Ask UD: Exquisite TBD Redemptions, Online Account Errors, Phones, Expired Redemptions, Stick Kid Update & Wayne Gretzky Mail Day

We are currently interviewing for a new Customer Care Supervisor so until we have selected someone, I wanted to provide some updates to general consumer queries. The Ask UD segments we do here can be a lot of help for answering questions collectors have, so hope you find this helpful.

Here are some of the questions we’ve received recently here at Upper Deck:

Ask Upper Deck: I know you sent some groupings of the 2010 Exquisite Football TBD redemptions in the past, but there hasn’t been much movement on them. I’m still waiting to receive mine. What is the latest with those cards?

Chris Carlin: Well first we want to apologize to our customers who pulled these cards for the delays tied to them. We understand this is a premium product and fans have been very patient for us to get them done. This particular redemption program has been one of the top programs our executive team reviews during a weekly redemption meting and we have been pushing hard to get them completed.

One of the reasons we used a new system where we didn’t share exactly who the players were was so if there were issues in getting them done in time, we could swap them out with other players and move on. We are now at the point where we are going to be walking away from deals for some of the players and working to create new cards with new players in some cases; predominantly with the rookie cards. It is important to us to move forward there in those circumstances to there are no holes in the set. The good news is that most of the premium rookies were completed and live in the product like Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, Rob Gronkowski, Jahvid Best, Ndamakong Suh, Ryan Mathews and Dez Bryant. The rookie redemption cards were for regular autograph rookies and the players were more middle of the road players. By working to secure new deals and produce new cards, we are targeting new players that have performed a little better from that rookie class.

Additionally we have had some success with getting signing sessions done over the last few months which has freed up over 700 autograph cards from some of the better players in the set that we can now send out from this product. We will be sending those cards out over the next two weeks that should help bring closure to this redemption program for most of our collectors waiting on these cards.

After we ship this next lot, fans will have two choices if they are still waiting on these cards. If a customer has not seen the status on their redemption change by Monday, February 20 they can now request to have their card exchanged should they wish to no longer wait on them. We are in the process of establishing set values for these redemptions to use in exchanging these cards based on what they have sold for in the secondary market. Should a customer wish to have their card exchanged starting on Monday, February 20, they can send an email to time2swap@upperdeck.com listing out the card(s) in question from their account they want exchanged and what teams/players they have interest in. The customer should also be specific if they only want their card replaced with other Exquisite Football cards from other years. We have a good amount of stock of premium football autograph cards from other brands, but we know that some Exquisite fans prefer to have their card replaced with one from the same brand. From there we will work dutifully to swap those out through the end of February and March.

Fans do also have the option to continue to wait on these cards as we are going to be producing cards to fill in this set. That process will take time however as we need to reprint new cards to get signed by these athletes. We will continue to provide updates on that process for fans desirous of getting the cards needed to put the set together.

Ask Upper Deck: I’m trying to update my address on UpperDeck.com for my redemptions and I keep getting an error message.

Chris Carlin: We recently did some updates to our servers and became aware of some issues customers were having with their online accounts after that took place. Our IT team has been working hard to fix this issue and we are happy to report it has been resolved. Please feel free to log on today to update your address or register for a new redemption account!

Ask Upper Deck: I have been trying to call Upper Deck Customer Care, but I keep getting messages the team is not available. How can I speak to someone on an issue I am having?

Chris Carlin: We unexpectedly lost some key members of our Customer Care team and are in the process of sourcing for replacements. Unfortunately it is not very easy to go out into the job market and hire someone who knows a lot about our products so it takes awhile to find the right match. If you are a fan of Upper Deck Sports Cards living in the Southern California area and would love the opportunity to join the team with an entry level position with our Customer Care group, we encourage you to apply today by clicking here.

In the meantime the Customer Care staff has been working dutifully on answering emails received from consumers and we are dedicating other resources to help them out. We anticipate representatives will be back to taking consumer calls in the next 2-3 weeks and we will provide an update once they are back on the phones full-time.

Ask Upper Deck: I keep hearing chatter that Upper Deck may honor expired redemptions. Is there any truth to that?

Chris Carlin: No there is not. We have spoken to that subject before here on the Upper Deck Blog. We absolutely cannot honor expired redemption offers for leagues we no longer have the licenses for like MLB, NFL and NBA. We urge collectors to be careful when purchasing older sealed Upper Deck product because if there are issues with damage, collation, insert ratio or expired redemption offers, we unfortunately will not be able to assist there. If you choose to buy that product, you are purchasing it as is, similar to buying an item that is no longer under warranty.

In fact, we are in the process of closing out all those outstanding redemptions programs for those leagues starting with MLB. For fans currently waiting on redemptions from those leagues, we hope to complete that process of fulfilling or swapping out cards for those sports that were redeemed in time over the next few months.

Should collectors have a redemption card that has expired from NHL, CLC or MLS products, we will check to see if we still have inventory on the card and assist if possible, but we certainly cannot make any guarantees. As a general rule, if a card has been expired for over a year, collectors should not anticipate we will be able to assist with it.

Ask Upper Deck: What happened with the Stick Kid at the NHL All-Star Skills Competition? That was such a neat story!

Chris Carlin: We thought so too. Here’s more on Currie Giesler who was named Upper Deck’s Stick Kid for the NHL All-Star festivities. Long story short, he had an amazing time. Check out some of the images of him at the event and the thank you letter he sent:

Ask Upper Deck: I have been waiting on a Wayne Gretzky autograph for a long time now. Any updates on when he will sign?

Chris Carlin: A player like Wayne typically likes to sign just a few times a year which unfortunately causes us to use redemptions on occasion. We apologize for the delays these cause, it is our intention to have these cards live in the pack, but unfortunately that does not always happen. But the thrill of receiving an autograph from “The Great One” is really an experience that is second to none. Today was exciting for us as we received a whole box of autograph cards signed by Wayne Gretzky that we will be sending over to our Redemption headquarters, having them review for quality, package and ship out to fans who have been waiting on them.

Here is more on some of the cards we received: