Do not trust “buy two get one free”
I live in the US. I ordered three travel backgammon sets - three for the price of two according to their holiday promotion - on December 21, 2025. There were no product delays reported during the ordering process, and according to the website, the items would be shipped from the USA.
I hoped they would arrive close to Christmas.
December 30 - I emailed customer service because the order had not arrived and was told there had been production delays. The two sets I had selected as the paid sets (royal blue and emerald) finally came January 12. The onyx set (which I had selected as the third, free, set) would be sent “as soon as the black model is available.”
January 22 - a full month after the order was placed - I emailed again asking for the black set by the end of the week. It was still “out of stock” due to “production delays” and “would be available at the end of January.”
February 3 - I emailed to say that the end of January had come and gone. “Delivery will take place during the week of February 9-15.”
(Throughout this email process, the black onyx set was/is still for sale on their website with a “preorder” message, currently with a delivery date of February 11. Also throughout this process, I was surprised I hadn’t been offered some sort of refund or coupon - something other than apologies and false assurances of delivery dates.)
February 5 - In reply to the MB email to me quoting delivery February 9-13, I wrote: “I would like a partial refund as well.” Customer service wrote back efficiently: “I completely understand your request… we will process the refund for the Onyx travel backgammon set.”
What??
Realizing the misunderstanding, within four minutes of receiving this confused email, I sent two follow up emails clarifying the expectation that the onyx set would be delivered as quoted (Feb 9-13) AND that a partial refund was requested due to all the delays.
No reply.
Two days later, the rep replied saying the refund was already processed and the onyx set would have to be re-ordered (for a $60 higher current price).
How convenient for the company.
They can now send the onyx set I ordered to some other customer frustrated at not having received theirs. (I’m sure I’m not alone.) MB clearly didn’t have enough onyx product to support their holiday promotion - and apparently so eager for people to cancel their orders of the backordered set that they are quick to perceive cancellations where there are none. And with the misunderstanding not admitted or corrected, the offer is that the customer reorder a still backordered product at a higher price.
I asked for a supervisor to review my emails and contact me. There isn’t one.
It may seem great that I have emerald and royal blue sets, and that after a refund, I basically only paid for one of them. But the third onyx set, which I selected as the third free item, is the item that caused me to decide to place the order in the first place. The blue and green aren’t appealing, but I gifted them to people who appreciated them. (I was offered a free green set by rep at some point - again, I don’t like the colors of the colored sets at all, so I declined.)
Being told I requested a refund, and having my order changed so that the onyx set was selected as one of the paid sets (I selected it as the free set), and being told after having my order canceled without my approval that I could now purchase the onyx set at a higher price are the complaints I have at this time.
Most curious is the statement: “You have already received the money in your account in addition to the free backgammon set, and unfortunately we cannot do anything further.”
What??
Yes I have $139 back, which means I got two sets for the price of one. I don’t “additionally” have a free set. If the black onyx set were still coming, and I had the refund, then it would be true that I had the refund and a free set. What isn’t acknowledged is that the free set was included in my original order and I never received it.
The typical admit-nothing replies - “Your request was unclear… I’m sorry to hear you’re dissatisfied with your experience” are what prompted me to write this review. A long time ago, I could’ve been offered a partial refund or coupon for future purchase (which now will never happen with my trust in company gone), and been prioritized to receive the onyx set the company sold more of than they actually had on hand.
Just beware that sometimes three for two means two for one, and gaslighting is a common customer service strategy, used by this company, that wastes customers’ time and damages company reputation.