Just had a submission post the grades and hit my credit card. Problem #1 is they charged my card instead of applying the grading vouchers. That will probably be straightened out. Problem #2 is a 1914 Revolutionary Mexico 2 Peso. The coin has a planchet flaw and because I didn’t mark it - and pay - as a “Mint Error” they graded it as AU - details and noted the planchet flaw. If I had paid them $15 it would have been straight graded as such. At this point, they won’t correct it and told me I have to submit it again and request it as a mint error. I refuse to pay them again for this coin. I maintain that it’s not an error. It is as struck with a planchet flaw and doesn’t deserve to be called an error. They should have contacted me if they thought it should be submitted as an error.
A planchet flaw, especially one of that size, definitely qualifies as a mint error (not details!). However, they absolutely should have contacted you and asked if you wanted to upgrade/pay the fee for the error category, instead of just details grading it.
There are two types of errors, planchet flaws and minting. Minting errors are obvious, like off centered or incomplete planchets. But planchet errors can be laminations, cuds, etc if large enough. I think yours is large enough that it qualifies as an error.
A professional grader would assign the correct grade to the piece from the beginning. A greedy, unprofessional grader wants more money to give the piece the proper attribution. I am not comfortable with basing the grading fee on the absolute value of the piece, not a price range. Paying a percentage of the grade seems like you are buying the grade.
I would ask them to remove the Details designation from the label . . . it is not a damaged coin. It is a perfectly minted coin on a damaged planchet, and does not qualify for the Details designation.
The customer service at PCGS continues to decline. There have been many thread on the PCGS forum about all sorts of issues (image quality, registry not working properly, charging incorrectly, etc). Unfortunately there is no sign any of this will be improving. I have not sent anything in to be graded in several years and don't plan on it-the headache is not worth it when most coins can be bought already graded or left raw. I know there are cases where it makes sense to grade but with all the issues, I would recommend avoiding it (or doing show grading for something truly rare/worthwhile).
it was because of very poor customer service that I no longer use PCGS to cert coins. Greed has replaced common sense in their offices.. NGC might not have quite the premium pcgs carries, but they have been very helpful when I have had questions/issues. For that reason they tend to get most of my grading business (not a whole lot to be honest as I buy few raw coins in recent years)
