• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

If you arrived here from 'ATS', and you were a member of the Collectors Club when you got here...
0

18 posts in this topic

... Did you maintain your membership or did you essentially quit the club when you started posting here?

This is generally a question for the folks who either can't post any longer at PCGS or choose not to.

When I decided to leave the PCGS boards I had only recently renewed my membership and I still have the grading credits, but I don't wish to submit coins to them any longer.

If you quit the club, did they refund the fees if you hadn't used the voucher?

I'm quitting their Collectors Club because I don't want to do business with them anymore, due to their business ethics conflicting with my own.

I'm wondering how they handle such things and if there are many people who were in similar situations in the past, what was their/your experience(?)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have all your answers as I have never been in your situation; however there is no way to "quit" the collectors club that I'm aware of its not really like a job.  Once you have paid you are a member for the year, its possible that if you contact PCGS they may be willing to refund your money and unenroll you but that is just a guess on my part.  Another option is to see about selling those credits, again I would suggest contacting PCGS to see if that is an option or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/15/2020 at 12:37 PM, Coinbuf said:

I don't have all your answers as I have never been in your situation; however there is no way to "quit" the collectors club that I'm aware of its not really like a job.  Once you have paid you are a member for the year, its possible that if you contact PCGS they may be willing to refund your money and unenroll you but that is just a guess on my part.  Another option is to see about selling those credits, again I would suggest contacting PCGS to see if that is an option or not.

"No way to quit the collectors club"...!  Reminds me of a movie from back in the early 90's where Tom Cruise plays a young lawyer who joins a law firm only to discover his boss is the devil himself. :devil:

Tom Cruise couldn't exactly 'quit the club' either.

I'm wondering if the parallels here, between that move and the club, are purely coincidental. (Or maybe I should be VERY careful how I ask for that refund!) :|

I'll just send their Customer Service dept a nice letter explaining my dilemma. :foryou: Maybe that will do the trick.

Thanks Coinbuf!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, ProfHaroldHill said:

"No way to quit the collectors club"...!  Reminds me of a movie from back in the early 90's where Tom Cruise plays a young lawyer who joins a law firm only to discover his boss is the devil himself. :devil:

Tom Cruise couldn't exactly 'quit the club' either.

I'm wondering if the parallels here, between that move and the club, are purely coincidental. (Or maybe I should be VERY careful how I ask for that refund!) :|

I'll just send their Customer Service dept a nice letter explaining my dilemma. :foryou: Maybe that will do the trick.

Thanks Coinbuf!

I think that movie is called " The Firm"  pretty good movie. Better look over your shoulder professor if you try to jump ship. Lol. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Business ethics... interesting!  We tend to repress unpleasant experiences so I had completely forgotten why I somewhat inaccurately claimed I had allowed my membership at PCGS to "lapse." That is, until a few hours ago when, as a participating set registrant, I was invited to take a brief survey, which went on and on, and got increasingly personal to where I declined to answer certain questions, hit Submit, whereupon I was informed I had made an error, which I had no choice but to investigate only to find an Ultimatum!  Essentially, an answer to this question is required. Required?  I am not a soldier in your army! What happened to "voluntary"?

So, you see Prof. Hill, I did what anyone somewhat in possession of their full faculties would have done: I backed out, and then the flood of memories came back to me triggered by that unconditional demand. (Do you remember that Abbott & Costello episode where Lou utters, Niagara, and Mr. Fields goes berserk? "Slow-ly I turned. Step-by-step..")

The first turn-off, if you will, is what Coinbuf politely refers to as enrollment... with strings attached. Irreconcilable differences? Too bad. Your membership cannot lapse. Unsubscribing is a manual process. And after a few more slights -- my unused grading credits suddenly evaporating, I had had enough. I disengaged and left. Collectors Club... like when you shop for upgrades, find none, or wares that are beneath your grade all the while being told "we are doing everything we can to find..."  No, you're not! Who needs that?  The Set Registry is a parallel universe. Get a load of this: How to improve your overall set rating: Why, start a U.S. coin set. "Everyone's doing it."  You kidding me? Business ethics? Ha!

Someone, apparently objecting to my presence here, very forwardly asked, You got a set over there, so why are you over here?  Truth be told, the threads over there are constricting. It's almost like being in a surgical suite and being instructed to produce specific instruments to perform specific tasks. It felt suffocating. Here, I feel welcomed.  Like I matter. Even my enemies cannot seem to get enough of me! I cannot imagine life without the likes of such disparate and intriguing personalities such as you, the ever gentlemanly Just Bob, the raucous newcomer NevadaS&G, the overwhelming MAULEMALL, the cantankerous VKurtB, the scholarly and dry-humored RWB (that someone even created an avatar for! Alex from PA?) Goldfinger1969, a host of ignorers who occasionally slip up and acknowledge my presence, and the ever-present Chilean secret police, DINA, who administer everything from wrist-slaps to banishment to Bogeyland. 

Business ethics?  Well, there is the right way and the wrong way and then there's PCGS' way.  I may own a nice set of Roosters but nobody gets to own me. And if push were to come to shove, there is always the welcoming arms of the folks in sunny Sarasota!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Quintus Arrius said:

Business ethics... interesting!  We tend to repress unpleasant experiences so I had completely forgotten why I somewhat inaccurately claimed I had allowed my membership at PCGS to "lapse." That is, until a few hours ago when, as a participating set registrant, I was invited to take a brief survey, which went on and on, and got increasingly personal to where I declined to answer certain questions, hit Submit, whereupon I was informed I had made an error, which I had no choice but to investigate only to find an Ultimatum!  Essentially, an answer to this question is required. Required?  I am not a soldier in your army! What happened to "voluntary"?

So, you see Prof. Hill, I did what anyone somewhat in possession of their full faculties would have done: I backed out, and then the flood of memories came back to me triggered by that unconditional demand. (Do you remember that Abbott & Costello episode where Lou utters, Niagara, and Mr. Fields goes berserk? "Slow-ly I turned. Step-by-step..")

The first turn-off, if you will, is what Coinbuf politely refers to as enrollment... with strings attached. Irreconcilable differences? Too bad. Your membership cannot lapse. Unsubscribing is a manual process. And after a few more slights -- my unused grading credits suddenly evaporating, I had had enough. I disengaged and left. Collectors Club... like when you shop for upgrades, find none, or wares that are beneath your grade all the while being told "we are doing everything we can to find..."  No, you're not! Who needs that?  The Set Registry is a parallel universe. Get a load of this: How to improve your overall set rating: Why, start a U.S. coin set. "Everyone's doing it."  You kidding me? Business ethics? Ha!

Someone, apparently objecting to my presence here, very forwardly asked, You got a set over there, so why are you over here?  Truth be told, the threads over there are constricting. It's almost like being in a surgical suite and being instructed to produce specific instruments to perform specific tasks. It felt suffocating. Here, I feel welcomed.  Like I matter. Even my enemies cannot seem to get enough of me! I cannot imagine life without the likes of such disparate and intriguing personalities such as you, the ever gentlemanly Just Bob, the raucous newcomer NevadaS&G, the overwhelming MAULEMALL, the cantankerous VKurtB, the scholarly and dry-humored RWB (that someone even created an avatar for! Alex from PA?) Goldfinger1969, a host of ignorers who occasionally slip up and acknowledge my presence, and the ever-present Chilean secret police, DINA, who administer everything from wrist-slaps to banishment to Bogeyland. 

Business ethics?  Well, there is the right way and the wrong way and then there's PCGS' way.  I may own a nice set of Roosters but nobody gets to own me. And if push were to come to shove, there is always the welcoming arms of the folks in sunny Sarasota!

Well said Quintus. This place has grown on me too. And for my part of your mention above, thank you! 

Some say that, today, "business ethics" is but two contradictory terms sitting side by side.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being a member on the boards and being a member of the club are two different things. They have nothing to do with each other. I don't think they will refund a club membership and the voucher is only good for one year. You have to use it or loose it and you can't transfer it. Best thing to do is to just use the voucher and move on.

There is no reason to bash forum members on CU or for CU forum members to bash the folks here.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, ProfHaroldHill said:

That was the movie! 

 

12 hours ago, Hoghead515 said:

I think that movie is called " The Firm"  pretty good movie. Better look over your shoulder professor if you try to jump ship. Lol. 

I think you guys mashed up 2 movies actually.  In The Firm Tom Cruise was the young attorney with no way to quit after joining but it was The Devil's Advocate where Keanu Reaves was the young attorney and his father was the devil.  But both decently entertaining movies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[Jimmy Kimmel:  Okay. You've used your 50-50 and Ask the Audience options. That leaves you with Call a Friend...

(Ringing of phone heard)

Marisa Tomei:  Hello?

Joe Pesci:  Yeah, it's me. Now listen...  You subscribe to a service for one year that comes with a free club membership and eight grading vouchers. You join on Feb. 14, 2019. When do any unused credits expire?  Twelve seconds left!

Marisa Tomei:  Dat's E-zee!  Feb-you-erry 13, 2020.

Joe Pesci:  But you don't renew your membership! You unsubscribe in De-cem-buh 2019!

Marisa Tomei:  Duzz-int mat-ta. One's got nuth-in-nuh do wid da ot-thu!  A ye-uh izza ye-uh!

Joe Pesci:  Are you suuure?

Marisa Tomei:  Yeah, I'm suuure!

(Buzzer heard sounding)

Joe Pesci:  Thanks, babe. Gotta go! ...

THE UNUSED COIN CLUB VOUCHERS EXPIRE WHEN YOUR MEMBERSHIP EXPIRES REGARDLESS OF RENEWAL.

Jimmy Kimmel: CONGRATULATIONS!  You are America's Newest Millionaire!]

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/17/2020 at 3:56 AM, ldhair said:

Being a member on the boards and being a member of the club are two different things. They have nothing to do with each other. I don't think they will refund a club membership and the voucher is only good for one year. You have to use it or loose it and you can't transfer it. Best thing to do is to just use the voucher and move on.

There is no reason to bash forum members on CU or for CU forum members to bash the folks here.  

I've not seen any forum members 'bashed' by anyone in this thread.

My question was about people getting refunded.... Has anyone managed to get their money back.

Apparently the answer is 'No'.

Pardon me, I mean, 'Not yet.'

😎

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/17/2020 at 3:56 AM, ldhair said:

Being a member on the boards and being a member of the club are two different things. They have nothing to do with each other.

Yes. Actually I had quit posting on the PCGS boards after the mods shut down a light hearted thread about the perils of having a glass of wine or beer before bidding on or outright buying coins online.

There was not one word of ridicule, nothing was said in anger, it was just a fun thread. (And I'm not a drinker.)

They also discriminate openly, shutting down posts and sometimes the posters, of content that makes fun of groups they feel are deserving of special status, but at the same time allowing derision and mockery of "hillbillies" and, "white people".

One side of my family were sharecroppers in North Carolina hill country. They knew that word, hillbilly, and others. All were designed to remove them from the rest of humanity. Second rate people.

It was the hypocrisy of the mods enforcing their own beliefs in a holier than thou manner, coupled with their allowing groups they apparently disfavor to be ridiculed and disparaged, that had me looking for the exit. I headed over here.

I didn't decide to stop doing business with them until they reacted to my posts indicating my hopes for the company if it was taken into private hands, by disappearing all my posts. I linked to the thread about the counterfeit Sacagawea Lincoln overstrikes and admonished the administration!

Turns out they have a special form of punishment for those they really, really hate. Not a suspension, not even the usual ban, where everything you ever posted is still up but you can't use the boards and your avatar is replaced with a notice that you were banned.

But for those who dare challenge their supremacy, they remove the person's entire history. None of what was contributed remains, no jovial notes to friends, no pics, none of the help given others, etc.

Clearly it's an act of vengeance. 

Any company who moderates like that, and who is willing to slab coins like those overstrikes, then tries to silence those who 'call them out' on it, is not a company that I will continue to do business with.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ProfHaroldHill I understand how you feel, you highlight some valid concerns. Perhaps one can explain some of these policies by stepping back and looking at the larger picture. Consider the environment (CA) unquestionably one of the area's known for the cancel culture. They have dominated the market for a longtime and without competition the consumer usually suffers. Many years ago I remember when they had a few good customer service representatives. Business ethics are important too me as well, one of my greatest concerns is grading consistency. A wise numismatist once said, "You must have the best graders to ensure accurate and consistent grading."  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BACKINTHEDAY.... PCGS Gave new members a grading/counterfeit book and a book for inventory... Good Stuff.. I used to keep the book and my NGC coffee mug by my chair and go through it while I was going through auction archives on Heritages site..

Their board back then was full of all-stars and you could suck in all the knowledge you wanted..

I forget how much it cost... But Worth every penny.. I never even used my free submissions..

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, MAULEMALL said:

BACKINTHEDAY.... PCGS Gave new members a grading/counterfeit book and a book for inventory... Good Stuff.. I used to keep the book and my NGC coffee mug by my chair and go through it while I was going through auction archives on Heritages site..

Their board back then was full of all-stars and you could suck in all the knowledge you wanted..

I forget how much it cost... But Worth every penny.. I never even used my free submissions..

 

I have that book on my desk and use it all the time!  Great reference even if its somewhat out of date now.  Although I must have been shorted as I don't have the inventory book., figures O.o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
0