Talk About A Potential Customer Service Nightmare Hopefully Averted

A bolt of fear overcame me when I went to check on one of my Topps redemption cards this morning and this is what I saw

My 2012 Topps Strata Bernard Pierce card was marked cancelled…

I checked around and found that Topps posted on their Twitter feed that the cancelled cards were a system error and that the cards are still pending. They have since taken down the Topps Redemption web site temporarily while they correct the error. Topps customer service has been iffy at best the past year, I could imagine what kind of backlash Topps would receive if they intentionally cancelled thousands of redemptions.

In The Game Does The Right Thing

Another company steps up with the customer service and guess what… it is not Topps. I know will Topps ever really step up to the curb with their customer service?

After a collector pointed out that an Antero Niittymaki emblem patch from the Finland Olympic team jersey that was inserted in the Ultimate Memorabilia 10 release was game issued but not game used In The Game decided to do the right thing and “recall” the 1/1 patch card and they will be replacing the card with a new Niittymaki Ultimate Emblem card that truly is game used.

The jersey was purchased by ITG from the NHLPA and actually came with a COA from the NHLPA claiming that the jersey was worn by Niittymaki during the Finland-Belarus game on February 17, 2010 but a review of the game shows that Kiprusoff played all 60 minutes in goal. Niittymaki did not see any action at the 2010 Olympics as the team’s third goalie so none of his jerseys from the event can be considered “game used”.

In a time when companies are happy with labeling a card as “player worn” or even worse, no description, it is good to see that a company is taking the right approach to the situation. When ITG describes a relic as game used you can be certain that the relic has actually been used in a game.