Redemption cards... There are some people who actually enjoy the thrill of the "wait", however most people probably prefer to pull the actual card. Personally, I'm a little bit of both. Of course, I'd love to have the card right in my hands immediately after pulling it from a pack. However, I understand (or maybe have accepted the fact) that redemption cards are here to stay and choose to make the best out of a situation.
So, when I received this Aaron Rodgers/A.J. Hawk dual autograph redemption card from a custom mystery pack on YouTube... I was pumped. I didn't have the actual autographs in my possession, but in my mind... autographs of two of my favorite current players would be worth the wait.
I immediately redeemed the card (in November 2009) and it told me they were waiting for one (or both) of the athletes to finish signing the card. And so the waiting began.
After 6 months, I actually forgot about the redemption until someone on Sports Card Forum contacted me to see if I ever received the card. I immediately called and they told me that Rodgers never sent in his autographs. Upper Deck asked me to send in a replacement request. In the request, they asked for a list of players who I deemed acceptable as a replacement. I knew it was a longshot, but I requested Bart Starr or Brett Favre, along with a bunch of other Packer legends.
Here's what I received:
Card #1: Dual Auto of Brian Cushing & Rey Maualuga
Card #2: A.J. Hawk Patch Autograph
Now, I know this is debatable... but I personally wasn't happy with the replacement. Sure, the Hawk is sweet and I'm pumped to have it. However the Cushing/Maualuga dual just didn't do it for me. I would have preferred to have a quarterback as a replacement.
So I called it in and pleaded my case, which was simply... Can I trade in the defensive dual auto for a single autograph of a quarterback?
Long story short, Upper Deck told me to keep the dual autograph and that they'd send me a bonus autograph guaranteed to be a QB. Well, on Saturday the card arrived.
Bonus Card: Eli Manning Autograph
Personally, I'd rather have an Aaron Rodgers' autograph over all three of these cards. But, I'm not complaining. The Hawk autographed patch went into my PC the day it arrived at my house. The Cushing/Maualuga dual autograph should be decent trade bait to USC collectors. And the Eli Manning... well... it's the first Eli autograph I've held, so it too will be entering my PC.
Thank you Upper Deck for your generosity and understanding.
I am one of those people that don't mind redemptions too much. Sure, I would have preferred to have pulled the Rodgers/Hawk card. It sounds like a pretty awesome card instead of a redemption. It looks like they sent you some decent stuff tho. I have heard outrageous stories of UD sending collectors some really over the top cards for redemptions that they can not fill. I have also heard of some really bad stories of UD sending collectors cards of players that are not even in the league any more. So I guess the deciding factor in whether people like redemption cards or not is what they actually get back. I'm waiting on one from Panini. We'll see how that goes.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I like the new layout. Especially the widget with you pc links. I might have to do something like that. Which widget did you use to allow for hyper links?
Hey Charles - Yeah I've heard of some disaster stories as well... that's why I figured I'd call to see what they could do. The UD representative seemed really nice and was more than willing discuss the options. Good luck with Panini. I'm interested in hearing about how their customer service is.
ReplyDeleteAs for the pc links... I just added a text box. From there, I typed in my different PCs... then added color... then created the links.
I'm still not done tinkering with the site yet. We'll see how things turn out. Have a great week!
At least the Manning looks like it's on-card.
ReplyDeleteI still hold the record for worst switch (in my mind).
I had a redemption for a Robin Lopez Murad auto, and they sent me an auto of Saer Sene.
But at least yours turned out well.
Hey G_Moses - yeah... the Manning (and the other two) are all on-card autos. Yeah, I'd be pissed if Topps sent me a Sene autograph in place of a Lopez.
ReplyDeleteIf it was recent, I'd give Topps a call and see what they can do. You never know.
G_Moses, Who did they send you a card of???
ReplyDeleteRIDICULOUS!!!!