Given some of the comments above, I believe I do need to address this.
As David mentions above, any claim that anyone received "50 percent spinners" in an order is not true. I have extensive notes on that order, and my dealings with the customer in that 2015 order.
There were some spinners in the order, likely due to some extremes in temperature, humidity or pressure during shipping. All the chips in the order were fine before they were shipped. When the customer returned 95 chips claiming all were spinners, they were tested again and most did not spin. I eventually asked Classic to send chips directly to the customer, who also got a full refund for all chips except for 200 x $1 blue chips in his order which he eventually sold to another member.
Key West quality control:
Step 1: Classic Poker Chips quality control:
Every chip is inspected by Classic Poker Chips prior to them being shipped to me. David would know more about exactly what is done in this phase of quality control, but the results are excellent, and speak for themselves.
Chips are received at Key West / Continental:
Step 2: Cleaning:
I send cases of 1,000 chips at a time to be hand-cleaned at a local service. The chips are wiped with a damp cloth, then a dry cloth.
Step 3: Appearance check:
When the chips return from being cleaned, I check every chip. The rolling edges of each barrel of 20 chips are examined for flaws. The front and back faces are scanned for visible flaws or damage. Any chips that don't pass this visual screening are pulled out.
Any chips pulled out in the process above are cleaned, in case the flaw is simply dirt on the chip, rather than an actual flaw.
Step 4: Spin test:
Each barrel of chips is quickly broken down into stacks of five to get an accurate count in each box. I then make stacks of 10 chips and attempt to spin each stack of 10 on a glass plate. If there are any spinners in those ten chips, it's immediately obvious. Any chip that spins is pulled out and discarded.
The chips are boxed again, and labels are applied to the boxes to indicate that the chips are ready for sale.
The chips can then be shipped out to customers.
Guarantee:
Finally, if a customer receives a chip they find unacceptable, they may return the chip or chips for a full refund. I have always offered this, and still plan to do so in 2021.
Opinions about Key West chips:
I understand and respect anyone here who posts that they may not like Key West chips. I offer the chips in order to keep this line of chips alive and available to people like me who like the chips and want to be able to buy more in the future. I'm not trying to compete with Paulson / GPI, or to corner the market here.
As in any business, there are difficult customers. Worldwide, there are perhaps 10 people with whom I refuse to deal because they tried to rip me off, or because they created contrived complaints to save money on their chips, or tried to parlay an actual complaint into free chips, refunds, or something that got very close to extortion. Sometimes, I've refunded entire orders and just told the customer to "get lost."
Those folks are out there. Please be aware of that, too.
It's still very, very rare to have a problem with an order. Here are the numbers:
To date, between opening in 2012 and December, 2020, Continental Card & Game Co. has sold over 44,000 Key West chips to 502 customers in 27 countries worldwide.
- 66 people ordered twice
- 13 people ordered 3 times
- 8 people ordered 4 times
- 6 people ordered 5 times
- 1 person ordered 6 times
- 1 person ordered 9 times
- 1 person ordered 10 times
The quality of Key West and other Classic Poker Chips speaks for itself and the evidence is all over the world right now.
As this is not my thread, I will not be commenting here further.
