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Houseofstaunton.com issues.

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baudouin27

Congrats on the Porat Jacobson. That is truly a cut above. I do enjoy woods/grains with some variety, for example some Drueke boards will have wonderful variety of coloration. But that’s mostly just personal taste and thank god that is different for us all. The craftsmanship is important to me though - a knight mounted badly on a base or poor carving of the mane or inconsistency in details between pieces - all unacceptable (the Zagreb design is one where there is a lot of poor workmanship at many of the vendors -

Anyway, I’ll look forward to seeing the Jacobson!

ookiiman
Unfortunately I’m another person who has an issue with House of Staunton. I bought a chess piece box from them and it got stuck in Türkiye customs, due to tax limits. The shipping company FedEx is far from solution, taking no action to solve the problem.

What surprised me most is the ignoring attitude of HoS towards me. I wrote them more than 10 e-mails, explained my problem in detail and provided necessary screenshots. In addition to all of these, I requested the package to be returned, if there is no solution with the Customs part. I’m not even talking about the long chain of e-mails with FedEx, which counts more than 50.

Instead of trying to understand my frustration, let alone providing me a solution about the issue, HoS chose to ignore all my e-mails and return requests. They seem to be playing three monkeys. They don’t even bother to write a reply, unfortunately.

For more than half a month, my package is waiting at FedEx office in Istanbul, FedEx claims the problem is with Customs (arguably, because I had no official notification), and HoS ignores all my explanations and return requests.

I previously read the forums and saw positive comments about the company. I thought they were reliable and caring about customer satisfaction. Great disappointment for me.

I hope you don’t have such frustrating experiences with your chess shopping. If there is a solution of the issue, I will immediately update the news. Thanks for reading.
garetgg

I informed HOS that I was expecting darker pieces as shown in the pictures, and I requested a rosewood set if they match the images or another Purple Heart set if it’s mostly flawless. HOS responded, letting me know that a new set is being shipped, but they didn’t specify whether it’s Purple Heart or rosewood, so it’ll be a surprise. As long as the pieces aren’t chipped and are properly stained, I’ll be a happy customer!

garetgg

New pieces have arrived. Overall, the set was much better to the eye out of the box. I was sent a darker color, which looks much more like what I was expecting, but still, HOS quality control is disappointing. Would you accept these pieces? Some flaws are to be expected with hand-made pieces at this price point I figured, but only posting the ones that stood out to me. Hos biggest issue is the stain, so many with streaks and blotches. Is this the norm with Chessmen?

garetgg

garetgg

Wits-end

I do not feel that you’d be out of line to expect better quality and craftsmanship.

Reloc8

The first white piece appears to have a shallow crack that isn't going to get any better over time and it should not have been sent to a paying customer.

The others you have shown are scuffed to an I extent I would not be happy with.

Sorry you are having these issues - very disappointing. I have made a note to avoid this vendor.

garetgg

Hos sent a message today apologizing for sending damaged pieces to me twice. inspected replacements to be sent out today, they claim. So the back and forth is not fun but seems as though they will get you the set you purchased eventually.

LOSTATCHESS

based on all the comments here and before forums about this company -- why would anyone buy their lower line pieces -- i understand their high end stuff is great -- but this--- shown in the pictures was terrible for a company to let out at any price point -- i guess it pays to shop locally and see the set your are buying and feel them -- even of your saving a lot on internet buying -- a chess set is very personal and needs to feel right and look right to play right

WandelKoningin
LOSTATCHESS wrote:

based on all the comments here and before forums about this company -- why would anyone buy their lower line pieces -- i understand their high end stuff is great -- but this--- shown in the pictures was terrible for a company to let out at any price point -- i guess it pays to shop locally and see the set your are buying and feel them -- even of your saving a lot on internet buying -- a chess set is very personal and needs to feel right and look right to play right

I got their Tahl II set on clearance and was super happy with the pieces, so even at the lower end, they can definitely offer quality.

But I would be hesitant to buy a gilded set, in part also because I got a Chavet set from a different company that was entirely the wrong color compared to their online photos (I sent the set back at my cost), and I see the same here with HoS.

Either way, House of Staunton does seem to lack the quality control that was in place when Frank Camaratta was still involved.