Negative review of The 1951-1954 "Česká klubovka" from Chessbazaar

Hello everyone !

https://www.chessbazaar.com/the-1951-1954-ceske-klubovka-fide-tournament-czech-reproduction-chessmen-in-ebony-wood-boxwood.html

I have bought this set on 20-Jul and received thi set on 29-Jul by Fedex.

I open the box at once and find some issues so I report to Chessbazzar by Whatsapp at once.

The issues are as below:

The knights set have different colour from its upper body and the its lower body.

Upper body is obviously look lighter on its colour.

I'm not sure if it is normal with its design.

I have a "Good" bishop and a "Bad" bishop, the bad one the black colour are just smear out from the black line.

Here is the picutre of good one:

I put good bishop and bad bishop together for comparison:

Honestly, I am not a picky person but all above is what I received and found from Day 1, and I immediately inform to Chessbazaar, as they shows there is 1 year warranty including manufacturing defect and when I decided to purchase at their site I thought I was protected.

On Day 1 - I send them the photos and report what I saw and found, no reply.

On Day 2 - I ask if they have any updates and they said they are checking the issues.

On Day 3 - no updates also I proactively asked am I getting covered by the warranty?

Chessbazaar answer that "all these are wood grain marks which are natural and common in handmade items. So, please be assured, you have got a QUALITY PRODUCT"

I continue to ask how the bishop can be a QUALITY PRODUCT. As expected no more reply from Chessbazaar and I think that's how they handle these cases normally.

In conclusion, I am upset and disatisfied with the product and their customer service.

My sharing is, buy from a reputable seller who is responsbile and provide truely warranty of their product. (For example : I bought a set of 1972 Bobby Fischer chess set from Royal Chess Mall on 2020, and I found a Queen and a Bishop have a minor issues. They saw the photos and send me the replacement by mail at once)

I don't think you can complain about the variance in "color" between the knights/knight bases. Within the same boxwood sets, some boxwood can be more yellow, it's not a manufacturer's fault. After all, wood is a natural product, and both colour varaiance or grain differences can occur.

The smeared black colour on the bishop is another matter, that's a clear flaw in craftsmanship that CB should feel obligated to correct.

These are very real imperfections and such colour variance and stains and smears should never exist in a normal chess set. Basically, Chessbazaar has sold you an imperfect set and if you have not bought your chess set from CB imperfect section you are entitled to every right to claim replacements. Chessbazaar always sends replacements for dodgy chessmen by Indiapost which can take up to a month to arrive.

I can confirmed that it is not bought from imperfect section.

If they show on the website it is an imperfect set , I will not buy it. but now they just insist it is a good set / quality set , for me , it is a huge disappointment from this answer.

Yes, they keep evading at the beginning asking you to send them photos of the defective pieces and then trying to convince you that it is the quality of wood and that type of nonsense. The truth of the matter is chess pieces must be made from the same block of wood so that all the parts and chessmen have the same colour and grain and chess makers are very much aware of this fact and never use different blocks of wood for making the same chess set. These tricks of CB are old and ineffective now. They must provide you with perfect replacements specially as you paid dearly for your chess set

What a pain  ChocoolateMilk , Would go for your money back , The knights you could leave in the sun , wood will darken in time + some woodwax on the small dent . As for the smeared black colour on the bishop , . Is it black paint , Try rubbing it out with a cloth & a touch of white spirit lightly or Q tip & white spirit , masked the area around with some tape .

I am so disappointed because I chose Chessbazaar from several sellers since they mentioned it has a one-year warranty. I expected that if there were any problems, I would at least get a replacement for the cost I paid. (Just look at the bishop - how can they accept this and send it to the customer?)

Based on their website and all the reviews, I expected this set to be perfect or at least in good condition. Somehow, there is color variance on the knight, a smear on the bishop, and a little "black dot" on several pieces. Yes, they are very small and don't affect the play, but I just feel they are sending me an imperfect set and don't even bother to give me an explanation or a replacement.

If they insist on not providing a replacement for the bishop and the knight, do you think I can request a refund?

Chessbazaar has one of the worst reviews on internet and chess.com although they have tried their best to cover up these negative comments. There is nothing you can do to fix the blemishes of the chessmen because they are organic and from the texture of the wood and trying to fix any flaw will end up making the chessmen look even worse. The only solution is for Chessbazaar to send you the replacements for the imperfect pieces. At first they always resist and try to justify the imperfections by saying that the pieces are hand-made or it is the wood grain or it is the characteristic of wood etc but if you insist and show them that you know what you are talking about they will send you the replacements usually by Indiapost. Chessbazaar knows that customers cannot get easy refund from paypal as they will have to send back the whole set which costs a fortune in shipment charge and they use this loophole in paypal system to get everything their way and keep the customer under their thumb. The rule of thumb is when you see the same items appearing in big sales regularly on their website the chances that they have imperfections are very high.

Hi All. Below is the updates after talking to Chessbazzar sales by the email. After back and forth they finally provide me the replacement. I am glad that now I can have a nice set on hand and the smear bishop got replaced. Although I have the replacement at last, and all the replacement are in good condition ; I have to say that I kind of agree what @SpanishStallion said above is quite accurate. They will try to resist and justify the imperfections and after I insist it is not acceptable and finally I got the replacement.

From a consumer perspective, at some point I was really worrying that I couldn't got the replacement and feel like even I share the photos and told them what happened, they will still try to justify it instead of helping me to solve the problems, unless you really insist.

another thing I have prove is when their chess set in huge discount , there are higher chance that you got the imperfect set. In my case there are 4-5 pieces that need to replace.

Anyway, Now I'm really enjoy this set with my new Certabo board ; for the photos I will share in this forum later.