when to throw in the towel

[Bass]

20% moisture content is plenty dry for firewood. i am not sure, but i bet up to 30% would even be ok. over the years i actually had one customer call me to complain that the wood they bought from me was TOO DRY!

30% is NOT ok for fire wood 15% to 20% is the acceptable range

 

[Wolfcsm]

Still think that you might do well by seeing how and where she is laying her fire and how she is lighting it. A few minutes teaching might just turn her into a long term customer. Fire making is a skill that is not that common today.

Hal

 

[Bounty Hunter]

30% is NOT ok for fire wood 15% to 20% is the acceptable range

:agree2:

Give your customers a box of "Weber Firestarters"...the little white cubes...they light much faster and better than the sawdust type. If the wood is acceptably dry, the Weber firestarters need very little kindling to get a great fire going! (I have lit plenty of fires with NO kindling)

Bounty Hunter

 

[spencerhenry]

today i went and picked up the wood. she had used about 15% of it. the rest was under snow in the rack where i had stacked it. i loaded into the wheelbarrow and out to the truck. it was a very good assortment of small pieces, and big pieces, but none so big that i cant use one hand to grab them. 1/2 aspen and 1/2 red oak, measure by volume at time of delivery. none of the wood showed any signs of bugs or dirt as she had claimed. in fact it looked better than average, some with bark, some without, most of the bark loose or falling off. after loading the wood, i called the bank to make sure the check hadnt come back for any reason. then i got my moisture meter out and checked about a dozen pieces. the highest reading i got with the aspen was 12%, the lowest 9% with most at 11%, i checked the oak and most was 15% with one piece at 20%.

while driving to my delivery this morning i thought of all the comments posted here, and comments made to me by friends. i also thought about special orders like a plumbing or electrical supply house, and decided to do a 20% restock fee, since she had used about 15% of the wood, i felt that was fair, and limited my loss somewhat. after all the time i have dealing with her, and picking up the wood, i have made no money on her delivery, and lost a lot of time not to mention fuel. she had paid me $153 in a check, and so i came up with $120 as what i would refund her. i grabbed a hundred and a twenty and went to the front door.

she wanted to talk about it, i just held out my hand with the money and said, "i have spent enough time on this, there is nothing wrong with the wood, and i would like to be on my way". she wouldnt take the money, she just kept going on and on about how dirty it was, and that she believes the guy that told her it was full of bugs. she asked me to come inside and get the few pieces that she had in the house. i said no thanks, i just wanted to leave. she insisted that i come and get the pieces in the house, i again said no thanks, i was not going to go in her house. i looked at my snow covered boots, and just said no. finally after her demanding that i go inside and get the few pieces, i said " why dont i come in and show you how to start a fire, if it wont burn, i will give you 100% of your money back. she replied that she didnt want to spend the time and just wanted the wood "out of her house". i told her again that there was nothing wrong with the wood, that it was clean, had no bugs, and was dry, and that i verified it was dry with a moisture meter. she again said that the wood was covered in black stuff, that i should come get it out of her house. i said " if you want to bring it to the door, i would be happy to look at it, but i am not coming in to get it". she refused. i told her again that the wood was not bad, still holding out the money, and that maybe the problem was with her damper, or a chimney cap, or something like that, and that i have made my life working with wood, or creating wood products, i got my first axe at the age of 5 and have been in the woods since. she goes off on a rant about how she knows how to build a fire, and has been doing so longer than i have been alive, and says that the only reason i am "yelling" at her is because she is a woman, and asks me if she should call someone. i am befuddled at this point not sure what she is talking about. i mention that i have delivered 137 loads of wood this year and in the last 9 years i have never had anyone with this problem. she says it is so bad that her carbon monoxide detector goes off, continuing with "i know 2 of your other customers, do you want me to talk to them?" in response i ask her if her damper is open, because even if it was smoking, it would still go up the chimney. she then says that i have 2 choices, she can either call her boyfriend, or the cops!. i am thinking wow she is really out there, and turn away and walk toward my truck, she says that this has cost her a lot of money. without turning around i said "stupidy is expensive".
i shouldnt have said that but after several minutes of her telling me that my wood was junk and that i dont know what i am talking about, i had just had it. threatening to talk smack to my other customers, threatening to get her boyfriend to "talk to me", or threatening to call the cops, wow what a crack. when i first went up to the door i very nicely said that i didnt want to talk about it, but she just wanted to complain. i dont think i could have done anything that would have made her happy. i did raise my voice with her, it is something i do. i need to work on that, but i really have a problem with people insulting me, threatening me, and being stupid.
i learned some things today, like i should leave a check on the door, and drive away. i am not sure what i would do next time, there is nothing wrong with the wood, i dont have the time to show customers how to light a fire, or figure out what is wrong with their fireplace. between the phone calls, messages, cutting kindling, retrieving the wood, i probably have hours in this, not including the original delivery. hell, the gas to drive up there and back is $24, i included another stop so split it, it is still $12 in gas.
there was more to the conversation than i can type here, but this is most of it. i must have said "look i just want to leave" about 10 times, once she finally took the money, i did.

 

[Wood Doctor]

If it were me, i'd go back with cash in hand, and load up the wood and give her a refund. I'd also never have any wood available should she ever call again. I assure you....... she is the type that will NEVER be happy no matter what you do for her.

+1. Say good bye to customers like this forever. They have no business trying to burn firewood. Let her turn up her thermostat and pay through the nose.

 

[rmotoman]

I think you did just fine. At least you didn't go in her house.

Some how damaging her carpet or something else would have really been the pits in your situation. I was an independent contractor delivering appliances for Sears and damaging someone's house could cost lots of money fast. We had the complainers and you just had to live through them.

 

[Nandy]

Good riddance is all I have to say...

 

[J.Gordon]

There’s probably a chimney fire in her future, the hardest ones to teach anything to are the ones that already know it all.

 

[fishercat]

good luck with that!

30% is NOT ok for fire wood 15% to 20% is the acceptable range

on average,you would be lucky to get 50-60% around here.

sellers here get seasoned and split confused.

 

[fishercat]

in the future.............

today i went and picked up the wood. she had used about 15% of it. the rest was under snow in the rack where i had stacked it. i loaded into the wheelbarrow and out to the truck. it was a very good assortment of small pieces, and big pieces, but none so big that i cant use one hand to grab them. 1/2 aspen and 1/2 red oak, measure by volume at time of delivery. none of the wood showed any signs of bugs or dirt as she had claimed. in fact it looked better than average, some with bark, some without, most of the bark loose or falling off. after loading the wood, i called the bank to make sure the check hadnt come back for any reason. then i got my moisture meter out and checked about a dozen pieces. the highest reading i got with the aspen was 12%, the lowest 9% with most at 11%, i checked the oak and most was 15% with one piece at 20%.

while driving to my delivery this morning i thought of all the comments posted here, and comments made to me by friends. i also thought about special orders like a plumbing or electrical supply house, and decided to do a 20% restock fee, since she had used about 15% of the wood, i felt that was fair, and limited my loss somewhat. after all the time i have dealing with her, and picking up the wood, i have made no money on her delivery, and lost a lot of time not to mention fuel. she had paid me $153 in a check, and so i came up with $120 as what i would refund her. i grabbed a hundred and a twenty and went to the front door.

she wanted to talk about it, i just held out my hand with the money and said, "i have spent enough time on this, there is nothing wrong with the wood, and i would like to be on my way". she wouldnt take the money, she just kept going on and on about how dirty it was, and that she believes the guy that told her it was full of bugs. she asked me to come inside and get the few pieces that she had in the house. i said no thanks, i just wanted to leave. she insisted that i come and get the pieces in the house, i again said no thanks, i was not going to go in her house. i looked at my snow covered boots, and just said no. finally after her demanding that i go inside and get the few pieces, i said " why dont i come in and show you how to start a fire, if it wont burn, i will give you 100% of your money back. she replied that she didnt want to spend the time and just wanted the wood "out of her house". i told her again that there was nothing wrong with the wood, that it was clean, had no bugs, and was dry, and that i verified it was dry with a moisture meter. she again said that the wood was covered in black stuff, that i should come get it out of her house. i said " if you want to bring it to the door, i would be happy to look at it, but i am not coming in to get it". she refused. i told her again that the wood was not bad, still holding out the money, and that maybe the problem was with her damper, or a chimney cap, or something like that, and that i have made my life working with wood, or creating wood products, i got my first axe at the age of 5 and have been in the woods since. she goes off on a rant about how she knows how to build a fire, and has been doing so longer than i have been alive, and says that the only reason i am "yelling" at her is because she is a woman, and asks me if she should call someone. i am befuddled at this point not sure what she is talking about. i mention that i have delivered 137 loads of wood this year and in the last 9 years i have never had anyone with this problem. she says it is so bad that her carbon monoxide detector goes off, continuing with "i know 2 of your other customers, do you want me to talk to them?" in response i ask her if her damper is open, because even if it was smoking, it would still go up the chimney. she then says that i have 2 choices, she can either call her boyfriend, or the cops!. i am thinking wow she is really out there, and turn away and walk toward my truck, she says that this has cost her a lot of money. without turning around i said "stupidy is expensive".
i shouldnt have said that but after several minutes of her telling me that my wood was junk and that i dont know what i am talking about, i had just had it. threatening to talk smack to my other customers, threatening to get her boyfriend to "talk to me", or threatening to call the cops, wow what a crack. when i first went up to the door i very nicely said that i didnt want to talk about it, but she just wanted to complain. i dont think i could have done anything that would have made her happy. i did raise my voice with her, it is something i do. i need to work on that, but i really have a problem with people insulting me, threatening me, and being stupid.
i learned some things today, like i should leave a check on the door, and drive away. i am not sure what i would do next time, there is nothing wrong with the wood, i dont have the time to show customers how to light a fire, or figure out what is wrong with their fireplace. between the phone calls, messages, cutting kindling, retrieving the wood, i probably have hours in this, not including the original delivery. hell, the gas to drive up there and back is $24, i included another stop so split it, it is still $12 in gas.
there was more to the conversation than i can type here, but this is most of it. i must have said "look i just want to leave" about 10 times, once she finally took the money, i did.

just ask who they voted for.if they say Obama,don't even load the truck.

 

[sly13]

Ok, this is the wife talking on sly's avatar. I know several people like this and in fact are related to many....UCK! Here are some tips to survive with these type of people.
1. If it's a woman, bring a woman to deal with her. Everything changes once the sexes are the same (husband just laughed at what replies I might get from that statement...oh, I get it)
2. As previously mentioned from another post we need people with money to make money. What a silly thing to say! That's still no excuse to act like she is and jeopardize your livelihood.
3. I don't think there is a boyfriend! Maybe you are her new "friend" and that is her way of showing emotion. Like when a little boy punches a little girl???
I have quite a bit more to say. I've been trapped in the house for 3 days due to weather and am a little cagey! Husband is giving me the look to stop typing , and give the computer back.I'll sneak back on later.

 

[Curlycherry1]

just ask who they voted for.if they say Obama,don't even load the truck.

Please keep the political comments tot he forum they are intended for. No need to drag that garbage up here to a place where people like to discuss stuff of importance.

 

[sly13]

CurleyCherry +1

 

[Curlycherry1]

I would have been asking a few more questions like: how did your brown boy clean the wood, what did he use? Where are these bugs he says are there, and I would have had a white piece of paper and a magnifying glass in hand to look for them.

Darn good think you did not enter the house. Never, ever enter the house of an irate customer. You are setting yourself up for assalt charges, damaging of property, all manner of false claims where it gets down to your word vs their's.

 

[Bass]

just ask who they voted for.if they say Obama,don't even load the truck.

this is probably the stupidest thing i read all day..

either way sounds like you tried the best you could i guess you can't please them all

if her CO detector is going off - she most certainly has a draft problem and if it's not addressed you wont have to worry about her in the future

 

[Dok]

This could have turned out much worse. Be glad it's over and move on. Sometimes it just isn't worth bending over backward to make someone happy.
Dok

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

This could have turned out much worse. Be glad it's over and move on. Sometimes it just isn't worth bending over backward to make someone happy.
Dok

:agree2:


Good on ya for not entering her house. Nothing good would have come of that.


You did your best. Some folks simply will not be happy customers.

 

[southsoundtree]

You played it as best possible.

You made every effort to give quality service and product.

I've been thinking of writing up a fire building instruction sheet with drawings. I can copy them on our all in one printer. Put business information and contact info on it. The may want to keep the sheet for a while, or pass to a friend.

People are screwy sometimes. I pruned a guy's long dead tree for him, by the hour. He wanted it to look just so.

 

[ROOTSXROCKS]

spencerhenry, You did Fantastic, I don't know what her Problem was but you have done your damn best to stop it from being yours. I'm glad you took something away from the input here.
Those kinda whacked out freakoids are out there but there not the norm.
good riddance, and don't be afraid to share your experience with others, You have a damn good refrence and documentation here that clearly shows you went above and beyond.

This story makes me think of this wild and crazy local story of a ponte vedra woman that claims to have been kidnapped but her acused abductor says shes a nympho who contrived the whole thing.
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/flagler_news/091709_Ponte_Vedra_kidnapping_plot

 

[TreePointer]

So she threatened to call the police, eh?

I was leery of some type of setup to get you into trouble. That's why I mentioned taking a witness with you. You were very wise not to go inside.

Glad it's over. You deserve a cold one.