Staunton Castle Unresponsive (Issue Resolved)

[UPDATE: 1-14-21. My issue was successfully resolved today with the delivery of replacement boxwood pieces. See Post #300 on Page 15 for further details.]

On October 21st I received the BCC 1900-1901 chess set from Staunton Castle. The pictures on their website showed the boxwood pieces with a satin finish (see pic below). What I received was a set with a poorly lacquered finish. When I contacted SC on 10/29 they told me, and I quote, "Please keep the pieces in open for 15 to 20 days. If you see that pieces are in gloss finish then we shall replace you the white side of this chess set."

I even waited an extra week and on 12/1 I emailed to tell them that the gloss finish had not faded and I asked them to replace the boxwood pieces, as promised. After a week with no reply, I sent another email on 12/7. Again with NO reply. I sent subsequent emails on 12/10 and 12/19, NO reply, NO reply. I sent off my sixth email request today, but I'm not optimistic about receiving a response.

I fear that I have been bamboozled. By asking me to wait for 3-4 weeks and then ignoring my emails, they were able to stall beyond the date for returning the set on eBay (very clever, as well as being very unethical). Yes, Mandeep, I accuse!

So although SC makes excellent chess sets, I would caution anyone from placing an order with them, or with any company, that is totally unresponsive if there's a problem (it's called customer service). So, caveat emptor (Buyer beware)! 

If you're the gambling type and like shooting craps, then, by all means, roll the dice with SC. But if you're unlucky like me, you may, in fact, get crap! And a lot of BS as well.

Here are the satin boxwood pieces as shown on the SC website.

And here's what I received, a poorly lacquered finish that looks like it was applied with a firehose. Notice the overspray as seen in the wavy reflections on the pieces, the pooling of lacquer around the queen's collar. Not to mention the scratches in king's finish. It all adds up to pretty shoddy work if you ask me.

Unless you've been dipping them in olive oil, that's a gloss finish. Dang, I'm looking to buy from them too. I'm wondering if anyone else had transactions with Mandeep during the time you emailed him. Did he respond to them?

Sorry to hear @Loubalch. I have not been around a long time but I have never seen so many simultaneous complaints about chess suppliers. I think I have read complaints about HoS, Chesshouse, and now SC. I think the Queen's Gambit is to blame. It was not like this before.

 

If the problem has to do with the "Queen's Gambit," then business must be booming! I mean how long does it take to answer an email, 2 minutes!

Because SC asked me to wait for a month, I ended up in a Catch-22. I contacted PayPal for relief and they told me I needed to contact eBay. When I did, eBay told me the clock had already run out on my ability to return the item. And since eBay's only option on dealing with an item not as ordered is to return it, I'm not sure how to proceed. Apparently, eBay does not guarantee that a vendor supports a product, or even reply to their customers. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I have been around this forum a short while only and @loubalch is one of the people that (in my view) consistently provides objective, balanced discussions related to chess sets. I note this because Lou's advice (and a few others) gave me the confidence to purchase a couple of sets. So .... I sincerely hope that this is sorted by the said manufacturer; it's the right thing to do and I believe a sensible business decision by the manufacturer too - why alienate a high value customer and voice of reason?

I feel fortunate that I purchased my sets just before (or in the very early days of the Queen's Gambit rush) .... my guess (and it is an unsubstantiated guess) is that numerous manufacturers have pushed hard to meet a huge and unexpected demand and as a result, quality control (QC) has lapsed. Perhaps it's in manufacturing oversight or perhaps with less skilled labour required to meet increased output. Who knows but consumers will not accept lower quality product as a result. It's a broader issue for the manufacturers as people (like me - who may purchase more sets in future) will lose confidence in purchasing direct from purveyors such as SC and other providers mentioned in other posts. Perhaps this may have an upside for local retailers as they can provide certainty for customers (who can see and feel the product before purchase) and pay a premium accordingly.

Lou, I don't know you but I wish you well. I don't really have an idea to help other than you continuing to appeal to the business and ethical sensibilities of the said retailer, perhaps when the dust settles you'll receive an appropriate response. 

I wouldn’t accept those scratches on a brand new set. Hope this gets sorted for you and thanks for letting us know that this Company should be avoided for the time being.

Ouch, I would try again mailing PayPal and Ebay along with the email attached that's saying they told you to wait for 2 weeks? Out of good faith you even wait for another week and therefor you run out of return window? Also you had the intention to return it in the first place but they told you to wait for 2 weeks.

Ebay/PayPal will just repeat what they've already said. They're pretty strict when it comes to enforcing their rules/user agreement

The lesson here is to inform eBay/PayPal up front of the complaint and the instruction by the vendor to wait. That way the clock is ticking on the seller, not the buyer. You can always drop the complaint should SC respond, resolve the problem

DAMN. I'm very close to purchasing a $300 set from Staunton Castle. I'll be watching this thread closely. Purchasing through Ebay usually gives the buyer another level of protection you don't get by purchasing directly from the vendor website. Ebay usually skews all power to the buyer in regards to dispute resolution. The seller has no say. The only requirement being the time window. Which you are unfortunately familiar with. I've been following Staunton Castle for a few weeks now. There has been a note stating that they were away until the end of the year. I imagine there's a huge backlog of orders and emails for a vendor to get through. Be persistent and keep contacting them through all means possible. Email, phone, eBay message, social media, etc. 

@loubalch I just heard back from Mandeep this morning after posting a query to him a couple of days ago (maybe yesterday dunno) in the website's chat box. I don't know if you tried this or not but maybe go to that chat box and post your concern. Who knows.

I think the problems are due to the "perfect storm" of "The Queen's Gambit effect", massive shipping problems, and the ever-present COVID.  The first two will eventually sort out but the third, who knows?

He's just asking for an email response. That has nothing to do with shipping or the virus. I got a response, why not Lou?

You're right, it's not too much to ask.  But the eBay note that they're out until the Dec 31 may have made responses unpredictable, if at all.  And someone said that area in India has been hit hard - maybe that's a factor as well.

To add to my earlier post - the pandemic is cleary impacting services and I do hope that the people behind the various brands/manufacturers are in good health or at least, returning to good health if they are ill. To assist @Loubalch and others and better manage expectations manufacturers should have automated email responses at the least ... along the lines of: “Thank you for your enquiry - we appreciate your custom - due to [add correct issue.... demand or pandemic-disrupted services or ill health ...] it may take us a few days/weeks to respond - bare with us as we work through these times .... “ or words to that effect.

As a working example - late last year, I ordered through Chess Bazaar at two different times for two different sets ... the service was wonderful and the delivery was blisteringly fast by DHL to Australia. The second set needed some replacement pieces but I was informed by CB that India post was not working well at present. No drama - I understood the situation and have no need for urgent delivery nor did I feel the need to push for expedited freight delivery such as the original sets where sent. I was happy that my request was promptly acknowledged and I am happy for postal delivery - even if that’s 3-6 months away due to the pandemic disruptions.

The point being - email responses where quick and the problem acknowledged promptly ... thus my concerns were alleviated and I remain a satisfied customer. If however, I was receiving no response or a service that did not live up to what I was paying or promised - things would be different - as is the case with some of the examples above. Again, I hope all is resolved appropriately.

Your situation just stinks! Period!

As for booming business, I would like to answer that. My business was really busy this year. It was very hectic. Outsiders can look in and just say "hey why don't you just hire someone?" but it really isn't that simple. There is a process to hiring someone. You can't just snap your fingers and poof a new employee shows up. Also Covid will surely make it more difficult to hire people. After you hire them, you still have to train them. Regardless of how smart that person is, it will still take them awhile to learn the process. When the person is not fully acclimated to the process they will increase the load for everyone else. Initially it will be more work to have the new person around because they will make mistakes, have questions, be slow, etc. There are other considerations as well. 

Regardless your situation just stinks! Hopefully your situation will be resolved soon.

"Perfect storm" is exactly right. Stinks for all involved including the customer, retailer and shipper. No one wins here.

Simple things like responding to emails is almost impossible when you suddenly get slammed.  There just isn't enough time in a day. It is like having your normal 40-hour week increase to 80-hours but you actually have 100 hours of work to complete. The 20 hours you failed to finish this week will be waiting for you next week along with another 100 hours of work. It is an impossible task to tackle. Meanwhile the customer, you and @Loubalch, in this case gets lost in the shuffle which stinks.

You sure are coming up with a lot of excuses and reasons why these companies CAN'T do something. If responding to queries was so difficult then why did it take mere hours for Mandeep to respond to me? Secondly if Amazon can hire 100,000 seasonal workers and make it work then small companies can hire 2 or 3 extras and make THAT work. CVS hired 15,000 work at home seasonal workers. WORK AT HOME. All these companies knew it was coming. Here's some helpful tips for hiring seasonal help. https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/12/23/how-retailers-are-tackling-the-covid-christmas-rush/

Thanks for all the support. Here's hoping SC gets back on track and follows through on their promise to replace the boxwood pieces. They offer quality chess sets and I'd like to be able to recommend their products without hesitation.

It is not excuses. This happened to me this year. I got so slammed at times that I had to turn away customers. These are customers who have been with me for a long time. This doesn't mean I make a lot of money. In fact it means I lose money because those customers will go elsewhere and may never return. I am self employed and I work alone. There were many times where 3 or 4 customers wanted me at the same time but I couldn't be in more than one place at a time. And the answer was not as simple as let's go get more help. I've been down that road and it is a lot of work to get help. I use to have an employee but often he could not always do the work. I had to get involved on the phone while I was handling my scheduled work. Multi-tasking is not so good sometimes. Being with one customer who is paying me hourly while I'm am on the phone with another is not very good. Also, the problem is I don't know when the work comes. It comes when it does.  It is not like I can make plans for the increase. The stay at home order was in March but I didn't get slammed until the fall. I had no idea it was coming. It just happened all of a sudden.

I am just trying to put things into perspective. You can read a lot of posts about bad customer experiences with HoS, SC, Chesshouse, and others. These companies are normally very good in handling customers and delivering product in a timely manner. Sure there are some that have bad experiences with these companies but generally speaking, most in the past have had good experiences including myself. Now all of a sudden many are reporting that these same companies are all simultaneously doing a poor job in handling customers. Are all of these companies bad or is it just a massive increase in load that is causing these companies' systems and procedures to break down. I think it is the latter rather than the former.

In terms of the stay at home orders, that is true. Everyone knew it was coming. However, I believe the chess business was slow most of the year. HoS from January until around November had a constant coupon on their site. When one coupon expired, another one popped up. The discount ranged from 10% to 20%. A continuous coupon does not make me believe HoS was doing well at that time. Then all of a sudden there were no more coupons. Instead the coupon was replaced with we are working hard to fulfill your orders... blah blah blah. I think that's when HoS and the rest of the chess industry got slammed.

Also, HoS, SC, Chesshouse, Noj, American Chess Equipment, etc are all small business. I think ACE is a mom and pop shop. They can't just get 2-3 employees after the load increased 10x within a short period of 6 weeks. In case you're wondering I read since Queen's Gambit has been out that chess sales increased by 1000%. I don't know if that's true but that's where I got the 10x.

As for Mandeep responding to you quickly, I have no idea why he responded to you quickly and why he did not for @Loubalch. You'll have to ask him.