Warranty and India Post

Just like Forrest Gump once said during his long cross-county run ... "it happens". And after many purchases from chess shops in India, it happened to me on a purchase last month. But this is NOT a complaint. Instead, I'm happy about how the situation was handled by the seller (I won't name them here). However, India Post, ... well, ... things could have been better, though it ended just fine. So I'm just giving an example of, and my experience with, a time where "it happens".

A new chess set last month had some defects. The picture shows (on the left) white rooks of different sizes and design, along with two white pawns with noticeable shade differences.

On the right are the two replacement rooks along with three replacement pawns. The vendor actually sent four replacement rooks, two white and two 'black', to ensure that all four rooks would match (the 'black' rooks were not even an issue). Kudos to the vendor's initiative and resolution. So now I have a complete set without any issues, along with two spare 'black' rooks, a spare white rook, and a spare white pawn.

So about India Post ... this seems to be the courier used for warranty replacements by many of the India chess vendors. While new purchases are received reasonably quick via DHL/FedEx (5 to 8 days in my experience), India Post is very slow, and tracking is pretty much useless. This can be very frustrating/worrisome for some. From the time I received an email with the India Post tracking number, the replacement package took 26 days to arrive at my door. And during that time ... tracking sometimes worked, sometimes timed-out, sometimes showed my package taking a flight six times, started over, system down, partial information, then more information, then partial information, then system being maintained, arrived in the U.S., then starting over in France, then Germany, then France, then JFK, then France......

Yeah, it was like that. LOL!

Then one day it went back to Germany, then suddenly, a knock at my door requiring a signature. LOL!

So, now, all is good.

Maybe my experience can set someone's expectations when warranty replacements are needed. I really can't complain about this, since it wouldn't do me any good, but thinking back about a warranty claim that I made for a Samsung TV that I bought from Best Buy ... well it took two months to get that one resolved .

Have fun.

Glad yer' a happy camper. Don't get me started with various warrantee issues. My audio days of the past (now it's Sonos all the way) were plagued with high cost anxieties and numerous failures. None due to me. I knew what I was doing after decades in that hobby. That industry makes chess hassles look tame.

I can understand the colour variations - but those differences in the Rooks are insane!