Customer Feedback

As you know we use a third party carrier and they are contracted to do at worst, what is referred to as a Kerbside delivery, but invariably the drivers are very helpful and get the logs delivered to as close to the property as possible, but they do have to risk assess each delivery to ensure all personnel, properties and vehicles are not at risk. It is important to make sure that our firewood delivery instructions and videos are looked at to cover off any particular issues.

Our standard size log is 25cm long (+/-10%), but we also do a 35cm length too. For those who prefer, that’s 9.75 inches and 13.75 inches respectively in ‘Old English’. We have several firewood processing machines and for bulk bags we only use logs from the larger machine. This is computer controlled so very accurate on length. These logs, once kiln dried are then passed over a cleaner to remove as much of the brash (small pieces) as possible. You should never need to cut them again – If you do, then we have got it wrong and will replace the logs or come to some arrangement with you. Don’t want you to be out of pocket under any circumstance.

Our third party carrier - Palletways have over 100 depots around the country that arrange their deliveries and to be fair, as a percentage, the number of problems is very small, BUT some depots are worse than others and at times can cause major problems. Even the drivers can be unhelpful. It is a headache for customers and causes the girls in the office lots of hassles at times, but bad depots are soon removed from the network and replaced. We are also working closely with Palletways to try and find ways to improve the delivery service for kiln dried logs, even looking at evening deliveries and perhaps in some areas, two man deliveries. Sorry for the problems caused and I hope things work out better next time.

This can be a problem for some customers, but we really do struggle to get the carrier to take back empty pallets as they always fill up their lorries with full pallets before returning to their yard, so never have space for empty pallets, which ultimately they then have to dispose of. We have written a couple of blogs on this topic and there have been some rather creative ideas as to what to do with unwanted pallets too – See

What to do with a pallet

This was a comment we had from our last customer survey and following a recent trial, I am delighted to say that we have now solved this one. Each bulk bag will have a mail return bag in the top with instructions on how to return the bag via the Collect Plus return system. This is free of charge but we do ask if possible that you return 2 bags at a time, but make sure they have not been cut open as we wont be able to use them again.

They are contracted to deliver in a 7.5t to 10t tail lift lorry and should be turned away if they come in an 18 tonne lorry. I agree that it is not acceptable.

All our kiln dried logs are dried to an average moisture content of below 20% with the HETAS quality assured standard set at a maximum of 25%, so we are well within this. There will always be a slight variation from the outside to the inside of the log and this could range from 10% on the outside and sometimes 30% on the inside, but the average across the log will always be below 20%. If not, we have got something wrong and will obviously change the logs. Not common, but occasionally we do make mistakes. 

An interesting comment. We are always looking very closely at our prices in comparison to competitors and will always make sure we are competitively priced. However we are also keen that customers are clear in what they are buying and online, this is not always obvious. Firstly we are HETAS accredited which provides you with confidence that all our kiln dried logs and kindling are packed to a standard and very few UK companies meet these high standards. Also we are 100% British, again unusual as much of the firewood sold online is in wooden crates – All these kiln dried logs come from Eastern Europe so their carbon footprint is very high. Volumes declared also vary hugely. Everything we sell has the volume measured against what we sell – e.g Our 1.6m3 bulk bag of kiln dried logs is measured in a flat sided cage which is 1m x 1m x 1.6m high. We Know that all our loose fill bags are correct volume. We recently looked at competitors and found one Company selling a 1.6m bulk bag of kiln dried logs, but interestingly we discovered that this represents the height of the bag and not the cubic metres – very clever. When we put this in our cage to check the volume it measured 1.3m3. When we then compare the prices on the basis of the lower volume we were actually cheaper. They appeared cheaper but were not. It is also worthwhile mentioning that many of the imported kiln dried logs are actually Silver Birch or Alder and these species burn much faster than our mix of oak, ash and beech – therefore far less heat value. Always useful to remember that the best deals for kiln dried logs, kindling and our flamers is during the summer and autumn months so worth stocking up early and its so much easier to stack away your firewood in the Light summer evenings.

In the majority of times, one driver with his hand pump truck and tail lift lorry can cope quite easily, but If your access is difficult then I suggest you consider the smaller 1.2m3 bulk bag or the 50 bag pallet.

We did start to offer this earlier this year and were able to offer 1 hour slots from 10 am till 2 .pm, but we were getting more problems with them not arriving on time, that we decided to stop offering this service until the carrier can be more accurate. Regrettably, unlike parcels, firewood is far more complex to deliver but I am hoping that we will shortly be able to offer a more premium service with timed delivery or at least as you say, a.m or p.m and thus avoiding the issue of the Economy delivery which is what they call an ‘open-booking’ between9 a.m and 5.30 pm on an agreed day.

Thanks for feedback on this. We took a while to source these pallets which are perfect for size and are strong, but you are not the first to raise this point. We have now sourced a different pallet so hopefully won’t need to source the ply pallets any more. At the time, we had not realised the implications.

I assume you are referring to the bulk bags of kiln dried logs. They are actually shower-proof, but not water-proof as we need to supply the logs in a breathable bag, otherwise they maybe liable to sweat. It is important to note however that we do recommend the logs are not stored in the bags for more than a few days unless they are stored in a garage. If you have to store the bags outside with logs still in, we recommend you put a water-proof sheet over the top.

We are looking into how best to reward loyalty, but a recent brief survey to our customers suggested that people were less keen on this, but just good prices. We do provide £10 off your next order when you recommend a friend and they get £10 off their 1^st order too. This works well and is popular. Recommend ten friends and you will have £100 off your next order.

Recommend a Friend

Agreed, but for national deliveries, the only national carriers that can do deliveries operate only with pallets. We do deliver locally in Herefordshire with a hiab which works well. We are in talks with our carrier about providing hiab deliveries in certain postcode areas as a trial.

We don’t do crates because all our firewood is British – it is only the imported wood that comes in crates and the reason we don’t pack our wood in crates is because our labour costs are far higher than Eastern Europe so this type of pack would become uneconomic.