Deeply flawed luxury chess board from Chess Bazaar

I just wanted to let people on here know about my recent experience with Chess Bazaar. I knew I was taking my chances, but it didn't work out as I had thought. 

I ordered their "luxury chess board" with real ebony and boxwood squares. I was excited, as those are rather unusual woods in chess boards. The board was priced at $399, and after a coupon offer I paid $280. I was thinking that for that price it couldn't be all bad, right. 

Well, I was wrong. The board's built isn't bad at all. Unfortunately, it seems to have some sort of epoxy coating on top. And while that is smooth, it 'removes' the feel of the wood from the player (for lack of a better term). The lines between the white and black squares seem to have a little black "bleed" (which is strange as the ebony doesn't look stained and is clearly recognizable by its dark brown grain. The frame is, well, not that great, covered in a thick layer of some sort of clear varnish. It feels like good woods have been used but have been made less appealing by the excessive use of coatings. 

Here is my big problem, though. The flaw that kills it! THE SQUARES AREN'T SQUARE. 

In the picture of the whole board you might notice that the leftmost file is cut at a taper, causing some squares to be not square. The width of a few squares varies by as much as 1/4 in. Quite disappointing, and visually it looks funky and is very discernable to the naked eye. 

I've apprised Chess Bazaar of the problem and asked for a return/refund OR (if they can guarantee it) a replacement with actual square squares. That was two days ago. So far, haven't heard back from them. I hope I won't have to escalate this with my credit card company. 

I was forewarned by threads on here but I took the risk. In my opinion, not worth it dealing with this sort of quality issue. I'll update this thread if I hear back from Chess Bazaar. If you have any tips for me in how to deal with them, let me know. I really hope they will make it right. 

I fail to find the link to add photos. I am new here. Is that button not available to new members?

You have to wait a while before you can post photos since you are a new user. 

I have a similar quality issue with my Dubrovnik V3 from CB. This is the first time I bought chessmen from them. The link to add photos might be hidden from you if you are a new member. I think you need to wait 3 days before it activates for you, I am not 100% sure though.

I see the board you bought on their website, they now show out of stock. The weird thing is when I magnify the picture of the board on their website I can see the bleeding of black on the squares you were talking about. Never have I seen this before but I do not own a board like this.  I will list the URL at least so people can see what you bought. When you can, I believe it is a 7-day waiting period, please post your board. I have a question to support to clarify the number of days a person has to wait to post pictures.  When I find out I will message you. 

I hope they get back to you soon, that is a beauty of a board if built right but I think people will see what you mean by the comment <<The lines between the white and black squares seem to have a little black "bleed" >> I sure did and I own a few boards and although none look as nice as this one there is also no bleed between the squares which looks like stain. 

Luxury ebony and boxwood chess board

Yes TundraMike, that is the board. And yes, one can indeed see the bleeding in those product pictures. I am mad that I wasn't more careful. Seems so unnecessary to stain the ebony.  But the square size variation is by far the greatest flaw. I will post my pics as soon as I am permitted to do so. 

Ogouriev, did Chess Bazaar respond to your complaints? How long did you have to wait?

Sorry to hear this ,  just check there do cover defects ?

chessbazaar® provides a limited lifetime warranty* against any kind of manufacturing defects for all authentic chessbazaar® products. If a product has a manufacturing defect, chessbazaar® will (i) replace, or (ii) provide a warranty credit for the product (in case of a replacement product is not available due to some reason/s). The amount of the warranty credit shall be equal to the purchase price of the product paid.chessbazaar® reserves the right to inspect any product subject to a warranty claim to determine, whether the claimed defect is a manufacturing defect or otherwise.

Received a damaged or wrong item?

Don't worry, you can reach out to us for a replacement. You have 48 hours from the date the package is delivered to notify us that the item you received is faulty, damaged/tampered. If you have notified us within the specified time frame, we will ship the replacement item at the earliest. If you notify us after the time period has ended, chessbazaar® will not honor any damage item claims. Wrong items claim also must be made within 48 hours of delivery of the item.

Note: We offer plastic box complementary with some of the chess pieces so we won't be able to send you the replacement for the plastic box if it breaks in transit.

So what defects are covered as manufacturing defects?

Manufacturing defect covers cracking and warping only. (To claim this warranty, the customer must send at least three set photographs of cracked pieces or the defective area to sales@chessbazaar.com )

I hope it all works out for you.....I own the exact board,but in Sheesham wood and it is flawless.I did buy it over 2 years ago at about $180 on sale.Thought that was a great price at the time and it has gone up quite a bit.

You deserve to have a satisfactory buying experience.....I think and hope C.B. will eventually take care of your issues.....I've had a few issues with them and they ultimately came through.....

The aggravation "thing" sucks though!

@chessintexas, 

After I received my set I took multiple pictures and sent them complain message. They responded that the set is out of stock until late October. They will inspect and send new one as soon as it becomes available. So I have to wait and see ... 

Well, a quarter inch out of square is not acceptable at any price in my humble opinion. Very easily seen. I’m surprised that any seller would pass this off. Doesn’t bode well for CB. 

Even though I am pretty certain C.B. will make things right,I have to admit that I almost always look for an alternative seller. The ridiculously inconsistency of Chessbazaar(Covid or not,since I had numerous issues in the past and though all cleared up,it left a bad taste in my mouth) Led me to look elsewhere 2 months ago,when I bought my last set......And I mean "last".

I am very sorry for those good folks who have to put up with the worry that there is a damn good chance the will be issues.......Sheesh! Get your act together C.B. or you won't have an act down the road.

That bleeding issue does seem pretty terrible. I hope you get it resolved.

Copied from CB website, seriously? Read the last sentence.  

chessbazaar's limited warranty covers only chess pieces(excluding plastic pieces), chess sets, storage boxes, and chess boards. Warranty does not extend to any collaborative partner products (such as DGT products etc), whether bundled or sold separately, or any product bearing a chessbazaar® packing but not actually manufactured by or on behalf of chessbazaar®. This warranty is also not valid on imperfect items.

I believe HoS has something similar for their scratch and dent items. There is no warranty and is sold as-is.

Well, so far Chess Bazaar seems to be ignoring me. I will give them some more time to respond, but I already have a feeling that I will have to involve my credit card company eventually. 

Their policy of having to inspect within 48 hours your merchandise and report back to them with flaws is ridiculous. I did it within their time frame, but I think that is just a way of pushing customers around. Regardless of how this ends, I will stick to US-based retailers from now on. 

Still not able to post pics but will do so asap.

Regardless of what their terms state on the website, this is a regular product in their line-up and is flawed. I'd think that my credit card's dispute department would easily see it the same way. I hope it won't come to this. 

@chessintexas: Agree that the 48-hour policy is extreme (if they try to stick to it). But it is not even clear what is encompassed. The best interpretation is that it applies to damage from shipping. Your board contains manufacturing defects. In The USA, an ambiguity in the warranty would usually be construed against the manufacturer. 

Dang, that board looks like garbage. CB needs to sharpen the blades. Or use a more high powered saw. Or cut the wood wider than spec to have enough wood to sand down and still be square. Or all of the above. All of which will cost CB nickle and dime money. Lazy, poor, careless, indifferent craftsmanship.

I have a feeling they used the smooth, gloss, thick epoxy finish to hide this garbage quality as best they can. The boxwood edges are so badly splintered, a regular poly finish would've been rough, it would snag the felt bottoms. So they had to pour on a coat of the thick plastic epoxy coating to save this batch of boards. What a waste of ebony. And a complete, utter garbage way to run a business. 

Up until a week ago I was considering CB to purchase a Sinquefield Cup repro set. I've always been hesitant to purchase from them. But after seeing this. I'm done. They lost me as a potential customer. I'm embarrassed I even considered CB. They won't be getting any of my money. Ever. 

10 days ago I purchased a Shera set from them, based in large part on more recent positive reviews of CB products and specifically on the review by @Powderdigit. I purchased it as a gift for a relative but have not yet received it (CB quickly shipped but it has been delayed at FedEx). Reading this is causing me anxiety.