Updated: Upper Deck loses case over redemptions
Update: Upper Deck decided to comment on the case on the afternoon after this story was published. Comments added below.
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor
A Michigan man took Upper Deck to court over redemption cards that were not fulfilled and won his case back in March, a $1,329 judgment.
But as of April 12, he had not been paid.
David Bailey, an Emmy award-winning chief investigative reporter for a CBS-affiliated television station, was the plaintiff in the case — and a collector of 2007 SP Authentic baseball cards. He said he purchased upwards of 10 cases of the product and opened them recently. However, he had no idea there were expired redemptions inside — and he took the card company to court when he did not hear from it when he was left empty-handed.
“My read of Michigan’s consumer laws suggests what they’re doing is illegal,” Bailey said. “Upper Deck ignored me, so I made good on the promise and sued them for all my expired redemptions — $1,300 worth on the low end of Beckett’s price [ranges]. I had a Roger Clemens/Derek Jeter and a couple of Tim Lincecum/Matt Cains. I really wanted the cards, not the cash.”
When the trial date in the Michigan District Court came on March 8, according to court documents, Upper Deck sent a representative who was not a full-time employee of the company. Bailey won by technical default because the state requires an employee present in the court.
An Upper Deck official initially declined to comment on the case, but the company later issued this statement.
“Upper Deck is confident that its redemption program does not violate any federal and/or state laws,” the statement said. “With regards to this case, Upper Deck was prepared to defend its valid position, but the Small Claims court in Michigan defaulted Upper Deck based on a technicality, not based on the actual merits of Plaintiff’s claims.”
Bailey explained what happened on March 8.
“The judge right off the bat told [the Upper Deck worker] in Michigan he couldn’t represent UD at the hearing,” Bailey said. “But I asked the judge [Pablo Cortes] to hear the case, anyway, and he did. He compared the expired redemptions to lottery tickets … and said on lottery tickets, at least you know before you buy what the end-date of that game is.”
Upper Deck was required to pay $1,275 in damages plus $54 in fees within 21 days of the decision. That was March 29.
“I didn’t want the attention on the case until UD thumbed its nose up at our local justice system by not paying the judgement,” Bailey said. “It’s outrageous.”
Upper Deck, which has other court cases ongoing — including a trial where Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is suing for unauthorized use of his likeness that started today — has recently been taken to court by Major League Baseball and NFL Players Association. The NFLPA is suing for nearly $1.5 million in unpaid autograph fees for its players as well as unpaid royalties, while MLB is suing for more than $260,000 that has gone unpaid as part of the settlement in its 2010 trademark infringement lawsuit.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
This is sad, and yet they still are trying to come out with a $500/box product soon WAY after it was supposed to be released (2011 Exquisite).
Really….how hard is it?
I had several 2007 SP Authentic redemption cards. I purchased the hobby boxes well after the cards expired, but I called UD anyway. They said, and this was their “official” answer when I pressed them on it, that the loss of the MLB license prohibited them from producing or selling any baseball cards. I pointed out that the cards were clearly already “produced” and were probably in a box somewhere. They said, again officially, that the cards weren’t produced until the redemption request was made and there was a good chance my cards were never produced in the first place. I find that incredibly hard to believe. You’re telling me that you number a card #/50 and then only produce 35 of them if the rest don’t get redeemed. BS. No wonder they’re being sued left and right. It’s a shame, UD has/had some great products.
Shattered dreams…
Wow! How does this company even keep its doors open!?
Does this guy think he’s going to get paid,with all the other suits against them.The bigger story will be,if he EVER gets paid.
The sad thing is that Topps is heading in the same direction. Lawsuits with former employees, facing potential lawsuits with its handling of eTopps, and is wide open to the same type of lawsuit with redemptions that this case was about. Wouldn’t be surprised to see both of them gone in the next 5 years.
If they pay him…the flood gates will open.
I have a few issues with this law suit.. 1) he claims he is a collector and he didnt know there was expired redemptions. 2) How is this illegal, expired redemption is no different then a gift card that expires 3) He won? this could start a chain of suits against other companies for the same practices.
I call BS.. there is alot wrong with this case and nothing US was doing was illegal. Grant it when it was brought up before bout redepemptions it was found there was nothing illegal bout it. I see this guy never getting paid.
sadly, upper deck still has the best looking cards out there…their designs are normally the best of the lot, even though it’s collegiate. panini always looks the same from product to product, and topps, well, it’s topps.
with that said, panini also has a very crappy redemption department. they’ve recently been doing a much better job. but with all three companies, you have your ups and downs on redemptions.
in this case it was the usual upper deck arrogance that is doing them in.
Yet another in the long line of UD embarassments. I had a similar issue with them on an expired Felix Hernandez/Phil Hughes autograph from 2007 Sweet Spot. It’s just one card but they had a defensive and borderline hostile approach to me on both phone calls I made about it, like David I simply wanted the card as I had intended to get it to a friend who is a big Yankees collector. This issue is the perfect reflection of the status of this company’s current status, it’s unfortunate how far and fast they have declined from the respectable company they were. I hope the suits listed at the end of the article finally put them (and all of us) out of their misery and make room for better organized, more customer friendly companies to take the market-share they currently have.
hopefully this will help end the redemptions card and start putting the actual cards in the packs. that way they will be in there no matter when their opened.
David Bailey, FTW! I wish you get paid! Don’t accept any replacement offer! Go, go, go!
I was the plaintiff in this case. I can publicly attest that the judge told the court during trial he would have ruled against Upper Deck whether the company had technically defaulted or not. He heard 30 minutes worth of testimony on both sides and ruled in my favor. The fact is the court documents show the verdict was reached “after trial”. It was based on the law and what’s fair for consumers not on some technicality as Upper Deck suggests. In addition, for those wondering, it is nearly a certainty I will be collecting the money in this case.
The guy bought a 5 year old product. Don’t buy OLD products if you dont want expired redems. Sorry, but i think this David Bailey guy is a con man in a way
David Bailey is an entitled bone head, he wont get paid and the only reason we are hearing about this is he is sending this story around in hopes to get paid. He dont care about the hobby, he cares about HIS cards and money.
I DONT THINK HE SHOULD GET ANYTHING, HE BOUGHT THE CASES AT A EXTREME DISCOUNT SINCE THE REDEMPTIONS HAD EXPIRED, EITHER HE IS STUPID OR, NOPE JUST PLAIN STUPID. IF HE WAS A REAL COLLECTOR HE WOULD HAVE NONO MOST THE GOOD CARDS WERE REDEMPTIONS IN THAT PRODUCT.
I have a stack of expired redemptions that would love to have a purpose.
I hope that the outcome is that UpperDeck is forced to put the expiration dates of redemption cards on the outside of packaging (boxes, packs, and even cases). There are plenty of times where I have thought about buying a box that is 1 or 2 years old but then I couldn’t find out the exact expiration date for the possible redemption cards. Worse yet, I got a blaster box of 2010 product for Christmas 2011 and when I opened it I pulled a redemption that had expired a few months prior. This was a product still on retail shelves. I contacted Upper Deck and they said tough luck. I wish that companies either honored expired redemptions with replacement cards, or that the redemptions lasted for longer than a year before they expired.
I understand that sometimes redemptions are a part of the game. I think all of us collectors understand that in rare circumstances there can be a need for a redemption or two. However Upper Deck, Topps, and Panini have gone way overboard in the number of redemptions. Here are my two main issues that they need to address:
1) Don’t release a product until it is ready. Plan early and get your material inserted with live product as much as you can. Minimize the number of redemptions. Consumers rather have the “live” card in the product and wait a little longer for the release than deal with these redemptions.
2) If the manufacturers are going to use redemptions then they should be required by law to list the “Expiration Date” on the outside of the boxes and wrappers. That way consumers will know the details prior to purchasing a product. By doing so the manufacturer would be helping the consumer know the details plus they would put themselves out of harm from a lawsuit since the expiration dates would be clearly visible prior to a purchase.
In this case, the Judge even mentioned that in the case of lottery tickets they have a published “end-date” that is visible to everyone prior to purchase. Too bad when we go to our local hobby shops and we see that older products on the shelves that we can’t know the details about redemptions prior to purchase. Nothing stings worse than dropping some hard money on a product and finding some awesome redemptions but seeing they have already expired. Complete waste of money and hurts the interest in our hobby.
The manufacturers should really be required to post if the product contains redemptions and the expiration dates for the redemptions on the outer box and wrapper and it wouldn’t kill them to post that info on their websites either.
Hey Yoky – Gift cards NEVER expire ! That is the law …
What an idiot!! He buys a 5 year old product and is surprised that it contains expired redemptions??!! If he’s such a seasoned collector who buys 10 cases how could he not have known? Shame on you David for taking advantage Upper Deck in a time where they are hurting the most. I for one hope he doesn’t get one cent. I’m siding with Upper Deck on this one.
From the ’89 Griffey to this.
What a crazy ride.
Like I said before,the bigger story will be if this guy gets paid.I want to see the check if he does.
There’ll be no check for you.
Redemption is a dirty word in this hobby
I find it hard to believe that none of the major companies have capitalized on the consumer frustration. If i was running one of the companies I would start a campaign of redemption not expiring for five years. Then I would have a text bubble/logo on every product I produced. This would accomplish several things.
1. Collectors would be happier
2. Distributors and resellers would have a longer shelf life for their product
3. The company would benefit from the image that their product holds its value longer
Then in five years any unclaimed redemption would be put in a very limited buy back release. All redemption in stock plus a scattering of “hit cards reacquired through the secondary market would be mixed with the regular issue cards from that year. All sports. You could even throw in some new redemption cards for packs/boxes/ or even cases of new product. You could launch a new slogan that all redemption end up in collectors hands.
That would be my approach, but someone anyone needs to take the bull by the horns and turn an industry negative into their company’s strength.
I am pi**ed at Upper Deck as well and unless they make good on this redemption problems I will never buy another box of Upper Deck anything. The other day my nephew and I bought a box of 2007 Artifacts baseball in hopes of grabbing a Derek Jeter or Ken Griffey Jr autograph card ( I really cant afford buying them seperate and we just love cracking open the boxes) We grabbed 6 boxes altogether and we were super excited to get a redemption card for a Derek Jeter Artifacts division auto numbered to 25. I then tried to call Upper Deck to redeem it and the recording said that everyone was out to lunch ( okay strike one there, honestly everyones on lunch?!? ) we then go online and try to redeem it and we get an error message that it is expired and Upper Deck could do nothing about it ( okay now thats strike two ) I then wait the hour or so for everyone to get back from lunch only to be told yet again that due to contracts and blah blah blah that there was nothing at all that Upper Deck could do for me ( Okay now thats strike three and I am heated) I am so done with Upper Deck. I have had nothing but problems with there whole redemption program. I have not gotten a single card promised to me except one. Everytime it goes past the date of promise then I get an email telling me to call them and request another card. Until Upper Deck gets there act together I will not buy a single product from them. I have also urged my baseball card group to consider a ban on buying Upper Deck products as well and I urge you all to do so as well. They are only going to continue to do things like this. I mean look you have all these people taking Upper Deck to court. Unless they get their heads on straight they are doomed ( Thats if its not too late already) Funny thing is I sent Upper Deck an email with how upset I was and its been a couple of days later and no response. Thats strike number 4 seeing as the automatic email they sent said it would be 24-48 hours. Anyway best advice everyone is BOYCOTT UPPER DECK!
Guys Why haven’t the Feds shut them down already isn’t this the card industry equivilent to what goes on in Walstreet. Seems to me FRAUD is what is at the heart of this. When you buy a product that makes a promise based on Promotions and advertising and then doesn’t fall through its false advertising. As we’ve seen with cards not ever r=fullfilled my guess is probably NEVER WAS MADE. Considering the actuall issues with contracts all they want is you money period. What has to happen is the people that the big buyers the regional resellers have to stop ordering Ud Product.No bottom line no card company. By the way has anyone gotten an equisite 11 nfl card redeemed yet -all those booklets and low numbered cards. The issue is More suits need to be filed class action.
I agree that they DID make a nice product but at what price bad ethics bad management -GREED!! as they say Buyer beware.
I have a 2011 redemption from the Topps Allen and Ginter set that is a framed autograph of Aimee Mullins that I redeemed back in September and I’m still waiting for it to arrive. And as of last week, Topps is still sticking by their guns saying they expect the card to be made any time now or I could receive another replacement of equal Beckett value. Makes me wonder sometimes about these redemption cards….
Quite your whinning and just TAKE it.
I suppose if he bought a 2001 Bowman Chrome box and pulled an Albert redemption that he would expect that too….if you are a collector, you know that anything over 2-3 years will NOT get redeemed. That’s why product, generally, gets discounted. Some unscrupulous dealers may not..buyer beware!
All card companies should label their boxes with expiration dates of their redemptions. The entire redemption process for all Card manufacturers is garbage.
I been waiting for UD to fullfill four Jordan Farmar redemptions of
2009-10 SP GAME USED BASKETBALL SIGNIFICANCE NO # ING CD# S-JF. I know the card exists, because I was able to pick up 4 of them from ebay. The same card is available in 2009-10 SP SIGNATURES, which is #’d to /99. Why would they have two exact cards, with exception of product logo & one has a serial number? The auto is a sticker, they probably have tons of sticker autos of farmar. They can easily print more & slap a sticker on it.
I’ve also had 4 redemption for RC/AUTO from Ultimate 2006-07 that went unfilled as they were promised on the redemption. I waited over a year & got a replacement, without me asking for replacements. I feel like I WAS CHEATED… Ultimate 2006-07 basketball is the product that got me addicted to collecting cards again. I fell in love with it. Now I am upset, because the set will never be completed. I am missing 4 RC/AUTOS… UD has not officially stated that the cards were not produced. Beckett has not updated their database to reflect the non-produced cards… Beckett lists a BV.. how can their be a BV when the card was not produced…??
I’ve sent numerous emails to UD customer service, only to get blown off. It took them almost two months for them to reply to one of my many emails asking for status of redemptions.. only to be told to call their customer service. When I do call, I am put on hold.. I hate it. I feels like it is almost impossible to get answers from UD.
I believe there is a lot of fraud going on with card companies… some employ takes the cards that were supposed to be used to fulfill redemptions (but have expired) & gives them to their family member or friend to sell online for a huge profit for themselves, getting a kickback… How can one person have every 1/1 FINEST PRINTING PLATE of a certain player? It is almost impossible, unless you knew somebody at UD that can give them to you… I been collecting Jordan Farmar SPA 2006-07 “Varsity Letters”.. there are 84 (fullname version) & 16 (cityname version) of them, but I have only been able to obtain about 37 fullname & 13 cityname… I am still looking for the 3 missing “cityname” all numbered to 1/1. If I had a friend at UD, they could of saved them for me for a small fee…
Panini was supposed to have a better redemption program, but they don’t respond to status requests. They continue to make new cards with autos & forget about their past redemptions… I have a Baylor Elite Black Box “elite series” /24 redemption that I been waiting for since the first week Black Box was released… I have yet to receive my card, even though Panini just released Preferred, which as Baylor sticker autos in them… why create new cards, when you still owe collectors a redemptions that are months overdue… ….
I HATE REDEMPTIONS!
We collectors should start a class action lawsuit against UD and/or any other card manufacturers that fail to fulfill redemptions that were redeemed before the expiration date.
Fraud & greed equals companies failure
Guys redemption’s expire get over it! As for this David guy, What the heck did you expect? You brought a five year old product of course the redemption’s are no good IT’S FIVE YEARS OLD!, I rembember a article i read a couple of years ago in a beckett where they explained the whole redemption process and they said in that article that redemption cards not redeemed by the expiration date are destroyed so as to maximize the value of the cards that were redeemed on time.
BTW. DON’T BUY FIVE YEAR OLD PRODUCT AND EXPECT THE REDEMPTION’S TO BE VALID! you da@m moron.
Yes this was an older Product and yes buyer beware but this is just 1 person who decided to set an example and I for one am glad. So if anyone here got Michael jordan unexprired redmeption and it wasn’t able to be fulfilled and you spent 100-300-500 a box how would you feel. Pick a product in the marketplace Pick a vehicle you buy it dealer says guraentees a redemption for 500 cash just send it in. If a car company didn’t fullfill that promise and you would say FRAUD.
Why is a card company not anymore beholding to that consumer protection. This goes for TOPPS PANINI UD AND ANYONE ELSE a guidline should be set . Seriously guys shouldn’t these card companys have to 1 put the expiration on the box . 2-list which cards are redemptions.Even Beckett doesn’t all the time know what cards are redemptions in every product they are beholding on the card companies to tell them or dealers and consumers.
Change can only come from within the Hobby and since all the card companies do it why stop……..I already have your cash.
Someone tell me has anyone gotten a redemptionfilled from 2010-11 EXQUISITE FB The ones they made with Cam newton draft cards.
Chris , Dan Susan
the sad thing is we all know someone or it happened to themselves where upper deck and or panini (including the dlp days) have fulfilled or taken care of some expired redemption
the real villain is topps – have they ever honored a expired redemption
as for the 2007 sp… how many cases in did you realize the redemptions where expired …..smells like some shady journalism to me
Shady Journalism?… how about collecting an entire auto set? Every single player.
Upper Deck = GREED = Reaping what you sow !!!!
the dollar amount may seem trivial……but I commend David Bailey (not everyone has the money to do this) for laying the groundwork and going after them greedy ole sons a guns
What if……what if the redemtion cards could be redeemed whenever found. That if there were 50 redemtion cards…then all 50 proizes (or money or products)would be held until all cards were redeemed.
Imagine the increased interest a buyer would have if an unopened pack or box could possibly hold a redemtion card worth a valuable prize. Since storage of actual prizes may be a problem…perhaps cash value of the prize could be given after the first year. After 5 years, perhaps the prize’s value could be paid in Upper Deck product ….current for the year the redemtion is claimed.
Customers are happiy. Upper Deck has maintained their honor.
Yes I know….
Dream on Alice….wonderland is just over the hill……..sigh…..
Im with David on this.
I bought 2006-07 Game Used, heaps of the stuff (maybe 15 boxes) over about 4 months.. so many of my cards were crushed, bent.. things done to them that could only be possible at manufacturing process time. Jersey cards that didnt have enough Jersey to fill the gaps (only half full!!), and yeah, a redemption never paid out.. and guess what.. I paid full RRP. And guess also what else.. they cost even more now.
I sent them to upper deck as per instruction of the UD employee, and the just sent me a whole heap of garbage commons and ****** player jersey cards when Im sending in Jordan cards, Hakeem, patch cards it was a frigging joke and I hope David gets $2000 not $1500.
UD, I collected them as a kid in the 90s till now and now I hate them, there product price has just gotten to crazy and the quality is not good enough.. and there pricks on top of that.
I have been in a battle with Upper Deck for over two years now over an extremely rare and valuable redemption that was sent to me disfigured (intentionally by Upper Deck, had a crease across the face of the item, and was missing critical elements of my “win”. From the very beginning I was made fully aware that Customer Services is truly Customer Brush-offs. There horrible excuses are well rehearsed, and I wouldn’t doubt they have a list of canned responses for every conceivable complaint they receive. In fact, I’ve pleaded my case to several departments and the responses are in no way, shape or form designed to resolve issues to the customers’ satisfaction. In fact, they are the worst company I have ever dealt with regarding (cough, cough) customer services. I also have an issue with their redemption program – it seems to be one of the major issues. I’ll save my story of how Upper Deck screwed me over big-time. It is a story many will have a hard time believing, but I have kept photos and all written correspondence that demonstrates how institutionalized this lack of commitment to customer services/customer satisfaction, and product quality – reinforced daily with a growing level of fury, and of horror stories shared by everyday collectors through all the websites, blogs, and consumer watchdog agencies. What I’d like to share is a court decision been made several years ago in my neck of the woods that has finally addressed the issue over companies placing expiration dates on things like gift certificates, or any item where money has been exchanged for a future service or product. Companies placing expiry dates on these sorts of items that have been purchased with cash must honor that agreement indefinitely – essentially guaranteeing consumers that they must be compensated with either the item agreed upon in the first, or return the value of the item to the customer in cash. Basically any type of gift certificates, gift cards, and includes redemption certificates purchased with cash, is the same as cash – and cash has no expiry date. This was a big victory for the little guy, and the decision is celebrated every day when a certificate with an expiry date (that has expired), must be honored. This is how consumer advocacy groups can work for you. It’s time this is made law everywhere. Consumers are tired of getting robbed by businesses. It’s prime time to fight back. Call your government reps, call BBB, your Ombudsman, any Consumer Advocate that will listen and get this bloody loophole closed.
Wil
I did a five minute search and found hundreds of people calling for the boycott of Upper Deck. I know when there are no defects, Upper Deck has some of the finest cards out there, but that company deserves to die, and allow ethical performers to step up in their absence, and that would happen, it must happen. We as consumers will have to make some sacrifices in the short term, but every battle worth fighting has its downside. I spent 5 to 6 figures every year since 2000, and the Lord as my witness, Never again. Upper Deck needs to go, and my name is going in every petition, blog, or forum that are calling for the same thing. They are so smug, I believe they actually enjoy it when they have successes like they’ve had with me and my fellow collectors. One guy like me who spends way too much on this hobby can make a difference. Imagine a 1000, or 100.000 like me. That will be more than a blip on their financial graphs. Write a letter to the NHL, to the Players’ Association, sports guys love Twitter – Tweet them how badly handled you’ve been by this company. Consumers have the power – strength in numbers.
Wil
Redemption’s should never expire. The cards should have already been made. The only way that a redemption should ever expire is if the company goes out of business and nobody buys them to keep it going.
Having a problem now with a lost card that I had redeemed with Upper Deck…but, I never received it. This card has a book value of $1,000. However, it seems UD did not send it with signature or delivery confirmation. They asked me to sign an affidavit stating that I did not receive the card. When I signed and submitted the affidavit, they refused to accept it due to time constraints placed upon filling it out within 6 months. Now, I am without the card and the money I spent to redeem it. Customer Service refuses to honor the redemption. Can anyone provide me with some advise or the name of someone in the Upper Deck Company who might be able to facilitate the resolution of this situation? Thanks. Mike
This card was amazingly pulled from a pack at a Walmart in Texas. As you can see it says the normal “Congratulation. You have received an authentic autographed” Jerry Rice etc…
*As you can also see the card is not signed!!!
After talking to Upper Deck. They convinced me to send the card in with the wrapper of the packs I opened. With a copy of the receipt. I was hesitant about letting it go. After two weeks go by. I emailed them to see what the status is on my card. They said they did not receive it. I told them the tracking shows it was delivered etc. They magically all of a sudden found it after that.
5 weeks later they send me a letter saying they are unable to provide me with the correct autographed card. Nor did they give it back. THEY ARE JUST KEEPING IT!!! Is this not theft?
They sent some bs Peyton Manning auto in its place along with some crappy auto rookie card of some no name player. Anyone have any advice? Or comments. My 12 year old son is crushed. I hate shady companies !!!
good GREIF who was the MORON that wrote that response for UD?
um he didn’t win on the Merits of his case? on the contrary, he won solely on the merit of his case and the judge clearly saw that..
this clown obviously has no idea what a default judgment is in merit, the merit of a DJ is that if the defendant does not represent itself than the court must consider the defendant has no reasonable or plausible defense in the case at hand, in other words non representation is the equivalent of a “guilty” we have exactly nothing to refute the claims made by the plaintiff so we are going to save ourselves some money by waiving representation and entering a guilty plea or a default judgment..
good grief these scammers continually rip off consumers then when found guilty in a court of law still want to claim they are innocent..
maybe this peon could have replied, “we are sorry for the inconvenience and will do everything possible in the future to insure our customers are satisfied” as apposed to not only claiming there was no merit which there clearly was as apposed to a possible frivolous suit, now with a legal and binding judgment in hand they still refuse to pay the man..
what a joke Upper Deck has become alone with the others, these clowns want consumers to pay upwards of $20-$250 for a single pack of cards only to then delay the redemption and or scam consumers with a phony worthless “replacement card”
UD is the worst company ever. I buy high end The cup and Exquisite… I hate when I have to wait 4 years for a redemption. They bait and switch all the time.. In terms of these products its $600. retail for 5-6 cards…. Basicly 100. bucks a card… So you get a redemption it should at least be a 100. card… What do they do? send you replacement of another sub product where cards out of the pack are $5.00.. Player is irrelevant to consumer. I did not buy 5.00 cards I bought your best cards $100. bucks per card.. They tell you accept this or nothing… Well I no longer buy their products. F u Upper deck. you suck donkey ballz and you get all the you deserve. Please go bankrupt. pretty please..
About time someone went after upper crap and their rip off practices. I for one have quit buying their crap. I wish they would go under I miss collecting hockey but I will not buy upper crap. The only reason they have redemptions is they have to pay royalties and if the redemption expires they get a free ride on the royalties but they don’t pay the royalties anyway so they win anyway. I will be happy if I can cost the rips at upper crap a penny it would make my day.
You buy an old product you will get expired redemptions. All companies have expiration dates. If he bought ten cases he knew. Panini has the shortest of all time on them.
Brady,
Do the companies tell you on their sell sheet what will or will not be redemptions?
How can this be only a one way street: there are redemptions in the product and we won’t honor them but we won’t tell you which ones there are, so screw you?
Unless the company tells you specifically, you don’t know. UD knew which items weren’t going to be in there. Why didn’t they release that to the public, the wholesalers, then they release it to their stores/customers?
Because they don’t want to hurt sales.
In the end, this is BAD for their business, BAD for the customers and BAD for the industry.
Sell all of your cards (except vintage) everyone!
I’ve been waiting over four years now for my 2012 upper deck exquisite lebron James auto panoramic booklet. Every time I call all I hear is that the player hasn’t sent the cards back. I’m thinking to myself, if he’s had them this long he doesn’t plan on returning the cards. I mean the player is a multi millionaire and all the side money he makes from his shoe deals commercials movie appearances etc. He’s not worried about the small amount of money that upper deck agreed to pay for the low series autos to be signed and returned. So I’m waiting now over four years, seeing all his new commercials movie appearances etc and thinking to myself. Should I be mad at the player or this card company that promised me the redemption but can’t supply it. To make it short I hate upper deck and will never spend another penny on any of their merchandise. Was thinking of taking them to court myself but it will cost me more than it’s honestly worth.
I have 10 Upper deck Toronto maple leaf redemption cards that are far from expiration. The cards say delivered in 8 to 12 weeks been over that, now the last 3 weeks they are saying computers down IT problem, gotta wait till the end of March, they have not received the cards. This is a joke, people stay away from upper deck redemption cards. I do not know what to do the customer service will not take my calls, hung up on me twice when I started to get upset. Any advice would be appreciated…
I bought an old pack of cards from 2007, baseball, and got a redemption card for a Ken Griffey Jr autograph, now if it wasn’t HIM, I wouldn’t take TOO much notice, well, I thought when I found it a couple /a few months ago, well, DANG it, they won’t honor a 13-year prize/exemption-Dear Collector-Congratulations! A reservation for one trading card will be made in your name when you submit your request (I think that the company should look at this as a collector buying their product, which happens to be a 12/13-year-old pack of their cards in a reputable store, and AT LEAST give you a card that will make you feel good about everything, I mean, it’s EXCITING and then….) and I finally was looking through my cards, looking for a Ryan error, found this exemption, and it made me sick, on the back-Product name, BLAH, Signatures NO #ING CD #KG-Player name-Ken Griffey Jr-Expiration-8/18/2010 Being that I’ve been ripped off so much and lost cards, and here I find an old redemption card for Ken Griffey Jr’s autograph…I WOULD LOVE TO AT LEAST get some kind of card, to see that they CARE!!!!!!!!
Sorry for the structure/rambling of my last post, I’m typing it in a hurry…I just wanted to say that I found the exemption card a few months ago after opening the older 2007 upper deck pack that was in an assorted type of package I BELIEVE and basically resigned myself to the fact that they wouldn’t DO ANYTHING to make up for it in ANY way, and just sort put it aside thinking, THAT SUCKS, but…well, today is when I was going through my cards and I found the redemption card again, but this time, I READ the fine print and saw that the prize was a Griffey Jr auto and my heart sunk!!!!!!!! And, I’ve collected and built up quite an awesome collection, that I worked REALLY hard to build, focusing on Ryan, trading my Gretzky’s, having my Ryans stolen, being ripped off and eventually losing thousands of dollars worth of various collectibles slowly but surely, TOO surely (Left with a few remnants) which I’m trying to forget and start ANEW, and this would have been a GREAT karma boost, so what I’m saying is, even though it’s a long-overdue redemption, I THINK that the company, ANY company, should TRY to make their customer as SATISFIED and HAPPY AS POSSIBLE, so…ANY olive branch….