Mitch Dutcher

I used this contractor who advertised in our local paper, Action Unlimited, that he delivered seasoned firewood for $250/cord. Since we burn approximately 4-5 cords per winter in our woodstove to heat the house, I decided to give this new contractor a try as we are frequently purchasing firewood. I provide this background as a way of saying that I am very familiar with what a cord of wood measures given the amount we use for our home. While most firewood providers will deliver within a couple of days of contacting them, Mr. Dutcher asked me to wait over a week until he could deliver on a Sunday. I decided this was not ideal, but acceptable, since I already had wood to burn.  However, based on my first conversation with Mr. Dutcher, I wasn't 100% sure he would again contact me about a delivery time as he seemed a little wishy washy and terse on the phone. So I followed up again in another week, and we set a time for delivery on a Sunday morning. 
He showed up relatively on time with a very small truck which he alleged held one cord of wood (I had requested two). Since I had a million kids over from a sleepover that morning and didn't have time to quabble, I accepted his first load though I was skeptical of the amount as it appeared significantly short of a cord, and he then came back an hour later with the second 'cord'. In the meantime, my husband had seen the first cord dumped out, as well as a friend picking up her kids. Both thought the amount of wood in this first cord was not a full cord.
We questioned Mr. Dutcher upon his return and he was adamant that he had measured it all out and that he had provided us with two cords. Being honest people, we paid him the full $500 for the two alleged cords since it was hard to argue with wood just dumped out all over the ground. However, we stacked it that day ourselves, and, following the guidelines for measuring cordwood, the end result was that we were short by a full 1/3 of a cord. I called Mr. Dutcher the next day and left a message with the stacked measurements and requested that he deliver what was owed to us. I never had a response.
I have since found a more reliable firewood provider, and will never again use Mr. Dutcher's so-called services. I really felt conned out of my money by this guy. Not to mention he had no interpersonal skills and no decency to right the wrong, or even call me back.
Thanks Angie's list for a way to provide this feedback!