I find the customer service at The Braille Superstore AKA, Future Aids, to be absolutely awful! And, their chess sets are garbage!
I ordered the Wooden chess set on July 9th. It is supposed to be made out of Teak wood and according to the pictures on the web site, is different shades of dark and light colored wood, rather than black and white pieces. And they claim their sets are used in tournaments ... not possible. IN the US and most other places the Staunton chess pieces are required. Their pieces are nothing close to that standard!
July 18, 2022: a chess set arrived. By touch, it felt rather poorly made. My sighted wife said it looked like plastic not wood. I described it to them like this:
"I think the Quality Assurance person may have had a bad day. There are blotches of black paint on the top edge of the boards in several places. The paint on the pieces is quite rough in places.
How about an exchange for another chess set and see if that one is better? If it is the same, I will just live with it as I cannot think of $40 in other products I might want right now."
Later that day, July 18th, I wrote the following:
"Hello again,
My wife is looking at the web site. The picture shown for the board I ordered, the Teac wooden board, does not look at all like the board I received. The board I received has what appear to be plastic pieces according to my wife. the board I received looks like the $22 board. I will call in the morning, and could send you a picture of what I received if that will help."
July 19, 2022; I called them. I was told they would have to see the set to determine if it was the wrong set, and they did not want a picture. I was surprised they had to see it if the Teak board is all wood, and the one I received is plastic, black and white pieces, clearly it is the wrong board. I sent it back
August 3, 2022: I got a shipment notification under the same July 9th order number so I wrote and asked if that meant they admitted they sent me the wrong board and were now sending me the correct board.
Susan's exact response was: "Yes, it was the one error of the year. :-)" She added the smiley face emoji with the punctuation marks...
I find nothing at all humorous about them having such crappy service.
August 13, 2022: the replacement board arrived. Yes, made out of wood, but
one of the black knights was broken in half and its ears were chipped off at the tips.
I said to them, "The board is fine, but I would like a replacement black Knight."*
That same day, Susan asked for a "screen shot" of the broken piece. I sent a photograph of the broken piece.
I heard nothing back.
On August 14, 2022 I sent the picture again.
ON August 18, 2022 I sent the picture a third time and pointed out I had not heard back from them. I asked if they are going to replace the broken piece.
Susan's reply was: "Likely. It's just waiting for review. I will let you know when I know."
I replied with this email:
"Excuse me?
What review. I sent you the picture of the broken piece as it arrived.
I don't know if it came through in the picture, but even the knights ears were chipped so they looked like another animal had chewed off the tips of its ears."
August 30, 2022: I still had heard nothing from them, so I wrote again asking when I would receive the replacement piece.
August 31, 2022: Susan sent me the message: "It is in the mail to you."
September 8, 2022: the replacement black night arrived in very good packaging. The original board was set with all the pieces on the board like you were going to play a game, though there was no real extra padding and that is why the black night was broken I'm sure.
* I said the board was fine, because it was OK, but very rough feeling, like no one knew how to sand and frankly, some of the squares are not glued on quite straight. The pieces are very rough and completely nonstandard chess shapes. But since they do not give refunds only store credit I will keep it as a reminder never to do business with them again.
I really wanted a second board because I am coaching my great-great-nephews on playing chess. I want a board to leave at their house so I don't have to take one back and forth. I decided to look for other alternatives.
I found The Chess Baron WWW.CHESSBARON.COM who have at least two boards adapted for blind players that meet US chess tournament standards with the Staunton chess pieces. They are based in England. I ordered the 13-inch set for the blind which was on sale for $69.95 instead of $119.95.
I ordered it on August 19th since I knew I was not going to leave that crappy set from Future Aids at anyone's house....
The Chess Baron set arrived on August 29th.
It is fantastic! All wood, properly shaped pieces, the board and the pieces are completely smooth and I would have now gladly paid the $199.95 after experiencing the quality of the set.
Moral of the story: don't buy anything, especially chess sets, from Future Aids the Braille Stuperstore ... the customer service stinks, and their no refund policy stinks!