Staunton Castle Unresponsive (Issue Resolved)

Well,that never crossed my mind.Guess I was a bit lucky....Yes,that's tantamount to extortion I think.

Besides why are you crying,with the humongous amount of amazing sets you've been posting photos of,all at nice prices.-

Staunton Castle quality has been getting worse and worse. That could be due to their need to produce more chess sets within limited timeframe or SC may have changed its wood turners. 

You may be right. I have three sets from SC, the 1950 Dubrovnik and the Attica purchased this summer were perfect, the last one, the BCC 1900-1901 ordered in October had issues.,

Compare that to the $150 set I recently ordered from ChessByIndia shipped from Amritsar India to Miami for free via FedEx

From this, I can only assume that pirates are still roaming the seas and stealing half of the cargo being shipped...

I mentioned on many occasions about SC sending me the distressed version instead of the antiqued version of the 3.5" Morphy set. I assumed at the time I would need to send the distressed half back to Mandeep in exchange for the antiqued side. Out of curiosity I checked the price to send a half set back to India from the US. I believe the price was around $140 to $160 range for DHL. I looked at FedEx too but it was just as much. 

Hahaha, the fundamental flaw in your logic is in believing that logic is involved in any way.  Prepare to be met with the impenetrable, "it's different".  Game over.  ;-)

Stealth ordering engaged and damn the consequences... which will of course be blamed on Lou.  

Another problem with Staunton Castle is if you require a replacement due to faulty chessman you must buy another chess set from them so that they can send your replacement with it, in this respect, Chessbazaar offers better replacement policy. Even Royal Chess Mall with their low quality products offer free replacement. 

I've learned from the best long time ago. It's easier to ask for forgiveness then ask for permission.

Being a confirmed bachelor, I am blissfully ignorant of all the machinations and stratagems involved in dealing with a spousal unit.

Sound67 is misinformed, SC is sending me a complete set of replacement boxwood pieces at no cost.

This is true but,...

When making a Chess set the piece or pieces with imperfections should be replaced before shipping.

I remember Frank Camaratta inspecting and wrapping each piece in cotton before sending the set out.  Unfortunately that practice stopped at HoS when the new owner took over.  And this is why we see comments about piece imperfections from HoS on this forum.

Yes, doing this raises the cost of producing a set.  You don’t see these problems with companies not taking this type of short cut.  Chess Empire, Noj, and Official Staunton are examples.

I gotta come clean. My wife gives me the green light on just about anything I want. She spoils me rotten SO it's moi that has to be careful (read selective) on purchases. We both read the comments and both had good laughs over all the witticisms. Marriage can in fact be bliss.   

Confirmed.

I'm sure that the manufacturer  https://youtu.be/4WJoR9QH12k (this may be it, Mandeep Handicrafts) behind the name Staunton Castle manufactures sets for those retailers that sell them at double and triple mark-up. Likely then is the case that those retailers pay a premium to have their orders serviced first, with the sets with the fewest imperfections.

Personally, I would be willing to pay as much as double the price to ensure satisfaction, but not triple or quadruple as many of the elitist retailers hope to extort out of monied buyers. All of these sets are worth their asking price on Castle.com. To that end, I would rather that they not be on sale, if that would ensure quality control  going forward.

If Mandeep is listening, I would prefer that he not pander to impatience or encourage it by ignoring potential customers, but that instead he aspire to accommodate courtesy by way of a quick and honest reply. He could minimize e-questions by listing all of the build (custom) options on his website, or simply state that none are available to simplify replies.

His English is excellent, but it still takes time to draft 'polite' responses to appeals for 'special' work or consideration. To fail in adoption of this practice leads to the alternative wherein quality is traded for a quicker turn around to placate angry buyers, but that is not the delivery model that anyone wants.

A quick reply with an honest shipping date, however many months it is distanced from the order, up to  4 months (the wait for most shipping containers from China containing things like furniture is 4-5 months) for a top quality product that doesn't invite quality control problems and complicated returns is all that I (and possibly we at chess.com) require. If we lose confidence in his product, his post The Queens Gambit economic picture will be grim.

We could educate ourselves here to, instead of relying on Mandeep! To that end, does anyone who has received merchandise from Castle know if they 'direct' ship from India, or does it go through Canada first en route to its destination? Mandeep may or may no live in Canada, seasonally or at all. Given the standard immigration profile, it is just as likely that a relative occupies the home in Brampton, and that this gives Mandeep either a more attractive (less exotic) mailing address or some kind of tax/customs/shipping advantage.

Either way, we all wish him well with an improved business model that yields him greater profit through 'quantity', judiciously delivered, as long as it doesn't cost to us anymore, or result in loss of the high quality we know him to be capable of.

Ok, but Uk only. Anyone try Scott's Liquid Gold wood cleaner here in America? 

Would it be wise to order from Staunton Castle at this time? I'm not too concerned about waiting times as I am about quality. Also when you order from them can you leave a special instruction in a box somewhere in the ordering process? Thanks. 

I'm probably going to order.