Global Authentication Awol?

[kingjammy24]

from SCD:
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"Collectors, dealers await word on Global Authentication

Customers of grading and authentication provider Global Authentication have been left to wonder about the company’s status the past few days. Customers who called the California-based company to check on the status of their merchandise have received messages stating that the number has been disconnected. Global’s website has also been down.

Adding to the anxiety is the fact that at least one customer who stopped by the company’s headquarters this week found an eviction notice posted on the front door. Bob Rund said he dropped off an estimated $8,000 worth of packs last week for grading. “When I called on Monday to check on the status, the phones were disconnected. I went to check the website and that didn’t work either,” Rund said. “When I drove to the office the next day, the doors were locked, the office was empty and the eviction notice was posted. There was no note about a new location or anything.”

In a story posted on Beckett.com Tuesday, Steve Sipe, Global’s VP of business development, was quoted as saying the company was still in business, but had closed temporarily due to relocation and was moving to another office area in the same business complex.

However, Global had not contacted its customers to inform them that it would be moving or provide a new address. It has not issued any other public statements explaining their situation or provided contact information for their new location. Global president Steve Rocchi did not return a call to Trade Fax.

Debbie Ochoa, manager of the office that oversees business licensing for the city of San Clemente, said she went to the Global offices Tuesday because she had received two complaints from customers worried about the status of their submissions. Ochoa said she saw no evidence that Global was occupying another office in the complex.

Steve Coontz, an attorney representing the owner of the building where Global was leasing space, confirmed an eviction notice was served but would not comment on any other aspect of the case."
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from beckett:
Company Official: GAI's Moving, Not Shutting Down

Nov 6 2007 11:39AM


Apparently, the recent reports of Global Authentic's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Turns out the California-based grading company is simply relocating its corporate headquarters according to a company official.
Card grading message boards over the last few days have been abuzz with rumors of the company shutting down, citing, primarily, that the company's phones and Web site no longer work.
"We're OK," says Steve Sipe, the company's VP of Business Development. "We're moving offices. We're in the same office complex, just six doors down."
The physical relocation of GAI's servers, Sipe says, has led to a temporary shutdown of the company's Web site. He says the site should be back up within 24 hours.
According to Sipe, the company is moving because the church that acted as GAI's next-door tenant is expanding.
"The guy who wrote The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren, runs the [Saddleback] church," Sipe says. "It's a monster church and they need the space. It actually worked out for us. The square-footage price is better and it's actually a better office for us."
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rudy.

[kingjammy24]

here's a link to a discussion on net54:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/153652/thread/1193525852/last-1194477837/GAI+-+CTD----

rudy.

[mvandor]

As a 53 year old businessman, I have to ask myself what kind of business in this day and age shuts down phones and websites for over a week to move offices.

Incredibly incompetent.

[bigtruck260]

I don't expect Justin Priddy to comment on this - but I noticed that he updated his profile...and it no longer says he works with them. I have had many issues with this company over the years, and I can say personally is
"it's about time."

Sorry. The way this has unfolded, I am not suprised one bit.

Dave

[Rob L]

I don't expect Justin Priddy to comment on this - but I noticed that he updated his profile...and it no longer says he works with them. I have had many issues with this company over the years, and I can say personally is
"it's about time."

Sorry. The way this has unfolded, I am not suprised one bit.

Dave

Justin left the company in July. Apparently, their pack authenticator and their encapsulator also left in the last couple of months.

Rob L

[sammy]

I sure am not happy about this.

Communicated frequently last month with Mike Baker about sending some items in. There was never any indication that this was going to happen. Finally sent these items in and now I don't know what is going to happen.

It's best to send all submitted items back to the owners, if you read this Mike.

I use this forum to make this request as your e-mail account is dead and returns all e-mail now.


Your e-mail is being returned to you because there was a problem with its
delivery. The address which was undeliverable is listed in the section
labeled: "----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----".
The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<mbaker@gacard.net>

----- Transcript of session follows -----
451 <mbaker@gacard.net>... gacard.net: Name server timeout
Message could not be delivered for 2 hours
Message will be deleted from queue


Final-Recipient: RFC822; mbaker@gacard.net
Action: failed

[mvandor]

I'm sorry, this moving story smacks of a cover. People leaving, multiple shows not covered, phones/email/website down. It sounds more like the collapse of a company that the remaining principals are scrambling to pull back together in some smaller form.

I'm thankful I have nothing with them right now and am concerned a collapse could affect the resale value of my GAI authenticated pieces.

[bigtruck260]

I'm sorry, this moving story smacks of a cover. People leaving, multiple shows not covered, phones/email/website down. It sounds more like the collapse of a company that the remaining principals are scrambling to pull back together in some smaller form.

I'm thankful I have nothing with them right now and am concerned a collapse could affect the resale value of my GAI authenticated pieces.

Well - hopefully it is not that bad. I never bought an item with a GAI sticker that I wouldn't have bought without it. In this day in age, worthless COA's are all the rage...but the real collectors know what's real and what is not. The value of their graded cards has never been that of PSA...

Dave

[kingjammy24]

A government official in San Clemente, California says Global Authentication was operating its business without a license. The company remains shut down, evicted from its offices.

While collectors who entrusted their sports cards and autographs to Global Authentication Incorporated await word on the company's future, the eviction of one of the industry's familiar authenticators from its offices came as a shock to city officials in San Clemente, CA.
"We didn't even know they were there," San Clemente Business Relations Officer Debbie Ochoa told Sports Collectors Daily on Thursday. "They never filed for a business license."
GAI's website and phones went down several days ago and the company did not issue a public statement, leading to speculation in the industry that it faced financial problems.
Global, which moved from Irvine to San Clemente earlier this year, was operating on a property located at 232 Avenida Fabricante. Ochoa said she visited the property for the first time earlier this week when complaints about the company's sudden shutdown began to filter in. She found the property vacant with three large storage containers sitting on the side of the GAI offices. "It was evident they left in a hurry," Ochoa recalled. She found an eviction notice on the front door had been removed by a customer who wanted to photocopy it for records.
Ochoa returned to the property on Wednesday and discovered the storage pods had been moved. She took photographs of the eviction notice, which had returned to the door, and of the damage which she says had been done to the building.
GAI's leadership has been largely silent, although one official maintains GAI is attempting to set up in a new location and that items which were in its possession remain safe.
Phone messages left with attorneys representing GAI and the building's owner were not returned Thursday.
Unfortunately, Ochoa says her office is powerless to offer much assistance to collectors because GAI did not have a license. She has offered to assist those who have called her office wondering about their submitted items by facilitating an exchange of phone numbers between those who have been affected.
"We're upset about this," Ochoa said. "It seems there may be many victims. We are not a big community and it doesn't reflect well on us."
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Justin Priddy spent nearly four years working as an autograph authenticator for Global Authentication. He says he had no idea the company was headed for a sudden eviction from its southern California offices.

Global Authentication Incorporated hired Justin Priddy as a contractor in October of 2003, turning much of its autograph authentication business over to the young expert. In September of 2006, having become an important resource for the company, he became a full-time employee at GAI's southern California offices. Just one year later, Priddy says he told GAI executives he was leaving the company "for a multitude of reasons". Less than two months after that, having lost its lead authenticator and at least one other key employee, GAI had been kicked out of its offices in San Clemente, California.




Priddy says last week's news that GAI was operating without a business license and had been evicted by its landlord was "upsetting to say the least." The news was especially difficult given the circumstances surrounding his departure.

Priddy told Sports Collectors Daily that despite his decision to leave the company in July of this year, GAI continued to issue autograph authentication certificates bearing his facsimile approval signature.
"When I became aware that GAI would not remove my signature from their COA’s I sought immediate counsel with an attorney. Given the situation, it was in everyone’s best interest if I could still somewhat monitor what items were authenticated by GAI with COA’s bearing my name until they ran out of them."
Priddy agreed to work at four summer trade shows on GAI’s behalf: The National, NY White Plains, Hollywood Park, and Tri-Star San Francisco. He did no other work for the company after September 9.
"It was the fastest way to end my relationship with GAI. Once they had run out of the stock of COA’s bearing my name I informed them I would no longer be doing any more work for them and haven’t since."
Priddy says just because his signature is on a COA, however, doesn't mean he was the one who issued the opinon.
"Not all the items authenticated by GAI bearing my signature were authenticated by me. They had a policy where other authenticators on staff or representatives were allowed to authenticate on their behalf," Priddy said.
Priddy also claims GAI told customers he was on the payroll even after he was no longer authenticating items. He says he "wants to apologize to those who had been misinformed as to my status with GAI and hope that this clears up any confusion."
Priddy says even though there was often speculation about GAI business matters, he never suspected the company was in trouble.
"I believe that there are concerns with any company; however there was never anything to the magnitude of what has recently taken place. When I did work there I was never officially informed of the problems they seem to be facing nor did I ever have any knowledge that the rent wasn’t being paid or that they didn’t file for a business license."
Priddy says he's hoping there is a postive solution for collectors who may have had submissions in GAI's possession when the company was forced out of its offices. He's also planning on being involved in a new hobby venture that will be announced in January.
"I mostly have been focusing on moving forward with forming a new company where I hope to continue help make a difference in the security of autographs on the market. I want to provide a service that helps collectors invest safely and securely, which I think is needed now more than ever."
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this is one impressively-handled office re-location. their website is still down as of 11/13.

rudy.

[mvandor]

Justin mods the Autograph forum and had posted a bit on this there but no so much as is in this article. Reading between the lines, one can't help but wonder if his resignation wasn't at least in part because of his discomfort with business practices there. in over a week, contradictory stories have been given Beckett, and still no phone or primary website. The secondary site only has a home page which bears no useful info on the situation. At this point I'd be very surprised if they return, and if they do, this incident would seriously hurt their show contracts and any other large contracts they have, if not general public submissions. In short, if they had money probs before, this would make it even tougher.

[mvandor]

http://www.beckett.com/estore/news/?eskin=beckett&a=8958&s=1 (http://www.beckett.com/estore/news/?eskin=beckett&a=8958&s=1)

Latest info, clearly indicates serious financial problems at GAI.