I emailed twice this week with no response. So this afternoon, I sent them a message through Facebook. They just now responded, with a different explanation for the delay.than previously peovided to others. And by the way, I ordered 5 items on sale so I dont know why that would be considered “complex”
Here is what they said:
Hi Gary,
My apologies on the communication delay, Dirk is horribly behind in correspondence due to the “woodworkers event of the year,” the Amish Auction where we buy a significant portion of our inventory from. We have been running around the state ferrying Amish and their product back and forth to the fairgrounds from their sawmills. So emails have been taking a back seat to processing new orders (not making them, but putting new ones onto the list) - this also happens to be the busiest time of year and it’s increasingly difficult for us to keep up with demand. After the auction we should be able to hire some additional help but until then we are doing the best we can to manage.
Dirk has reviewed your order with me and see that you are needing 5 different species making it somewhat complex. It’s not a problem, and it’s in process now, but as I mentioned this week saw a sharp decrease in productivity and business as usual.
Dirk has promised to handle your order first thing Monday and you will receive when it’s complete.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns. Again, my apologies for the delay and poor communication.
I didn’t even get an excuse. Just the lie that my order would ship nearly two weeks ago. The thing is, if someone had just kept me basically updated, I would likely have waited it out, even though I now need to order elsewhere for something I need to get done.
A pet peeve of mine… Free and easy use of the word lie. To “lie” in much of the U.S.is not simply to tell an untruth but to willfully, and with malice falsely state facts. It is as much a character slur as questioning a mother’s virtue. Since I’m not a mind reader I can’t know whether an untruth is intentional, accidental, or whether the situation has changed. I’ve said many things that were untrue. Can’t remember ever telling a lie since before puberty.
If we’re picking and choosing our own definitions of words, you should assume that I am using MY definition, which is based on the dictionary. There is nothing in any definition I’ve seen that says a lie is malicious. People tell plenty of lies with the best of intentions. Moreover, as I have not posted any of my correspondence with them, you have no idea whether they have lied to me or not by any definition. I don’t use the word freely and don’t appreciate the implication that
I do.
And If we’re talking pet peeves, how about dropping into conversation only to debate semantics? Unless you are Woodchuck himself, your willingness to tell a lie (or even your pet peeve list) isn’t exactly relevant. This is already a frustrating situation. I’m not sure why you’d want to make it worse.
She told me last night they were in IL… The reply was “It could be saw marks, it could be coarse sandpaper and you need a finer grit” so in that case they should change their description to ‘rough cut and ready to finish on your own.’ It was unlikely I would order again this long delay and then dispute pretty much sealed the deal.
I emailed about my order early this week and Dirk responded saying it would ship the next day. It appears as if it was ready for shipping the next day but missed UPS as I got the label printed email the next day, but UPS didn’t actually pick up the package that day. At any rate I received it Thursday. Only really checked it out this morning. I ordered six items, three species. All 3 foot boards. On one item I was shorted one board and 2 of the four items were cut just under 30 inches. As all of the short-cut items are the same length my guess is someone set up the jig wrong. They don’t sell 30" boards, so whoever packaged it for shipping should have caught it. That a customer orders boards of different lengths is probably normal. But you sell boards at 1, 2, 3 and 4 foot lengths. If you do this every day you should notice that these boards are none of the above.
I don’t really expect a small shop like this to have great QA, so it is what it is. I emailed Dirk and included some photos. We’ll see what happens.
As for the boards I received one had a distinct gouge and a deep saw mark. Most of the boards are fine. The walnut, especially the short boards, are very nice. The 1/4" maple boards show some faint saw marks and two of them had about a half-inch on top that is unusable (machining error not tree error.) All that said, the boards that are three feet are at least three feet, more like 36.25". Only one board is narrower than advertised. It is 7.5" on one end and 7.75" on the other when it is supposed to be 8". Most places consider the width to be the maximum so I don’t have any issue with one board being narrow and all others being wider, usually wider by 1/8 to 1/4" but for one set of items almost an inch wider. As reported by others the sanding is a coarse sanding, you will need to sand the boards yourself for a good finish. For the prices paid, if they make the short boards right, I’ll be satisfied.
Almost at a month wait now… Last I heard form them was on Sept. 13th… Sent mail 8 days ago and again 2 days ago asking for an update. No response to either email… Just glad I didn’t need the wood for a specific item.
this. i sent an email mid last week, nothing. i sent another FB message on Saturday and got a “i don’t handle orders and dirk is out with the Amish, you’ll hear from one of us tonight or tomorrow” message. saturday night i got a flurry of emails, which included a shipping notice, an apology, and a 25% off coupon. not sure if i’ll use it. but he did at least say in his apology “I won’t make excuses…1 month is a rediculous long time, to wait, and I’m sorry.”
we’ll see what the product looks like when it gets here.
i don’t know why, but i imagine a yelling and screaming fight between dirk and suzi with suzi saying she’s tired of dealing with unhappy customers and dirk better get off his @$$ and ship orders out so she doesn’t have to deal with them any more.
Sounds about right. I got a response that he was already working on my order when he replied to me per Suzi’s request. Seemed odd since there were others before mine to have just randomly selected mine at that time.
Also strangely, they canceled me almost immediately. I had ordered 1/8 butternut, walnut and cherry. I wonder if they canceled my order because one of those is in short supply?
Just glad I didn’t need the wood for a specific item.