Enough is Enough: Woodstock Call Out

[BCC_Burner]

Well, my POS, excuse me, Ideal Steel was installed on Friday. First, Woodstock needs to fire whoever packages their stoves for shipping, as mine arrived looking ridiculously beat up. Paint scratched and chipped, bypass lever bent, ash pan mechanism bent in many directions and rubbed raw of all paint, abrasions on the burners that were severe enough to burr the metal and not just remove the paint, etc..

I bought an Englander 30-NC from Home Depot and had it dropped at my house back in 2013, and that stove arrived both undamaged, and the overall finish quality of it was far superior to the Woodstock that cost 4x as much.

It's worth pointing out that Woodstock was kind enough to include a can of touch up paint (although a $4000 stove should be packaged well enough that the purchaser shouldn't need it, but that's just typical American slothfulness on Woodstock's part), but only for the stove body color. Never mind that the accent pieces were also scratched and dinged to hell, with no way of addressing that damage.

Then, I decided to fire it up for the first time yesterday afternoon, since it was warm enough to allow me to open the windows to deal with off gassing. That was when every single gasket on the stove (all 4 of them) proceeded to rip out and adhere itself to the surface opposite the one it was supposed to be attached to.

The stove is getting returned to Woodstock in the next week or two. At this point, I have an irredeemably poor opinion of both the company and the products they build, and could never trust one of their stoves in my house.

I can't imagine what they spend on viral marketing to get people to spam woodburning forums around the internet with patently false information about their stoves, but it would be money better spent on hiring some qualified folks to perform thorough QA/QC checks on their stoves.

Think long and hard before giving the folks at Woodstock your money: I was lied to and mislead repeatedly throughout the ordering process, and ended up with a stove that cost $4000 and looks like it should have cost $850. There are very few experiences I've had in life that have been as disappointing as the experience of ordering and installing a Woodstock stove, and I approach life with an "expect the worst and you'll never be disappointed" outlook.

Don't believe the misinformation you read online about their stoves. I am not the only one who has had this experience, and I won't be silenced about it. There are more people out there like me than there are satisfied Woodstock customers, so speak up.

 

[armanidog]

Are these Woodstock issues or issues with the trucking company?
I bought a new bicycle last spring which was shipped by Fed Ex. When it arrived the rear wheel was bent in half, the pedal crank was sticking through the box and was mangled, and the carton had several holes in it. It looked like the truck had run over it.
I contacted the company and sent photos. They refunded my money and said to just keep it. I fixed up the bike and am riding it today.
Take photos and send them a text. I'll bet they refund at least part of the money since they will get a refund from the shipper.

 

[fire_man]

Wow I'm super sorry to read about these troubles.

I have had nothing but good experiences and am on my third Woodstock stove since 2007.
Except for the above described gasket issue it looks like a shipping problem. It seems like something was wrong with the gasket cement and I never heard of a problem like that.

I can tell you from what I have seen Woodstock would go above and beyond to make this right.

 

[begreen]

That's a bummer. I imagine they are shorthanded and rushing to fill orders as supplies come in and they try to catch up. They may have rushed the gasket sealing. This is fixable. However, the rest sounds like bad shipping. We got a new Bosch dishwasher that looked like someone stabbed it with a forklift. It was not the manufacturer's fault.

 

[fire_man]

Their website basically says they are sold out of stoves for this year.

"All of the stoves that we have in inventory, and all of the stoves that we will build through the end of the year, are sold. We will not be able to build and ship new stove orders until January 2022."

 

[peakbagger]

LTL (less than load) trucking is a serious mess these days. Its a low priority and with lack of staff along the way, stuff gets beat up. The equipment is consigned to the shipping firm and they are responsible to deliver it in one piece with no damage. If the final receiver accepts it with any damage the company that shipped it has to go after the shipping firm to collect on damages. Generally if there is shipped damage its important to take very good notes on the receiving paperwork including pictures. If the shipping damage is substantial, the best option is to refuse it. Obviously the receiver is anxious to get it and rationalizes that "it cant be that bad".

The folks I have known and heard about picked them up directly at the factory which would allow a final checkout. Obviously not an option for someone in Colorado. Nevertheless it would be helpful if the OP posted photos as received. In theory the damage was obvious so he should have taken them. Realistically if Woodstock is experiencing this sort of damage routinely it costs them money to rectify so at some point they need to consider raising their prices to go with a heavier shipping crate.

 

[tabner]

I ship very expensive aerospace metals around the country for work, stuff that costs 50$ per lb, so 15k for one skid is not uncommon, and our freight issues have been out of control the last few months. 10s of thousands of dollars in damage and lost material, on several different trucking companies. I had fedex freight literally lose. 1,200 lb shipment a couple weeks ago. And this is all despite my warehouse building solid wooden crates in-house with nail guns and screws and regular building lumber. Freight companies do some crazy stuff.
But it seems you really dislike everything American, so maybe order a nice Chinese stove? It’ll probably get here quickly.

 

[ABMax24]

In these cases ALWAYS contact the company first and see what they are willing to do about it. Unfortunately mistakes happen and in this case, as others have pointed out, it sounds more like the fault of the shipping company than anything else.

Damage, mistakes and errors happen to all companies in all industries. What sets good companies apart from bad is what they are willing to do about it after the fact.

For the record if you ever receive an item that is damaged it is best to note it on the shipping document and with the shipper prior to ever signing for the product. If it's that bad refuse the shipment or call the shipping company, the driver should also know how to go about this process. If the dealer received this stove and then attempted to install it shame on them, a good installer knows how this shipping process works and should never attempt to install a stove in this condition in a customers home.

 

[fire_man]

It's been a while since I installed a stove but I think they were packed in a pretty tight wooden crate which does not get disassembled until the stove is in it's final resting spot. This makes it easier to move inside the home.

So you would not get a chance to really check it over until delivery was already accepted.

 

[stoveliker]

I always take pics of the untouched shipment, and take pics of each step of unpacking. That way I can document that the damage was there at arrival. That is particularly important when no damage is visible on the outside.

I've never had issues getting mfgs to work with me with such evidence. And that goes for $50 stuff as well as $2 million shipments.

So, contact Woodstock. It they don't do right by you then you are right in complaining. Right now, you can complain about shipping and about a gasket. The latter is not nice, but it may happen. A wholesale condemnation of Woodstock is not yet justified based on this (one!) experience, imo.

 

[bholler]

Well, my POS, excuse me, Ideal Steel was installed on Friday. First, Woodstock needs to fire whoever packages their stoves for shipping, as mine arrived looking ridiculously beat up. Paint scratched and chipped, bypass lever bent, ash pan mechanism bent in many directions and rubbed raw of all paint, abrasions on the burners that were severe enough to burr the metal and not just remove the paint, etc..

I bought an Englander 30-NC from Home Depot and had it dropped at my house back in 2013, and that stove arrived both undamaged, and the overall finish quality of it was far superior to the Woodstock that cost 4x as much.

It's worth pointing out that Woodstock was kind enough to include a can of touch up paint (although a $4000 stove should be packaged well enough that the purchaser shouldn't need it, but that's just typical American slothfulness on Woodstock's part), but only for the stove body color. Never mind that the accent pieces were also scratched and dinged to hell, with no way of addressing that damage.

Then, I decided to fire it up for the first time yesterday afternoon, since it was warm enough to allow me to open the windows to deal with off gassing. That was when every single gasket on the stove (all 4 of them) proceeded to rip out and adhere itself to the surface opposite the one it was supposed to be attached to.

The stove is getting returned to Woodstock in the next week or two. At this point, I have an irredeemably poor opinion of both the company and the products they build, and could never trust one of their stoves in my house.

I can't imagine what they spend on viral marketing to get people to spam woodburning forums around the internet with patently false information about their stoves, but it would be money better spent on hiring some qualified folks to perform thorough QA/QC checks on their stoves.

Think long and hard before giving the folks at Woodstock your money: I was lied to and mislead repeatedly throughout the ordering process, and ended up with a stove that cost $4000 and looks like it should have cost $850. There are very few experiences I've had in life that have been as disappointing as the experience of ordering and installing a Woodstock stove, and I approach life with an "expect the worst and you'll never be disappointed" outlook.

Don't believe the misinformation you read online about their stoves. I am not the only one who has had this experience, and I won't be silenced about it. There are more people out there like me than there are satisfied Woodstock customers, so speak up.

Any pics of the stove damage and gasket issues?

 

[brenndatomu]

Ok...so a manufacturer that is so busy that they are sold out to the end of the year (they must make some really crappy stuff) rushed the paint drying a bit and the gaskets stuck...I'm sure they will send you new...the rest of it sounds like the shipper(s) dropped the ball (crate) and they are the ones that generally have poor reputations anyways, and the ones that really deserve to be flamed...going off half cocked like this on a reputable company (especially before even talking to them) like WS just reflects poorly on you.
And why would you sign for/accept a damaged crate? (unless the damage was noted?)

 

[vatmark]

I am curious if you think the damage happened during shipping or do you think the stove had some of the damage before shipping and was sent anyway?

 

[ratsrepus]

Was kinda wondering why you would except the stove in the first place.

 

[clancey]

That's a bummer so sorry and hope it gets right for you --money back or otherwise. When my stove was shipped from the east coast that was my greatest worry to arrive damaged...I had the truck guy take it completely out of the crate so that I could inspect it real good--gave him a small tip for un crating it for me..So I wonder "why did you accept it" by not signing the delivery paper and just ship it back to the company? nothing negative here --just wondering--maybe you were too busy or something but for 4000. I can feel your disappointment--so sorry that happened..old clancey

 

[Dave_in_ABQ]

Bummer to get the stove that way.

When i put Woodstock on my list i figured on going to pick it up. dont trust shipping anything that cant endure some serious throwing around.

 

[Rearscreen]

Well, my POS, excuse me, Ideal Steel was installed on Friday.

Installed? Why, if it was damaged? Who installed it? You? Did the installer damage it? So many questions so few pictures.

 

[kennyp2339]

Wow, I also would like to see pics so I can get a better idea of what happened, and I would call them directly to explain your dissatisfaction, from what I understand is that those employees over there take a lot of pride in there work, its a small shop that wont let go either, other larger companies have offered to buy them out and they stood a hard ground on surviving and growing the company (in the stove manufacturing world, everyone kind of knows each other through vendor shows and stuff.)So its quite a shock to hear such a negative experience.

 

[stoveliker]

The OP had a thread earlier with a similar rant about shipping delays.

 

[WoodBurnerInWI]

There are more people out there like me than there are satisfied Woodstock customers, so speak up.

Uh huh. And I suppose there's also tons of people out there who absolutely hate their Blaze Kings, Jotuls, etc but just don't have the courage to speak up against those horrible companies like you do regarding WoodStock.

Can't really say that I've heard of or encountered the "tons" of dissatisfied Woodstock customers who received crap, broken stoves that don't work. Your experience, to me, is reeking of poor shipping conditions, not the stove itself being garbage when it left the factory.

Perhaps if you wanted everything perfect, maybe not order a stove in the midst of a global labor/parts crisis?

 

[Woody Stover]

There are more people out there like me than there are satisfied Woodstock customers, so speak up.

I seriously doubt that.

 

[peakbagger]

Some folks like to burn their bridges publicly, some resolve issues quietly. On occasion its tied to a threat, "if your company does do (fill in the blank) I will publicly shame the company to extract vengeance.

I have been burned before when I was in a rush to sign for LTL shipments that had what looked to be minor damage as I was in a rush and did not document the damage. When we went to install we found out the minor damage on the crate turned out to be major damage inside.

 

[Highbeam]

The OP had a thread earlier with a similar rant about shipping delays.

And doing the same on the other woodstove forum. Not to minimize his experiences or cast doubt but he is certainly trying to make a public "stink".

Let's see those photos! Hard to get behind a verbal rant like this without them.

 

[WoodBurnerInWI]

What I don't get is that back in July, the OP posted a thread about stove recommendations for his home in Colorado and of his list of stoves he liked, the Ideal Steel wasn't #1. In fact it was last on his list. He even proceeded to list several reasons about how ordering from Woodstock would be the LEAST ideal situation for him. And so he goes ahead and orders the Woodstock anyways and now he is super upset because the stove was (likely) damaged in shipping and all of a sudden Woodstock is a crap company. I guess I find it funny despite all the advice he was given he went ahead and did the thing anyways. Sounds like to me this whole rant is his way of lashing out at himself for making the wrong choice because he was too impatient to wait for the stove he really wanted and he will likely get that one now but because it's backordered till sometime in 2022 he will be out a stove this winter. TLDR: guy was impatient, ordered the wrong stove which was damaged somehow and now blames the company for his mistake.

 

[Woody Stover]

I was in a rush and did not document the damage. When we went to install we found out the minor damage on the crate turned out to be major damage inside.

Same happened to me. I had to go out of town to get my SIL's stove. There was a broken board on the crate, and when I got the stove to her house and opened the crate, there was chipped enamel and a bent door handle. Luckily for me, the door itself wasn't damaged, and worked just fine. Classic case of "Caveat Emptor."