In June we ordered wide-plank hickory floors from Kellogg Hardwoods. The floors arrived in August and were stored in our living room until mid-December, at which time our contractors noticed cracking in many of the boards that was not present on initial inspection and acceptance. But, in an attempt to avoid wasting materials or stalling the project further, the contractors installed the floorboards by cutting away as much of the cracked boards as possible. After installation, there were several boards left over. Over the next few weeks, the flooring continued to crack apart in large areas and in more than half of the boards, including the boards in our basement that were never installed.
We had a professional floor installer and refinisher look at the floors and both he and our contractor agreed that the floors were defective due to not being properly kiln-dried before the engineering process. Both my contractor and I contacted Mike, a sales associate at Kellogg Hardwoods, to explain the situation and invited Mike to come out to our property to inspect the boards in our living room, the installation of the boards, and the uninstalled boards in our basement. Mike told us "that is a waste my time." I photographed the boards and sent them via email to Mike at his business email address and after a few days, we heard nothing back.
I called Mike again and explained that we had entered into a contract for a quality product and were sold and delivered a defective product. I told him that the damage to the boards is extensive--more than half of the installed boards have cracked so far--and the floor is beyond salvaging. I let him know that several experts had seen the floor in person and agreed with our assessment. I then asked him if Kellogg is responsible for the drying and engineering of their finished product. He mentioned that the product is sent out somewhere for "processing," but refused to answer detailed questions regarding the chain of custody of the floorboards implying that he was unsure if the wood was actually kiln-dried properly. I reminded him that we are return customers and asked him to please refund our money. His response was, "just refinish the floors, this is not my problem." I would NOT recommend this vendor, nor would I ever use them again. I hope others will we warned before using them. read more
