Chess Bazaar Luxury Order Defective Knights!

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Avatar of Bawker

Oxidation will be somewhat uniform, and "thin" looking.  Excess buffing compound will be "built up" and kind of smeared at the edges... with rapid transition between compound and non-compound areas.  Also, buffing compound wipes away pretty easily with a hard rub, using  damp paper towel.

Avatar of Bawker

Teichmann70,

I read through your comments, and while I agree with some of them, I also find others to be unfairly biased and not conforming to reality.

 

First off, pretty much every company selling a product of any kind will "cherry pick" their inventory to find as perfect a specimen as they can for advertising photography.  While it is true, in general, that the sets you receive from Chessbazaar will not be as nice as the photos, the sets they ship are not all that much worse either.  My "Henry Blackburne" set in Bud Rosewood is pretty damn close to the photos on the webpage, and my 1940-50 Soviet reproduction set is, if anything, actually better looking in person than the page advertising it!

 

Chessbazaar, as I've repeatedly noted in other posts, is a mixed bag.   Some of their sets are carved by better craftsmen than others, and the overall quality of some sets leads me to believe that Chessbazaar buys from several different manufacturers, then sells them under one "umbrella" organization.

 

I have purchased 8 Chessbazaar chess piece sets at this point, with a 9th set on the way.  Overall, I am quite pleased with the quality of the chess sets I've received, with a few minor complaints that I've managed to deal with without contacting Chessbazaar directly.  However, on my most recent set ("Antique Upright" ebony/boxwood), one of the rooks arrived broken, and one of the bishops had been SERIOUSLY abused by someone at the factory, resulting in numerous deep dents on one side along with a deep scratch.  I contacted Chessbazaar, and they have sent 2 replacement pieces.  Am I happy that there was a problem?  No way.  Am I happy with their response?  Oh yeah!  Good customer service... pieces on the way less than an hour from when I sent the photos to them in email.

 

As for using "cheap woods" and things like that, I have found that that is absolutely NOT the case... the quality of the wood, grain pattern, color, lack of knots and inclusions, etc. with Chessbazaar sets is absolutely as good as anything I've bought from House of Staunton, Chess USA, Upright Chess, and other higher-end manufacturers.  I think the thing to remember here is that almost without exception (*Cough* NoJ *Cough*), the chess sets you buy almost anywhere all originate in the same region of India, are made by the same craftsmen, and are using the same woods and tools.  What's the difference?  Quality control and inspection sorting mostly... both of which you pay for when buying from more "reputable" dealers.

 

Overall, I find Chessbazaar chessmen to be a pretty good deal (of course, I only buy when I can get them 25-30% off..) and I have not through personal experience found that very much of what you say about the company and their products is really all that factual.  Not trying to cause problems or make any enemies here, just trying to set the record straight with respect to that company and their products.

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I don't know if you are referring to me as "people connected to Chessbazaar", but I need to state RIGHT NOW that I have ZERO connection to that company, in any way other than buying their chess sets.

Avatar of Bawker

P.S. My ONLY interest in "defending" Chessbazaar is that I don't like to see any person or organization slammed unfairly in an untruthful manner.  Your statements about the company do not agree with my experiences, having bought and received 8 sets from them.  I think that is adequate evidence to support a reasonably accurate view of what kind of products they produce and sell.

Avatar of Proverbpsalms

This is my *FIRST* chess set, I don't even have a chess board! 

I really wanted to be happy with this order, but everyone I show the knights to all say they look deformed! 

I wish I could have good things to say about Chess Bazaar, but unless they swap these knights I am resorted to sending them back. 

Avatar of richiwalt

Nope ... Oxidation, comes right off very very easy with a soft cloth ... then it Looks shiney and perfect ... Only problem is ... It comes right back over the next few days. My CB set does the same thing.

Avatar of richiwalt

Bawker wrote:

richiwalt,

That looks a lot like the level of attention to detail and finishing work of my Chessbazaar  "Henry Blackburne" bud rosewood set.  Simply exquisite!

I'm pretty sure that Chessbazaar gets their various sets from different manufacturers... some of their sets seem to be carved and finished more crudely than others.

======

Thanks much. Just wished every set from them had a high degree of quality.

Avatar of loubalch
Proverbpsalms wrote:

This is the reply I got, they are telling me this is normal, the knights look very deformed and defective to me. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Andrew,

 

Thanks for the confirmation of receipt of your order. We have checked the pictures of the knights and Andrew, kindly note that these are handcrafted items, standardization is not possible like any other mass produced items. However, we work hard with our artisans to achieve 99.99% perfection. We have checked our inventory and all the knight are same like yours.

Best Regards, Sapna

Proverbpsalms,

99.9% perfection? How about 99.9% B.S. If all of their other knights look like yours, then their quality is definitely sub-standard.

I have a similar "fancy knight" set from House of Chess that I picked up about 2 years ago for $249 (with heavy storage case and free shipping included). Compare and contrast the quality of the carving and finish. All features of the HoC knights are balanced with piece-to-piece consistency.

CB vs. Hoc (1)

CB vs. HoC (2)

Consistency is such that it looks like all four knights were carved by the same hand. That's craftsmanship, not apprenticeship.

As long as we continue to settle for mediocrity and sub-standard craftsmanship, the vendors never have to offer us anything more. Why would they?

At the price point you paid for your set ($250 and beyond), you, and the rest of us, deserve knights carved by master craftsmen, not apprentices. We deserve pieces that are free from nicks, dents and scratches. That don't look like they've been thrown into a pile once they leave the lathe. That are properly finished, adequately weighted, and properly padded. In short, we deserve a quality chess set.

Avatar of Ashvapathi

Those horses look fine. Come on, don't be a fussy customer.

Avatar of RulezSuck

My experience with CB over the past 3 years is very good overall. Their products are good to very good for the price. HOS pieces are good but not all of them great for the price, they are overly priced. I've also purchased CB Chetak chess set last Christmas, the set arrived without any problems, no nicks and any of the problems mentioned. 

In fact, I have been satisfied with just about everything I have bought from CB and the few things I'd problems with, Sapna corrected quickly. Maybe I was lucky :P

Avatar of Proverbpsalms

Beautiful pieces Lou, 

This is one of the nicest sets I have seen. Board/Pieces

And Ashvapathi, I'm not being fussy, I have 9 scracatched/dented pieces, I am not complaining about, just the deformed eyes on my knights. 

Avatar of cgrau
I have the same oxidation problem with a set from House of Staunton. Every time I wiped it off, it returned. HOS had no idea of what was going on. Last time I put Renaissance Wax on. That seems to have abated the problem.

To clean the crevices I use a soft toothbrush.
Avatar of Bawker

Yes.  Wax or Tung oil might cure the oxidation problem.

Avatar of Drawgood
Contact chessbazaar in their contact link. I exchanged emails with a person named Sapna many times before and they always accommodated or addressed my concerns. One time I received a chess set in which one piece was cracked. They send me a replacement piece quickly.
Avatar of Drawgood
I do not share Teichmann70's opinion about Chessbazaar. I do not work for chessbazaar and I don't have any friends working for them. I tell you only about my experience buying four unique sets from them.

By the way, I've read that House of Staunton also buys many of their sets from India or orders them to be made in India. They don't make all of their sets from scratch in UK.
Avatar of loubalch
Drawgood wrote:
I do not share Teichmann70's opinion about Chessbazaar. I do not work for chessbazaar and I don't have any friends working for them. I tell you only about my experience buying four unique sets from them.

By the way, I've read that House of Staunton also buys many of their sets from India or orders them to be made in India. They don't make all of their sets from scratch in UK.

Most sets, regardless of where the vendor is located, are made in India. BTW, House of Staunton is located in Alabama.

Avatar of Eyechess

To my knowledge all the sets from House of Staunton are made in India.

Avatar of DubroMan
Eyechess wrote:

To my knowledge all the sets from House of Staunton are made in India.

Some are made in Russia like mammoth bone set,but those cost over 10.000$

Avatar of Geniemir

 


I am wondering how did the situation with knights resolved? Did you get replacements?

BTW, I also have 

one set from CB. Shera series. Kights’ Eyes are not perfectly leveled too, but they are still acceptable for my taste.

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Avatar of Geniemir

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