Frustrating Panini redemption experience

[MatsSundin13Rocks]

Contact [email protected] .

The CS manager will take care of it.

I wonder if they will take care of my issue as well? I don't know why I still buy Panini or UD products except that I do like the design of them.

[Gallinator]

I've only had one redemption through Panini thus far and it's been OK - just got my 10/11 Seguin Rated Rookies Auto via FedEx Ground this morning, but it is a sticker auto! I probably would have been more disturbed if I'd gotten it right when Donruss came out, but since I waited to buy a box until June of this year, I only had to wait a couple of months to get it fulfilled. Redemptions suck, though - especially when you wait and STILL get a sticker auto! Blech.

[Tivo32]

I had a bad experience with Panini redemptions too, I pulled a 2010-11 Certified Mirror Red #195 Mattias Tedenby JSY AU /100 redemption and I waited about a year for it to come. So I finnaly called asking where it is and they said the card was never produced and they said they'll send a replacment card equal to the value of the original card. The package finally showed up 8 months later and it was the Tedenby. If I never called I probaly would never gotten the card or a replacment card. It took nearly 2 years for a redemption that should come in 4 months. Shame on you Panini. I'm going to stick to Upper Deck.

You do realize that Upper Deck has redemptions as well and people have the same, exact issues in trying to get their redemptions in hand from UD as well?

I've only had one redemption through Panini thus far and it's been OK - just got my 10/11 Seguin Rated Rookies Auto via FedEx Ground this morning, but it is a sticker auto! I probably would have been more disturbed if I'd gotten it right when Donruss came out, but since I waited to buy a box until June of this year, I only had to wait a couple of months to get it fulfilled. Redemptions suck, though - especially when you wait and STILL get a sticker auto! Blech.

I don't understand this complaint either. How much did you pay for the box of Donruss? $30? That Seguin is an rare, rookie autograph of one of the two best rookies in that class. Sticker or not you should be stoked.

[centrehice]

Just remember when you send any documents to either Panini or UD, that you have them notarized with a CC to a local Law Firm.

UD tried telling me to "Go Rub Salt" or "Go Pack Sand" and I then began documenting all text to them with documents notarized and a Law Firm carbon copy.

They dropped everything and became an instant ball-washer. I finally settled things by telling them in 2004 that I was finished as a customer. I truly believe that they loved the harsh reality of me never bothering them again, and would have gladly paid thousands of dollars to have the same result that I willingly handled myself.

[rydlar99]

Yeah.. I went from having great customer service with them.. to absolute crap in the span of a month.
Here's my story.. they shipped me the wrong 11-12 Limited RNH card (Freshman Jumbo Sig, should have been Freshman Jumbo Draft Pos Sig).. so I called them, they asked me to send it back registered mail and they'd compensate me with packs.. so at an expense of $26, I sent it back... I got a pack of 11-12 Certified & a pack of 10-11 Zenith as compensation for $26 shipping.... REALLY...

[mxaxtxtx]

We can all draw lines, but at the end of the day BOTH Panini and UD suck equally the same. If you disagree you are a fanboy or just hopelessly lost in the dream that one will improve.

[flopfish]

We can all draw lines, but at the end of the day BOTH Panini and UD suck equally the same. If you disagree you are a fanboy or just hopelessly lost in the dream that one will improve.

My 3 experiences with Panini via redemptions: (Scrub auto, don't even remember) that was a pain in the arse. Never wanted to buy their products again because of it.
The 2nd one (Yzerman/Sakic Dual Auto 1/1) I am still waiting on because the athlete hasn't signed but they have been very cooperative the whole time because I am moving soon and they will inform me if they know it's signed or incoming or they don't know whenever I ask.
The 3rd one (Martin Brodeur Score Signatures) I redeemed 2 days ago, and it was shipped yesterday.

Panini is improving, they are providing public documents every Friday with what cards they get in. If you have any questions, they will answer them, ESPECIALLY ON TWITTER. They are very active on there. (@PaniniCSM)


Experiences with UD via redemptions: For my first two things from them (both of which were free), I never got the right item, and both I had to pretty much exclaim my dissatisfaction with them for over a year before it finally got anywheres. It was 2 years for the first one, and 1 and a half years for the second one, because they both sent at the same time. 1 ended up being damaged too, but they did nothing for it.
Next Redemption: Sam Gagner Ice Scripts. 20 months, tons of patience and angry emails and I finally got it. FINALLY. I had to redeem this twice, because the first time over the phone it wasn't actually redeemed.
Next redemption: Artifacts Rookies: Pain in the arse take 2 from UD. It took a lot longer (3-4 months) for mine to get to me than other peoples, but I hit the jackpot because I got separate top loaders AND penny sleeves. Why they went out AFTER the rookie autos makes no sense. They didn't have an auto or anything yet took forever to print and send out.

Things Panini does better:
-Social media assistance
-Lists for redemptions they have received every Friday. You can browse through it and find out if the redemption you have unredeemed is in their possession.
-Fixing their mistakes
-Acknowledging they had an issue and are striving to improve on it
-Shipping with FedEx (Some people may not like this, but it comes faster when they get it. Yes you have to be present, but it's WAY better than Canada Post handling it for me.)

To me, that's improving. Do both companies make mistakes? Yes, both do, but one is a lot more proactive about it than the other. You saw Vegas come in here and tell the OP who to contact. That's being proactive in my mind. Upper Deck is taking out the rookies who fail to sign on time (except the big ones) and will have them reinserted next year. That's also being proactive with redemptions, but it comes at a bit of an expense to the collectors who want those true RCs, but they'll have to wait. When it's an athlete waiting to sign, I can understand that. A lot of the cards not being made is because of the player agents demanding too much too from both ends. When it's from cards that just have to be printed, there's no excuse, it's just poor on their part.

There is no perfect world to redemptions unfortunately. We've just got to take it for what it is. It'd be nice if they'd compensate a redemption by getting an extra hit though on top of a redemption, because then we really couldn't complain about them too much.

[Gallinator]

You do realize that Upper Deck has redemptions as well and people have the same, exact issues in trying to get their redemptions in hand from UD as well?



I don't understand this complaint either. How much did you pay for the box of Donruss? $30? That Seguin is an rare, rookie autograph of one of the two best rookies in that class. Sticker or not you should be stoked.

Not really a complaint, Tivo - more like a neutral. Yeah, it was a $30 box (made up for the $90 I threw away on a box of Limited and a couple of other poor Panini choices I made), but regardless of the price point, clearly they were waiting on Seguin to sign; if he's going to sign a sheet of stickers, why not just have him sign the actual cards? It's more expensive and complicated for Panini to do so, but it's the RIGHT thing to do, IMHO. Plus, they must have gotten some stickers from him at some point as some eBayers had that card up for sale back in May - it just hit Panini's spreadsheet this past week (after checking the blog I logged in to check the redemption and it was closed/shipped the day before). Perhaps I am being naive in thinking this could get done a LOT better, but I believe it's just poor execution. >>Bonus point: The sticker was placed slightly off-center and not quite straight - AAAARGGGH!!<<

I've been dealing with UD for many years on redemptions and they've been great since about 2007 for the few I've had to get. Before that, it was a nightmare.

Of course, the answer to all this is simple - STOP DOING REDEMPTIONS and figure out how to get great, on-card signed product in our hands without resorting to playing catch-up and risking customer satisfaction. ITG has provided a great model on how to do that with *some* of their products (and I realize there are some very complex issues involved) and if they would just fully commit to not using stickers, I would probably spend 90+% of my hockey budget on their products.