Update

I've now sent Upper Deck about 12903849028 e-mails on the redemption replacements I received. A synopsis:

• 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 final exchange actually led to another guy getting involved. I figure some sort of supervisor, because the tone and the ante changed. It was obvious that the knob I was dealing with was tired of me, and had no intention nor power to help me.

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.