More Woodstock blog: Video and CUSTOM STOVE ART

Woodstock does have at least once a year when shipping is free....

As far as weight, that speaks heat retention to me.. Bring it on. When I was looking at wood cookstoves, Woody from Obadiahs mentioned to me that the Elmira I was looking at was a very light stove compared to the Esse.. He said think about what your are getting weight wise... So I opted for the 700 lb Esse instead.. Funny my new PH weighs 700 lbs as well. So now will have 1400 lbs of heat mass running the show here this wint

begreen said:

One problem they are up against is shipping cost. This is the same thing that Blaze King ran into before they established warehousing for national distribution. On the west cost Woodstock stoves cost hundreds more than local pickup or east coast shipping. That's partly why you see so few of them out west. $3200 + $500 (shipping guestimate) for a stove you can't touch and examine is above many folk's budget.

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The nice thing is your still not stuck with a stove that didn't work out, so the shipping cost would be nothing compared to being able to get all your stove money back.....at one point I thought Woodstock was even catching the return shipping but I could be wrong on that... I'd still be happy with just getting all of my stove money back if need be...

begreen said:

No argument, they offer a great deal, but a lot of folks want to see one in a showroom first. Methinks Woodstock needs a west coast rep that stocks inventory.

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I think you're right. Some people need to see the product in person before paying out a big chunk of change. I know when I was looking to purchase a wood burner, I was hoping they had a local distributor who would show case the product and do installations. When I finally decided to buy a Woodstock (based on research and very positive comments on Hearth.com) and drove up there to pick it up, I mentioned that I wished they had a local distributor. I believe that someone told me that in the early days they did have some distributors but there were some problems with them and customer service was impacted. I was also told that they feel they have developed much closer relationships with their customers by only offering direct sales. It allows them to stay in touch with their customer's needs and expectations. As a result, customer service has been a top priority.

BrotherBart said:

Mighty satisfied with the customer service from my stove maker. And could buy and see another one, like I will ever need three of them, just down the road at Home Depot.

Point being, Woodstock ain't the only direct customer service stove maker in the game. With a great rep for it.

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I don't think anyone ever said they were

I'm surprised that more stove companies don't offer the buy back plan that Woodstock offers... I would think they might sell a lot more stoves giving people a way out if a particular stove doesn't work out for some reason... and not everyone would want their money back, instead maybe going with a different stove from that same company..

begreen said:

Good dealers will take a stove back if the customer is not satisfied.

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After 6 months of use?

When I had issues with my New Quadra Fire 5700, my dealer did offer to bring me a Lopi Liberty... But if I had burned the Quad,,,no way they would have done the switch out...

begreen said:

What is the difference if after 6 months or 2? The point being is that there are some good dealers out there that place high emphasis on customer satisfaction.

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I'm thinking they wouldn't normally take a stove back that has already had some use... and return all you money... I can see if you had a stove you didn't burn yet, but I thinking most would be hesitant about taking back a used stove..even being 2 weeks old.. I have a big stove dealer here, Best Fire,, I'll have to ask Wayne the owner a good friend of mine what he would do.. and he's a really good guy!

begreen said:

I can name two local dealers that will do this, including the one I bought our stove from.

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Those are good folks who will do that.. People you like to support!

How recent are these updates? I bought my stove last March I think. It was a refurbished model? I'm assuming these "updates" pre-date mine.....thus I need not worry.?? I only got to build about three fires in it last season. I'm excited to fire it up in a couple weeks.

I think you should be fine.