Our Customer Care Supervisor is out this week on a much needed vacation. We have a few updates however so I wanted to step in and share those with our collectors for the weekly “Ask UD” segment here on the blog. If you have questions yourself, please feel free to leave a comment and “Ask UD!”

Here are some of the questions we’ve received recently in Customer Care:

Ask Upper Deck: I know you guys have been trying to get the Ryan Whitney Cup redemptions finished for some time. Will it really happen?

Chris Carlin: This has been a very difficult situation to say the least, but we are happy to say we have finally conducted a signing with Ryan Whitney and these cards have been completed. We appreciate how important these cards are for our customer’s sets so we have been diligent about seeing them get signed and secured. One of the main delays with these cards stems from the fact they have been lost twice previously. We recently finished reprinting these cards for the third time and tracked Ryan down on vacation in New England to sign them. We took great care to make sure they never left the hands of an Upper Deck representative this time. We finished conducting the signing and the cards are on their way back to us. We are hoping to get these cards out to fans that have been waiting on them in the coming weeks!

They are DONE! Ryan Whitney completed signing his redemptions for The Cup!

Ask Upper Deck: What is this “Hockey Fest” event that Upper Deck is sponsoring in New York?

Chris Carlin: We had talked about Dave & Adam’s Card World putting on a HUGE event in New York called “Hockey Fest” a couple weeks ago. The program started on Thursday with Gordie Howe signing for collectors and it was a huge hit. Fans have been lining up early to get a chance to meet some of the biggest names in hockey.

Mr. Hockey Gordie Howe signs for fans at Dave & Adam's "Hockey Fest" yesterday!

Fans were in line early at Dave & Adam's retail location to get a chance to meet a hockey legend for "Hockey Fest!"

The fun continues this weekend where puck fans can meet Steven Stamkos and Gilbert Perreault. Click here for more information and tickets to the event!

Ask Upper Deck: I have a personal item that I would love to have one of your exclusive athletes like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, LeBron James or Landon Donovan sign for me. Do you have a program where I could send it in to be signed and authenticated by Upper Deck?

Chris Carlin: Yes! The program is called the “Exclusive Signature Service” by Upper Deck Authenticated and we have been running it for some time now. If you have a special item that you would like to have one of our exclusive athletes sign, we can make that happen for you. Each of these athletes have signing sessions set up a few times a year so you simply need to contact us at (800)551-8220 to speak with one of our specialist about getting your items scheduled to be signed. We can go over the various pricing levels with you as well, so give us a call to discuss today! Also, ask about some of our amazing fan experience and game-used promotions we offer.

Ask Upper Deck: I opened a new pack of Upper Deck products and pulled a trading card that was damaged. Is there anything that can be done to fix this?

Chris Carlin: First, please accept our apologies for the damage you found to your card. We strive to produce the highest quality collectibles in the market, but sometimes damage can occur as cards are being packaged in particular. We are happy to assist with replacement on new trading card products that are purchased from our network of Certified Diamond Dealers and Authorized Internet Retailers. In fact, we can replace damaged cards for customers on a card-for-card basis for up to a year from the release date or until our inventory is depleted, whichever happens first. Unfortunately we cannot replace ultra-rare 1-of-1 cards or cut signature cards, but we do produce an inventory of replacement stock for almost every other type of card we make.

Fans who have found a damaged card simply need to contact us at (800)873-7332 or email us at [email protected] with all the pertinent details of your situation, including where you purchased the cards from. We will respond by assigning you a personalized case number and instructions on how to return the card(s) for replacement.

Ask Upper Deck: Can you replace older cards that are damaged? Why not?

Chris Carlin: Our business is different than most in that we are producing a collectible item. If you could get your collectible replaced for several years after they have been in the market, they would not be considered as collectible. Upper Deck is happy to assist with any claims customers have on new products, but after a year from the release date we destroy our inventory of replacement cards to maintain our product’s perception as collectibles. Please be careful when purchasing older product because if there are issues with damage, collation or expired offers, we will likely not be able to assist.