Juan Iglesias and Joe Rivera- beware

[dougiedshow]

I want to make fellow collectors and dealers aware of the what are at best questionable practices and at worst dishonest actions from Juan Iglesias and Joe Rivera. Many of you may be familiar with Juan and Joe, as they are active sellers of "game used" memorabilia. I actively purchase game used memorabilia, both for my personal collection and for resale. In this particular situation, I partnered with another buyer to purchase two game used bats from Joe and Juan. They claimed that these two bats came directly from a former MLB player, who obtained items from teammates throughout his career. These bats did not have PSA, MLB, Steiner or similar authentication. I purchased these bats were for resale purposes, not for my personal collection. Anytime I purchase items for resale, I make sure that the sellers will back the authenticity prior to completing the purchase.


In this situation, my partner emailed them to confirm they would accept returns if the bats did not pass authentication. We were assured by Joe Rivera that "Authentication is not a problem at all, we will stand behind everything that comes from us." Subsequently, these bats were sent to PSA/DNA for authentication and both were rejected as game used by Taube at PSA. In John's words "I don't think they are game used, maybe BP and that may be liberal." We immediately notified Joe and asked to return the bats for a full refund. We have emailed back and forth with Joe Rivera and Juan Iglesias for over 2 months, only to be told they disagree with PSA's assessment. They even went as far as to suggest that we send them to MEARS for authentication and bring them to the hobby that way. I think it is clear to all serious bat collectors that PSA is the accepted industry leader for bat authentications and we would not be interested in selling an item as authentic, without disclosing it has failed John Taube's assessment.


The end result is that we have two bats that have failed PSA and Juan and Joe are not willing to refund our purchase. They feel that sending these bats around to other authenticators, until they pass, is an acceptable practice. Game Used Universe was created to provide transparency to the hobby and protect potential buyers from such practices. Further, sellers who privately sell a bat that fails authentication is not the end of the world. I have personally sold a bat that failed PSA. However, I made it right with the buyer. To refuse a refund, especially when those terms were agreed to prior to the purchase, is unacceptable. At this point, I would not recommend purchasing anything from either Juan Iglesias or Joe Rivera. At best, I feel we were unintentionally scammed and they have not followed through on their word. However, based on some other feedback I have seen, I'm not even sure it is unintentional.


If you have concerns about items you have purchased from either Joe Rivera or Juan Iglesias, please feel free to contact me directly. I will be happy to share any additional information you may need. As far as these two bats are concerned, I am not planning to bring them into the hobby without full disclosure of PSA's opinion. So at least they are in good hands....



Dougiedshow@aol.com



Doug Reiser

[Dach0sen0ne]

Isn't Juan banned from the forum for a similar issue with a Pujols bat?

[gorilla777]

Isn't Juan banned from the forum for a similar issue with a Pujols bat?

I believe there was some issue with a Pujols bat...

[Phil316]

I have dealt with Juan but never this Joe fellow. Always had good dealings with Juan. I am disapointed to hear this.

It sucks that this kinda stuff happens. Hopefully you guys can straighten things out.

[3arod13]

I too have dealt with Juan Iglesias, but not Joe Rivera (don't even know who he is). Experience was good, with no problems at all.

I think it hits home for all of us when this happens to someone by someone we all know in the Game Used community. Honesty and trust is important!

If an agreement was made as Doug stated, then it should have been honored! We're not talking about a deal that was made with a seller on Ebay that Doug doesn't know.

Truly unfortunate!

[memorabiliaunlimited]

this happened to me as well with a bat from juan. was told the same exact thing as the OP. he refused a return and i had to file a claim through paypal. since i had a letter from PSA saying that game use could not be confirmed, paypal refunded my purchase price, but i was out the PSA authentication fee and the return shipping. was great to deal with up until that point.

[yanks12025]

Can we see the bats? thanks

[dougiedshow]

I debated posting the bats in the thread, but that's really irrelevant. I wanted to keep the focus on the dishonesty of Joe Rivera and Juan Iglesias. We were assured we could return the bats, if they failed authenticity. They failed PSA's opinion of authenticity and the seller has not stuck to their word. Furthermore, they encouraged us to disregard PSA's opinion and seek someone that will authenticate them. I am happy to discuss details privately with you, if you have similar concerns and need additional information. Thanks.

[yankees506]

Any "bad" bats should be posted so that others can be made aware of exactly what to look out for. While I'm sure we are all greatful for the heads up, it takes away from the education of the thread if we cant see exactly what you are warning us about.

[memorabiliaunlimited]

i dont have my bat that was rejected by PSA anymore (it is back with juan), but it was a LVS natural flame treated harper rookie year bat with minimal use. when i sent it back to juan, it had the PSA sticker on the barrel top, which i am assuming will be removed if he attempts to resell it. he told me to send it to mears after PSA rejected it, and offered to pay for it. i could not in good faith do that. if someone was offered or recently purchased a similar bat directly from him or a third party that had one of his letters, i would be glad to take a look and try to see if it was the one i had (there was one white scuff mark on the barrel that i think i would remember if i saw again).

i will also note that i did purchase a bat from juan that did pass PSA. as taube told me when i asked him why my bat did not pass, "have to take the good with the bad".