Panini America CEO Addresses Jersey-Card Labeling Errors in 2014 Flawless Football

[xavieronly1]

Originally Posted by SavageScott

Tommy,

I think the problem lies in the fact that Panini Quality Control did not catch this mistake on their highest end product. The Russell Wilson is obviously not from his jersey yet they let it slip out. Furthermore, had this never been brought up, I highly doubt we would have seen any sort of announcement from Panini. I cannot think of any other time where Panini (or any company for that matter) admitted to a mistake that wasn't brought to their attention first. As a business owner I would be embarrassed beyond belief, and go out of my way to rectify such a glaring mistake that whether intentional or not, looks like I purposely tried to deceive my customers. I would not simply say, "sorry my bad, Ill try to do better in the future". In addition to all of this, having Hackler praising Panini Flawless for delivering all game worn pieces only adds fuel to the fire. Obviously, Panini isn't the only company to make mistakes, but if we don't hold these companies to higher standards, especially in regards to their top of the line products, who will?

Scott

They DID NOT admit their mistake. The real mistake is having cheap jersey in Flawless. They re-route the real mistake to smaller mistake by saying "mislabel".

This is no different from a business term like "I'm sorry for your experience". They are not sorry for the mistake they made. They are just sorry for what you feel (which is not as same as admitting fault).

In this Panini case, they are just sorry that they mislabel and misguide you guys to think the piece of crap jersey is real game used. They are not sorry that they put the crap jersey in Flawless.

Got it?

[xavieronly1]

Originally Posted by BlueReloaded

But they can get more swatches out of a 3XL jersey.

Don't forget "88" jerseys for more sick patches.

[freethrowtommy]

Originally Posted by SavageScott

Tommy,

I think the problem lies in the fact that Panini Quality Control did not catch this mistake on their highest end product. The Russell Wilson is obviously not from his jersey yet they let it slip out. Furthermore, had this never been brought up, I highly doubt we would have seen any sort of announcement from Panini. I cannot think of any other time where Panini (or any company for that matter) admitted to a mistake that wasn't brought to their attention first. As a business owner I would be embarrassed beyond belief, and go out of my way to rectify such a glaring mistake that whether intentional or not, looks like I purposely tried to deceive my customers. I would not simply say, "sorry my bad, Ill try to do better in the future". In addition to all of this, having Hackler praising Panini Flawless for delivering all game worn pieces only adds fuel to the fire. Obviously, Panini isn't the only company to make mistakes, but if we don't hold these companies to higher standards, especially in regards to their top of the line products, who will?

Scott

I don't disagree with anything you said.

For the record, I never said Panini shouldn't be held accountable, they most certainly should. They owe it to everyone who trusted their products.

My only point in coming to this thread was the blame placed on Hackler. Like I said, I should have stopped there.

[SavageScott]

Originally Posted by freethrowtommy

I don't disagree with anything you said.

For the record, I never said Panini shouldn't be held accountable, they most certainly should. They owe it to everyone who trusted their products.

My only point in coming to this thread was the blame placed on Hackler. Like I said, I should have stopped there.

Agreed, Hackler is not the end all be all of Panini, unfortunately most of the people on this board and in the collecting community know him as the face of the company.

[Hawksmack]

I think its time the CEO takes a long vacation.

[freethrowtommy]

Originally Posted by cypher

Just stop dude, this is bigger than 3 players. Maybe you should read the other 10 page thread so you are educated before you go on a tirade defending Panini.

You mean the one TD card? What else am I missing?

[trixstar]

I don't know Hackler but he was the one involved with Upper Deck and the whole Exquisite cover up. Now he's involved with Panini and this Jersey catastrophe. Exactly how many times does someone have to be involved with shady business practices before they no longer get the benefit of the doubt?

[freethrowtommy]

Originally Posted by trixstar

I don't know Hackler but he was the one involved with Upper Deck and the whole Exquisite cover up. Now he's involved with Panini and this Jersey catastrophe. Exactly how many times does someone have to be involved with shady business practices before they no longer get the benefit of the doubt?

He was also the media guy for Beckett at the time.

But like I said, willfully ignorant, not a crook. Beckett ended up giving away the UD cards after the breaks, IIRC.

[blackbears86]

Originally Posted by SavageScott

Tommy,

I think the problem lies in the fact that Panini Quality Control did not catch this mistake on their highest end product. The Russell Wilson is obviously not from his jersey yet they let it slip out. Furthermore, had this never been brought up, I highly doubt we would have seen any sort of announcement from Panini. I cannot think of any other time where Panini (or any company for that matter) admitted to a mistake that wasn't brought to their attention first. As a business owner I would be embarrassed beyond belief, and go out of my way to rectify such a glaring mistake that whether intentional or not, looks like I purposely tried to deceive my customers. I would not simply say, "sorry my bad, Ill try to do better in the future". In addition to all of this, having Hackler praising Panini Flawless for delivering all game worn pieces only adds fuel to the fire. Obviously, Panini isn't the only company to make mistakes, but if we don't hold these companies to higher standards, especially in regards to their top of the line products, who will?

Scott

^^^^^^^^This pretty much sums up my anger with Panini for this whole debacle. They plugged this product for months. To make these kind of mistakes in this high end product is unexcusable. And the half-hearted "apology" by the CEO did not make matters any better. If they are making these kind of mistakes in their high end products what kind of errors are they making in their other products which costs 2/3 less?

[garpike]

Originally Posted by freethrowtommy

You mean the one TD card? What else am I missing?

More than 1 TD card...it seems to be all 5 of the ones #ed to 5.

so that would be 5 cards!!

[hairyangryfella]

Originally Posted by freethrowtommy

Innocent until proven guilty is a thing, no?

Based on this statement:


It would appear that they had GU jerseys of the three players in question, so why would you intentionally screw this up for these cards?

What I think happened is that some production folks grabbed the wrong jerseys during the print run of these cards. If you watch the videos that they have put out before, they do a pretty good job of labeling everything and putting them into bags before they are slapped on the cards. Accidents happen when you are producing large quantity of product. Wrong jerseys get stuck on the wrong cards a lot... it happens.

You are making this sound like a grand conspiracy to screw up three guys in the entire print run of Flawless.

It doesn't excuse them from making this right with consumers, but the very fact that they addressed it is a step in the right direction.

I am not a fanboy of anyone. So like StudioU said, step off your high horse.

Originally Posted by freethrowtommy

That doesn't make it worse. At the end of the day, someone screwed up labeling the card rather than pulling the wrong jersey and they are addressing the issue. I still don't see how we reach intentional here...

Dude, you really need to know the actual story...

This is not about someone sticking the wrong patch into the cards, or someone grabbing the wrong jerseys. The CEO came out and said that the cards were labelled wrong. Not that the jerseys were. Not that they shouldn't have used these retail jerseys in ANY of their products. But that the cards in question should have been stated as being Event Worn. Because three veterans in the set would be unlike all of the others?? That is where the uproar is coming from. Their 'excuse' is a completely invalid lie!!

[Tvanho]

Originally Posted by freethrowtommy

He was also the media guy for Beckett at the time.

But like I said, willfully ignorant, not a crook. Beckett ended up giving away the UD cards after the breaks, IIRC.

I'm not jumping too far into this back and forth, because I believe that you are correct to a certain extent Tommy. The CEO is almost never the person that does things when companies have mess ups, but as you know, they are ultimately responsible for their company and usually do take the fall, fair or not.

I'm really only commenting here because you used the term "willfully ignorant". I'm not sure if you meant to use that term, because when you willfully turn the other cheek to the problems in your company, it is certainly crook behavior in my book.

[myerscards]

Originally Posted by freethrowtommy

Those are fair points.

I came in for Hackler and should have stopped there.

Why I said what I said about him was the Upper Deck thing which was very clear. I had him on the phone about a certain card at Panini caught him in 3 or 4 lies back to back. Why do you lie if you don't have nothing to cover up. Tommy has Hackler ever went out of his way to assist you? Just asking. Its all of Panini.

[MeetJSquared]

I don't get all this back and forth.

Yes, Panini America and its CEO (Mark Warsop) are responsible. No, Tracy Hackler is not responsible, but is "willfully ignorant". You all act like freethrowtommy is blindly defending Panini. The simple point being made was that the blame does not fall on Hackler in this case.

Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of Hackler. Not a fan of the blog, or how they go overboard with all the 'mojoz' and loaded break previews. Hackler has plenty of issues, along with the rest of Panini.

[myerscards]

Originally Posted by freethrowtommy

He was also the media guy for Beckett at the time.

But like I said, willfully ignorant, not a crook. Beckett ended up giving away the UD cards after the breaks, IIRC.

When he pulls the two best cards in 2007 Exquisite and the expression on his face never changes he knows it. He acted like it was Jonnie Lee Higgins and Brian Leonard. Most people never pull those in a lifetime but less than 5 mins.

[xavieronly1]

Originally Posted by MeetJSquared

I don't get all this back and forth.

Yes, Panini America and its CEO (Mark Warsop) are responsible. No, Tracy Hackler is not responsible, but is "willfully ignorant". You all act like freethrowtommy is blindly defending Panini. The simple point being made was that the blame does not fall on Hackler in this case.

Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of Hackler. Not a fan of the blog, or how they go overboard with all the 'mojoz' and loaded break previews. Hackler has plenty of issues, along with the rest of Panini.

Panini CEO wishes all the blame to go to someone else like Hackler instead of the company itself. People somehow downgrade this situation to a personal level or just a random staff messed up the QC. This is real stuff for lying and shady business.

[bethanyb1201]

Originally Posted by myerscards

When he pulls the two best cards in 2007 Exquisite and the expression on his face never changes he knows it. He acted like it was Jonnie Lee Higgins and Brian Leonard. Most people never pull those in a lifetime but less than 5 mins.

Do you have a link for that video? I have never seen it.

[cyndeeg3]

Originally Posted by hairyangryfella

The CEO came out and said that the cards were labelled wrong. Not that the jerseys were. Not that they shouldn't have used these retail jerseys in ANY of their products.

I have been following this thread since it started and honestly, I never thought about this, this way... When you explain it in those terms, I NOW understand how bad the problem is.

They never said "we used the wrong FAKE game used jersey"

[MeetJSquared]

Originally Posted by xavieronly1

Panini CEO wishes all the blame to go to someone else like Hackler instead of the company itself. People somehow downgrade this situation to a personal level or just a random staff messed up the QC. This is real stuff for lying and shady business.

Well I agree with that. The CEO wants to keep collecting his checks especially when they're more per week than some people make in one year.

I guess Hackler is just the easy scapegoat.

It's just sad that casual collectors (a lot of whom I see come through my LCS every week) don't bat an eye. The ones that aren't active on forums or go to shows regularly, some of which just collect to collect, will keep them going. They're the type of people who will see an article and comment that they're doing a good job of coming forward or that they simply overlooked something.

[cyndeeg3]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6NeDvim03w

[myerscards]

Originally Posted by bethanyb1201

Do you have a link for that video? I have never seen it.

They took the actual video from the break down for some reason.

[Prospect Rush]

Originally Posted by myerscards

They took the video down for some reason.

Imagine that...

[Tvanho]

Originally Posted by cyndeeg3

I have been following this thread since it started and honestly, I never thought about this, this way... When you explain it in those terms, I NOW understand how bad the problem is.

They never said "we used the wrong FAKE game used jersey"

I feel like you aren't the only one who was missing that point.

In the official statement, they said it was a simple labeling mistake, and that those jersey patches were in fact event used and do 100% belong to those players. Kapernick maybe, because it could be an "8" from the "80" or "88" Rookie premier jerseys.

But the Jeffery patch shows a "4" and the on the patch that started it all, Wilsons number would have to have been either a 10, 18, or 58 for that patch to belong to him, not to mention they are nike retail jerseys.

[myerscards]

Originally Posted by Major_League

Imagine that...

It was an accident. The real video was mislabeled. Lol

[Prospect Rush]

Originally Posted by cyndeeg3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6NeDvim03w

They seem awfully nervous...