waiting it out (or when redemptions don't work)

The dreaded redemption card. The bane of many collector in search of some sweet hits from their hard spent cash on wax. I understand why they happen. Athletes have busy schedules, especially during the active season so it's not always the easiest thing to do by getting them to sign 1500 stickers. But eventually they find the time to sign and collectors get their cards a few weeks after release.

Only sometimes they don't.

This is my first experience with not getting a redemption when they suggest that it will be mailed. If you see the above picture, it shows every redemption I'm waiting on. Eight total. Four from Topps, four from Panini. I have gotten some from Topps before and were filled in a decent amount of time. These are the first from Panini, so we'll see how they do. Let's take a look at the middle one again:

From Allen & Ginter. That means I've been sitting on this since early July. As you can surely read, it is an autograph of Ron Turcotte. I had no idea who he was until I Wikipedia'd him. Turns out he is one of the most famous horse racing jockeys and rode the horse Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973. A unique autograph indeed. I was notified in November (11/16) that this card was past it's projected date of shipping. I've emailed Topps and asked them what the status was in late December (12/26) and got the usual automated response the next day:

"Thank you for contacting Topps Customer Service. Your question has been received and you should expect a response from us within 2 business days. For more information regarding our products, please review our FAQs at www.topps.com/contactus/faq.aspx. For assistance with finding our products or a hobby store near you, try our new Store Locator at www.topps.com/StoreLocator/stores.aspx. We thank you for your patronage, and hope you continue to enjoy Topps products! Sincerely, Customer Service Team"

I didn't get a response until today. Now they want me to either wait it out or switch my card for something else of equal Beckett value (about $25).

It's just how it worked out. Unfortunately Ron was in a racing related accident in 1976 that left him a paraplegic, so fault is definitely not placed on him. Oh and he lives in Canada. I suppose fault would lie with Topps for attempting to add him to the set, even if he would make for a cool card. It just seems like Ron has bigger and way more important things to do than sign some mini baseball cards and Topps should have probably figured this beforehand.

I would really like for this to be filled, in fact I was kind of counting on it. My wife's uncle is a huge horse racing fan and I know he would absolutely love this card. I hoped that the card would be here before Christmas but I suppose I'll have to wait a little longer.

I don't know maybe Topps and Panini need to get on the ball with the autos and not make promises on things that seem too difficult to accomplish. Or maybe I'm just being cynical. It happens.