Well, I didn't get a box. But I got more than one pack - I got 8 packs of 06/07 SPx. This would retail for about $120 (the customs declaration on the package said $19 US..... are they gouging us that much, or trying to save me the duty?) so getting them for just the price of yelling at Upper Deck is pretty much worth it. The packs were in a #0 bubble mailer, just basically loose. I'm not really impressed by that, but the packs appear undamaged, so I'm not exactly upset either.
SPx has always been a more premier product. They started as inserts in the regular UD in the early 90s, then graduated to their own set. These days, it contains some of the more sought after rookie cards, at least until SP Authentic and the ultra high end sets come out. A box should have 1 rookie jersey, 1 autographed rookie jersey, 1 Winning Materials jersey card, and 2 numbered inserts, not to mention regular rookie cards and parallels galore. So with a game used card 1:6 packs, I should technically get one in these packs. And since these are more or less a promotion to a new or disgruntled customer, I would bet that UD would do what they can to make this somewhat worth my while.
Pack 1 - Eric Lindros, Dave Bolland RC 0187/1999, Pavel Datsyuk, Jaromir Jagr
Nice looking cards, although maybe a touch over the top. Lots of foil - some people like it, some don't - and the picture on the back is just a headshot from the picture on the front, which is a little strange for a high end product. Not particularly thick card stock either. But high end cards that are free. So I'm fine with it.
Pack 2 - Brian Gionta, Shaaaaaaaaaaane Dooooooaaaaaaaan!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Cam Ward, Alexei Yashin
A Doan in a pack for a Doan collector like me is super cool. And I need it for my collection. 3 other spuds, but the Doan makes up for it (for me anyways, likely not for others). And a message for the Dishonourable Denis Coderre..... get a life, and stop the baseless accusations against an innocent man. Don't get me started on this.......
Pack 3 - Petr Prucha, Chris Pronger, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Sergei Fedorov, and a UD Kids propaganda card, likely also inserted to discourage pack searching
If I paid $15 for that, I would be highly displeased.
Pack 4 - Henrik Lundqvist, Lanny McDonald SPXcitement 375/999, Keith Tkachuk, Brenden Morrow
An insert, a Dallas Star, and an ex-Jet make this an ok pack for me. McDonald helmet looks like it could be one of those new foam gardening shoes. Pretty funny.
Pack 5 - Marek Svatos, Scott Gomez, Henrik Zetterberg, Marc-Antoine Pouliot Dual Jersey Auto 1269/1999
Nice! Two colour swatches on both pieces. But he's an Oiler. And I hate the Oilers. And there is a lightly damaged corner on the upper left. Oh well. Looks nice anyway.
Pack 6 - Peter Forsberg, Martin Havlat, Roberto Luongo, Kari Lehtonen, and a UD Kids propaganda card
The Luongo is a cool looking card. The blue is the best colour on these cards.
Pack 7 - Brad Boyes, Mark Recchi, Joffrey Lupul, Olaf Kolzig
Wow. That's worse than pack 3. And that was bad. So worse is like..... wow.
Pack 8 - Dany Heatley, Jonathan Cheechoo, Mike Ribeiro, Miikka Kiprusoff
Ribiero in a Habs uniform with a Dallas Stars notation. An odd looking card.
Well, SPx are pretty decent looking cards, and they were fun to open. But I'll be honest with you, if I paid $130 for this stack, I would not be pleased in the slightest. Luckily, the box prices have come down considerably - they're between $75-$90 US on eBay. I guess when 18 packs have 2 more jerseys you might do ok, but I did get the auto dual jersey, which would be the king. And Pouliot is selling for under $10 on eBay, so there you go. If you get a Malkin or one of the other more limited jerseys, you're well ahead. But if you don't...... well, do have fun opening the packs.
So while I wouldn't be pleased if I paid $130, or $85, or $90, or whatever, the fact is that I paid nothing for these packs. It was an olive branch from Upper Deck for the crap that they put me through. It was a nice gesture, I'll give them that, but it took them a little long to get to this point, and a lot of aggravation. If I were not so crazy about collecting, I might have given up and gotten nothing, and discontinued my card collection entirely. 8 packs of SPx isn't a Gretzky rookie, but it's something, and it half restores my faith in Upper Deck.
It doesn't inspire me to spend $90 on a box of SPx, but......
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Huh. Well then. Isn't THAT odd.
So UD tells me they're sending me "SPx unopened product". Pack, packs, box...... whatever, I like getting unopened product anytime.
Especially considering what I got in the mail today.
Shane Doan Scoring Kings Auto Jersey 13/20.
The one I wasn't supposed to get because it doesn't exist. The one I was apparently already compensated for.
Looks mighty cool for an invisible card.
See..... this is what happens when your customer service and redemption program needs a serious overhaul. Having it online is good - but if you have a computer guy on staff who can create a back end for it that actually helps you track who's been sent what, you can make it great. One where someone would KNOW what I got for what, and one where they would KNOW that I AM getting the Doan /20.
Instead, they're wasting time and money sending me product. Hey, I win in the end, but really, this is symptomatic of the UD monopoly - right now, I'm not sure they know what's going on. They're just flying by the seats of their pants. I haven't mentioned this yet..... but they did not once try to verify my identity or my claims. Really, it makes me wonder if some random person would fire off an angry e-mail about crap they received for a redemption, and if they could get free product out of it. I'm a call centre manager myself, and really...... secretly I would LOVE to move to UD and get their shit in order. I have a passion for cards, and I love the call centre industry. Anyway........
All this being said....... well, assuming I get the SPx too at this point, I turn into a happy customer again. In all honesty, with the unopened as a topper (especially if it's a whole box), they have more than compensated me for the timeframe I had to wait for. I did have to spend a whole lot of time and aggravation over it, but they have actually acknowledged it. And maybe that's the bottom line. If I'm happy and tell people I'm happy, maybe sending me a box that costs them $40 US to create does the trick for them. I certainly know a lot of collectors and dealers, and when I told them I was getting unopened product, all of them had a slightly restored faith in UD.
I don't know. Maybe they're customer service geniuses. Or maybe they just don't know what the hell they're doing and they're just dumbass lucky. I'd probably side with the latter, but when money isn't much of an object, I suppose it's all relative.
Especially considering what I got in the mail today.
Shane Doan Scoring Kings Auto Jersey 13/20.
The one I wasn't supposed to get because it doesn't exist. The one I was apparently already compensated for.
Looks mighty cool for an invisible card.
See..... this is what happens when your customer service and redemption program needs a serious overhaul. Having it online is good - but if you have a computer guy on staff who can create a back end for it that actually helps you track who's been sent what, you can make it great. One where someone would KNOW what I got for what, and one where they would KNOW that I AM getting the Doan /20.
Instead, they're wasting time and money sending me product. Hey, I win in the end, but really, this is symptomatic of the UD monopoly - right now, I'm not sure they know what's going on. They're just flying by the seats of their pants. I haven't mentioned this yet..... but they did not once try to verify my identity or my claims. Really, it makes me wonder if some random person would fire off an angry e-mail about crap they received for a redemption, and if they could get free product out of it. I'm a call centre manager myself, and really...... secretly I would LOVE to move to UD and get their shit in order. I have a passion for cards, and I love the call centre industry. Anyway........
All this being said....... well, assuming I get the SPx too at this point, I turn into a happy customer again. In all honesty, with the unopened as a topper (especially if it's a whole box), they have more than compensated me for the timeframe I had to wait for. I did have to spend a whole lot of time and aggravation over it, but they have actually acknowledged it. And maybe that's the bottom line. If I'm happy and tell people I'm happy, maybe sending me a box that costs them $40 US to create does the trick for them. I certainly know a lot of collectors and dealers, and when I told them I was getting unopened product, all of them had a slightly restored faith in UD.
I don't know. Maybe they're customer service geniuses. Or maybe they just don't know what the hell they're doing and they're just dumbass lucky. I'd probably side with the latter, but when money isn't much of an object, I suppose it's all relative.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Update
I've now sent Upper Deck about 12903849028 e-mails on the redemption replacements I received. A synopsis:
This guy expressed regret at what occurred, and told me that redemptions were final. He did tell me that he could arrange for me to be sent something extra. I told him that I understood the business reasons for the exchange, but that their process absolutely sucks. They need to learn a bit more customer service. I also emphasized my frustration, and the fact that I was considering just stopping collecting altogether....... (I get sad every time I write that. I'm not sure I could do that. Hopefully I won't have to.)
As per the old e-mails, I told him the 5 players or other stuff I might look for as an addition. He replied that although he could not get single cards, he DID have the ability to send me unopened product without a problem.
I told him that I would be ok with unopened product, especially those with a few Shane Doans in it. He responded quickly asking which ones those were - I thought that was a little strange, I would think it would be easy to look up for him. But no matter, he asked and I thought that was kind of cool. So I told him my first choice was Artifacts, since that's parallel city. I gave him a couple of other options, both higher end. Basically, I don't want him to send me Victory or something like that.
Am I giving up? Kind of, I guess. I can rest easy knowing that I tried everything to get what I wanted, but if it's not there, it's not there. If I'm not getting Doans, I want to get something good in return. And if you read the rest of my blogs, you know that I like unopened product! And really, UD would much rather send out unopened product. They can write it off as "promotional", and leave the replacement cards for other redemptions. So I guess we're meeting in the middle.
So we'll see. Maybe I'll get a pack of something, maybe a retail blaster, maybe even a whole box. Right now, although my hopes for something good are pretty high, my expectations have been riddled with bullets for too long. This was the first time I've talked to Upper Deck where there was actually some semblance of a solution being presented that would be somewhat customer service based. And with him actually bothering to ask which products feature Doan cards prominently, I'm at least a little impressed that he cared enough to ask.
- I say "Here's some facts. You sent me 25% of the value I was waiting for, and you didn't give me the chance to make any sort of input on that, despite the fact you told me you would"
- They say? "Well, we think you got enough"
- Me: "No, it's clear that I didn't."
- Them: "You did. Too bad."
- "Not good enough. Tell me why you think it is."
- "We know a guy who watches hockey. He says it is."
- "Ok..... can I buy his collection then?"
This guy expressed regret at what occurred, and told me that redemptions were final. He did tell me that he could arrange for me to be sent something extra. I told him that I understood the business reasons for the exchange, but that their process absolutely sucks. They need to learn a bit more customer service. I also emphasized my frustration, and the fact that I was considering just stopping collecting altogether....... (I get sad every time I write that. I'm not sure I could do that. Hopefully I won't have to.)
As per the old e-mails, I told him the 5 players or other stuff I might look for as an addition. He replied that although he could not get single cards, he DID have the ability to send me unopened product without a problem.
I told him that I would be ok with unopened product, especially those with a few Shane Doans in it. He responded quickly asking which ones those were - I thought that was a little strange, I would think it would be easy to look up for him. But no matter, he asked and I thought that was kind of cool. So I told him my first choice was Artifacts, since that's parallel city. I gave him a couple of other options, both higher end. Basically, I don't want him to send me Victory or something like that.
Am I giving up? Kind of, I guess. I can rest easy knowing that I tried everything to get what I wanted, but if it's not there, it's not there. If I'm not getting Doans, I want to get something good in return. And if you read the rest of my blogs, you know that I like unopened product! And really, UD would much rather send out unopened product. They can write it off as "promotional", and leave the replacement cards for other redemptions. So I guess we're meeting in the middle.
So we'll see. Maybe I'll get a pack of something, maybe a retail blaster, maybe even a whole box. Right now, although my hopes for something good are pretty high, my expectations have been riddled with bullets for too long. This was the first time I've talked to Upper Deck where there was actually some semblance of a solution being presented that would be somewhat customer service based. And with him actually bothering to ask which products feature Doan cards prominently, I'm at least a little impressed that he cared enough to ask.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
WHAT THE F........?
So.
In the past few weeks, looking up my two Doans on the Upper Deck redemption site, I see that they are complete, and being shipped. I thought well holy crap they're finally removed their heads from their collective asses. So I sit, awaiting the package. It arrived today.
I open with anticipation to hope to find:
05-06 UD Ice Glacial Graphs Shane Doan (Book Value $10)
05-06 Fleer Ultra Scoring Kings Auto Jersey Shane Doan ##/20 (No book value due to low numbering, but these usually run in the $50 range or so)
.................... I RECEIVE:
In lieu of the first:
05-06 UD Ice Glacial Graphs Ryan Kesler (Book Value $10)
- I hate not getting the Doan, but this IS proper book value, so I guess....... well no, I'm kinda pissed.
In lieu of the second
05-06 UD Ice Fresh Ice Glass Henrik Zetterberg (Book Value $12)
- I was stunned for about 3 seconds. Then, cage rattling, fire breathing fury. What in the flying hell are they thinking??????????
A math lesson for UD:
$10 = $10 - yay, you got that right.
$12 <> $50+ - idiots.
How can this company continue to do business this way? How can the NHL be SO STUPID as to allow these assholes their only contract? The problem is that both know that we are lemmings, and if we want NHL cards, this is the shit we need to put up with.
(Something you should know about me. I don't like profanity. If I use it, especially in typing it, I'm extremely angry)
I've fired off an angry e-mail to UD. It likely won't do anything except earn me more excuses. I'll also send an e-mail to the NHL. I can't imagine more than a canned response in return.
At this point in time, for the first time in my life, I'm ready to pack it in. I love hockey cards, but I simply cannot support a company that treats its customers this badly. I've already slowed my buying considerably. Will I stop? I doubt it. I won't include redemptions in my Doan collection anymore, that's for sure. I refuse to spend my money on cards that may or may not come my way.
I don't know. I don't have anything more to say. I held my hopes up (to me "autos in stock, cards being sent" means I'm getting what I asked for), and again, the useless bastards shit in my mouth. They continue to stun me with their incredible incompetence. Do I stop collecting altogether, change the way I collect, or just say screw it, this is how it is?
In the past few weeks, looking up my two Doans on the Upper Deck redemption site, I see that they are complete, and being shipped. I thought well holy crap they're finally removed their heads from their collective asses. So I sit, awaiting the package. It arrived today.
I open with anticipation to hope to find:
05-06 UD Ice Glacial Graphs Shane Doan (Book Value $10)
05-06 Fleer Ultra Scoring Kings Auto Jersey Shane Doan ##/20 (No book value due to low numbering, but these usually run in the $50 range or so)
.................... I RECEIVE:
In lieu of the first:
05-06 UD Ice Glacial Graphs Ryan Kesler (Book Value $10)
- I hate not getting the Doan, but this IS proper book value, so I guess....... well no, I'm kinda pissed.
In lieu of the second
05-06 UD Ice Fresh Ice Glass Henrik Zetterberg (Book Value $12)
- I was stunned for about 3 seconds. Then, cage rattling, fire breathing fury. What in the flying hell are they thinking??????????
A math lesson for UD:
$10 = $10 - yay, you got that right.
$12 <> $50+ - idiots.
How can this company continue to do business this way? How can the NHL be SO STUPID as to allow these assholes their only contract? The problem is that both know that we are lemmings, and if we want NHL cards, this is the shit we need to put up with.
(Something you should know about me. I don't like profanity. If I use it, especially in typing it, I'm extremely angry)
I've fired off an angry e-mail to UD. It likely won't do anything except earn me more excuses. I'll also send an e-mail to the NHL. I can't imagine more than a canned response in return.
At this point in time, for the first time in my life, I'm ready to pack it in. I love hockey cards, but I simply cannot support a company that treats its customers this badly. I've already slowed my buying considerably. Will I stop? I doubt it. I won't include redemptions in my Doan collection anymore, that's for sure. I refuse to spend my money on cards that may or may not come my way.
I don't know. I don't have anything more to say. I held my hopes up (to me "autos in stock, cards being sent" means I'm getting what I asked for), and again, the useless bastards shit in my mouth. They continue to stun me with their incredible incompetence. Do I stop collecting altogether, change the way I collect, or just say screw it, this is how it is?
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Retail return blister break...... "hodgepodge"
From Toys R Us in Nanaimo today, a 12 pack blister of retail return packs from Echo Brand Management. On sale for $14.99, just over $1 per pack. I know what you're thinking - retail packs are completely picked over. Well, I've bought these before and had bad experiences - the worst was when a few packs had obviously been bent. But I have pulled a few decent things, even game used cards.
Interesting one this time. They're normally within the past few years, but this one stretches all the way back to 1998. By pack, and comments..... when I have any.
Pack 1 - 1997-98 Score Pinnacle. Wow. As far as I remember, there were Dufex cards in here that looked pretty sweet. And we get - one card. By that I mean they're stuck together. Nice.
Jason Dawe, Owen Nolan, Hnat Domenichelli RC, Dino Ciccarelli, Martin Gelinas, Randy Cunneyworth, Valeri Kamensky, Kevin Hatcher, Curtis Joseph, Trevor Kidd, and a $10 discount on EA Sports NHL 98 (ummm.....cool)
Cards are ugly. That's about it.
Pack 2 - 1997-98 Pinnacle. Higher end, I guess. Insert with long odds - like 1:2250 packs for press plates, and 1:3888 for game used. My hopes aren't high. Let's see. Oh, and these are stuck together too.
Kevyn Adams RC, Steve Rucchin, Matthew Barnaby, Damian Rhodes, Mike Richter, Jason Allison, Chris Dingman RC, and a coupon to spent $7.99 US total on a screw down with "Pinnacle...Guaranteed Scarce" on it. Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Much nicer cards than the Score. A couple of RCs that are still in the league too. Pretty much worthless, but still......
Pack 3 - 1998-99 Pacific Dynagon Ice. Lots of Pacific-ky inserts.
Kevin Hatcher, Chris Gratton, Martin Straka, Jocelyn Thibault, Michael Peca
Difficult to look at, these are. And not just because of who I pulled - and after 7 years, 4 of the 5 players are in the league! Ok, sorry, I'm reaching again, aren't I.
Pack 4 - 1999-00 Pacific Paramount. A Paramount of inserts. More than you can handle.
Steve Konowalchuk Gold (1 per pack), Colin Forbes Holo-Gold 028/199 (supposed to be the 1 per pack copper), Bryan Berard, Markus Naslund, Paul Kariya, Curtis Brown
A decent pack for what you could get, I guess. As with most Pacific products, they tried to make the photos way too sharp, and so they appear a little funky.
Pack 5 - 1999-00 Pacific Omega. Pacific's first offering with jersey cards - after owner Mike Cramer said that it was a fad. After this, Pacific basically made jersey cards jump the shark - they put them in everything, and were the first to market with the 1 jersey per pack watermark. To the cards.
Sami Helenius/Brian Willsie RC, Jose Theodore, Alexei Kovalev, Brad Leeb/Alfie Michaud RC, Nikolai Antropov RC, Martin Biron RC
Did I mention that the jersey cards were 1:5 BOXES? Guess not. 4 rookies in a pack. Even heard of most of them.
Pack 6 - 2004-05 Pacific. The very last Pacific set before the NHL lockout, then UD took over the whole thing. Although Pacific didn't exactly make the nicest sets on the market, at least they tried some new things. And on opening a Pacific pack, you at least felt like you got something. And from the feast or famine in most sets from the last two years, that's significant.
Marc Savard, Sergei Zubov, Scott Walker, Dave Andreychuk red parallel (1 per pack), Steve Sullivan, JS Aubin, Gary Roberts.
A bit of an edit "And on opening a Pacific pack, you at least usually felt like you got something."
Pack 7 - 2005-06 UD Parkhurst. Ah yes. "The crap". "Feast or Famine". I'm betting on famine. Let's hope for a surprise.
Dallas Drake, Philippe Boucher, Stu Barnes, Brian Leetch, John Grahame, Kevyn Adams
Well, two Stars (favourite team). I've had worse Parkhurst packs.
Pack 8 - 2005-06 UD Parkhurst. Not a typo. 2 of them in here.
Jocelyn Thibault, Marek Zidlicky, Erik Christensen, Mike Cammaleri, Patrick Marleau, Andrew Raycroft, Crappy McCrapperson
The last card may have been my imagination.
Pack 9 - 2006-07 UD PowerPlay. Not nearly as good as the 05-06 version, I heard. So this is pack 1 of these for me.
Milan Hejduk, Jaromir Jagr, Masi Marjamaki RC (RCs seeded 1:4 packs), Eric Staal, Manny Fernandez, Hernik Sedin, card to potentially win a trip to Dallas for the All Star Game to be a stick boy (kinda old)
Cards aren't as nice as last year. Names are too small. I heard right, I think.
Pack 10 - 2006-07 UD MVP. I like these, already reviewed them!
Chris Clark, Steve Ott, Jamie Langenbrunner, Pierre Turgeon, Jussi Jokinen, Sergei Brylin, Todd White, Rick DiPietro International Icons insert
I collect Jokinens. Still like MVP.
Pack 11 - 2005-06 UD Ice. You're going to pull a Crosby or Ovechkin #/99 for thousands of dollars. Or a pack of cards containing NHL players or something resembling that.
Eric Lindros, David Aebischer, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Leetch, Kevin Weeks
The latter. Again. Still hate Ice.
Pack 12 - 2005-06 UD Rookie Update. The hobby version is good. Retail, not as good. Let's see.
Jarome Iginla, Nikolai Khabibulin, Grant Stevenson Black Diamond RC, Alexander Frolov, Eric Lindros
Not a bad pack. That's what the hobby version is like - names you know, and a rookie from a high end set.
______________________________
So....... as a pack ripping fan, this wasn't bad. I've gotten a lot less and spent a lot more, and I got to see lots of different cards. The Stevenson is an $8 card, and got a few others that I collect. I'm not displeased. Not thrilled either, but it is what it is.
Interesting one this time. They're normally within the past few years, but this one stretches all the way back to 1998. By pack, and comments..... when I have any.
Pack 1 - 1997-98 Score Pinnacle. Wow. As far as I remember, there were Dufex cards in here that looked pretty sweet. And we get - one card. By that I mean they're stuck together. Nice.
Jason Dawe, Owen Nolan, Hnat Domenichelli RC, Dino Ciccarelli, Martin Gelinas, Randy Cunneyworth, Valeri Kamensky, Kevin Hatcher, Curtis Joseph, Trevor Kidd, and a $10 discount on EA Sports NHL 98 (ummm.....cool)
Cards are ugly. That's about it.
Pack 2 - 1997-98 Pinnacle. Higher end, I guess. Insert with long odds - like 1:2250 packs for press plates, and 1:3888 for game used. My hopes aren't high. Let's see. Oh, and these are stuck together too.
Kevyn Adams RC, Steve Rucchin, Matthew Barnaby, Damian Rhodes, Mike Richter, Jason Allison, Chris Dingman RC, and a coupon to spent $7.99 US total on a screw down with "Pinnacle...Guaranteed Scarce" on it. Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Much nicer cards than the Score. A couple of RCs that are still in the league too. Pretty much worthless, but still......
Pack 3 - 1998-99 Pacific Dynagon Ice. Lots of Pacific-ky inserts.
Kevin Hatcher, Chris Gratton, Martin Straka, Jocelyn Thibault, Michael Peca
Difficult to look at, these are. And not just because of who I pulled - and after 7 years, 4 of the 5 players are in the league! Ok, sorry, I'm reaching again, aren't I.
Pack 4 - 1999-00 Pacific Paramount. A Paramount of inserts. More than you can handle.
Steve Konowalchuk Gold (1 per pack), Colin Forbes Holo-Gold 028/199 (supposed to be the 1 per pack copper), Bryan Berard, Markus Naslund, Paul Kariya, Curtis Brown
A decent pack for what you could get, I guess. As with most Pacific products, they tried to make the photos way too sharp, and so they appear a little funky.
Pack 5 - 1999-00 Pacific Omega. Pacific's first offering with jersey cards - after owner Mike Cramer said that it was a fad. After this, Pacific basically made jersey cards jump the shark - they put them in everything, and were the first to market with the 1 jersey per pack watermark. To the cards.
Sami Helenius/Brian Willsie RC, Jose Theodore, Alexei Kovalev, Brad Leeb/Alfie Michaud RC, Nikolai Antropov RC, Martin Biron RC
Did I mention that the jersey cards were 1:5 BOXES? Guess not. 4 rookies in a pack. Even heard of most of them.
Pack 6 - 2004-05 Pacific. The very last Pacific set before the NHL lockout, then UD took over the whole thing. Although Pacific didn't exactly make the nicest sets on the market, at least they tried some new things. And on opening a Pacific pack, you at least felt like you got something. And from the feast or famine in most sets from the last two years, that's significant.
Marc Savard, Sergei Zubov, Scott Walker, Dave Andreychuk red parallel (1 per pack), Steve Sullivan, JS Aubin, Gary Roberts.
A bit of an edit "And on opening a Pacific pack, you at least usually felt like you got something."
Pack 7 - 2005-06 UD Parkhurst. Ah yes. "The crap". "Feast or Famine". I'm betting on famine. Let's hope for a surprise.
Dallas Drake, Philippe Boucher, Stu Barnes, Brian Leetch, John Grahame, Kevyn Adams
Well, two Stars (favourite team). I've had worse Parkhurst packs.
Pack 8 - 2005-06 UD Parkhurst. Not a typo. 2 of them in here.
Jocelyn Thibault, Marek Zidlicky, Erik Christensen, Mike Cammaleri, Patrick Marleau, Andrew Raycroft, Crappy McCrapperson
The last card may have been my imagination.
Pack 9 - 2006-07 UD PowerPlay. Not nearly as good as the 05-06 version, I heard. So this is pack 1 of these for me.
Milan Hejduk, Jaromir Jagr, Masi Marjamaki RC (RCs seeded 1:4 packs), Eric Staal, Manny Fernandez, Hernik Sedin, card to potentially win a trip to Dallas for the All Star Game to be a stick boy (kinda old)
Cards aren't as nice as last year. Names are too small. I heard right, I think.
Pack 10 - 2006-07 UD MVP. I like these, already reviewed them!
Chris Clark, Steve Ott, Jamie Langenbrunner, Pierre Turgeon, Jussi Jokinen, Sergei Brylin, Todd White, Rick DiPietro International Icons insert
I collect Jokinens. Still like MVP.
Pack 11 - 2005-06 UD Ice. You're going to pull a Crosby or Ovechkin #/99 for thousands of dollars. Or a pack of cards containing NHL players or something resembling that.
Eric Lindros, David Aebischer, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Leetch, Kevin Weeks
The latter. Again. Still hate Ice.
Pack 12 - 2005-06 UD Rookie Update. The hobby version is good. Retail, not as good. Let's see.
Jarome Iginla, Nikolai Khabibulin, Grant Stevenson Black Diamond RC, Alexander Frolov, Eric Lindros
Not a bad pack. That's what the hobby version is like - names you know, and a rookie from a high end set.
______________________________
So....... as a pack ripping fan, this wasn't bad. I've gotten a lot less and spent a lot more, and I got to see lots of different cards. The Stevenson is an $8 card, and got a few others that I collect. I'm not displeased. Not thrilled either, but it is what it is.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
The takeover continues
So according to the UD website, one of my Doan autos is FINALLY on its way after 8 months. We'll see how that goes.
Walked into the local card shop today, and what do I see? O-Pee-Chee! A blast back to my childhood, very exciting to see..... then I remembered. Only one company is authorized to make NHL cards this year. Which means Upper Deck owns the O-Pee-Chee name. Icky icky icky. But since it says O-Pee-Chee, I thought what the heck, let's give it a shot. At 10 packs for $20, it's decently priced, and from the samples he had in the store, it looked nice.
One big difference from the old days of OPC? Shiiiiiiny. Kind of a goldy bronze colour, very clean with a large O-Pee-Chee logo at the bottom, and another large one on the back. Aside from a UDC in the small print on the back (and no French with it, which would have been a nice touch), there isn't anything to suggest Upper Deck about this - they've made the O-Pee-Chees huge and the UD small. So that's good. One jersey per box (major difference from OPC), and one to two autographs per case. Parallels to 100, one shortprint/rookie per pack, 700 card set. In other words, Parkhurst from last year, but it's better, and not $3 a pack.
And I hate to give UD props, but these cards are pretty well done. Price point is fine, card fronts and backs capture a bit of the essence of OPC cards. The shiny is a little tougher to get used to,
but the simple design is pretty good. The set isn't all that much in terms of value, but for UD, that's not surprising. For a $65 box, you're getting just over 200 cards, with the one jersey, and 36 rookies/inserts/short print base cards. MVP might be a better buy in the end, but this certainly isn't UD's worst offering. I'd pick more up.
Walked into the local card shop today, and what do I see? O-Pee-Chee! A blast back to my childhood, very exciting to see..... then I remembered. Only one company is authorized to make NHL cards this year. Which means Upper Deck owns the O-Pee-Chee name. Icky icky icky. But since it says O-Pee-Chee, I thought what the heck, let's give it a shot. At 10 packs for $20, it's decently priced, and from the samples he had in the store, it looked nice.
One big difference from the old days of OPC? Shiiiiiiny. Kind of a goldy bronze colour, very clean with a large O-Pee-Chee logo at the bottom, and another large one on the back. Aside from a UDC in the small print on the back (and no French with it, which would have been a nice touch), there isn't anything to suggest Upper Deck about this - they've made the O-Pee-Chees huge and the UD small. So that's good. One jersey per box (major difference from OPC), and one to two autographs per case. Parallels to 100, one shortprint/rookie per pack, 700 card set. In other words, Parkhurst from last year, but it's better, and not $3 a pack.
And I hate to give UD props, but these cards are pretty well done. Price point is fine, card fronts and backs capture a bit of the essence of OPC cards. The shiny is a little tougher to get used to,
but the simple design is pretty good. The set isn't all that much in terms of value, but for UD, that's not surprising. For a $65 box, you're getting just over 200 cards, with the one jersey, and 36 rookies/inserts/short print base cards. MVP might be a better buy in the end, but this certainly isn't UD's worst offering. I'd pick more up.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
06/07 UD MVP, "The Monopoly" and "The Redemption Follies"
Well..... despite the fact that I felt a little dirty feeding the UD monopoly (I'll get to that in a bit.....) , I went out and purchased an MVP Blaster Box today. Decent looking product, 1 insert or rookie per pack, dual jerseys 1:24 packs, dual autos 1:288 packs. This blaster box had 12 packs, so I figured 6 rookies and 6 inserts, with a 1:2 chance for a jersey, and 1:24 chance for an auto. I don't think the numbered script variations are in the blasters, but I'm not completely sure.
I was going to do pack by pack, but I didn't think about it in time, so here's a quick recap. Nice clean looking cards, decent design. Got the 6 rookies as planned, but none are serious names. "Prospects" would be charitable. 4 defensemen though, and we know how valuable defensemen rookies are...... also 6 inserts. Also nice looking inserts, good photography, but a fair bit of foil, so if that's not your thing, then they might look kind of ugly I guess. I liked them though.
The topper was that I actually pulled a dual auto. The bad side of that is that it was Joffrey Lupul and Shawn Horcoff - from the Coilers. I HATE the Coilers. The good side is that I can likely sell it on eBay with no problem.
Would I buy it again? Probably. Decent value for the buck I think, the hobby version would also have the numbered cards, which would be even better. I'd recommend it over Victory, this year's Power Play (which by all accounts is garbage).... heck, I'd probably recommend it over regular UD this year, which has half the value of last year's, but the same price point. So I'd buy MVP, but begrudgingly. Why?
I've had it with Upper Deck. I've had it with their complete abuse of their monopoly. I've had it with their putrid bank-like customer service. I've had it with their abandonment of the hockey card collectors in favour of pure profit. Each of their products this year has less in it than last year, but is at or above the price of last year's. I understand that Crosby and Ovechkin aren't coming around every year, so they can't really be blamed for lower secondary value. But dropping the number of autos and memorabilia in the base UD when series 2 last year was already received as crap makes no sense when the price point is exactly the same. UD's response to me would be something like "Well, then don't buy it. We're not forcing you to." (Technically, Gary Bettman and his sock puppet assistants are, but.....) Fine. I won't buy it.
Redemptions. The stories from the past with UD is that if they were unable to provide the product to you within 12 weeks, you would receive riches. They were so upset with not being able to provide the cards to you that they would basically give you whatever you wanted so that you would continue to buy their cards. Now? Well....... I have two redemptions waiting. One for 6 months, one for 8 months. Both Shane Doans, which I bought on the secondary market to supplement my Doan collection. So really, that's what I want.
E-mail #1 to UD, at the 16 week mark, as they instruct, asking if there is any possible update to when or if I will get my cards. Response? "Unfortunately no, let us know if you want to exchange." No "Please accept our apologies for being short sighted" or anything. Not even "HAHAHAHHA We're Upper Deck, in terms of hockey, we answer to NO ONE!!!! HAHAHAHAHA". Just a "Your collection doesn't matter to us in the least. If you take something different, you'll stop bothering us and rejoin the rest of the blind doddering herd who are forced to eat our crap and like it." So instead of starting a war with morons and risk being pulled down to their level and being defeated by experience, I wait. I don't want exchanges. I bought these for a reason.
Then 06-07 Series 1 appears. It's the same thing as normal, of course, just less with it. And the same price as always. So I check eBay, and see a Signature Sensation card of Shane Doan with a sticker auto on it - like the stickers on the cards I apparently can't receive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My hair catches fire. I need cards with the sticker autos. They say I can't have them yet. They have NEW cards with stickers. I send an e-mail back to UD asking them what in the blue hell is going on. This is crazy.
Response? Wait for it...... "We can send you a replacement." Grr. Apparently I give them a list of 5 players - ones of equal or comparable Beckett value to the ones I'm getting. If they don't have one from those players, shipping just sends a random one of comparable Beckett value. I look at the e-mail and blink. For a long time. How EXACTLY is that customer service for a player collector? What use would I have for a Ryan Smyth auto jersey card - because with my luck, they'd send an Oiler card.
Not acceptable.
Next e-mail tells them so. I collect Doans, so unless you're sending me something of great value that I can sell on eBay and buy more Doans, I'm not biting and gambling on what you think is the same. I ask that they explain why this is the case - explain that there are new autos out when old ones go unfilled. The response is that it's contractual - players can be upset with their contract one year, love it the next, so they will sign all the cards from one year and not the other. The problem is that this is a sticker. Not a card. So take an 06-07 sticker, frikkin put it on my 05-06's and frikkin send them to me. If they still had no Doan stickers, I could place some blame on him, but they obviously have restocked.
So UD is basically telling me that it's not happening. So I ask.... any other Doans in stock? Well..... stock changes daily *of course*, so no idea. That's why we want your list of alternates, so we can screw you over and laugh, because hey..... we're the only game in town now! If you want to collect NHL player cards, you have no choice but to love us, no matter WHAT we do! Remember OPC prior to 1990? We're even worse! Anyway.......
So I've e-mailed them back. They've got me by the wedding tackle, obviously. Can they at LEAST send me a Doan auto card from this year as a "Sorry we've been such jackasses, here's something to at least consider buying more from us." gift? I'm expecting nothing, not even a response. However, if I don't get a response within a week, I'm calling them. I heard recently that calling in gets you a little more, because the reps have less room to dance around.
I can't stop collecting. The difference is that I won't be buying much in the way of packs or boxes until something gets resolved in this that restores my confidence. I frequent two card shops, and both are likely wondering where the hell I am. Well, I'm buying Doan singles off of eBay right now. So I'm still eating from the Upper Deck trough, but indirectly. I'll be spending 15-25% of the amount I normally spend on cards in a year - and I've spent a LOT of money in the past few year. And none of my money will go directly to Upper Deck. Like today, I'll buy a blaster here and there, but of a lower level product, because that's where the only realistic value is this year.... like every year.
I think the NHL and NHLPA will be getting e-mails from me on this monopoly. Likely won't make any difference, but I'd at least feel as though I tried.
I was going to do pack by pack, but I didn't think about it in time, so here's a quick recap. Nice clean looking cards, decent design. Got the 6 rookies as planned, but none are serious names. "Prospects" would be charitable. 4 defensemen though, and we know how valuable defensemen rookies are...... also 6 inserts. Also nice looking inserts, good photography, but a fair bit of foil, so if that's not your thing, then they might look kind of ugly I guess. I liked them though.
The topper was that I actually pulled a dual auto. The bad side of that is that it was Joffrey Lupul and Shawn Horcoff - from the Coilers. I HATE the Coilers. The good side is that I can likely sell it on eBay with no problem.
Would I buy it again? Probably. Decent value for the buck I think, the hobby version would also have the numbered cards, which would be even better. I'd recommend it over Victory, this year's Power Play (which by all accounts is garbage).... heck, I'd probably recommend it over regular UD this year, which has half the value of last year's, but the same price point. So I'd buy MVP, but begrudgingly. Why?
I've had it with Upper Deck. I've had it with their complete abuse of their monopoly. I've had it with their putrid bank-like customer service. I've had it with their abandonment of the hockey card collectors in favour of pure profit. Each of their products this year has less in it than last year, but is at or above the price of last year's. I understand that Crosby and Ovechkin aren't coming around every year, so they can't really be blamed for lower secondary value. But dropping the number of autos and memorabilia in the base UD when series 2 last year was already received as crap makes no sense when the price point is exactly the same. UD's response to me would be something like "Well, then don't buy it. We're not forcing you to." (Technically, Gary Bettman and his sock puppet assistants are, but.....) Fine. I won't buy it.
Redemptions. The stories from the past with UD is that if they were unable to provide the product to you within 12 weeks, you would receive riches. They were so upset with not being able to provide the cards to you that they would basically give you whatever you wanted so that you would continue to buy their cards. Now? Well....... I have two redemptions waiting. One for 6 months, one for 8 months. Both Shane Doans, which I bought on the secondary market to supplement my Doan collection. So really, that's what I want.
E-mail #1 to UD, at the 16 week mark, as they instruct, asking if there is any possible update to when or if I will get my cards. Response? "Unfortunately no, let us know if you want to exchange." No "Please accept our apologies for being short sighted" or anything. Not even "HAHAHAHHA We're Upper Deck, in terms of hockey, we answer to NO ONE!!!! HAHAHAHAHA". Just a "Your collection doesn't matter to us in the least. If you take something different, you'll stop bothering us and rejoin the rest of the blind doddering herd who are forced to eat our crap and like it." So instead of starting a war with morons and risk being pulled down to their level and being defeated by experience, I wait. I don't want exchanges. I bought these for a reason.
Then 06-07 Series 1 appears. It's the same thing as normal, of course, just less with it. And the same price as always. So I check eBay, and see a Signature Sensation card of Shane Doan with a sticker auto on it - like the stickers on the cards I apparently can't receive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My hair catches fire. I need cards with the sticker autos. They say I can't have them yet. They have NEW cards with stickers. I send an e-mail back to UD asking them what in the blue hell is going on. This is crazy.
Response? Wait for it...... "We can send you a replacement." Grr. Apparently I give them a list of 5 players - ones of equal or comparable Beckett value to the ones I'm getting. If they don't have one from those players, shipping just sends a random one of comparable Beckett value. I look at the e-mail and blink. For a long time. How EXACTLY is that customer service for a player collector? What use would I have for a Ryan Smyth auto jersey card - because with my luck, they'd send an Oiler card.
Not acceptable.
Next e-mail tells them so. I collect Doans, so unless you're sending me something of great value that I can sell on eBay and buy more Doans, I'm not biting and gambling on what you think is the same. I ask that they explain why this is the case - explain that there are new autos out when old ones go unfilled. The response is that it's contractual - players can be upset with their contract one year, love it the next, so they will sign all the cards from one year and not the other. The problem is that this is a sticker. Not a card. So take an 06-07 sticker, frikkin put it on my 05-06's and frikkin send them to me. If they still had no Doan stickers, I could place some blame on him, but they obviously have restocked.
So UD is basically telling me that it's not happening. So I ask.... any other Doans in stock? Well..... stock changes daily *of course*, so no idea. That's why we want your list of alternates, so we can screw you over and laugh, because hey..... we're the only game in town now! If you want to collect NHL player cards, you have no choice but to love us, no matter WHAT we do! Remember OPC prior to 1990? We're even worse! Anyway.......
So I've e-mailed them back. They've got me by the wedding tackle, obviously. Can they at LEAST send me a Doan auto card from this year as a "Sorry we've been such jackasses, here's something to at least consider buying more from us." gift? I'm expecting nothing, not even a response. However, if I don't get a response within a week, I'm calling them. I heard recently that calling in gets you a little more, because the reps have less room to dance around.
I can't stop collecting. The difference is that I won't be buying much in the way of packs or boxes until something gets resolved in this that restores my confidence. I frequent two card shops, and both are likely wondering where the hell I am. Well, I'm buying Doan singles off of eBay right now. So I'm still eating from the Upper Deck trough, but indirectly. I'll be spending 15-25% of the amount I normally spend on cards in a year - and I've spent a LOT of money in the past few year. And none of my money will go directly to Upper Deck. Like today, I'll buy a blaster here and there, but of a lower level product, because that's where the only realistic value is this year.... like every year.
I think the NHL and NHLPA will be getting e-mails from me on this monopoly. Likely won't make any difference, but I'd at least feel as though I tried.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)