Topps Damaged Card Replacement
 

Apologies if this is the wrong section.

Recently, I opened a pack of 2019 Bowman's Best, and pulled an autograph that had damage to it on top of the signature. Appears to water and/or some kind of residue.

I have filled out Topps claim form, but noticed that it doesn't have a section for "Player/card number" and seems like they're asking only for "letter of explanation", sales receipt, UPC Code under the box and wrappers.


[B]Are you supposed to send the damaged card in with your Damage Form or do you just speak to what card it was in your Letter of Explanation? Basically, how do they know which card to try and replace?[/B]

Thanks!

I had a damaged card come yesterday directly from Topps. I;
-called their customer service number
-only on hold 2 minutes
-very pleasant lady and fast experience
-they sent me email detailing I needed to send back
-pic of damaged card
-pic of packing slip/sales receipt
-they then approved the return after reviewing and created a "return authorization" for my card
-print up mailing label and send back via USPS
-print up return authorization letter and include in package
-all this, for me, was in my account with Topps online
-ship back damaged product
-wait for replacement

She said it essentially is the same with purchases not with Topps

[QUOTE=RickeyHenderson;15829238]I had a damaged card come yesterday directly from Topps. I;
-called their customer service number
-only on hold 2 minutes
-very pleasant lady and fast experience
-they sent me email detailing I needed to send back
-pic of damaged card
-pic of packing slip/sales receipt
-they then approved the return after reviewing and created a "return authorization" for my card
-print up mailing label and send back via USPS
-print up return authorization letter and include in package
-all this, for me, was in my account with Topps online
-ship back damaged product
-wait for replacement

She said it essentially is the same with purchases not with Topps[/QUOTE]


Ahh, so she had you send take a picture of the card, and also send the card in? I read that they wanted pack wrappers and stuff. Did they not ask you for this?

They did not...but, I also bought it directly from Topps so they know what I got.

I recommend you just call them and see what she says to do to expedite it. Also, I try and schmooze them in case that gets me anything better/quicker

[QUOTE=RickeyHenderson;15829269]They did not...but, I also bought it directly from Topps so they know what I got.

I recommend you just call them and see what she says to do to expedite it. Also, I try and schmooze them in case that gets me anything better/quicker[/QUOTE]

Good to know. I will call!

Thanks for the info, it was extremely helpful!

I mailed in the damaged card when I did the replacement through Topps. They did not return the damaged card, only the replacement.

I recently called Topps about damaged cards from a 2020 series 1 blaster box i bought. They all had a weird "overspray" type finish to them as opposed to the normal gloss on series 1. Their was also a couple damaged cards. The real heartbreaker was that we pulled a Yordan Alvarez SP RC, and it had the worst of the finish issues on it, and the CS rep essentially said they could not/would not guarantee that the Yordan card would be replaced with the same card, and my son would rather have the damaged card than not have the Alvarez SP. Here are some pics to show:

This is what good cleared series 1 cards look like.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/sWlczvX.jpg?3[/img]

This is the oversprayed cards.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Z7RoTnh.jpg?1[/img]

If you zoom in, you can see the splatter.

And here is the yordan, and if you look at the bottom, their is a section of that heavy overspray along the bottom to Yordan's right side.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/z8jnBRJ.jpg?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/pGINPaQ.jpg?1[/img]

Cool card nonetheless, and we don't grade cards, we collect for our PC, but still a bummer. Wish Topps was able to swap us out. Even for a gold/2020, but the kid likes this pose on the card, so he still wanted to one-touch it for his vault collection.

Topps is actually really good about replacing the damaged cards as long as you do what it says on the form. I had a blaster where every single card had a damaged corner (even though the box itself didn't) so I sent the wrappers, the cards, the upc code, the receipt and the form, and they replaced them all card for card. It took less than two weeks, although this was in February before the virus has probably disrupted their routine. You should point out in the comments section that the Yordan is the SP, just in case they don't notice.

I sent in a wander purple auto in January. they are trying to see what they can do. sounds like they will send me something else as I was told a lot of the wanders had some damages to them. they put a value on the card of 1000. due to coronavirus they are backed up in making decisions. I spoke to them earlier today and that is what they told me

The latest response I got from Topps was nothing more than returning to me the same 4 damaged cards I sent in for replacement or equal value return. There was a small card enclosed signed by someone named Sherry. There were 4 potential reasons why the cards were returned but none of these boxes were checked. There WAS however a statement by Topps on this little card. It says Topps will not replace a card it deems to be a grade 8 or better. These cards have scratches and print lines, not gradable or sellable. In addition to this insult, Topps removed the cards from the soft sleeves and top loaders I sent them in, re-sleeved the cards, placed in top loaders and put the Topps seal sticker over the top and then sent the exact same cards back to me without an explanation on their little "reason why" card. I did EXACTLY as they asked on the website, labels, pictures, receipts + the cards. 2021 Finest Baseball. Topps just does not care anymore is my conclusion.

[QUOTE=MH6MH6;17528509]The latest response I got from Topps was nothing more than returning to me the same 4 damaged cards I sent in for replacement or equal value return. There was a small card enclosed signed by someone named Sherry. There were 4 potential reasons why the cards were returned but none of these boxes were checked. There WAS however a statement by Topps on this little card. It says Topps will not replace a card it deems to be a grade 8 or better. These cards have scratches and print lines, not gradable or sellable. In addition to this insult, Topps removed the cards from the soft sleeves and top loaders I sent them in, re-sleeved the cards, placed in top loaders and put the Topps seal sticker over the top and then sent the exact same cards back to me without an explanation on their little "reason why" card. I did EXACTLY as they asked on the website, labels, pictures, receipts + the cards. 2021 Finest Baseball. Topps just does not care anymore is my conclusion.[/QUOTE]

Or your cards were not that bad.

If I send them in my Ohtani 2018 SkyBlue parallels both of which are severely dinged is there a chance that they just keep the cards and send something else back?

I thought the whole idea was to get back a new card( the same card) in exchange for the damaged one?

This is an old thread, apologize if there is a newer one or this question has been addressed somewhere else.

In a break I received a Bobby Witt Sapphire Variation /25 that is badly damaged (on the back of the card it looks like the plastic film covering the card is peeling off). The breaker spotted it, pointed it out, and recommended I file a claim with Topps. I do plan to do that, but my question is: for a card that is fairly valuable like this, what kind of replacement should I expect? I'm guessing its worth ~$1,200-1,500 or so (without the damage) and I'm worried I might get back a crappy sticker auto and a couple series 1 hobby packs.

[QUOTE=nmh20;18806569]This is an old thread, apologize if there is a newer one or this question has been addressed somewhere else.

In a break I received a Bobby Witt Sapphire Variation /25 that is badly damaged (on the back of the card it looks like the plastic film covering the card is peeling off). The breaker spotted it, pointed it out, and recommended I file a claim with Topps. I do plan to do that, but my question is: for a card that is fairly valuable like this, what kind of replacement should I expect? I'm guessing its worth ~$1,200-1,500 or so (without the damage) and I'm worried I might get back a crappy sticker auto and a couple series 1 hobby packs.[/QUOTE]

This probably warrants a call to customer service and some direct questions about whether they can replace (re-make, or have additional copies of) the exact card, or would you get a substitute. I would not feel comfortable mailing that one back and hoping they send you the same card in return.

My experience in this is very limited and I have only done one return, for a '19 Sapphire vlad jr. RC that was creased. But I already knew that others had gotten theirs replaced, so I was fairly certain i would get one back, and I did. But for a numbered parallel worth considerably more...I'd want to check with Topps first.

[IMG]https://pbase.com/towerymt/image/171415635/medium.jpg[/IMG]

Good luck!

[QUOTE=towerymt;18806606]This probably warrants a call to customer service and some direct questions about whether they can replace (re-make, or have additional copies of) the exact card, or would you get a substitute. I would not feel comfortable mailing that one back and hoping they send you the same card in return.

My experience in this is very limited and I have only done one return, for a '19 Sapphire vlad jr. RC that was creased. But I already knew that others had gotten theirs replaced, so I was fairly certain i would get one back, and I did. But for a numbered parallel worth considerably more...I'd want to check with Topps first.

[IMG]https://pbase.com/towerymt/image/171415635/medium.jpg[/IMG]

Good luck![/QUOTE]

Thank you for the response. I just called them and the rep was not overly helpful, he basically just said they will either send back the same card or their team will send back a card or cards they feel is of equal value. THey wouldn't know until they received the card and were able to look at it and determine the extent of the damage and the value.

I emailed them instead and attached pictures. We shall see if I get a more helpful response or not.

I will say this. Topps has definitely listened to all of our complaints about customer service. Someone came in and turned on the customer service button, because they answer the phone now, are extremely pleasant, and even do subtle nice things for their customers. I had a call with them about a month ago about a redemption and a week later I got a package in the mail saying "thank you for being a loyal Topps customer, and included was two bowman chrome autos they just sent me. Now, they aren't worth anything but the gesture was awesome in my eyes.

That being said, I have a damaged James Wood orange auto from 2022 bowman that I sent in around 6 months ago. Not only can they not tell me anything about the replacement.....they cannot even tell me if they received the card. They said to refer to my tracking info and if it says "delivered" then they received it. Not very encouraging....