On September 13th, 2004, Anacs received 4 coins that I submitted for slabbing and certification. Two were Lincolns with S/S/S, large date/small varieties and the other two were Morgans. Anacs promptly billed my credit card within a week of receipt and then I waited...and waited...and waited Now, I sent them under ecomony service thinking that 45 to 70 days is the norm (at least that is the case for PCGS, NGC and ICG), but here we are at 90 days and NO coins. First, Anacs never emailed me or anything of the sort that my coins were received and only after I called them, did I find out that I will be lucky to get them before Christmas! Well, that is the first and last time I will ever submit coins to Anacs. Their attitude was, "tough...what do you expect?". I purposedly have tried all of the top four grading services and Anacs probably has the poorsest service out of the four.
Their economy service is slow for several reasons. 1) That service takes a back seat to the other, quicker servies. 2) ANACS is VERY popular with individual collectors. They grade a lot of coins. You'll be doing yourself a disservice by not trying them again. IMO.
Wow, that is definitely poor customer service. From the feedback I have seen on this board, I would only use PCGS and maybe NGC to grade any coins that I wanted slabbed. PR70
I continue to believe that ANACS is a very good choice for individual collectors. I do not work for them or have any contacts with them but I did relay your concern. The responce is perhaps predictable but here is what they have to say about it. (I did not use any of your info or mention this forum). Dear Mr. , I have forwarded your e-mail to our General Manager, John McDonough. Our economy service has indeed been slowed recently due to very heavy volume, particularly of express/guaranteed ship packages. Currently we are needing approx. 12 weeks to process those packages, not including time off/holidays and time in transit. We do not as a matter of course notify customers when their packages are received. Customers are welcome to call or send an e-mail to verify receipt, or of course they can utilize the "return receipt requested" option through the post office. Sincerely, Kelly Aninao Administrative Assistant
ANACS is a good choice but all services are slow when it comes to economy submissions. ANACS usually has specials like 5 coins 5 days $15 etc and often if you have several coins to slab it's more economical to use such specials. If you're really upset talk to John (the GM mentioned above). You can find him at many shows. He's a good guy and is always interested in hearing feedback. Nick
I am personally a HUGE ANACS fan, however, one thing I've learned is to ALWAYS spring for the extra $3/coin to do 5-day express service on them. I average a two calendar week complete turnaround time from them.
Ed, I would give Anacs another try. Like some others said, you will have to use a better grading tier when using them though. Now factor in the end of the year submissions, and you have a problem. Anacs does have a few issues with customer service, but they are a quality service when you work within their framework.
Okay...okay...I will wait and try to have more patience. But I don't think we should pay 100% up front and have to wait as long as this (today it is 91 days!). It's like they have free money for better than 70 days. Multiply these dollars received over 1000's of submissions...sit on the coins for 60 days plus and there are dollars profited without even looking at one coin. If they are that slow, they should charge 50% upon receipt and the remaining balance is billed as the coins are being shipped back. That should help get the work done. If service is that slow, I can deal with that...but don't sit on my money for over 80 days until services are actually rendered...which they haven't as of today!
Ed - for whatever it is worth - you are not alone. Turnaround time is the single largest complaint for grading companies - in particular PCGS. With NGC - it's unusual to wait more than 30 days for any submission.
My last ngc package was 5.5 weeks. They have a package of mine now that they've had for 4 weeks...pretty slow compared to the rest of this year. Must be a rush on ngc services Nick
