[creativemunky]

Not to be the guy making light of the situation, but I kinda view this like when Netflix raised their prices/changes their services a few years ago.

Everybody moaned and complained, were never going to pay them another dime, proclaimed the death of the company, etc., etc., etc. (Cue South Park angry protest mob, now.)

And then what happened? Most people bit the bullet, accepted the changes and moved on. And the company was just as strong, if not stronger, than it was prior to the changes.

I predict the same thing will happen here.

Difference is Netflix has original content that is (it kills me to say this) AMAZING. They have House of Cards, Orange is the new Black and an upcoming Daredevil series as well as other original content on the way that can justify a $1 price increase now.

With Beckett, its just the same old, same old.
Excuses on why things go wrong and just no regard for the consumers of their product. Big Difference.

[sesfan01]

I haven't gotten this email as of today (I just checked a few mins ago), but if my org data gets deleted I am not coming back PERIOD. I know there have been times when I've had to take a break from collecting, but never for more than a few months at most, but I'm not going to take the time to put in 20k cards and organize them all over again if I decide to not renew my sub for a month only to have everything deleted. I stuck through the site switchover a few years ago and I've stuck through all the bug fixes and improvements of late, but if this happens I'm done. I have already been loading cards on Zistle the past few months with no problems.

---

Use Zistle

+1000

[coachlew10]

I haven't gotten this email as of today (I just checked a few mins ago), but if my org data gets deleted I am not coming back PERIOD. I know there have been times when I've had to take a break from collecting, but never for more than a few months at most, but I'm not going to take the time to put in 20k cards and organize them all over again if I decide to not renew my sub for a month only to have everything deleted. I stuck through the site switchover a few years ago and I've stuck through all the bug fixes and improvements of late, but if this happens I'm done. I have already been loading cards on Zistle the past few months with no problems.

---

+1000

Correct

[ceocards]

Just to jump in here...

The mod group has gathered all of your feelings, opinions, anger, and frustration with this decision and has passed it along (along with our own opinions ) to the Beckett staff.

I wish I had better news to report, but it appears this is a done deal.

One bright spot - we wondered if there was any chance that someone who will knowingly be taking a short-ish break (ie - take a month or two off while work or family activities are busy etc) could not have their org deleted when they return. Dan Hitt has indicated for a situation like that, to please contact customer service and they will attempt to work with you on a solution. I don't know how much leeway CS has in applying that, but for anyone who is in a temporary unsubscribed status, with intentions of re-subscribing at a later date - it might be worth a call to find out what they can do for you.

We'll keep you updated if there are any other developments.

[djohn]

One bright spot - we wondered if there was any chance that someone who will knowingly be taking a short-ish break (ie - take a month or two off while work or family activities are busy etc) could not have their org deleted when they return. Dan Hitt has indicated for a situation like that, to please contact customer service and they will attempt to work with you on a solution. I don't know how much leeway CS has in applying that, but for anyone who is in a temporary unsubscribed status, with intentions of re-subscribing at a later date - it might be worth a call to find out what they can do for you.

I am in this exact situation and contacted CS. They were willing to give me a couple months of Total Access for free but I had to pay right now for a year. They were really pushing me to re-up my Total Access subscription and not just an ORG subscription, telling me that there would be a price increase on Total Access if I waited. I even pointed out that I had previously paid for 2 years of ORG and after a year and 3 months I bought Total Access, so I should have 9 months of ORG remaining. They said it didn't work that way, and had I contacted them when I bought Total Access that they could have given me a discount or extension then, but nothing now.
Overall I am extremely disappointed with the CS at Beckett right now. To say that I was a loyal customer would be an extreme understatement. Since the early 1990s I have gone from regularly buying the magazines every month at my card shops to getting print subscriptions, and then I added a paid ORG subscription to my print subscriptions before finally changing to Total Access last year, not to mention buying the annuals every year. So now that I need to take a small break, they say pay us now (and you only have a couple days to do so) or you will lose everything when you are ready to come back. I agree with others that if they gave everyone a longer notice (even a month) that some of the outrage wouldn't be so bad. However it sounds like some people are just seeing the email today in which case they are only having 3 days to decide what to do. Doing this the week of a holiday weekend, is an extremely crappy thing even for Beckett.
I will be very interested to see the backlash that comes next week, when people that don't read the boards or check email from Beckett that often, log in and see all their ORGs deleted. I wonder if that will increase the traffic on the forum or if people will complain elsewhere. It would be nice if Beckett put a notice on their website, but they didn't even make a forum thread announcing this move. Heck if you were new to the site today it still says you can test drive ORG with up to 2,000 items for free.

[shezdoni]

Just to jump in here...

The mod group has gathered all of your feelings, opinions, anger, and frustration with this decision and has passed it along (along with our own opinions ) to the Beckett staff.

I wish I had better news to report, but it appears this is a done deal.

One bright spot - we wondered if there was any chance that someone who will knowingly be taking a short-ish break (ie - take a month or two off while work or family activities are busy etc) could not have their org deleted when they return. Dan Hitt has indicated for a situation like that, to please contact customer service and they will attempt to work with you on a solution. I don't know how much leeway CS has in applying that, but for anyone who is in a temporary unsubscribed status, with intentions of re-subscribing at a later date - it might be worth a call to find out what they can do for you.

We'll keep you updated if there are any other developments.

Who the Heck is Dan Hitt, and just exactly is his position in this company?

I think it's time for another phone call to Greg in North Carolina......

[ceocards]

He's the guy in charge of the Beckett sports website now. Bill and Traci are in other roles in the company now.

[scottzoe]

Just cancelled my auto renewal. It kills me to do so with all the work I've put in over the years. The site requires feedback now for cancelling, here is what I wrote.

"After buying Beckett & Eckes Sports Americana beginning in 1980, being a paying magazine subscriber from 1986 until 2002 and paying for the OPG the last dozen years I can not express my displeasure enough. I will spend the next 6 months making my own checklists again from my current collections and do my trading on other sites. Your trading tool (when it worked!) was by far the best one out there. I made over 500 trades (no sales - I am a collector not an investor) here and end enjoyed it.
From the time the company has changed hands it had driven the hobbyists out and is gravely in danger of eating itself alive. I can only imagine what Dr Beckett would think of what his company has become. Yes he was running a business but understood the hobby as well. I do NOT like the way you have dealt with COMC , with Beckett.com over the last several years, and with collectors who are not currently subscribing to OPG or ORG right now. I have invested countless hours inputting my collection and it pains me to have to vote with my wallet and walk away from all my work after so long, but this is my last option. Thanks for 30 mostly good years,
Scott Robinson"


I'm sure it does not make any difference, but in the last year I have really been discouraged by Beckett. I don't need the OPG to get an accurate gauge of prices, there are plenty of sources to get a ballpark figure and in the end a card is only worth what someone is willing to pay. I'm sure I'll see most of you on other sites in the future.

Scott

[greekgoony]

I am almost done here as well. I am in the hobby because I enjoy the chase which for me involved trading. Its basically dead here and will only get worse with these changes.
Can anyone recommend other good trading sites? I have tried SCF but that one is dead as well. If its against TOS, please PM me.

[rad_1205]

WOW! Just WOW!

I dont know if it was a good thing or bad thing to renew my annual subscription. Mine expired in Feb and i didnt renew it until this month because im deployed overseas right now serving my country. I would of been mad as F*%K if mine would of been deleted before i got back home.

Im just speechless about this entire situation...

This is just ridicules... Any way it seems like a lot of you are about to leave the site all together with that being said. Please if you are moving on and worked trades with me in the past and still want to trade with me send me a PM with your email address so we can continue to trades in the future...


Thanks Richard