Since she was old enough to talk my daughter has always given me baseball cards for christmas. Be it a couple of random packs for a stocking stuffer at age three, or a full-blown blaster at age eight I could always depend on Grace for that special wax on that special day. So when Xmas morning finally arrived I called over Grace, and began to open that special gift from my only child all the while hoping this tradition would last forever.
After answering 5-10 mandatory questions on the short history of Bowman Platinum, and with Grace perched anxiously upon my shoulder I began to rip open the packs. I must admit I was a little concerned about the overall quality associated with a majority of all Topps products especially Bowman Platinum , but I was hoping ” to not have to go there” after all Its moments like this that make sports card collecting what it is.
Halfway through are fourth pack I noticed a card that was facing the wrong direction, and as I announced a possible hit to Grace she began to dance around like all hyper active eight year old’s do on christmas morning. As I flipped the card we stared in amazement at an autograph of possibly one of the hottest prospects in the game…
Mike Trout..
I immediately handed the card to Grace ( I was afraid to look at it closely) so she could sleeve it for us, and after the excitement of christmas morning came to Its end I snuck into my office to take a closer look. I’m not going to go into details about how badly this card looked, because It’s besides the point. What stunk like a rotten fish was the disappointment in my little girls face after learning the cards she got dad for Xmas were damaged, and the much-anticipated “sharing process” would now be put on hold until the replacement arrived.
REPLACEMENT ARRIVES
After glancing through the generic letter that comes with all replacement cards I knew I was in trouble from the looks of the loader itself. Instead of a new loader like ones I have received in the past this one was in terrible shape, and had so many scratches I could barely see the card inside.
As I removed the card from the loader I immediately noticed 5-8 horizontal scratches , but what struck me the most was the tremendous gouge directly in the center of the card under the “u” in the word issue. Has Topps Quality Control really gotten so out of hand that they are now actually failing at replacing cards as well? I have spoken to customer service folks, sent emails to Clay, dedicated over 1o posts to the subject, and even went as far as a hand written letter this last time around ( I doubt it was even read), but one question they can never seem to answer is…
Do you guys check the product before it leaves the door>
To Be Continued…..
T.M.H
mojobeardy.wordpress.com 
Unbelievable.
Wow…that’s awful. Looks like someone tried to thumb tack the thing to a bulletin board or something. Why can’t replacements/redemptions go back to the UD You Crash the Game days…I only turned in one of those and it was awesome.
My aunt who is a truck driver for calix has picked up shipments for Topps. She said you could walk out of the Duryea place with a case of cards ‘no problem’ if you wanted too. She said the lack of security is horrible and that most of the people don’t care if stuff is damaged in the shipping process. She also said while waiting for her shipment to be loaded she’s seen employees walk out of the facility with topps products in hand. The one guy that loads their truck from time to time has walked out at the end of his shift and showed her and her husband 9 autographed baseball cards all of the same player and she said they were all serially numbered to 100. She said people are always taking stuff.
It was confirmed to me on Twitter by The Topps Guy that Customer Support at Topps is completely overwhelmed at the moment due to the shit show that was their 2010 releases.
I’ve had some great experiences with Topps CS prior to this year, but that all turned around quickly even as soon as 2010 Series 1. The same thing happened to me with two cards that I sent to Topps. They sent damaged cards back to me. On the second go round, they didn’t have one of the cards anymore so I got screwed.
Upper Deck is replacing a card for me from a set that was out for more than a year and will soon start accepting expired redemption cards. Topps needs to step it up big time.
Oh, another thing: Topps doesn’t give a shit about the enjoyment of opening their product or the fun that should be involved. I can’t believe that I’m defending Upper Deck a second time, but they’re giving away product to people who are promoting the hobby and sharing the fun. Topps… not so much.
Offy summed it up best “shit show that was their 2010 releases.”
I hope 5 star is redemption for them.
Agreed..
However if history has proven anything Its that Topps doesn’t do ” High End” very well.
“That Whopper in the drive thru window looked incredible, but whatever they put in the box didn’t look so good”.
That blows. Topps better take a hard look this off season and make some major changes. It seems for every positive step last year (retail value packs) there were 3-4 steps back.
Boring retread sets (T205) is one thing, but major quality issues are inexcusable.
Topps has shown over the last year that they do not care about customer service. While other companies are at least trying to connect with collectors Topps continues to isolate collectors. The problem is that with licensing being limited nothing will change any time soon because where else are collectors to go for baseball cards?
Blow up thur twitter I think it’s @toppstown just sum1 blow it up thin, we will just retweet till they get the point!!!!! ……….. From a TRU TOPPS fan!!00″