Originally posted by: NesQuest

So it sounds like it is taking 4-5 months for the game to actually be graded and then up to another month to have it shipped.

Do I pretty much have that timeline correct at the moment? It's basically 5-6 month turnaround?

Originally posted by: Sign Collector Guy

Wanted to pass along some communication I have seen from the Wata FB in the last 24 hours.....

Recent Wata Posts in the last 24 hours via Facebook on 9/5

Hello everyone, this is Deniz Kahn. Things are cranking up here at Wata and we have a backlog of games to grade and send out. As you can imagine, we have put all of our resources to working through them all and as a result we have focused on both grading and shipping a substantial amount of games each day, albeit to the detriment of our social media and email management. I would like to personally apologize for not only the delay but the lack of communication. Our customers are incredibly important to us and your patience and patronage means the world to us. As such, we are adding more people to the Wata team; one of them is our new social media person, Bryan, who is going to man our social media accounts. Bryan will be able to answer questions regularly and accurately, and will be able to funnel requests to the proper channels when required. We have more people coming on board to help with the operations and are committed to working around the clock (literally) so that we can minimize our backlog and get your orders completed as soon as possible.

We are committed to providing you the same quality in service and product that we have stood by since day one. Thank you to everyone who's sending us games and more importantly thank you all for your patience during this exciting time of growth.


2nd Post----

I see a lot of concern with delays, we are working our best to address all of your concerns. Here are some Do's and Don'ts that will assist in preventing further delays.

Do's and Don'ts:

DO:

1) Please pack your games with Scotch Tape (or no tape) so that we can unpack easily without having to worry about damaging the item.

2) Please put your submission form in the box with your games. If we do not have your order number at minimum, there will be a delay in processing your order.

DON'T:

1) Do not DROP SHIP your games to us. Wata will no longer process drop shipped games. There are several reasons for this. First of all, people sometimes think that Wata Games purchased the games which is actually against Wata policy. Wata does not buy or sell games. The second reason is that it is difficult to track down who actually owns the items. If there is no submission form or order number in the box, then it takes a lot of time and effort on our part which slows down the processing of all orders. This creates a major delay.

2) Do not overpack your games and then tape with heavy packing tape. It is very difficult to unpack these as we have to be extra careful to not damage the games while getting the tape off. This is why we prefer Scotch Tape.

3) Do not send in any oversized games. Take the time to refer to our FAQ for what games we can currently grade. If you send in something oversized or odd, you will have to wait until we can encapsulate it.

4) Do not add a note to the order if it's something we need to know early in the process. The notes are only for the graders and they're not seen until grading. For example, if you want us to make a note of something before grading, please put a note on the game itself.

5) Do not ask us "pre-grade" crossovers. If you submit a game that's encapsulated by another grading company, we really cannot accurately assess any flaws, condition, or authenticity without removing the game from the case. We can and will safely remove the game but please do not ask for any kind of accurate assessment beforehand.

6) Do not ask us to "pre-screen" orders. Do not submit five examples of something and say, "please choose the best one." This may be a service we offer later but at this point, with our current backlog it's not something we can offer.

Originally posted by: BreaKBeatZ

I want to protect my games when shipping. It's crazy that they will delay grading a game because they don't want to "waste their time" carefully opening a game that has been packed with heavy tape.

Originally posted by: jonebone
  Well there's packing, secure packing, and then over packing.  I use clear packing tape but it's the $1.25 roll from Wal-mart that is very easy to peel off.  I don't use the heavy duty packaging tape that is reinforced with threads and a pain to remove. 

You have to think of it from their POV though.  If you're getting hundreds of packages a day, an extra 5-10 minutes to unpack a box can add up to an entire day of labor.  

They also aren't the only company do this.  When you sub a card to PSA, they only accept their holder (that they'll sell you), or one that you can buy from eBay.  They don't accept screwdowns, toploaders, etc.  They will literally charge you for shipping both ways and send it back if you pack it improperly.  When companies get big they have to become as efficient as possible due to volume. 

Originally posted by: jonebone

Well there's packing, secure packing, and then over packing.  I use clear packing tape but it's the $1.25 roll from Wal-mart that is very easy to peel off.  I don't use the heavy duty packaging tape that is reinforced with threads and a pain to remove. 

You have to think of it from their POV though.  If you're getting hundreds of packages a day, an extra 5-10 minutes to unpack a box can add up to an entire day of labor.  

They also aren't the only company do this.  When you sub a card to PSA, they only accept their holder (that they'll sell you), or one that you can buy from eBay.  They don't accept screwdowns, toploaders, etc.  They will literally charge you for shipping both ways and send it back if you pack it improperly.  When companies get big they have to become as efficient as possible due to volume. 

Originally posted by: jonebone

Well there's packing, secure packing, and then over packing.  I use clear packing tape but it's the $1.25 roll from Wal-mart that is very easy to peel off.  I don't use the heavy duty packaging tape that is reinforced with threads and a pain to remove. 

You have to think of it from their POV though.  If you're getting hundreds of packages a day, an extra 5-10 minutes to unpack a box can add up to an entire day of labor.  

They also aren't the only company do this.  When you sub a card to PSA, they only accept their holder (that they'll sell you), or one that you can buy from eBay.  They don't accept screwdowns, toploaders, etc.  They will literally charge you for shipping both ways and send it back if you pack it improperly.  When companies get big they have to become as efficient as possible due to volume. 

Originally posted by: MrMark0673

To my knowledge none of that information has been publicly released by the company. The 17th will be my 2 month anniversary of submitting a 15 day game.

Great guys, terrible PR at this point.

They hired a social media guy. He should be hyping everything great about the company and also addressing the wide spread delays and the reasons we should be reassured that it's not going to be a problem in the future.

Edit:  Updated timelines have been posted on facebook yesterday.  Copy job below:
 

Hello again. Many of you have had a chance to submit games to us. Those that have not, please take some time and check out the website. There are four different tiers that we offer, each with different time expectations:

Select: Select is the least expensive tier we offer. Initially we offered a 45 day turnaround time. With the backlog being what it is at the moment, Select orders may have to wait months. The preliminary expectation of 45 business days is without any sort of backlog or delays. If you need your games with any real time frame at this time, you will have to choose one of the other tiers.

Originally posted by: bootload
 

None of these are guaranteed so what I'm reading is this:
Select = unknown
Turbo = unknown
Speed Run = unknown
Warp Zone = unknown

The only thing I can see is the unknown times for some are an unknown period of time shorter than the other unknown times. Probably.

Originally posted by: startyde
 
It's worth pointing out they have disabled the 5 day turnaround for months now, so I'm not sure why they are even commenting on Speed Run tier.

So the current pricing model is $75.00 per game = get it graded in 48 hours.

Anything less = months of no updates.

I just got my 1st submission back today. The first received it July 5th and I paid for 15 day tier, so about 10 week turnaround. I wouldn't send anything to Wata fot quite a while unless time literally means nothing to you, unless using one day turnaround. 
 

Originally posted by: Jim Jimmer

I wasnt around then but in the earlyish days of VGA didnt they get clogged with submissions and fell behind as well? I think i remember reading people complaining about turnaround times in the « sealed collecting questions » thread. So i guess its not the first time this happens and last i checked people are still sending games to vga.

Wata will get their sh!t in order, but in the interim at least answering to emails would be a bare minimum...

Originally posted by: startyde
 


I have been grading with AFA and VGA since the beginning and I dont remember the huge delays youre speaking of, not to the magnitude of 2 to 3 times expected wait time Wata has. Regardless, VGA has always answered my questions within 24 hours. As someone who works in a technical field which requires a rsponse in under an hour, Wata going off the grid for weeks, even months, is unacceptable on every level.

Originally posted by: final fight cd

why did it seem everybody jumped VGA's ship and went to wata? what did wata initial offer that VGA didn't?

Originally posted by: final fight cd

why did it seem everybody jumped VGA's ship and went to wata? what did wata initial offer that VGA didn't?