of their inventory as payment (grab the Pujols and Koufax stickers first!).

I am waiting on one of the other variations. Mine has Montero and Minor, but no Morel or Freeman. I have not called to request a replacement, mainly because I would like to think this card will be nice enough to wait for. Plus, it could be a nice surprise in a few years after I have forgotten it and it just shows up in my mailbox!

Topps really dropped the ball with this one.

Andrew

andrewnmisty said:

I am waiting on one of the other variations. Mine has Montero and Minor, but no Morel or Freeman. I have not called to request a replacement, mainly because I would like to think this card will be nice enough to wait for. Plus, it could be a nice surprise in a few years after I have forgotten it and it just shows up in my mailbox!

Topps really dropped the ball with this one.

Andrew

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I like yours a lot better, although Freeman does sell pretty well, and yours was hurt by Montero's move to Seattle. But I think Minor will be awesome, he strikes out a ton of guys and collectors love their K's.

I read on some info I found that this is a 3-panel booklet, I am really curious as to how that's going to look, and how in the hell I am going to display it, assuming I ever get it. Post yours whenever you do get it

ThoseBackPages said:

Im not sure why anyone buys Topps products anymore.

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I will save this quote for when you start busting 2012 Heritage.