Staunton Castle Unresponsive (Issue Resolved)

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

Hopefully, those awaiting products or responses from Staunton Castle will be hearing from them soon.

Why are you doing all the talking for this Mandeep?

I think Mandeep hired back that staff member.

And maybe his brother too! One could ignore people on the even-numbered days of the month and his brother on the odd-numbered days. That way they won't have to work so hard. It must be exhausting ignoring people 8 hours a day.

Good luck Lou and everyone else who is stuck in this endless blackhole. Hopefully there will be more good news coming.

I hear SC is thinking about coming up with a special chess set just for masochists, like ourselves (why else would we put up with all of this). The pieces, it's rumored, will be black and blue!

I'm not sure any of us are taking pleasure in this. LOL 

Better laughter than tears.

In this fast paced, instant gratification world we can forget how to just be patient. Living in Guatemala I've learned the meaning of mañana. It doesn't mean 'tomorrow', it means later, with no time period specified. If someone says they will get back to you on Tuesday you better pin down in which week

LOL good point! My patience will likely run out the moment my stimulus check arrives in the mail.

I have a great deal of patience as long as the party I'm dealing with is open, straight-forward, and responsive. Tell me that you can't replace material for 3 months, given the present set of circumstances, I understand and will wait patiently. Where my patience becomes strained, however, is in situations where communications become nonexistent. Good customer service is all about fairness and honesty, and the willingness to do right by your customers.

As the old saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." But in this case, SC's customer service has broken down and is in dire need of repair. It's only under stress when things begin to crack that weaknesses and deficiencies become apparent. The question, and the challenge, becomes how do you fix it? Here's hoping Staunton Castle figures it out.

Hello! I think that the best thing for 'me' to do is to forget about acquiring new pieces for the time being. I just can't imagine that heavy ongoing demand is going to encourage the kind of quality control (that was maybe once practiced by Castle) and which is absolutely necessary to 'my' satisfaction with any pieces, will emerge as a priority in the current climate. 

The criticism was leveled at me earlier in this thread, by an individual who is apparently everyone's dream client, that I'm not the kind of customer 'anyone' wants; which is only half true, as I have a home full of beautiful things. I'm not the customer you want if you intend to trade against my willingness to accept inferior product or service; apparently the other guy is.

Its clear from the report of satisfied customers here that, when sales are brisk, there is every advantage to be had by pursuing the low hanging fruit. That's the beginning of the end for a retailer. My 'hope' is that Mandeep's passive-aggressive refusal to lower his standards is what is causing the delay in...everything! That's my 'hope', but I teach Logic and Reason, not hope.

As I have no direct experience of Mandeep, but plenty experience of small businesses become drunk on short-term advantage; even when it comes late to the game, I fear that eventually, my transaction will decay into a string of back-and-forths as I post my dissatisfaction with too broad a variation in pieces, while he endlessly replies that 'variation' should be expected.

Variation is variably described by a vendor depending on how much need a given business has of describing ever broader latitude of excuse. They will protest that 'You should expect variation in color, fit, and finish, as it were some requirement or obligation of organic media and handmade artisan products. They are not making microchips! Humans can manage this much.

I guess the point is, that I (and likely all of you too) will still be playing chess when all 'The Queen's Gambit' Johnny come lately's furor has died down, and the flush of new monied chess players, freshly come and soon to be gone (as soon as they realize that chess is harder than a video game), has disappeared from the 1500 year old chess landscape.

Bravo!Perfectly articulated!!

@tskeldon Well said. I wondered about that too, the quality dropping because of the lust for more money. The fact that my continued emails to Mandeep go unanswered tells me any problems I might have through a purchase would likely go unanswered as well.

Ordering  a chess set now (Jan2021) is at your own risk. If the vendor is ignoring your emails now before they even have your money, good luck trying to get an answer AFTER they have your money. For me personally, it's not worth the aggravation. 

As a test, before you order, send the vendor some random question about the item. "Excuse me dear sir. What is the exact height (in mm) of the knight from the base to the tip of the unicorn? Thank you." If they do not answer you, BEWARE!

If a chess item sells out, trust me, they will make more. TRUST ME ON THIS. Don't worry!

I'm up to 4 of those tests at Staunton Castle and no reply. Oh well. 

That is not encouraging news @Brynmr. Perhaps it is only SC who isn't doing a good job. Someone recently said on one of the threads that HoS delivered his product in 4 days. I haven't read any complaints lately about Chesshouse or anyone else.

@Sound67 That's interesting. I ordered a custom box from Zach of PithStudio on Etsy. He shipped it on 1/4 from Utah and it arrived on 1/9 via USPS of all carriers. It was only one day late which was surprising given all of the complaints here with USPS. No issues with my purchase with Zach but we're both in the US so it makes it easier. I also ordered a toy from Japan and it was shipped back on 12/8 via DHL and it arrived within a few days. I guess it is a hit and miss thing. 

Btw in case anyone is interested someone dug up an old thread recently. It showed a board made by Zach. I saw the board and immediately asked him to make me a new box. He does excellent work. https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/new-custom-board-maple-purple-heart-foldable