We built a custom home North of Toronto, and had heard that Three Towers provided hardwood at low prices, so we ordered our hardwood from them. The wood was AWFUL to work with. Similar to another review on this site, the individual pieces were different widths from one end to the other. We ended up having to sort each individual piece using calipers, which took 6 full days. It was a nightmare. About 30-50% of our order was 18 inches or shorter, and some of it was warped and un-usable. The owner agreed in writing to reinburse us some money, but then neglected to return any of our phone calls for weeks. I called once or twice a week and left messages, but he never phoned back. Then, I received a rude, offensive, and threatening email from him. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $9,000.00
- Company Response
With all due respect to Jenn, we do not feel this review is fair or accurate, and would very much like to tell our side of the story. We really do feel as if our good reputation has been slandered with this review.
Jenn and her husband first visited our showroom in the late winter of 2010, looking for low grade rustic maple. They made it very clear that price was their main criteria, and highlighted this point by making reference to one of our competitors near Brantford who they said was offering rustic maple at $1.99/square foot. For those of you that don't know all the ins and outs of the hardwood grading rules, rustic is the LOWEST grade possible. There is no warranty on rustic, there is no length restrictions on rustic(you could have anything from a 6 inch piece to an average length of 18 inches. Open knots are allowed, as are color variations and milling defects. Typically rustic is a grade slightly higher than firewood, and intended for people whos sole intention is to cover the plywood. For that reason it is also the cheapest. We generally stay away from selling this item because as the saying goes "garbage attracts garbage" and we have made a name for ourselves for supplying quality products. We do have great success and lots of happy customers from the Canadian Classics, which sells for $5.99. But in order to get quality you have to pay for it, and this customer was just too plain cheap to pay that price. She wants long length and wide plank, but she also wants to pay $1.99. You can't buy the whole cow if all you want to pay for is the milk, and you can't make a leather purse out of a pigs ear. Its just common sense.
When informed that we could not supply the rustic/tavern grade for less than $3.49/sq ft she said she was not paying more than $1.99 and left. She called us back about 6 months later and made the order, instead asking for alternating widths of 4 and 6 inch rustic for $3.49. Despite knowingly buying the lower grade, and always focusing her discussions with me on buying the cheapest price possible, she complained that she was having some issues with the 4 inch, being varied widths and short pieces.I met with the husband at the house and explained to him that he bought the lowest grade of wood and he understood that the wood was consistant with grading rules, he asked if there was any way that he could recieve 10 more boxes and some compensation for the extra labor, since he was a gentlemen we shipped them 10 more boxes and we refunded them $300. Despite us reaching an agreement with her husband, Jenn persisted in asking/harrassing us for the next 3 months saying that she wants to pay $1.99/ square foot price, and we didn't agree than and we don't agree now.
Thanks to Jenn we have since developed and implemented policy built to try and avoid customers like her, customers who's only aim is to buy the cheapest possible products as it seems the ones who always ask for the cheapest price seem to have amnesia when it comes to remembering what they actually ordered.
The lady who referred Jenn to us has since referred another customer, and actually apologized for sending her to us. She said that she has been to Jenn's house and it looks fabulous, and as she puts it "what does she expect for rustic?" The long and the short of this story is that Jenn wanted no more than to pay $1.99 and I don't see any reason why she should get this price when she agreed to pay $3.49.I have cut and paste below the grading rules for rustic hardwood flooring, I just do not know how to explain this any clearer:
"Rustic Grade ( C Grade )
The most rugged and varied of all the grades with wide colour variations, wild grain patterns, unlimited knots of all sizes & colours and other rustic features. A bold country floor produced in small quantities.Usually referred to as Rustic Grade flooring, boards may contain some or all of the following features:- Knots, cracked knots, burrs, wide colour variation, heart and some heart shake, occasional cracks and holes. There are no limits to the size of the features provided the boards are structurally sound. Milling irregularities are allowed."