Since I've been in the hobby, I've always heard from others about Topps' horrible customer service. For the most part, it seems like there are complaints about long hold times on the telephone, getting the run around from whomever they talk to, and getting poorly valued replacements for redemptions. I've never experienced Topps' customer service because I've never had occasion to... until now.
I've been waiting on a Mark Barron autograph from 2012 Topps Chrome Football. It's been almost one year and eight months since the product released and he still hasn't signed his cards. I doubt he will ever sign. That being the case, I figured I might as well request a replacement autograph. I also wanted to get my blue wave pack before Topps' ran out of them. (All 2012 Topps Chrome redemption cards were to be fulfilled with a special pack of blue wave cards.) In all honesty, I'm more concerned about getting a blue wave pack than getting a good replacement autograph.
So on Friday during my lunch break, I called Topps' Consumer Relation phone number at 1-800-489-9149 and found myself on hold, and second in line for service. Within 30 seconds, another pre-recorded messaged played telling me I was first in line. This was a pleasant surprise. I had heard horror stories of people being on hold for -- literally -- an hour before speaking to someone. Perhaps I just caught Topps on a good day when they weren't busy, or maybe they were making a very big effort to improve their customer service.
After another 30 seconds a woman picked up the phone. She introduces herself as "Remy" and asked me my name. I told her. I guess she typed it into a computer and named off all four redemptions that I currently had outstanding. (Impressive!) Good thing I have a fairly unusual last name. I can only imagine if your name is something very common like "Mike Johnson" or something, a dozen people might pop up in their database and then they'd have to figure out which one you are.
Next she asked what I was calling for. I told her I wanted a replacement on my Mark Barron autograph redemption. She said that was fine and asked me to hold while she looked up "how much the card is going for."
I thought it was a bit funny how they were trying to ascertain a price or value for this card, which never was produced (because Mark Barron never signed it). At most, whatever value they came up with would only be theoretical. I suppose you could rely on the sale history of the redemption card, but eBay didn't have any current sales of Mark Barron 2012 Topps Chrome autograph redemptions.
I was on hold for about four minutes when all of a sudden, I heard a click. She had hung up on me. It was likely an accident, but still annoying.
So I called back. This time, I was immediately connected to a different representative. She was a woman, and took about three minutes taking down my information and request again. She then put me on hold. After another minute on hold a second woman came onto the line and said that she was going to transfer me to another representative "to complete this matter." Could the last person I talked to not complete this matter herself? Not having much of a choice, I said okay. Next, a third woman answers the phone, and immediately puts me on hold. Why? I don't know.
So at this point, between the two phone calls, I had spoken to four different ladies. The first one hung up on me, and the next three just kept putting me on hold and transferring me to other people.
Finally, the fourth person (for this phone call) picks up the line, and asks me what I want. I tell her again, and give her my name. She tells me she's Remy, the gal I talked to on the first phone call, and that she accidentally hung up on me. She apologized and noted that she's sitting at someone else's desk right now and this person's phone (or phone line) is messed up and it sometimes disconnects when it shouldn't. Okay, no biggie. She then tells me she's going to put me on hold so she can go look up the card's Beckett Value. Did she not get around to doing that the first time I called?
After being on hold for another few minutes, Remy came back on the line. She explained that the Mark Barron autograph had a Becket Value of $25.00 and that I would be getting a card of equal or greater value within one or two weeks. I said that was fine, but I wanted to make sure that I got a blue wave pack too. She said she'd put a note in the order, and that the orders are processed by a different department so she personally couldn't do anything about it. Fair enough. I thanked her for her help and that was it.
Overall I wouldn't say that my experience with Topps' customer service was bad at all. Sure there was a dropped call, a little bit too much transferring between representatives, but I wasn't on hold for a long time and the representatives were fairly pleasant.
Now, the only question remaining is whether the card I receive from Topps will have an equal or greater value of $25.00, and whether I get my blue wave pack...
