The House of Staunton Recensioni 

I bought two identical chess sets from House of Staunton. Within two months, the rosewood pieces darkened so badly they became indistinguishable from the ebony pieces, making gameplay impossible. Customer service openly admitted this wood darkening is a known defect. Despite acknowledging the flaw, they refused to refund or exchange the set because I was slightly past their strict 30-day window. Worse, the second identical set is completely unopened and unused in its box. I asked if I could at least return the brand-new, sealed set for store credit to buy a better set from them, and they flatly refused that as well. A premium brand shouldn't sell defective goods, admit to the flaw, and hide behind a calendar deadline to deny store credit on an unopened item. Avoid this company.

★★★☆☆ — Quality Product, Disappointing Customer Service Resolution
I have been a long-time admirer of House of Staunton and recently invested approximately $1,000 in a chess set, board, and box from them. The pieces and box are beautiful and reflect the craftsmanship the company is rightly known for.
Unfortunately, my chessboard arrived with two visually obvious irregularities on squares D3 and D5 — inconsistencies that stood out clearly against the surrounding squares and were not consistent with natural woodgrain variation across the rest of the board. I photographed both squares and reached out to their customer service team.
The initial response dismissed my concern as natural woodgrain variation. I followed up respectfully, noting that at this price point — where House of Staunton positions itself as the premier chess equipment provider — customers have a reasonable expectation of elevated quality control. Two concentrated, visually distracting irregularities on specific squares is a different matter from the general grain character one expects and welcomes in a wood product.
To their credit, the company escalated my concern to management and physically pulled boards for inspection. I appreciate that they took the extra step. However, the final resolution offered was a return for a full refund with the restocking fee waived — and nothing further.
For a company at this tier, I would have hoped for options such as a replacement board, an upgrade at a discount, or another goodwill gesture that acknowledged the inconvenience to a customer who had just spent $1,000. A refund, while technically fair, places the burden entirely on the customer.
I want to be clear: I believe House of Staunton makes exceptional chess equipment and has earned its sterling reputation over many years. This review is not intended to discourage anyone from purchasing from them. It is simply an honest account of one customer’s experience, offered in the hope that it is useful to others and perhaps encourages the company to reconsider how they handle edge-case quality issues for premium-tier customers.

Le problème est lié à la livraison en Europe. Je vis en France, et lors du passage de la commande il n'était précisé nul part qu'il aurait des taxes de douanes encore plus élevées que les frais de port !!!
32€ de frais de port annoncé, auxquels s'ajoutent 36€ de taxes non prévues car ce n'est écrit nul part lors de la commande...

These guys have the worst policies. Doesn't let you cancel an order that hasn't been processed or sent. Expects you to pay for return on an order they haven't even sent yet AND you have to pay for a 25% restock fee for their incompetent service and disastrous policies.

Imagine not letting you cancel an order before they’ve processed or sent it. I have receipt in my shop app that shows it hasn’t.

They are sharks and don't care about their customers and just want to take your money. Stay clear.

I took my business to Royal Chess Mall instead. Wish I had came across them first.
For the House of Staunton, take note and learn from your competitors. Yikes.

The chess sets are beautiful! I have purchased sets from them for years. Although, recently I had made two separate orders roughly 2 months apart. Both orders contained the wrong addresses. Both had the same wrong address. Both were said to be undeliverable! I paid $16 for shipping and now I had to call and complain. They did call FedX and had the address corrected. But, I needed to wait another day. I do not know how this happened? They told me that they are looking in to it? They said that the first time. Now they said it a second time! Shawn, you used to much better than that! What the hell has happened?? Anyone else have the same experience?

Excellent selection and high quality throughout. I was so initially impressed by the chess items that I splurged and bought a chess table. Love it!

The chess sets and boards are of really exceptional quality. Some of them cannot be purchased in any other shop in the world.

HOS has very good deals on certain books, of which I have many. An excellent selection of multifaceted chess sets is available from them, but sadly, there is a repeated, and therefore expected flaw from them. The felt pads are very often not centered, or too big for the piece itself, or even of inferior quality in comparison to the rest of the piece, and all of these issues have no business being on the bottom of multiple-hundred dollar sets, as I have purchased and experienced, multiple times. This shameful flaw must be remedied!

After a difficult experience with Mexican Customs that resulted in my original set being returned, the HoS team really stepped up. They provided store credit for the return and honored my original discount on the new purchase to a US address. As a long-time customer with around $700 in purchases over the last few years, they even offered free shipping as a loyalty gesture. Very thoughtful and attentive customer service—they turned a frustrating situation into a great experience.

I consider The House of Staunton, my go to place for all chess related needs.
The informative shared articles on history and gameplay are icing on the cake.
Thank you for honestly and sincerely supporting this wonderful game!

Always had great service from House of Staunton

Received an attache case with a broken handle (not slightly irregular as advertised; totally broken in two pieces . I wrote to inform customer service of this issue; received no response whatsoever.
This comes as a complete surprise to me, as I've purchased many items from this business over ~30 years.

Staunton Chess was willing and able to help me get the best discount deal on my recent purchase of "The Bobby Fischer Ultimate Tournament Series Plastic Chess Pieces - 3.75" King" with a 20%-off code, and a discounted "Wooden Tournament Chess Board" with free shipping!! It was shipped and arrived quickly. The chessmen are my new favorite.

House of Staunton’s associates are well informed, efficient, and helpful. They sell fine chess sets at a competitive price, and S&H is always timely. I highly recommend them.

Bob Ewers
Roanoke VA

Nice products and sometimes have good discounts coupons.

Buyer beware!

They ghosted me twice when I have tried to order. No communication from them saying why. I had to reach out wondering where my 2day shipping boards went. When I asked why, they said my order was flagged - and there was no real fix. I asked if for my trouble of being ghosted twice and not hearing from them, if I could get a code for free 2 day shipping. They said no. Ghosting orders, and not offering any fixes is poor taste in my opinion. I will not be using them after this last order (if it even goes through!).

Purchased a beautiful tirior set with pieces as a Christmas gift. There was clearly damage to the exterior box upon arrival. Unfortunately, when the interior box was opened a corner of the set was badly damaged.

Wrote to them ON CHRISTMAS and received a reply ALSO ON CHRISTMAS. I was astounded. They were friendly, responsive, and immediately offered options of either a partial refund or a replacement. We chose a replacement.

The replacement arrived much quicker than they expected (the model we purchased had sold out and they didn't expect it to arrive until March). They kept me informed all along the process.

I cannot praise them enough for their outstanding customer service. We look forward to many many years of battling it out on this set. But if we ever need anything else, I won't go to anyone else. They've earned a lifetime of loyalty.

House of Stounton is a quality shop with quality products - my complaint is about the support for European customers:
1. you place your order - all ok
2. you have to pay very high shipping costs with FedEx - they could offer cheaper alternatives.
3. FedEx asks for additional papers for customs which you have to provide as a customer - other shops take care for this.
4. you receive notification about the amount of the taxes from FedEx after custom clearance and have to pay to FedEx - other shops estimate the tax upfront and take care that you know about the total cost in advance and that there is no additional effort for the customer.

As a lifetime lover/enthusiast of chess, The House of Staunton is like a dream come true! The standard of quality they uphold is unmatched. All of my finest chessboards and chessmen have come from them. Once you’ve enjoyed playing a match with a 4" king set on a big beautiful board, there’s no going back! They also uphold the highest standard of customer service.

My last experience was not good. The finial broke off on my black King and when I called wanting to just replace the small finial piece, I was told I had to but the whole piece at an absorbant price. There has to be an outlet to obtain just the finial. I have been a longtime customer of HoS and this make me wonder about cotinueing as a customer. Take care of your customer. Not sure of the date but it was sometime earlier this year. BW