Woodstock Soapstone Company: An Open Letter to Customers Awaiting Stoves

They sure are a GREAT company. I tell you, they are a pleasure to deal with. My stove is what, going on 3 years old now, I blew a gasket out last week and called them to get a replacement and instructions how to fix... I offered a CC# to pay for it, they said "No worry, we will cover it". And it's not the money part of it, it's just they way they do business. I wish more companies would follow their lead. Then throw in I think they make some of the best stoves around, both in features, quality, looks and efficiency.

Hope they can get the production back in line and the iron works straightened out.

Very good point. I wonder why they didn't move that back to states?? I'd love to see them switch to USA only. More and more, US jobs are coming back here, manufacturing coming back this way. Better quality, and we are starting to become competitive in pricing as well. Once the Chineese stop cheating with import/expert taxes and government subsidies.... we will take them down in no time!

 

I agree with this 100%. I have seen and had to deal with a lot of castings over the years industrially and it is very difficult to get high quality cast iron on a consistent basis. Most foundries, sooner or later, tend to get a little slip- shod and it shows up in the end product. Sure you can pick out the 'bad' castings but only the ones with the defect(s) where you can see them; some are going to have internal flaws such as blow holes or occlusions but look perfect on the outside. Build a wood stove with some of those castings and the customer will probably find them later, perhaps years later, and it won't be pleasant or pretty. Having spent a bit of time at Woodstock, I agree with your assessment of Tom & company as well: I believe they are looking to source top quality castings from wherever they have to.

Great letter from Tom that I think very well reflects the overall nature of that company; it may cost they some sales from people who cannot or choose not to wait but they took the high road and were honest and upfront. Much, much better than telling the customers "two more weeks" whenever they call or write in my opinion. A true 'stand up' company, owner and all the staff that I have met and extremely nice people to boot.

Brian

 

Truth be told, american foundries are far from the best in the world. America used to lead the world in quality cast iron and steel production, but it has been quite some time since that was the case.

 

For most small foundries that is probably and unfortunately true. For large foundries supplying the 'rust belt', I would not bet against US foundries being at the top of the list; we invented Meehanite casting process and showed the world how to make precision cast iron as well as large aluminum sand castings. Although I would say that the Japanese dominate aluminum die casting.

As far as steel, I have used and tested steels from all over the world and after all the legend about Sheffield steel and Swedish steel, I would put a heat of Carpenter steel up against any in the world and expect it to come out on top. Although I agree that the gigantic steel makers in the US have probably slid some from their heyday (US steel, Bethlehem Steel) regarding killed and semi- killed steels unfortunately.

None of which means much to Woodstock as they would be looking at very small foundries aimed at making top quality castings I would think. They just would not have access to the resources of, say, GM regarding casting foundries and so would have to find a small company as dedicated to quality as they seem to be; not impossible but not an easy task either IMO. Kudos to them for pursuing quality in an age where all too often price is the end- all, be- all of everything for most of us (myself included: I want my consumer products at low cost as much as the next guy). It is a funny thing but an awful lot of us say we want quality and lament the lack of it in the commercial market place but we spend out money where all too often on the cheapest products available. We think we vote with ballots and I guess we do but our loudest 'votes' are with our dollars and the message we are sending, at least as far as I can see, is that we want it (everything) cheap first and foremost.

Brian

 

Tom and Woodstock. i know how supply issues can be frustrating, we've had them in the past as well. good on him taking the time to post about it publically




now, imagine him when the truck with his parts arrives <chuckling cause ive been there>

 

So many sides to a foundry, Power or fuel/ OSHA/ EPA / raw materials/ logistics ( in and out of plant) to name a few. Next door is a non-ferrous small foundry for about 3 years the employee situation for them was a revolving door, that has stablized as of late, got to bone up on my spanish .

 

When I was up in Lebanon on a Saturday recently with my freinds as the picked up their new Progress that they had been waiting for Tom was there and we got a chance to meet him and talk to him. I know nothing of foundries, technical or the market dynamics, but Tom went into quite a bit of depth on the complexity and investment it took to transfer the manufacturing from the previous foundry in Belgium over to this new one in Spain. The machinery investment the new foundry made was enormous.

I am quite certain if there were a US solution that fit the bill for quality, cost and ability to supply, etc. Tom would have taken that route. Byt the way, the soapstone comes from Canada, but be certain, it's all assembled by our friends in Lebanon NH.

 

Be patient Coach, the IS is worth the wait as Tom says in his letter.

 

To take that one step further Dennis, the entire WS company is a class act. I'm sure Tom and most of his front office have brought these beliefs to all the staff at WS. The letter was probably needed due to the demand from the orders they did not anticipate and of course the castings issues they did not plan on. With all the times I have had communictions with WS (whomever I was emailing or talking on the phone with) they have all put me first and been very respectful no matter how big or small my issue was. For a small stove company that has no middle man they do alright.

 

I'm sure with the research WS did on finding a new caster, the costs, despite what they spent to go online with a new company, is still less than it could be done in the states. If they could have done it here they would be casting in the US.

 

And that is a complete bummer...Less quality in U.S....

 

Still waiting for my PH... I ordered it mid august and was told it should be ready Nov 7th. My house is still cold as the new year approaches.

Edit: I complained too soon. Gave them a call and my PH ships tomorrow.

 

Wow, that's a bummer. Hopefully they get straightened out soon... I can tell ya one thing joshrohde, it is WELL worth the wait!

My brother has 2 Jotul stoves, and has been using them for many years, swears by them. He was over my house for the holidays and saw my PH burning for an entire day for the first time. He could not believe how well it burned, how much heat it puts out, and little wood it uses, and how nice it looks. In his words, "Wow, that thing [referring to my PH] is like a Mercedes, compared to my Jotul's which are like Volkswagens".

 

Hooray!!! You will love it I'm sure! My frinds just bought one and they ordered in August and got theirs a couple weeks ago. They are amazed at the heat it is putting out to their entire 2600sq ft home, how easy it is to manage and how little wood it is consuming compared to the previous old iron box that they had when they moved in.

We are awaiting your own special thread with as much pics as you can give us!

 

My very old Englander stove has been burning through my firewood stockpile. It's located in my basement using an exterior uninsulated masonry chimney. I've gone through 2 cord this season trying to keep my house in the low 60s along with electric space heaters. I added in a new metal chimney for the PH centrally located on my first floor so it should hopefully keep my old drafty uninsulated 1700 sqft farmhouse significantly warmer. I have been reading posts on this site and others and I think it will really do the trick. Actually a lot of posts by Machria, old hippy, charlie, rideau, browning bar, backwoods savage and others are what sold me on this stove. They should be paying you for the amount of good information you have posted about the PH. I really think woodstock should update their Website to provide more information their stoves because i would not have bought their product if it weren't for me doing hours upon hours of reading yours and others opinions/reviews of this stove on this forum and another one. I couldn't be more grateful to you and others for taking time to post your opinions of the PH and how you refined your methods of operating it efficiently.

 

You know, the best marketing a product can have, is word of mouth. If customers are happy, it will sell itself. I laugh at my companies "marketing dept", what a joke they are! (hope they are not reading this! ). I keep telling them, they are wasting there time, have engineering make a GOOD product at a decent price, and people will come out of the woodwork to buy it, period. It really is that simple.

Woodstock has made a great product, and they support it. This makes customers like me (and the rest of the Woodstock owners) very happy, and the free marketing begins!

But having said that, if Woodstock folks are reading this, I'm sure they still have my address on file. I do accept payments in any form: cash, checks, paypals, free product.... you would be surprised how cheaply I can be bought!