PCGS Turnaround Times

Good news and bad news:

I received an email from PCGS telling me that the resubmission of 25 coins was being returned.

The box arrived yesterday (Saturday, 8/13). I opened it up and found that only 5 of the 25 coins had been returned.

When I resubmitted the coins I had to complete new submission forms. I had to use the PDF forms that only have space for 20 coins. So there were two (2) submission forms, each with the same number (the original submission number).

So although all 25 coins were submitted together, with the same submission number, they are being returned separately.

The photos of the 5 we received (let alone the other 20) are not yet available.

PCGS RECEIVED MY ECONOMY SUBMISSION ON JUNE 30th, with posted turnaround time of 30 days. After which the weekly times changed as follows; 36 days, 37, 43, 42, 47, 36, and on 8/29 42 days. But 2 days later, on 8/31 50 days! This is by far the longest duration/delay that I've experienced for any PCGS submission.

You have my sympathy wings.

I was hoping that by now I'd be able to report that we had received all of our coins back from PCGS, but that's not the case.

Of 59 coins submitted, they still have 20.

Those 20 are the majority of a submission of 25, which was received by PCGS on May 23 and shipped back to us on July 18.

Unfortunately, although we had requested "secure service" for those 25 coins, that was not performed.

Due to that "mechanical error" (as PCGS calls it) those 25 coins had to be returned. PCGS received them (for the second time) on August 1.

Five (5) of the 25 coins were processed relatively quickly. They were shipped back on August 11. Still, that's 11+ weeks (over 55 business days) -- not counting the shipping time to or from PCGS on either end.

The remaining 20 coins are still at PCGS. This Monday, September 5, will be a full 15 weeks and counting, from when they were first received by PCGS on May 23.

It would be bad enough if this was an ordinary submission and I had been told the turnaround time would be 50 days (as I gather is currently the case).

We were led to believe that the turnaround time would be no more than 30 days, max.

Instead, they had those 25 coins for a full 8 weeks, _40_ business days.

Then, due to their 'mechanical error', we had to resubmit all 25 coins -- which necessitated filling out the PDF forms again from scratch, line by line, finding a box and packing material, driving to FedEx (15 miles r/t) because PCGS will not pay for a pickup (or for USPS Priority Mail, which is what PCGS uses...). In short, it cost us time and money to return the coins -- due to PCGS' error.

I don't have a MBA degree, but it seems to me that when a business makes a mistake the correct response is to:

a) Make correcting the mistake as easy as possible for the customer, and

b) Correct any mistakes before moving on to other jobs.

Those 25 coins should have all been processed and shipped back to us in less than one week, max.

Prior to submitting our coins to PCGS I had heard nothing but high praise for them.

I have to say I am very disappointed.

At this point whenever PCGS gets around to performing the secure service on the remaining 20 coins, the least they can do is not charge us the additional $125 for that submission.

I'll post here again when I have more to report.

I've had very similar experiences to the above in terms of delays but I do have the opposite story. Submitted an express order which arrived on the 26th August, 12 coins mostly Aussie and the results were posted last night, total turn around of 6 business days. The grades are very fair as well.

They are probably bogged down with all the OTHER mistakes they are having to fix.

As for the long wait times, I've watched PCGS and NGC since their start and wait times have always fluctuated. Some time very short other times very long, up to six months. But it is always the same, if it takes more than a week or two people start griping. Every one want their coins NOW!

What I like are the people that start complaining when turnaround time start getting longer that say "Well if they're getting behind they need to put on some more graders." It there a Temp service out there somewhere you can call up and say "Send me four world class grader right away."? (Well there might be , but they would be looking to leveling out your landscaping.

While I have no doubt that there are unreasonable PCGS customers who start to complain if their coins haven't been shipped back to them within a week of PCGS receiving them, I think it is safe to say that most people simply expect PCGS to uphold their end of the agreement.

As trout mentioned, the turnaround times are clearly printed on the submission forms. If you pay more you get faster service.

The 25 coins I mentioned above were submitted for 'economy' service, which has a stated turnaround time of 20-30 business days.

I've been around long enough to know that when a business (or person) gives a time frame, you can generally expect the actual delay to be closer to the longer end of the range. So I was expecting the turnaround to be close to 30 days, maybe even a day or 2 over, but 40 days is excessive.

Then, to add insult to injury, the secure service we had requested was not done, so all 25 coins (which were already 2 weeks late) had to be returned -- which was very disappointing and cost us both time and money.

As of today it has been a full 15 weeks since PCGS first received our coins (5 submissions/59 total) and they still have 20 of them that are "In Process".

Most customers understand that wait times will fluctuate -- I assumed that was accounted for with the 20-30 day (4 to 6 week) turnaround time. If turnaround times can be as long as 6 months (as Conder said) then PCGS should either:

a) List the turnaround time as "approximately 20 to 120 business days", or

b) List the "typical" turnaround time as "approximately 20 to 40 business days" and then give a link where customers can go to see the actual current turnaround time -- so they will have a realistic expectation.

Trout asks a good question:

"PCGS list their turnaround times and I know that these are just "Estimates" But as we have to pay more to get things done faster why isn't there a provision for a "Discount" if the submission takes longer than the listed turnaround times."

That is, in fact, how many contracts are written -- the job will be done by [date]. If job is not complete by [date] there will be a [x% per day] discount applied.

Submitted my order - turnaround times quoted as 26 business days - after 38 b.ds. contacted the CSR who checked and found no problem and said the order should be graded very soon. Later that week the turnaround times actually dropped to 24 b.ds.

Well it is now 48 b.ds and still not done .Turnaround times changed this week to 35 b.ds.

Now as I pointed out to the CSR I don't mind waiting if I know how long something will take, but when you advertise a timeframe there is an expectation that this will be met give or take a few days.
PCGS create their own problem here - it is not the impatient customer but their service - if they advertise a timeframe then they should be able to deliver - otherwise change the timeframe to something more realistic - or is this because they don't want to put customers off when they see the long wait periods.

I don't know anyone who enjoys waiting and bogus turnaround times create anticipation and constant disappointment once the advertised period is met then exceeded by more than just a few days.

Nothing has change here going by the experience of others on this thread - not good enough.

Simple truth: PCGS can do what they please because they have only one meaningful competitor, who acts in exactly the same way.