Well, that's discouraging, but I applaud you for your persistence in trying to have them get the order right, then insisting on a refund when they didn't.
I think real craftmanship is hard to find today for many things, except for extremely high prices. But products need to be as they're advertised.
Let us know if you have any more follow up or reaction from House of Staunton. I wonder if anyone from the company follows these forums and would comment?
Lee
Thanks Lee, it is discouraging. I will say they did a decent job listening to my complaints, but they didn't give me a warm and fuzzy that they really cared. I mean at the end of the day these are people the same as you and me, but as a business selling "exceptional" chess sets I would think they would want and try to make it right for me.
I should note, they told me they "hand inspect every package before it is shipped out". I think they need a new inspector, because those pieces and boards, both times didn't reflect any standard. I'd love to know a place someone has had success with getting a decent well made set of actual wood and not veneer. I bought two 7' Maple and Walnut boards to make my own board, but I won't be able to craft the pieces myself so Ill need to purchase them.
I've posted in another message about Drueke. Some people like the chess sets, other people don't think they're elegant . . . but I think they're well made and attractive. They're not made any more, but they come up on ebay fairly regularly, and there's one seller who has some new old stock:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Classic-Drueke-Ebony-Chess-Men-Gift-Box-Set-32-PCs-NIB-Real-Ebony-Pieces-/310523652526?pt=Games_US&hash=item484ca6e9ae
The picture doesn't do them justice--these are really nice chess pieces in a (cardboard) gift box. I have this set. They are well weighted, perfectly finished, with high-quality felt on the bottoms.
Drueke boards are also outstanding. There are several listed on Ebay right now.
I wonder if it would be worth putting your concerns in writing to House of Staunton, including your suggestion about hiring a new inspector. Someone in charge needs to know about your experience.
Lee
I had a similar experience back in September when I took delivery of a 40th Anniversary Fischer-Spasky Commemorative set. The pieces were jammed into the foam slots such that many of the leather pads on the bottom of the pieces were peeling off. In addition, two of the pawns had misshapen bottoms such that they did not sit flat on the board. Lastly, the board itself was slightly warped and did not sit flat. After sending photos by email they sent a new board, replacement pawns, and one extra leather pad to replace the worst of the pads that had peeled off. The one thing they couldn't fix without replacing the entire set was the fact that most of the leather pads were not centered on the piece bottoms. All of this suggests shoddy finishing work on their sets, even special limited edition commemorative sets like mine.
My experience runs contrary to what I expected from House of Staunton, especially given the rave reviews they get from chess.com members. I hope they manage to recover from this inexplicable drop in quality control and restore their reputation because, at this point, I would be cautious about investing in any of their higher-end mid-tier sets.
Things have apparently changed at HOS. My experiences with them have all been great but I haven't ordered from them in several years.
I ordered a Collector from them maybe 6 years ago? A high end set.
Some pieces arrived in a dreadfully defective state: dark burns on several pawns from the rouge bar, other pieces lop sided from off-center turning, some chipping.
I sent all the defectives back and the second set was correct.
They very obviously didn't inspect the pieces before shipping.
I figured this was just their business model, to fix in stage-2 defects perceived by the customer.
With the OP's case, maybe HOS is slipping further? Or they care less for their customers buying the cheaper sets?
I sure hope they haven't declined into carelessness.
This is very much like my experience with thechesstore...They sent me all reject chess pieces with loose felt, but they wouldn't refund my shipping costs. So I'm stuck with this poor quality set...At least HOS refunded all your money, that's not bad.
All boards are veneer unless they say solid wood, and they cost $300 and up.
My HOS set is so perfect that was purchased just last year.
They have a new owner now that Frank Camaratta retired so this may have something to do with it..My HOS board an briefcase are so plush and high quality they could hardly be surpassed.
My christmas chess men I'm getting are from a new store that also gets chess sets made at AIW. I'll post here about their quality with a review.
Good luck,
Sean
Sorry to hear about House of Stautnton. I would be interested in people's exprerience with Jaques of London, which would be my first choice if money were no object. As to Drueke, the old Drueke no longer exists and the current sets come from China.
Actually, all wood Drueke sets are out of production. The Drueke company was sold to Carrom, and the Carrom web site doesn't list any chess products currently. Amazon is still selling a few plastic and 2.5" wood sets, but shows only a very few sets available.
I'm sure the newer Drueke wood sets were made elsewhere, probably in India, but they're still good quality--solid, weighted, good finish. I have them in both 3" and 3 3/4' kings and can't find any problems with them. I don't have and haven't seen newer plastic sets, so can't comment on them.
One of the Drueke family descendants has started making new chess boards, using the old style and finish. He sells them on Ebay. Definitely worth checking out.
Lee
Wow! I am very sorry to hear about the bad experiences with HOS and thechessstore. Today I just ordered a set from House of Chess. Now you have me worried.
This is very much like my experience with thechesstore...They sent me all reject chess pieces with loose felt, but they wouldn't refund my shipping costs. So I'm stuck with this poor quality set......
I had the exact opposite experience. I purchased two wood sets and one board from thechessstore and everything arrived in perfect shape. One of the sets was the Fierce Knight set with the 4" king and I found the one that I received to be a very nice set for the price point. The other set was a smaller painted set which also arrived without flaws. The board was made by Rechapados Ferrer and although it used veneers, the finish was excellent.
I also purchased a couple of their plastic tournament sets and was pleasantly surprised by those as well. Very heavily weighted with a non-glossy finish that gave the pieces a quality look.
I did get a very nice black and erable chess board from TCS that's very nice.
After giving me a pawn that doesn't match my set and six of the pawns also look very dull with ugly finish quality...I won't be spending my money with them again.
Good luck.
Sean
So it seems that it's hit or miss with the most common retailers. Is there a more decent plass to buy a quality chess set?
Im only aware of House of Staunton, The Chess Store and House of Chess (those being the most common from who I have asked).
I've dealt with wholesalechess.com and bought the German style set for a knock around every day set and its very nice for the price point with no flaws. Maybe look are their site
Fort Worth Billiard Supply has some nice ones. It's where I got mine. Check them out.
http://www.accessusaonline.com/dfwbilliards/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=115
thanks matt, I had a look and they look really goo quality
There are plenty of places that sell nice, affordable wood sets. Not that many sell "luxury" and "collectible" sets though. And those that do have an obligation to deliver the finest quality products possible, otherwise they shouldn't be calling them luxury sets and charging the prices that they do. Failing to do so is a good way to erode a good reputation.
Well, ChessUSA used to be outstanding in terms of customer service. I don't know if this is still true but those Mark of Westminster sets look promising.
Thanks everyone for posting good info about buying chess sets. I just recd. my chess set from chessbazaar and they did a pretty neat job of packing and dispatching the set. Ordered the items on Monday morning and the set was with me on Wednesday evening. The quality of the board and the pieces is very good. The cardboard box in which the board came was torn and crushed but thankfully my board was safe. The pieces were individually wrapped with due care and I had to spend quite a lot of time unwrapping the pieces. I was reluctant to buy from India but after reading good reviews here I made up my mind to take the plunge.
Greetings,
I wanted to post on here to share a little about my recent experience trying to purchase a chess set for the first time. I chose to buy a set from House of Staunton, and below is an overview of my experience with them and their product. If you are considering buying a set from them, you may get some insight from this post. This is a bit long, as it is a complete recap of my experience with them over 2 weeks.
I recently became interested in chess, and decided I wanted to buy a decent wooden chess set. I shopped around, and looked on these forums for suggestions. I came accross House of Staunton (google for their website if you are unfamiliar with them) and fell in love with their sets.
Being this was my first experience buying a chess board and pieces, I didn't know anything about it. I did some research on woods, styles, options, etc. I picked their "Grandmaster" chess set which comes with a board, the Grandmaster series pieces and a woode box for the pieces.
I liked the style of the Grandmaster pieces for the price, and considered it to be the cheapest, decent looking set (including the knight carvings). The website really talks these sets up and sells them as being "Exceptional" pieces of craftsmanship. I chose to upgrade the set to the Boxwood/Rosewood combination (I like the look of Rosewood, opposed to Ebonized boxwood). It was more expensive, but I wanted to get the best I could for my budget. The board it came with was their standard "Tournamet" style board made of Maple/Mahogany. Normally, by itself is only $40! I could'nt believe a board made of those woods would be so cheap. I could'nt find any details about its construction (I suspected it was veneered, which I had no interest in owning but it dosen't state that anywhere).
I ordered the set, and it arrived 5 days later. Shipping didnt take long but it was pricey at $21 for standard shipping. The set did arrive nicely packaged and I could'nt see any ways to improve on that.
I eagerly opened the set to inspect what I was anticipating would be a very beautiful, exceptionally crafted chess set (as the website so eloquently puts it). I was surprised to not find that in my order.
Let me start with the board:
It was veneered, and one of the corners was chipped. It also looked very cheap. The Mahogany veneer was very coarse and took away from what little luxury look it had. This was obviously a very cheap production and ment for lots of casual wear and tear. It is not what I wanted. I was expecting a board made from Mahogany and Maple, like the website states, not a piece of oak with those veneers on it.
I thought, ok Ill deal with the chipped edge and veneer, it's my first set. Let's get to the good stuff - the pieces!
Wrong, the pieces where a HUGE let down. They were filthy with wood dust and glue resin all over. The website states they are crafted with a "brilliant finish". Maybe if I spent a few hours cleaning, removing the glue and polishing them I would see it. Next, the "luxurious billard cloth felt pads" on the bottom were all damaged. This is because the pieces are pushed into a foam packaging with pre cut out shapes to keep them secure during transit. Well, whoever pushed them into the foam packaging allowed the edges of the pads to be caught on the foam and it ripped them half to 3/4 of the way off the piece. I would have to spend a decent amount of time and effort glueing them all back on to the pieces. This was a huge blow to my confidence in HOS and I was very disappointed for the money I payed.
The pieces were nicely weighted, and the crafstmenship was decent. They were even, and looked the same across different pieces of the same type (not much variance, which is good). The colors where nice, but it was hard to tell because of them being so dirty and covered with glue.
The Mahagony box that came with it to store the pieces was Ok. It felt cheap it didn't fit the pieces with them standing up, I had to basically toss them all in sidways on top of eachother. That seemed odd to me, and an "Exceptional" set should atleast have a decent storage mechanism.
I decided to call and see what the heck was going on. I called and explained I was not satisfied and had a few questions on why my set was so... wrong. After a few different reps, I asked a supervisor, "Is the board veneered, because it says that nowhere on the site?" She replied casually, "Yes sir, if it was not, it would be way more expensive." I replied, "Ok, I would imagine so, but I didnt want a veneered board and purchased this because it only says its 'made of mahogany and maple'." She paused for a few moments and passed me on to someone else. Longer story short, they asked me to send in photographs of the issues and all my complaints to their customer service email. I did that night, and called the next day. The rep told me they recieved my email and photos and were still reviewing them. I called again 24 hours later and the rep said they had no record of my email! Come on, what kind of place is this?!? After my confusion, they asked me to send it again so I did. I waited another 24 hours and called them back. At this point I was communicating with a supervisor, who said she would contact me when she decided how to handle my issues. I waited another day and she decided to exchange my set.
I sent it back in, and recieved a new set a few days later. I was excited to see if there was a difference. There wasn't. The pieces were in the same condition (dirty and glue covered, felt pads damaged) but this time the weight in the King was loose and rattled when you shook it! This was no good, and I immediately called and asked for a refund.
They challenged me a little on refunding me my original shipping costs, but eventually decided to give me a full refund. I returned the set and will not buy from them again.
It's a shame, because it looks like they have decent products, but maybe its only the really high end stuff. All I know is if they can't get the "budget friendly" items right, I would be concerned buying a $700 - $2k set without seeing it first. I would have loved to buy one of those next year, but sadly they let me down this time and for good.