Must read! Yelp reviews of PCGS

I have a major problem with PCGS as of now. I have submitted several coins to them only to have them come back under graded. One of which is a 1999 P Silver Eagle. Always encapsulated and even submitted in the capsule. But of course it came back as a PR69 .. Why would they grade a flawless coin as PR70 , when they know I would resubmit it and then charge me more... Again , I sent in a 1962 RD Lincoln Cent, and a 1964 RD Lincoln Cent, both of which are MS67+ at a Minimum.. They graded them as PR68. Neither of these coins are Proofs. They came directly from a Mint set, yet after going round and round with their so called customer service ( what a joke that is) I spoke to a "manager" named David Tuck. Had to be the most pretentious arrogant person I have ever encountered.

I am going to have to pay the completely outrageous fee to retrieve my coins , but believe me when I say I am cancelling this membership, filing complaints with BBB and Consumer Advocate and I will make it known on every consumer website I can find what a rip off this company really is..

If you look at NGC's price list for the exact coin at the exact same grade you will see a HUGE difference, the reason? Because PCGS is owned by some of the worlds top coin dealers and they know that if they do not grade very many coins at top grades , it gives the ILLUSION, of rarity.. Talk about misleading and confusing newcomers to coin collecting !!!!! PCGS is a bunch of SNOBS plain and simple.. I'll be happy to take my business to NGC, ANACS or even ICG.. Once the coin collecting community finally opens their eyes to what is really going on, they wont be so hell bent on those PCGS holders, but instead find value in CUSTOMER service and consistency of grading vs. trying to rip everyone off!!

 

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I have a major problem with PCGS as of now. I have submitted several coins to them only to have them come back under graded. One of which is a 1999 P Silver Eagle. Always encapsulated and even submitted in the capsule. But of course it came back as a PR69 .. Why would they grade a flawless coin as PR70 , when they know I would resubmit it and then charge me more... Again , I sent in a 1962 RD Lincoln Cent, and a 1964 RD Lincoln Cent, both of which are MS67+ at a Minimum.. They graded them as PR68. Neither of these coins are Proofs. They came directly from a Mint set, yet after going round and round with their so called customer service ( what a joke that is) I spoke to a "manager" named David Tuck. Had to be the most pretentious arrogant person I have ever encountered.

I am going to have to pay the completely outrageous fee to retrieve my coins , but believe me when I say I am cancelling this membership, filing complaints with BBB and Consumer Advocate and I will make it known on every consumer website I can find what a rip off this company really is..

If you look at NGC's price list for the exact coin at the exact same grade you will see a HUGE difference, the reason? Because PCGS is owned by some of the worlds top coin dealers and they know that if they do not grade very many coins at top grades , it gives the ILLUSION, of rarity.. Talk about misleading and confusing newcomers to coin collecting !!!!! PCGS is a bunch of SNOBS plain and simple.. I'll be happy to take my business to NGC, ANACS or even ICG.. Once the coin collecting community finally opens their eyes to what is really going on, they wont be so hell bent on those PCGS holders, but instead find value in CUSTOMER service and consistency of grading vs. trying to rip everyone off!!

 

If ya don't drink the Kool Aide, ya don't get burned.........

 

Any images of the Lincoln cents?

 

Your ASE clearly isn't a 70 from the pic you posted, clearly has spotting if not more going on in several places

 

actually they are still with PCGS

 

well I guess youre seeing something that I am not (Cited from: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/must-read-yelp-reviews-of-pcgs.250152/page-5#post-2782666)

 

Spotting between T and Y, spotting all around L. Couple more things too that cannot tell if its the coins slab or reflection but the spotting alone is enough to keep it from a 70

 

Hi everyone, my name is Mark Stephenson. I am the Vice President of PCGS. I follow CoinTalk, and learn a lot from users here. I also take note of threads that are started or resurrected from time to time that include posts that are unflattering to PCGS or TPGing in general. However, I've not felt compelled to post before today, after reading J117's post(s). What follows is the other side of the story. You can reach your own conclusions.

On the Lincoln order, two different customer service representatives pulled the order and had the coins reviewed by grading. Both times this happened, the graders said the coins in question are proof and not business strikes. Hence, in contrast to a normal order, which goes through the grading process once and then is shipped, this order has now been looked at a total of three times. No extra grading fees are asked for. That wasn’t done begrudgingly or after her cajoling. This was what our customer service staff did to try to accommodate their customer and assuage her concerns. She is understandably unhappy with our opinion.

On a related note, our receiving department contacted her to let her know that she mixed services on an order (Regular tier x $32/coin and (1) Express-valued coin on the same order). Rather than split the order into a Regular one and an Express one, which is our usual policy, we processed it as one Regular order, just increasing the fee on the one coin that was too valuable for the Regular service level. This saved her a second set of shipping and handling fees.

Now that the Lincoln order is done, she refused to pay for it until we change the grades and/or designation. I acknowledge she says above she is going to pay for it now, then cancel her membership and file complaints against us. I have no interest in stopping that; it's her right to seek recourse if she feels aggrieved or treated unfairly. Obviously we disagree.

PCGS, as many of you know, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Collectors Universe (CU). CU is a publicly traded company (CLCT stock symbol). Our operational, accounting, and grading processes are regularly audited by independent auditors. If there was anything that whiffed of favoritism, it would have long ago been identified and made public. The reality is that our grading is anonymous. Our graders have no idea whose coins they are grading and they don't care. They just try to get the grade right.

Finally, she mentions by (misspelled) name our Customer Service Manager. I've interviewed David Talk (not Tuck) and reviewed all the written correspondence between the customer known as J117 and David, and other email correspondence between her and PCGS as well.

David is respected and appreciated by our customers that have worked with him. I receive unsolicited positive reviews about him on a regular basis. He worked with J117 patiently and answered all her questions, and spent a lot of time on the phone with her. He also thoroughly answered one of her emails, which was filled with questions and outlandish accusations similar to those presented in her post above (only worse), patiently and completely, offering empathy for her situation, and providing as much information as he could, including links.

I know that we’ve had a perception of poor customer service in the past. I’ve tried to change that since I arrived here. If anyone ever has an experience with PCGS they’re not happy with, feel free to reach out to me at edited - contact via PM

 

Don't post much as I am a GOLD guy, money, making money. Anyway, so that you guys do get an outside perspective, YELP is notorious as a force feed you the advertizing business and knock off bad review company. In other words, advertize with us, work with US and we will make you look good vs your competition...

 

Thank you Mark for the rest of the story.

 

I'll say.........

Like PCGS can't tell the difference between a 'proof' or a business strike.....

 

You should trust that PCGS got this right. Sounds like they double checked the coins for you and made a great effort in trying to help you.

 

I would think (and mind, I'm no fan of PCGS) that after grading north of 60,000 Lincoln Memorial Proofs they'd probably have figured out how to identify one by now. Wonder how many Memorial Proofs the submitter in question has graded.

And quite frankly, it wouldn't be hard for me to believe the Mint managed to get a couple Proofs into Mint Set cellophane. Or a couple thousand.

 

New label idea for PCGS...Lincoln Cents J117 signature

 

Not much more to add here I see. Yelp is basically for those that are not happy with a company. I read reviews on products and businesses with yelp but have learned to read between the lines also. As with the person that forgot to send his voucher in with his coins, it's his fault yes, but I still feel that there should be a better level of customer service for people. These vouchers are serialized somehow so they can't be used over and over. A company should recognize a new customer submittal, and reach out to them to see if they purposely didn't use the voucher. The vouchers are the incentive in most cases for paying for a membership. The company has to bring up the customer to verify membership before grading the coins, this is where they will see its a new customer. It doesn't take much for a company to contact a new customer and thank them for thier business and maybe ask if they need any assistance with thier first purchase!! Everything is just automated these days that personal assistance is basically becoming a thing of the past. And on another note, I believe that when I pay to have a coin graded, its not my fault that thousands of other coins are being graded at the same time, I expect my coin to be graded right the first time. Thats what I paid for, right???

 

I totally agree with you. I don't pay for their services...but I do have a Yelp page for my business. As of right now, I have 9 5-star reviews...but if you scroll down and click on the "not recommended" tab you will see another 19 5-star reviews that they "don't recommend." They constantly call me trying to get me to pay for their advertising services...I'll bet if I did there wouldn't be so many "not recommended" reviews.

 

And in 1962 and 1964 the mint and proof sets were both put in cellophane. Could the coins have been cut from a cellophane proof set instead of a cellophane mint set?

 

Sorry, doubled post.

 

PCGS is an old boys club.

I was told recently by a dealer, that they had to use a person that is known well in PCGS circles to submit a coin for them in order to get a favorable grade. They also paid him to do it!

Same dealer told me he was told by the person working in PCGS at the time, that when they received new batch of modern gold eagles they graded them in 3 days. In other words, they were pretty much just slapping labels on them.

On top of that, recently I had my own disappointing experience with them. Sent them 4 pristine gold eagles NGC MS70 for cross-over, which I inspected at 5x and 10x prior crossing, none of them crossed. I doubt they even bother to look at them.

Long story short, I lost trust with PCGS and refuse to grade with them or even buy coins they grade, unless there are no suitable alternatives on the market.