Staunton Castle Unresponsive (Issue Resolved)

Yes, we are seeing companies that have been at the top show signs of problems leading to poor or non-existent service.  
The shipping back logs are huge.

It certainly has been and still is frustrating for everyone involved.

@Eyechess I can imagine. I am pretty calm now because I don't have anything on order. If I was in @Loubalch's situation or in your situation with the item you ordered I would be very upset. I would have zero understanding about increased load, shipping delays, etc even though I have been on the other side of the equation earlier this year. I just stinks all around especially for the customer.

[Issue Resolved, See Post #300 on Page 15 for details.]

I have just received the following email from Mandeep of Staunton Castle. It appears that the situation is in the process of being resolved. I will keep you updated and report back once the replacement set has arrived. Hopefully, SC has resolved their communication problem.

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

"Dear Sir,

Warm Greetings!!!

I am very sorry that due to the mistake of my staff you faced this problem. One of my staff member who was handling the online queries of the buyers he did not inform me for many emails from my buyers. I have fired this person yesterday.

I apology for this mistake by my employee. I am going to dispatch you the half side of 1900-01 chess set in antique look with in this week.

I request you kindly remove your comments on chess.com.

Again I am very sorry for this mistake. Please accept my apology.

Thanks and regards,

Mandeep"

@Loubalch That's great news!

Fair enough but requesting the removing of forum comments is a bit dodgy. Potential customers should have visibility of other customer experiences IMHO. 

Absolutely right and well said.  In normal times things operate as well as they will.  All systems have a breaking point, I think many have been found in this day.

When I was whining to HoS recently they mentioned that they had 8,000 orders in 10 days.  I tried to emphasize that their policy compounded by USPS incompetence was why I was so p.i.s.s.e.d.  Did the message get through?  Probably not but we'll see.

They're very sensitive to their public perception.  It sounds like this was a unique "perfect storm" of conditions that created the @Loubalch's problem.  Mandeep is doing the right thing as best he can.  Personally, I'd respect that (just as we expect vendors to respect us) and scrub the thread.

Great news! Now we know why this all happened. I 2nd scrubbing this thread. 

I feel very good now about doing business with Staunton Castle.  

I contacted Mandeep directly after seeing this post and gave him the heads up ,
He was totally unaware of this issue with Lou ! Mandeep immediately posted on here to clarify the situation

Explains a lot really

Happy new year everyone

Actually, scrubbing the topic is not the best.

The problem did exist.  We read Mandeep’s response and answer as to what happened and what he is doing to fix it.

We also read that Carl, who owns Official Staunton Company took the trouble to email Mandeep making him aware of the situation.

The posts showing everything prove we are all human, it is a small community, and these are good guys.

That's great news. Hopefully it all gets resolved quickly.

In all fairness to Staunton Castle. The topic headline should be changed to "Resolved" or something after everything is satisfactory. 

To whomever has a direct line to Staunton Castle, PLEASE let Mandeep know that I've been trying to contact Staunton Castle for WEEKS trying to purchase a $300+ set. I sent SC multiple chat messages on the website chat function with my name and email. NO REPLY. I've also sent SC multiple messages via their eBay storefront. NO REPLY. Not sure if this has anything to do with the same fired employee. I mean, I'm literally trying to give the company my money. I just had a simple question about the product. When I didn't receive any type of reply or acknowledgment to my multiple attempts at contact, I put the purchase on hold. It's a very bad look for a company. One has to wonder, how many other orders were not completed due to non-communication similar to my experience. I was not about to give a company one penny if they couldn't even acknowledge a simple question about ordering. Hopefully, things are back on track over at Staunton Castle. 

I have prefaced the original post with the following message.

[UPDATE: Situation tentatively RESOLVED. Please read Post #23 for details.]

Will be happy to scrub the thread once the matter is fully resolved.

Did you say 8,000 orders?! Geez! How long would it take to print 8,000 labels on a UPS label printer? Wow! No system can handle this increase. I can see the 1000% increase I read about being true.

I agree with @Eyechess. I disagree with scrubbing the thread. I think we should let readers decide for themselves. I believe readers can see why SC did not reply and how this was resolved once Mandeep recognized what was going on. If anything I think buyers will have more confidence buying from Mandeep and Carl once they see how much they care.

The OP could also tack on a - RESOLVED...HAPPY...HAPPY to the thread title. Knowing that Mandeep fired the guy who caused all this trouble could be good advertising for him. :-)

This thread and the issue appears to be resolving itself.
Keeping the thread allows people to understand what happened - start to finish - and make their own judgement in future. I cannot speak for others but this thread does not put me off SC. (Albeit, I do feel for the person who was dismissed - I can imagine they may be dealing with their own issues in the pandemic - perhaps, cautioned/reprimanded and trained - rather than straight out dismissed... perhaps I’m an old softie!) That aside, the thread tells a story of a factual customer experience. Would I buy from SC in future?.... probably - they will be in the mix with a few other suppliers but to minimise risk. I think I’ll be waiting for the current demand to slow regardless... I think the supply side of the industry will be struggling through a backlog for a while yet.

I'm buying from SC probably later this month.

I agree, check my addendum to the original post.

Being a potential buyer I would really like the post to stay here until all issues are resolved. Also better for SC I think. When everyone can read the order has arrived/is replaced satisfactory. Instilling more confidence in a company when knowing things end well instead of never knowing what happened.