Our experience with RI Firewood was one we wish we never had to write about in this fashion.
I called to specifically ask if the wood was ready to burn. The answer I got from Bob (Robert) was "Yes, it is absolutely dry and ready to burn now" We decided to start with a cord just to see the quality first.
The wood was delivered on a very cold day. If you burn wood a lot then you know to look for certain characteristics of ready to burn wood. One way is to look at the bark. Dry wood that is ready to burn will have bark that easily pulls away from the wood. The second way is to bang two pieces together and the sound will give a good indication. A "crack" sound, is indicative of ready to burn wood, while a "thud" noise points to wood with a high moisture concentration
The wood delivered neither had pulling away bark, nor did it make a crack noise. Immediately, we put some in the woodstove and sure enough, this wood was not even close to ready to burn. It would not catch and only really smoldered.
I contacted them right away and the office person emailed me back in a timely fashion to tell me they would make good. She stated the driver must have pulled the wood from the wrong pile. Where the wood was delivered on a Friday, they could not get here until Monday morning "First thing" to swap it out Where we already stacked the new wood on top of the wood we had, this meant no heat from the wood stove for the whole weekend. I was ok with it because they acknowledged us right away.
Monday morning came and no driver came. I emailed them and they later stated that they could not make it today but can come Tuesday. Tuesday did not work for me. I already missed a day of going into the office Monday because they blew us off, so we agreed Thursday at 7:30 a.m. they would come. Thursday came and I emailed them early on to confirm they would be on time. I had an appointment at my sons school at 11:30. An hour passed until I received an email stating they would be there by 9:00, an hour and a half later. Well, the driver, the owners son, showed up at 11:20. I show him the wet wood he delivered last week and he asked me if It was wet because it rained. (My wood id stacked, off the ground and has the top 18 inches covered) no, I said, it isn't because it rained. When I asked to look at the wood they brought to swap out, it too was wet. In fact, where the day was pretty warm, it was very easy to determine this wood was far from burnable.
I refused the wood and emailed the company to tell them they can just refund the money I paid and come get the wood. a day later, Friday, They agreed to do so but again, would not get there until Monday.
Sadly, I believed them again and sure enough, Monday came and they said the driver did not come in due to the weather. Weather.....it is 48 degrees and is only forecasted to rain...beginning at 3:00 p.m.
At this point, I am all set. I don't need my money back and their poor business practices will certainly cost them more than they cost me.
I can get more wood delivered from another company and leave this in the back until it is ready to burn. My guess is we are at least 6 months out.
My advice to anyone considering buying wood from these people is to be home when they say they will deliver it to fully inspect it. This way you can turn it away immediately and not miss 3 days of wasted time waiting for them to do what they say they are going to. Their product is truly awful and their service follow up is even worse. Such a disappointment. Not sure how a small business will stay in business with such terrible service. If I could give them zero stars I would. read more