JOHNSON'S TREE SVC

There was a rave review on Angie's list from the previous week. I called and asked if they still had any dry firewood available, for burning now....The woman who answered the phone said that they did, but that the crew was so busy cleaning up after a recent storm that it would take 3 weeks to deliver it. She also quoted me a price $75 more per cord that the reviewer had paid. Nonetheless, good wood would be worth it, and it is let in the season, so I ordered 2 cords , and gave my credit card information. I didn't expect a charge to appear on my account until after the delivery. The charge appeared on my card immediately. I called and complained about this, saying that most merchants only charge the card when they deliver the goods. She said, "well we always do it right away." She asked if I wanted my money refunded, and I said, no, that would be OK. Exactly three weeks after I ordered it, Joe called me and told me he was delivering the firewood. I was out at the time. When I got home, I took some wood in to try to burn it. It looked and felt like "wet" wood..that is,newly cut and not ready to burn. It simply would not burn. It was not dry. It was not wood that could be burned this year. I was extremely upset. I need the wood for heat. I have called Joe and left 2 messages, and I called the office and left a message, but it is Saturday after Thanksgiving, and I have not received a call back. If I do hear from them, and they make good on the promise to deliver good, dry, appropriate wood for burning this winter, I will write another review. Here's my other review: The day after I wrote the above review, Joe called me. When he offered to come over to make a fire with the wood, I accepted (He seemed surprised, but the business is only a few miles away). It seems that he had never seen a "Heatilator" fireplace of my type before... perhaps because mine was built in 1956. The wood wouldn't really catch for him, either....and he saw the water seeping out of the wood and dripping. About 30 minutes after he left, his fire had gone out. The next day the company offered a partial refund, so that they sold me the wood at their price for "spring delivery " wood. I accepted that, and the complaint is resolved. I'll use their wood next winter. Their only problem was ignorance. Wood for a fireplace must be much dryer than wood for a wood-stove. The fireplace system heats the room impressively without getting as hot as a wood stove. Wood that has been "on the ground" for 2 years may still be too wet, especially if it has only recently been cut and split. It is wood that was split at least 1 year ago that is dry enough for a fireplace system. In 1956, they knew how to build fireplaces. As long as a window is cracked open somewhere in a far room, there is never a cold downdraft in my fireplaces, and they easily raise the room temperature 20 degrees (from 50 to 70F) saving me huge amounts of money in oil consumption by my furnace. Whoever first said that heating with a fireplace doesn't work, "all the heat goes up the chimney," is dead wrong. I use fans to circulate the hot air down from the ceiling in the room, and there are built-in fans in channels in the brickwork that force air past the metal fireplace liner and out into the room. When not using the fireplace, I close the doors and/or the flue. No heat loss then, either. I normally use downed wood from my property, but for the last 2 years, my family has been too busy to cut it and bring it in. I am 70 years old...but sometimes I do some of it myself. I am not, however, retired...so I didn't have time this year either.