So, about Craigslist and a problem with a seller?

[Mikej]

My wood guy from the last couple years couldn't/wouldn't get the would i wanted this year so i went to Craig's List. I've done it before and done okay for the most part. Well, the guy this year shorted me 1/3+ cord on a two cord delivery. I've been in contact with him, he says he'll take care of me, then a week goes buy and I'm calling him again. We've been doing this since the about the 6/27. I made him a second offer of paying for another cord, $300.00, but paying him $200.00 to make up for the missing 1/3. He agreed.

I just want to know if Craig's List has a complaint system of some kind in place. If so anyone here used the system? I'm not ready to do that yet because I don't really think the guy is a scammer. He's older and I think he just has a flaky, maybe former meth head working for him. I always get my wood in June so I can get better price, get finished seasoning here, get it over and done with so I don't need to worry about winter heat in October.

I haven't even looked to see if CL has a system for complaints, thought I'd check here for actual experience.

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[41mag]

Long ago I delivered firewood for a couple seasons. I heat with firewood to this very day, and have seen a dozen various reasons for such discrepancies in measure.

One of the common differences is 'how tight' you stack the cord. This alone can account for such a variance.
Of course throw mischief/former methhead etc into the mix and you have multiplied possibilities.

One old timer told me his measure of stacking tightness was 'a cat chasing a squirrel'. The squirrel can find a place to scurry thru the face cord while the cat doesn't fit'. That never has been my own measure but does conjure up a certain laxness in the old 4x4x8 measurement.

Good luck.

 

[CHLChris]

Craigslist has absolutely no feedback system and no recourse. If you get anything back from him at all you should count yourself blessed.

I love CL, but the only time to make sure a deal is fair is at the moment of the deal.

 

[Camelfilter]

Craigslist has absolutely no feedback system and no recourse. If you get anything back from him at all you should count yourself blessed.

I love CL, but the only time to make sure a deal is fair is at the moment of the deal.

Yup.

-and no one off Craigslist comes to the house, unless we're moving.

 

[Jerry]

Believe it or not, a cord is a legal unit of measure. In Washington it falls under the jurisdiction of the Dept of Weights & Measures (Dept of Ag?). Short changing a customer is unlawful. You may have noticed that most taverns do not advertise "pints" as most are served in 14 oz glasses rather than the 16 oz pint glass.

 

[CHLChris]

Oh, I've had CL folks to the house. We usually meet in the garage and I'm packing, of course. I use certain measures to be sure that they seem normal, like ability to write an email and have a phone number.

 

[Mikej]

The load looked short on the truck. The old guy had said his truck was 2 1/2 cord to the top and when the truck came it was to the top in front but tapered quick to the back. I stack the wood in good, square stacks, measure height/length and go 16". Came in 50 cu' short. Giving the benefit of the doubt here. Also it was to be 1 cord maple and 1 cord ash. I got about 20 sticks ash. Considering what it's costing to get something OTHER than fir into PDX it wasn't a bad deal, even without the ash.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

Yup.

-and no one off Craigslist comes to the house, unless we're moving.

definitely!!! same reason i dont have garage sales and just sell my junk at the neighbors garage sale. my moms good friend had her cash stolen from her garage sale once. it was 3 women in dresses of russian descent. one distracted, one looked out and one took the lock box full of cash. it was caught on camera, never saw them again. lol they made out like bandits with $50 in 1s

 

[CHLChris]

We actually make money off CL, finding deals at estate or garage sales, refinishing the furniture and selling. When you're selling a $500 dining room table or whatever you get a better clientele than a $25 PlayStation game, I suppose. We've only had a bad CL experience a time or two in over a decade.

 

[Camelfilter]

definitely!!! same reason i dont have garage sales and just sell my junk at the neighbors garage sale. my moms good friend had her cash stolen from her garage sale once. it was 3 women in dresses of russian descent. one distracted, one looked out and one took the lock box full of cash. it was caught on camera, never saw them again. lol they made out like bandits with $50 in 1s

A coworker back East had friends in Florida who had a yard sale, with some "higher" ticket items.

Evening after the yard sale they had a home invasion, and all were shot dead. First was the husband whom answered the door, executed.

This would have been ?2011 or so.

Unsolved. The police suspect someone at the yard sale was eyeballing what they had for sale, and they came back to steel the proceeds from it.

An extremely rare case, but just shows on how evil some criminals can be.

 

[Camelfilter]

We actually make money off CL, finding deals at estate or garage sales, refinishing the furniture and selling. When you're selling a $500 dining room table or whatever you get a better clientele than a $25 PlayStation game, I suppose. We've only had a bad CL experience a time or two in over a decade.

Oh ya, we are fans of Craigslist, just with caution.

Have furnished our entire apartment off of the Craig the first time we moved out here. Pretty decent stuff too.

When I had to move back East again, sold almost all of it on the Craig as well. So about furnished it for free.

When we moved back here again this time, sold some furnishings we didn't think would make the trip well.

Can't count on how many sets of tires, especially studded snows I've bought off of there. Sometimes have to find rims off of another seller, sometimes not. Usually folks moving to warmer climates. But have litterally saved thousands $ just on those.

-really depends on how much time you have, to find decent deals, or to sell stuff.

 

[CHLChris]

Oh ya, we are fans of Craigslist, just with caution.

With caution. That's a perfect way to describe it, Camel!

 

[Jamie6.5]

Buying & selling cord wood has been a problem forever. Going all the way back to the '70s when my family used to buy and sell some, and before. One man's pickup load is another man's "cord" and rarely do the two measure up. The dispute usually starts with the length of the pieces.
Ideally they should be 16", and most cutters/sellers want to peddle 18-20" wood. They then claim their trailer/pickup etc holds 128 CuFt. And the debate ensues.
This problem existed long before Craigslist, and even before the days of The Nickel ads.

We finally put T-Posts in the ground 8' apart and strung a wire between them, up 4' from the ground, which when full, is a "Rick." 3 Ricks of 16" wood makes a cord.
We'd tell the sellers to "fill-er-up," and when their load wouldn't fill all 3 Ricks, we'd renegotiate the price or tell them to put it back in their pickup/trailer etc.

The bum sellers quit bringing short loads or stopped trying to sell to us altogether.
But it was the only way to be truly compliant with the state's definition of a "cord" of wood.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

A coworker back East had friends in Florida who had a yard sale, with some "higher" ticket items.

Evening after the yard sale they had a home invasion, and all were shot dead. First was the husband whom answered the door, executed.

This would have been ?2011 or so.

Unsolved. The police suspect someone at the yard sale was eyeballing what they had for sale, and they came back to steel the proceeds from it.

An extremely rare case, but just shows on how evil some criminals can be.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

Buying & selling cord wood has been a problem forever. Going all the way back to the '70s when my family used to buy and sell some, and before. One man's pickup load is another man's "cord" and rarely do the two measure up. The dispute usually starts with the length of the pieces.
Ideally they should be 16", and most cutters/sellers want to peddle 18-20" wood. They then claim their trailer/pickup etc holds 128 CuFt. And the debate ensues.
This problem existed long before Craigslist, and even before the days of The Nickel ads.

We finally put T-Posts in the ground 8' apart and strung a wire between them, up 4' from the ground, which when full, is a "Rick." 3 Ricks of 16" wood makes a cord.
We'd tell the sellers to "fill-er-up," and when their load wouldn't fill all 3 Ricks, we'd renegotiate the price or tell them to put it back in their pickup/trailer etc.

The bum sellers quit bringing short loads or stopped trying to sell to us altogether.
But it was the only way to be truly compliant with the state's definition of a "cord" of wood.

there is always a dispute for wood. the best guy i know is from NE salem...hispanic guy... he make sure its right...everytime. good hard workin fellow he is. my dad went to his house to buy just a couple bundles of camp fire wood for our luau we had. had 50 bucks to give him, he filled his bed. FULL. guess thats the kind of service u get when u are a repeat customer

 

[clearconscience]

Just post his info in the M4M section.


Kidding, but I may have known someone who did that.

 

[jbett98]

Sounds like your firewood guy went to the Ron Tonkin school of business.

 

[11Charlie]

My experience with craigslist and things I have for sale is simple. Always armed and meet them in a public location. If the item is to big to meet I will meet them in said location and then have them follow me to the house that way I can get a feel for what kind of people they are. Not fool proof by any means but it hasn't lead me astray yet.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Same here SKrueger, I always pack, am on high alert & do not get distracted. A few have come to my shop but those are the chosen ones who i have bought from before.

 

[Cortes]

I've been shorted by wood sellers before. Paid for 2 cords and got 1 1/2 when stacked. I told him it looked short on the truck but he convinced me otherwise. Now I measure it on the truck before unloading. If it looks short to me there's a conversation about that.