In your situation they are being dishonorable send a note to the owner he might have an account here.
Anyone else had problems with Staunton Castle?
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Jan 3, 2026
0
#2
Tariff rates shipped to USA are subject to 50% tariff so imagine sales have been impacted. So the inexpensive Indian chess set that demonstrates quality craftsmanship will be harder to find.
In your situation they are being dishonorable send a note to the owner he might have an account here.
In your situation they are being dishonorable send a note to the owner he might have an account here.
I have only had good experience w SC in the past
Well, they do make some of the best sets available at a very reasonable price….I have their Chariots of Selene and it’s a wonderful piece of work…some time later I also bought an additional board from them which was warped and poorly finished, it was a piece of crap, but they insisted that any defects were a result of it being handmade…the cost of returning anything to them is prohibitive so that’s the dilemma…cross your fingers when you pull the trigger
I should rephrase - their chess pieces are great. I can't speak to their boards
I think the problems really start when something goes wrong, and you need to return an item. If everything arrives in perfect shape, I can see how the experience would be fine – and it’s genuinely good to hear some of you have had better luck than me. That said, I’d still advise buyers to be cautious.
Hi , try reaching Mandeep Saggu on chat & tell him you are not happy with the outcome on Staunton Castle + tell him you have opened a post on. CBE over this on Chess.com .
Good Luck .
Jan 5, 2026
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#8
Yes Lighthouse it seems like a read someone’s post where contacting Mandeep led to a better outcome.
Thanks, but unfortunately, he has already made it clear that he will not honor his initial promise to reimburse my return shipping. All of my endless email correspondence was directly with Mandeep, who, as I understand it, is in charge of Staunton Castle. At this point, I don’t trust that man at all.
Jan 12, 2026
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#10
what was the supposed "defect" in the set? which set and wood was it? knights with variance in a 100 dollar set is to be expected but a cracked peice i would want made right free of charge. it seems very suspicious to me that you arent willing to say what was wrong let alone provide any pictures. i have to assume you just made a mountain out of a mole hill and they eventually appeased you.
Try and sue them. Or threaten to. If you have their statements in a mail this clearly infringes customer rights in the EU.
IMthefisch skrev:
what was the supposed "defect" in the set? which set and wood was it? knights with variance in a 100 dollar set is to be expected but a cracked peice i would want made right free of charge. it seems very suspicious to me that you arent willing to say what was wrong let alone provide any pictures. i have to assume you just made a mountain out of a mole hill and they eventually appeased you.
If you read my post carefully, the specific defect isn’t the core issue. The problem is how the situation was handled.
Yes, the set had clear defects that should not pass as “premium” (and no, this wasn’t about minor knight variance). But even if you assume the defect were debatable, that wouldn’t justify:
- insisting I pay both return shipping and their original shipping for a defective item
- pressuring me through prolonged back-and-forth to get a return approved
- instructing me to declare a false value on customs
- explicitly promising to reimburse tracked return shipping, then not doing so
- stopping communication once the return arrived
That’s the issue. Not whether someone on the internet thinks the defect was “bad enough.”
If a company advertises premium products, promises specific remedies, and then doesn’t honor them, that’s worth calling out, regardless of whether photos are posted to satisfy skeptics.
Feb 5, 2026
0
#15
It's only been 2 days that they haven't responded to me, so I don't want to drag them preemptively as I'm pretty patient, but my set showed up with a cracked piece and all I want is a replacement for the one piece and they told me it would be packaged with a seperate order and it wasn't, and now I'm waiting for a response...
Will update when I hear back with how they handle this.
Update: they just responded and apologized for the confusion and are replacing my piece for the cost of shipping as outlined in their warranty policy. (I'm going to have to pay duties again, too 😭)
Hopefully just a mistakes happen, situation 😔
I’m asking because my experience with Staunton Castle recently was a nightmare.
I ordered what they advertise as a premium chess set and explicitly asked them to double-check the quality before shipping. It still arrived with obvious defects.
Trying to get a return approved was a nightmare. Despite the item being defective, they insisted I should pay not only the return shipping, but also their original shipping cost. Getting approval involved prolonged back-and-forth and constant pressure.
Once they finally agreed to the return, they said shipping it back would be far more expensive for them, so I had to pay for the tracked and insured return shipping myself. They explicitly promised to reimburse me for that cost.
They also instructed me to declare a much lower value on the customs form than what I actually paid.
After the return arrived, communication stopped. I was refunded for the set itself, but not the return shipping they had promised to reimburse.
I opened a case with my bank. They sympathized, but said they didn’t have the authority to recover the shipping costs from their end.
For comparison, I’ve never had issues with House of Staunton or other chess retailers.
At this point, I see no reason to trust Staunton Castle with a “premium” purchase, and I strongly recommend people think twice before ordering from them.