ChessBaron

Horrible experience with ChessBaron.
I expressed my surprise about having to pay fees and taxes without any information about their nature provided by the carrier. I am unhappy that no details about these fees and taxes were given; the site deliberately hides this information, although it should highlight that the carrier may demand taxes. The seller should detail the nature of the fees and taxes and their calculation methods to the customers, instead of hiding this unpleasant surprise until the last moment. The seller simply replied that I am an idiot and that he would not respond to any of my future emails. I am more than shocked by the indecent and outrageous behavior of this seller.

I decided to refuse the parcel and request a full refund by opening a dispute with PayPal. This seller is a disgrace and should be avoided at all costs. I now understand why there are so many ultra-negative comments about him on various internet forums. This is not a professional sales site but an amateur who sells anything and everything without any professionalism, and he allows himself to insult his customers at the slightest disagreement.

Chess Baron is run by a rude, vulgar, and insulting person. Here his respond to my email:
"You can't cancel the order - it's already in France! If we receive the item back, we'll refund it. But if we are charged for having it returned (which is very likely), this will be deducted from the refund.

You've paid £39 for our best selling item - and tax from your government. Stop being ridiculous - it's your government that charges this. Every country does the exact same thing. Did you get that? It's your government.

Have you actually never bought something from a country outside the EU before? Every purchase from a non-EU country is taxed by the country it's received into. You're an idiot!

Further emails will be unread, so don't bother emailing again."

CHESSBARON, GAME OF SMOKE AND MIRRORS.

ChessBaron is a barony without a castle, let alone nobility.
Having bought two chess sets with ChessBaron, my loyalty has been slashed with irony and disdain once I decided to return a flawed and faulty set. It was agreed in writing that my purchase would be refunded upon return.
For the return, ChessBaron chose their own courier, which unfortunately broke the board during transit. Rather than dealing with their courier, ChessBaron assumed that I was to take the loss.
So be aware: instead of a knight in shining armour riding a noble steed, ChessBaron is riding a ragged mule loaded with cupidity and disdain.
As a loyal customer, here is my advice: don't be pawned by ChessBaron, the game is wicked.

I decided to invest in the World Set from ChessBaron, looking forward to owning a premium-quality set given the cost. To my dismay:

1) The chess pieces I received had notable wear and tear. Scratches, prominent dents, and other indications made them seem either previously used or not of the expected quality. The pieces did not match what was pictured online at all!

2) The case with the chess pieces in it had evident signs of being resealed, with tape and markers on it.
Addressing my concerns to the seller led to them minimizing the issues. They mentioned the wooden nature of the set as a justification for the damages. While I understand wood can have natural imperfections, the damages on this set were excessive for this price point! My chess sets I purchased for a fraction of the price that are also handmade had significantly less imperfections

3) ChessBaron's solution was to offer a replacement for a single piece, suggesting possible repackaging.

4) Their shipping process was misleading. Buying from a.ca website, I anticipated domestic delivery, but was taken aback by the import duties due to its dispatch from the UK.

5) Their reluctance to take responsibility for return shipping was discouraging, especially with the clear disparity between the actual product and their advertisement.

6) Spending approximately 400 CAD just for the chess pieces (excluding the board), I was hoping for a seamless buying experience and a product that lived up to the promised standards. Regrettably, my experience aligns with the negative feedback from other customers.

I recommend potential customers to be vigilant and consider other options.