Steiner a class act!

[brianborsch]

Re: Steiner a class act!

Yeah. I recently inquired on some items and they listed what they had. I asked if I could get pics of the items. Their response:

"No pics available."

Really? Forum members can supply pics of items they are selling, but a company who makes millions off of collectors can't? I find it hard to believe. Steiner has gotten too big for their britches as they think they can do whatever they want now that they have all this inventory. They are deinitely NOT trained in customer service skills. They may put on a show just to make a buck, but I assure you it doesn't happen often, and it is NOT genuine.

[suicide_squeeze]

Re: Steiner a class act!

reed1216,

I agree with you completely. I was hoping everyone could see the sarcasm in my 'joke' comments.

To the rest of you, lighten up. If you all can't see there is a connection between the moral corruption that is prevalent in our country and our own little world here in game used collecting, then you're all asleep at the wheel. In no way was I making a "political" statement. But what better analogy could I use to get my point across, than the complete and thorough breakdown of leadership and governmental failure we are having to endure in our lives. It is permeating throughout every facit of business we see around us. Just look at Steiner, Grey Flannel, AMI, the collapse of MastroNet.......

I was merely cracking a joke, and using an overly emcompassing analogy as to why things have deteriorated to such a monster degree in our lives. If you all choose to simplify it by ignoring what's going on outside your front doors, then do as you will at your own peril. I am truly sorry if I stepped on your little "escape" here in the GUU.....but like I said, this infection of moral corruptness is heavily infiltrated here too, so snap out of it. We're all here to look out for eachother, aren't we? Hate me as much as some of you do.....I can live it with, but I'm still looking out for you as a group, individual or not. Call me someone in need of attention if you like (lol....spare me!), but all I am doing is speaking my mind to protect myself and the people who share my interests as I see fit.

I am not trying to highjack this thread. I was simply voicing a general opinion on why things are so bad. Apparently everyone missed my point....completely. The picture of Bush with the upside-down phone is symbolic of the steady deterioration of everything our country has tried so hard to build over it's many decades of existence. It's a correlation of the lack of fundamental skills and quality of life that is being perpetrated down our throats as citizens of the "Greatest Country on earth". More directly to the point....Steiner's incompetence in running their own auction. Instead of doing things right, they run an auction with duplicated items, screwing it up to the point they have a bunch of angry disappointed clients who are being handed apologetic "gifts" for their own lack of professionalism in making sure what they just posted on their site as an auction is correct.

Where is the accountability?

Sure, people make mistakes. I just know that I try to do the best at my job, and I don't see the effort put out in a lot of what I come in contact with in my life. It pisses me off. I would hope that it would disappoint you all too. Again, I'm sorry that you all missed my point. But I will not stop posting my dismay over the crap we are all having to sift through. If we don't demand better as a group...as a society.....guess what? Things will just get worse.

I won't accept worse. That's why I come at these so-called professional auction houses. And I always will.

[suicide_squeeze]

Re: Steiner a class act!

Yeah. I recently inquired on some items and they listed what they had. I asked if I could get pics of the items. Their response:

"No pics available."

Really? Forum members can supply pics of items they are selling, but a company who makes millions off of collectors can't? I find it hard to believe. Steiner has gotten too big for their britches as they think they can do whatever they want now that they have all this inventory. They are deinitely NOT trained in customer service skills. They may put on a show just to make a buck, but I assure you it doesn't happen often, and it is NOT genuine.

Right on, Brian!!!

Don't accept it! Give it to em, the incompetent greedy money-making bastards. They'll take our money, in exorbitant amounts, but they can't use some of it for "quality control"?

"F" 'em! Tell em to take their "Steiner tamper proof stickers" and sprinkle em on their dinner salads.

Demand accountability, or tell em to get out of the business.

I still get an occasional call from some young poor bastard who has taken on a "sales" job with them, to try to push the rediculously priced garbage they sell for super high profit margins. I kind of laugh at first, questioning why I'm still on their phone list, and then go into my fatherly mode and try to explain, in a caring fashion, why they should maybe persue a different form of employment as soon as things get better economically. But somehow, I guess there are still enough lesser-informed people out there who like sports enough to get salesman'ed enought to buy the stuff, so these guys push on....at least for awhile. Sad, but the ones who buy this overpriced stuff will be the GUU forum members of tomorrow eventually.

And they'll be angry just like a lot of us are over the past reamings we have all endured, and learned by.

[suave1477]

Re: Steiner a class act!

Nice Shane Spencer helmet, even though he was a right handed hitter he liked to wear a helmet for a left-handed hitter right??? that way he was protected if a ball bounced off the backstop toward his head? huh??? NOT!

http://cgi.ebay.com/NY-YANKEES-SHANE-SPENCER-GAME-USED-HELMET-STEINER-LOA_W0QQitemZ320430015289QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9b1e0339

Typical of why you can't put too much stock in steiner stickers and LOAs. The ebay seller points out its may have been another player but Steiner just says it is a Spencer helmet. I am sure they will fall back on 'that is what the Yankees told us' like they always do but if you are going to issue an LOA on something you should at least find out if he is a right-handed or left-handed hitter.

One more suggestion, ignore LOAs and stickers and stamps and do your research.

FYI I AM THE SELLER OF THIS ITEM.

I will take partial blame for this item as I did do some homework but not all.
That is why it was mentioned in the descrption next to LOA that it could of been a typo for saying 2003 or possibly a different players helmet due to Spencer played with the team till 2002. In 2003 Jesse Orosco wore #47
So there was no intention whatsoever to mislead anyone to purchasing something other than what it was.
Also I have contacted the winning bidder and made them more detailed aware of what they won/what they think they might have won.

I myself of course did go off of a bit with more of what the Steiner LOA said and I do know better to do my own homework which is how I found out it could not have been from 2003.

But the obvious was pointed out to me (which I should of seen, but I overlooked) in an email regarding the flap on the ear which by the time I read it. It was too late.

Number9 I will assume you were the person who sent me that email. As it seems almost identical to what you wrote here is was I received. Also interesting you brought it up here.
I also thought forum rules was if you send out an email you give a person 24 hours to respond.

[intheminors]

Re: Steiner a class act!

I will give credit to some reps at Steiner for reading this board. After my original post, I was contact by my old rep. After exchanging some e-mails, at least I know that someone from Steiner is reading it.

It would be nice if Brandon Steiner would take notes on some of this. When I had originally e-mailed my problems to Steiner, I copied Brandon's assistant on the e-mail (which I later found out no longer works for the company). At least a few people at Steiner are trying to correct some of the problems.

Is it time to try and call out Brandon and see if he has a take on this? Would it do any good?

Kyle

[Number9]

Re: Steiner a class act!

Suave,
I think my post was pretty clear in that I was not criticizing YOU, that you DID point out it was not a Spencer helmet:

"The ebay seller points out its may have been another player."


All my points were about the STEINER LOA THEY issued:

"Typical of why you can't put too much stock in steiner stickers and LOAs. .... but Steiner just says it is a Spencer helmet. .... I am sure they will fall back on 'that is what the Yankees told us' like they always do but if you are going to issue an LOA on something you should at least find out if he is a right-handed or left-handed hitter. ..... One more suggestion, ignore LOAs and stickers and stamps and do your research."

All directed at Steiner for issuing an LOA saying it was Spencer's helmet when it clearly wasn't.

[suicide_squeeze]

Re: Steiner a class act!

I will give credit to some reps at Steiner for reading this board. After my original post, I was contact by my old rep. After exchanging some e-mails, at least I know that someone from Steiner is reading it.

It would be nice if Brandon Steiner would take notes on some of this. When I had originally e-mailed my problems to Steiner, I copied Brandon's assistant on the e-mail (which I later found out no longer works for the company). At least a few people at Steiner are trying to correct some of the problems.

Is it time to try and call out Brandon and see if he has a take on this? Would it do any good?

Kyle

Yeah, sure.....Let's all be real sweet and friendly, and kiss the asses of the very people who are sticking it to us.

Nothing against you Kyle.....this is not a personal attack or in any way an attempt to get your dander up.....but why are any of us here taking an approach that we need to act in a professional and civil manner to the money-making machines that distribute memorabilia for phat profits?

Of COURSE they're reading this board. Their incomes and livelyhoods depend on us, so they have to be prepared to perform damage control. What better way to accomplish that than to read into their problems at first opportunity......problems that could be avoided if they did the right things up front.

There will be those of you who say "Hey squeeze, calm down, they are taking care of it and offering up professional courtesy by passing out game issued stuff to make amends, so what's your gripe?"

That's not the issue. The issue is, there are members here expressing their different opinions on how Steiner has handled this "duplicated items auction"....some happy with the result, some not. My issue is why did it happen in the first place? If I had bid on something that was "game-used" that I really wanted, and then was told after I won it that a mistake was made, too bad, sorry Charlie, but we'll send you (this...enter choice here) as a replacement to show our remorse".....I'd tell em em to give that line of GARBAGE to the other dude who actually WON the item and send me the one I WON. Do you see the difference? There will ALWAYS be a loser, and that's a pretty sad sitch to have when you perform these auctions as part of your business. There is no excuse for it. Real game-used items are a one-of-a-kind. CARE should be taken in how they are presented to the collecting public.

As a collector, I say "give it to 'em" when they do the stupid things they do, without professionalism and concern, void of proper prep in the first place.

Complacent disregard for anything but making money. We as the end-user clients need to demand BETTER.

For those of you that have relationships and know people that you deal with over at these places, handle it however you like. But I choose not to swim in the same water with the sharks who look at us as their daily chum. This forum is my shark repellent harpoon, and I'm using it.

[suicide_squeeze]

Re: Steiner a class act!

Suave,
I think my post was pretty clear in that I was not criticizing YOU, that you DID point out it was not a Spencer helmet:

"The ebay seller points out its may have been another player."


All my points were about the STEINER LOA THEY issued:

"Typical of why you can't put too much stock in steiner stickers and LOAs. .... but Steiner just says it is a Spencer helmet. .... I am sure they will fall back on 'that is what the Yankees told us' like they always do but if you are going to issue an LOA on something you should at least find out if he is a right-handed or left-handed hitter. ..... One more suggestion, ignore LOAs and stickers and stamps and do your research."

All directed at Steiner for issuing an LOA saying it was Spencer's helmet when it clearly wasn't.

Number9,

You are absolutely right on.

If suave1477 doesn't possess the gonads to go back at (whomever) who he won the piece from upon realization it's garbage, then that's his problem, so to speak. The helmet was flat-out improperly represented as a Spencer helmet. It's not.

But like I commented on a previous post just recently.....these types of ill conceived auctions create "bad" situations, because buyers that normally wouldn't resell garbage find themselves with a financial loss. It gets in their craw, so they become part of the problem by recirculating the garbage in the hobby. So to his credit, you say he did mention it may be another players helmet? That's horses#!T....he knows it, you know it, and I know it. That "credit" is not welcome in my store. It's ABSOLUTELY another player's helmet, so why place a bit of lipstick on the pig?

suave1477, why don't you man up and take that garbage back to where it was misrepresented in the first place and make them pay you your money back?

Is it that it's just easier to offer it, sugarcoated in a way that you can recoup some/most of your money, while having garbage end up in someone else's lap that may not have the knowledge you/we here have? I mean, after all, at that point, it's not your problem anymore!! That's low, partner.

[JETEFAN]

Re: Steiner a class act!

As I've said before, Steiner has no clue as to Who, What, Where and When of what they sell, They have destroyed the Yankees game used memorabilia market and they are done as far as quality Yankees items(George's vault ran dry!!) Let's see what happens when they run out of freeze dried Yankees grass plugs !! Stricktly my opinion which happens to be correct..

George

[suave1477]

Re: Steiner a class act!

Number9,

You are absolutely right on.

If suave1477 doesn't possess the gonads to go back at (whomever) who he won the piece from upon realization it's garbage, then that's his problem, so to speak. The helmet was flat-out improperly represented as a Spencer helmet. It's not.

But like I commented on a previous post just recently.....these types of ill conceived auctions create "bad" situations, because buyers that normally wouldn't resell garbage find themselves with a financial loss. It gets in their craw, so they become part of the problem by recirculating the garbage in the hobby. So to his credit, you say he did mention it may be another players helmet? That's horses#!T....he knows it, you know it, and I know it. That "credit" is not welcome in my store. It's ABSOLUTELY another player's helmet, so why place a bit of lipstick on the pig?

suave1477, why don't you man up and take that garbage back to where it was misrepresented in the first place and make them pay you your money back?

Is it that it's just easier to offer it, sugarcoated in a way that you can recoup some/most of your money, while having garbage end up in someone else's lap that may not have the knowledge you/we here have? I mean, after all, at that point, it's not your problem anymore!! That's low, partner.

Suicide as usual I love your comments - so colorful.

If I was trying to sugar coat something I wouldn't even bother bringing back up Number9's comment. I did so for a reason to help him and others understand what the situation was.

As far as me trying to pass off garbage to recoupe some money was never my intent at all and to accuse me of such is in my opinion outright disgusting. I have been a member of this forum for quite some time and have always tried to help anyone I can in this hobby. I love/enjoy this hobby very much as I think it is so much fun to obtain an item of a player that may have been a personal hero, favorite player, or a great expereince someone had with that player, etc.....

The story behind the helmet when I first purchased it was I bought it amongst other items and at the time took the LOA for face value and didn't think anyting of it or do any homework at the time (Yes that was my fault) So till the day I listed it. I was always under the impression it was Shane Spencers. I recently decided I wanted to movve some items
and I own quite a few batting helmets from the Yankees and decided I wanted to part with this one and another helmet. Previous to listing it I did do some minimal homework and noticed something did not add up "2003" Shane did wear #47 but up until 2002 in "2003" Orosco wore #47. So at that point I established in my listing next to the LOA that either there was a Typo on the LOA and they meant 2002 or if it is from 03 then it would have been worn by Orosco.

Again I never paid attention to the flap being on the wrong side. Just didn't dawn on me.

I was sent an email within a few hours before auction ending and then another email about an hour before auction ending that the flap was on the wrong side and couldnt have been worn by Spencer. Which during that time I was not near my computer and if I was (which I wasn't) but if I was ebay doesn't let you revise auctions when it is that close to the auction ending. So nothing I could do anyway at that point.

I have since contacted the buyer and let him know chances are this helmet was not worn by Spencer and if he chose not to proceed with wanting to pay for the item. That I would undeerstand. He agreed and I will keep the item or re-sell it stating the additional information that I have now gained.

As far as the original person I purchased it from it was very long ago and imo would be way to far passed for me to bother to ask for a refund. If I have to keep it and no one wants it and I take the loss so be it, i'll just keep it and chalk it up as a loss in my own pocket.

But for you to sit there and accuse me of intentionally trying to screw someone else over, takes some serious GONADS.
Especially when you do not know the whole story.

Suicide why don't you try something different for a change and be helpful to the forum instead of sitting there always pointing fingers.
Is it possible for you to add anything helpful instead of creating topics that can draw people into arguments or make brash commects towards other members???

[intheminors]

Re: Steiner a class act!

Squeeze: None taken... you bastard!

Their livelihood depends on collectors but they'd rather focus on the big money collectors. That's what has me so frustrated. When Bob Malandro was there, I always felt like I was spending $1,000 a phone call with him, when in reality, I'd spend a few hundred here and there. That's a lot of money to me and Bob treated me as such.

I just don't get that feeling anymore.

It doesn't matter to me right now if Steiner goes belly up tomorrow. I no longer have anything invested in them. I just can't figure out if Brandon Steiner is aware of the problems and ignores them or if he's kept in the dark about all of the day-to-day screw ups that are ticking of the collecting community.

Maybe the admins could get Brandon to give us an update on what he's doing to rectify these problems. Of course, I'm sure Brandon's "signing fee" is more than I care to know. Maybe I'll send in a baseball to have Brandon sign and see if it comes back with the correct Hologram number and corresponding letter.

Kyle

[suicide_squeeze]

Re: Steiner a class act!

Suicide as usual I love your comments - so colorful.

If I was trying to sugar coat something I wouldn't even bother bringing back up Number9's comment. I did so for a reason to help him and others understand what the situation was.

No, you did it for damage control knowing it would eventually come out that it was YOU selling the item.

As far as me trying to pass off garbage to recoupe some money was never my intent at all and to accuse me of such is in my opinion outright disgusting. I have been a member of this forum for quite some time and have always tried to help anyone I can in this hobby.

So you don't like being called out for things you think are unfair, and are objectionable to what you consider unwarranted attacks? Welcome to my world. Only diff here is, yours isn't legit.

The story behind the helmet when I first purchased it was I bought it amongst other items and at the time took the LOA for face value and didn't think anyting of it or do any homework at the time (Yes that was my fault) So till the day I listed it. I was always under the impression it was Shane Spencers. I recently decided I wanted to movve some items
and I own quite a few batting helmets from the Yankees and decided I wanted to part with this one and another helmet. Previous to listing it I did do some minimal homework and noticed something did not add up "2003" Shane did wear #47 but up until 2002 in "2003" Orosco wore #47. So at that point I established in my listing next to the LOA that either there was a Typo on the LOA and they meant 2002 or if it is from 03 then it would have been worn by Orosco.

So why dance around all of these "discoveries" and just state it as you have here in your auction?

Again I never paid attention to the flap being on the wrong side. Just didn't dawn on me.

That's like attempting to sell a 1950's Red Sox jersey of Ted William's, and later stating you didn't realize the number "6" jersey wasn't his number. Who do you think is buying that line.....not me. Maybe it's my big "gonads" getting in the way of my thought process? Um....NO.

I was sent an email within a few hours before auction ending and then another email about an hour before auction ending that the flap was on the wrong side and couldnt have been worn by Spencer. Which during that time I was not near my computer and if I was (which I wasn't) but if I was ebay doesn't let you revise auctions when it is that close to the auction ending. So nothing I could do anyway at that point.

And here, folks, is the clincher......

You state you got an "email within a few hours before the auction ending"....and then "another email about an hour before auction ending that the flap was on the wrong side and couldn't have been worn by Spencer." Then you miraculously go on to tell whomever is in a coma while reading this that you were "not near my computer and if I was (which I wasn't) but if I was ebay doesn't let you revise auctions when it is that close to the auction ending. So nothing I could do anyways at that point."

If you weren't at a computer, suave1477.....how could you have received the emails you were referring to????? I suppose you're now going to tell us you "read them later...after the auction was over? If you are like the majority of the ebay community, unless you have a gazillion listings, you most likely are watching your auction end like most do. Stop treating people here like idiots....it always ends up biting you in the ass.

Let me educate you, suave1477.

You could have flat out ended the auction. You have that choice. You simply check the reason "This item is no longer for sale."

And a bit more news for you....When you list an item in an auction format on ebay, ONCE THERE IS A BID ON IT, you can't make any revisions to the listing. So finding out something serious like, oh, I don't know, that there is NO WAY in the WORLD this could be a Shane Spencer helmet, ending the auction would have been the right thing to do. But you obviously had other intentions, like getting what you could for a bad item and cutting your losses. Yes, I have the GONADS to state it. But NOW you want everyone to believe that you weren't by a computer when you received your "questions/comments" and you are going to claim you didn't get them until later. Nice.

Let me give you, and some of your buddies here, a warning. You want to come after ME and insult ME with your cute little comments, then expect to be called out when it's obvious you are doing something wrong. I make no bones about it. I emailed you, after you invited me to email you, awhile back to "air out our differences" from other threads. So I emailed you at your personal email you gave me, and You proceeded to talk down to me and attempt to tell me the way it was. I would have no part of it. So here we are. Live with it. I am not intentionally "picking" on you. But I will point out what I can see is questionable activity and/or intentions. Trying to impose your will onto someone else has a way of catching up to you also. Tell your "friends".

You have spoken your mind on it, and so have I. The ones here who have an issue with me here?....they'll come at me agin and I could care less. In fact I welcome it, as much as the mods will let it ride. But man, if I find out you guys are doing something wrong IMO, expect to hear from me in the form of a post here. Capisce?

I have since contacted the buyer and let him know chances are this helmet was not worn by Spencer and if he chose not to proceed with wanting to pay for the item. That I would undeerstand. He agreed and I will keep the item or re-sell it stating the additional information that I have now gained.

As far as the original person I purchased it from it was very long ago and imo would be way to far passed for me to bother to ask for a refund. If I have to keep it and no one wants it and I take the loss so be it, i'll just keep it and chalk it up as a loss in my own pocket.

But for you to sit there and accuse me of intentionally trying to screw someone else over, takes some serious GONADS.
Especially when you do not know the whole story.

Suicide why don't you try something different for a change and be helpful to the forum instead of sitting there always pointing fingers.
Is it possible for you to add anything helpful instead of creating topics that can draw people into arguments or make brash commects towards other members???

I am being helpful. I'm enlightening everyone into your questionable shady practices. Have a nice day, suave1477.

[reed1216]

Re: Steiner a class act!

Originally Posted by reed1216
When I think of George W. Bush, all that comes to mind is, thank goodness we have survived as a nation, after being led by an intellectually challenged, morally deficient and completely incompetant clown for 8 of the last 9 years. Those 8 years don't represent the "good ole days" to me, by any stretch of the imagination.

How in the world do these comments relate to the original topic? Statements like the ones above have no place here, imo.

My statement had nothing to do with the original thread topic. It did, however, have to do with the post that was made, prior to mine. I reviewed the thread and decided to comment on that portion of the post. I don't believe I did so in an offensive manner, but would offer my apologies to anyone who construed it that way.

I don't agree with a lot of what suicide_squeeze says and I don't think it's inappropriate to express those areas of disagreement. With that said, I have grown to really respect Steve. While his views are different from mine, his are passionate and in my opinion, for the most part, very well thought out. I also have a great deal of admiration for anyone who puts him/herself out there to challenge some of the crap that's drifting around our hobby.

Threads deviate from the original topic all the time and later they usually get back on track. This one seems to follow that pattern. I would further suggest that those who are annoyed to the extent that they responded with their own post acted in virtually the same manner that I did.

[murfsteve25]

Re: Steiner a class act!

Steiner blows. I'll never buy another item from them. The only way i'll obtain any of their items is through other collectors selling them off. Thier customer service is the worst. They've deff got that New York attitude. They are very unprofessional when dealing with customers. After reading Brandon Steiners book, I am suprised he would put up with this. In his book, he talks about it all being about the customers. He uses Mickey Mantle's generosity as an example a few times, stating that the Mick always asked at the end of the day if there was anything else he could do. Well...as a customer, I'm sure we all could come up with a boatload of things that Steiner could do.

1. Better customer service...

[gingi79]

Re: Steiner a class act!

Brandon Steiner is a liar, a thief and a scoundrel. I would buy Lou Lampson a drink before I would pad Steiner's pockets.

Buy on eBay, at auction or any other means necessary but do NOT buy from Steiner. They are raping your game worn dollars through their "auctions" (which had a 100% markup for "buyers premium") or their website which is priced 200% or more above market value.

I can only hope they go bankrupt and get their just deserves. However, somehow they have contracts for top teams which I can only hope ends soon and collectors are no longer charged prices likened to a new kidney for Good but far from HOF baseball players jerseys.