How Long is Too Long?
April 18th, 2011 by slangon

I’m sure no one who reads this remembers (or particularly cares), but waaaaaay back in July of last year I busted a box of 2010 Ginter as part of Gint-A-Cuffs II and was fortunate enough to pull a Dale Davis autograph redemption card. According to the email chain, I sat down and typed in the code from that card on July 20th of last year. Said confirmation email claimed “We expect to have your redemption card processed and shipped to you no later than:  11-02-2010.” Okay, that was a 5 month wait, but Dale Davis’ story sounded pretty cool and I thought it would be pretty neat to have his autograph, so I just put it out of my mind and went about my business.

Fast forward to November 3rd, the day after the card was supposed to be shipped and I received another email from the Topps Redemption Department with the rather alarming subject of “Late Notify.” It informed me that they were “currently beyond the 15 week processing time allocated” for the card in question and that they were “working diligently to process and ship your redemption card as soon as possible.” They also went on to inform me  that “If you no longer wish to wait for the redemption card, please contact our Consumer Relations team in order to place a substitution request for a card of equal Beckett value.” At that point I was sort of committed to the idea of getting that Dale Davis autograph and was a little worried as to what exactly “a card of equal Beckett value” would be. I mean, since that Dale Davis card technically doesn’t exist yet, how could they know the value of it? Would the card even be an autograph? Could I possibly end up with yet another Eric Chavez bat? I figured, I already waited this long, what’s another few weeks?

Then, around the middle of January, still no word, so I sent a rather polite email to the address they provided asking if they had any idea of how much longer it might take. A day or two later, I got a response from the Redemption Department explaining that “this card is out for signing , we will have these autographs in the next couple of weeks.” Cool, I thought, I can wait another couple of weeks and once again put the matter out of my mind.

Fast forward 3 months and here I sit, still no Dale Davis autograph. Now at this point, the idea of getting a Dale Davis autograph has kind of lost a bit of it’s luster and I’m starting to falter a bit in my determination to not accept a substitution. My question to you, my readers, is has anyone out there had any experience with getting substitutions for a redemption card, and if so, were you pleased with what you got instead or did you end up with some scrubby dudes autograph or relic?

In the mean time, I guess I should just shoot out another email, this one being perhaps a bit more strongly worded than the last.

6 Responses to “How Long is Too Long?”

  1. I feel your pain… I have a few Panini redemptions I’m still waiting on… and an expired UD redemption card for a Joe Montana autograph. Topps is actually the one company that redeemed my card in a reasonable time. I sent in a Topps Magic redemption card for an Ed Reed autograph and it came back within three weeks.

    Best of luck with your autograph.

  2. Yeah, the only other experience I had with redemptions was a Red Hot Rookie card I got last year from Topps Series 2. That came back way before the website said it was supposed to. I ended up just writing another email to see where that gets me.

  3. Kind of a tough one. That is a really cool story. I’m glad I clicked the link. Originally, I was wondering – what’s so great about getting a signed card of a moderately productive Indiana Pacers power forward?

    Seriously, though, I wonder how Topps was getting him to sign. If he’s 78 years old (now 80), blind and lives alone, think how many things could logistically have happened? Did they mail the cards to him – how would he even know? Was he living alone then, but has since moved to assisted living? A lot of things could have happened – but I’d want the card because, I agree – what could “equal beckett value” really be.

    Do they have a phone number you can call? It’s easier to raise hell over the phone than via email.

  4. I remember your original post… It made me kinda bummed that I ONLY pulled his shirt relic… Man, I love his story.

    I hope you eventually get the auto.

  5. I have a similar situation going on right now actually. I had pulled a Dracula autograph redemption card from Allen and Ginter about 4 or so months ago….I registered the card and it said that it should be shipped no later than 11/18/2011. Yesterday, I got the email from Topps stating that it is beyond the 15 week period of processing and that if I want to, I can get a card of equal value sent to me. It did provide me with a telephone number to reach them at…I might give them a call and try to find out any more information.
    Thanks for the story…hope you got your card.

  6. I feel your pain. Your not alone. 2011 topps Series 1 showed a sweet Tom Seaver Autograph Relic card, T60AR-TS #/50. It never showed up on ebay. After Series 2 launched, I found one on ebay as a redemption card. I won the auction @ $127.00 on 7-19-11. I went on line and entered the code. On 11-10-11 tops sends me the dreaded late notified notice. Now its 2-12-12, and no card yet. topps says they are waiting on the player to sign it. How long will I wait? WOW!!

Leave a Reply