Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers with NON EPA-Certified Models Only => Wood Doctor => Topic started by: Barrick on January 17, 2012, 08:03:19 AM
-
I have been a Wood Doctor dealer in central Pennsylvania for the past eight years. I have sold over 400 of the Wood Doctor furnaces over those years and have considered the units quality made. From what I know, the problems started when partners Dave McCulloch and Arthur Turple parted ways about a year ago. That is about the time Rick Fulcher, a man with Wall Street experience (and a record) got involved from Virginia. I had always questioned Dave’s sales tactics which amounted to telling customers anything he felt they wanted to hear to make a sale. Dave’s cell was 406-750-1633 and had a usadavid@hotmail.com email address. Arthur was more honest in his approach.
In February 2011, I was told by Arthur and Rick that they were getting a $25 million government grant to open Creative Energy Solutions in Farmville, VA and start production there. They apologized for their lack of support to their dealers and stated how things are going to change in the future as they took my wife and I to dinner (We even had prayer before eating). Dealer training would be implemented and a larger line of products would be available soon. After delays from January 2011 thru July 2011 (the date production was to start) things began to unravel. Costs were too high and another company, Triton Metals, of Hollywood, MD was contacted about production, but the costs were higher than expected. In the meantime, Silverwind Metals in Manitoba Canada was not asked to sign a contract for 2011 with Arthur, so now Wood Doctor had no furnaces to sell. He told me that “after a night of prayer, he wrote a letter to Silverwinds and they agreed to produce more furnaces to help him out one last time.”
I had ordered a load of furnaces on July 29, 2011 and paid for them by wire as I had done the previous 7 years, but the furnaces did not arrive till late September after many phone calls. I had those sold by the time they arrived, so I asked Arthur to send me another load and I would pay when they were ready to ship. I sent a wire directly to Silverwinds in October and received another load of stoves.
Then the problems started for me. I told Arthur that if he needed any partial load stove orders to complete any loads to the eastern US, I would purchase whatever it took to complete the load. He said he had room for 2 units, so in November I wired money to the account at Creative Energy Solutions in Farmville, VA as he suggested in the amount of $16380. I was to be getting replacement parts for Rich Coons’ furnace in the same load. We have been waiting for six weeks for the shipment when I last spoke with Rich at the PA Farm Show. He had mentioned at the time of the order that I could have sent the money directly to Silverwinds, so I was not suspicious of any major financial problems at the time.
When I tried to contact Wood Doctor in mid December, the following numbers were dialed. Arthur at 902-890-6616 which refers you to his American cell 207-745-0854 which was not answered nor did it take messages. I then tried the VA office at 434-808-6915 and with Rick Fulcher’s cell 434-547-5880. No return call. I then tried the Canadian office with no avail. Of course wooddoctor.arthur@gmail.com did not get a response either. Finally I tried to reach Brian Nadeau on his cell at 919-943-7729 and got a response on Tuesday Jan 3, 2012. He was working on getting the new company they recently acquired near Grand Rapids, Michigan called the Log Boiler (www.logboiler.com (http://www.thelogboiler.com)) up and running. After speaking for a moment with Brian, I asked if he knew how to get in touch with Arthur. He said, “Sure, he’s sitting right here” and I asked him to hand him the phone. Again I was reminded by Arthur that he “never lied to me”; however, Wood Doctor is experiencing financial problems because “credit card sales were having charges reversed and the bank is now out of funds.” After more dialog about the future of the company and my $16,000 in particular, I was told that the company is NOT going belly-up but it was not looking good at present. In a prior conversation with Rick, perhaps I should have detected such when he told me that it was a 2-1 vote to purchase Log Boiler, with his vote being the vote that did not count. He stated that the purchase was draining most of their working capital.
I also asked about what I was to sell in my Wood Doctor space at the PA Farm Show that was Jan 7-14,2012. I have had WD furnaces at the show for the past six years and wanted to continue, but none arrived lately, so I features Nature’s Comfort furnaces at this years show.
While working at the show, I was contacted by Earl Sines in NY who is short a medium stove (paid for) and a trucking company called and asked if I still do business with Wood Doctor because they are underpaid about $5000 as well. Later Greg Sparks in Michigan called to say he is short a stove or two (paid for). Later I met William Dohan of Quarryville, PA who is short a medium stove (paid for) as well as a debt of over $7500 in credit and parts that are not delivered yet. I also received a call from Neil at Silverwind Metal (204-750-1515 or 204-626-3381 or 204-391-4519) seeking info and inquiring about Arthur. Neil stated that Arthur has been “somewhat deceptive” and was not divulging to Silverwinds what was in his plans. Neil needed to look out for the best interests of Silverwind colony.
Silverwind Metals does have an online store on their new website (www.polarfurnaces.com (http://www.polarfurnace.com)) that offers ALL parts for any Wood Doctor furnaces at prices that are less expensive than the same item being purchased through Wood Doctor. They also manufacture the Polar Outdoor Furnace which is a clone of the Wood Doctor furnace that had been manufactured successfully for many years. For those seeking parts or warranty help, I would suggest getting in contact with Silverwind Metals because they are the manufacturer that made Wood Doctor units and ultimately should be backing the warranty in some manner.
Hopefully this sheds some light on what is happening. I just want resolution to the problems Wood Doctor has created for me. I try to be honest with my customers and get warranty service for claims that are legitimate. I am not going to make excuses for a company that has deserted its customers and dealers in such a manner. Arthur and Rick and Brian need to share the truth of the past year with the dealers and customers that are left with nothing but promises.
-
Two of the links in your story did not work. log boilers and polar furnaces........
-
I was close on the two websites--they should have been:
www.thelogboiler.com (http://www.thelogboiler.com) and www.polarfurnace.com (http://www.polarfurnace.com)
-
Thanks. They work now!
Welcome to the site!
-
Jerry thanks for the post on your issues as a dealer. I have recently learned that my name Barrett was used by Wood doctor as a Major investor in Wood doctor. Nothing could be further from the truth!!!!!!!
We former dealers are trying to set the record straight .
-
Thankfully for me, my credit card was one of those mentioned that were reversing charges...all for a stove that was promised to me for months and could never get anyone to call me back - that was when someone actually answered the phone or when I reached a voicebox that wasn't full.
-
Thanks for the info on parts. A friend and I have been looking for parts in case we need them seeing how Wood Doc is no longer around. I am very happy with my 10000 but would never deal with wd clan again no matter what name the change to.
-
Thanks for sharing what is happening to you. I drive past your shop every day and seeing the WD furnaces sitting there put the thought of owning one into my head. I did some research about 16 months ago and saw some people were having warranty problems so I opted for the NC 175 and love it. Are you now a NC dealer? I know someone looking for a NC locally and wouldn't mind knowing where to pick up parts when I need them for mine.
Good Luck!
-
Yes, I am now a Territorial Manager for Natures Comfort and have already made sales. I have all parts available and would welcome any referrals. Give me a call and I will make it worth your while to help me with Natures Comfort. 717 243-3956
-
I bought my under ground pex from jerry. Truthful guy
-
Just off the phone from speaking to another former Wood Doctor dealer . Daily I get calls/emails from people and just refer to this forum . Hope somehow, Arthur, Rick and Brian can realize just the amount of harm they have brought to people. Most of us were involved with WD for years and invested a lot of time and money to promote a company that does not seem to care about anyone but its bank account.
-
Business Development Bank of Canada (Harry D. Thompson) vs. Arthur J. Turple --- Filed Jan 20/2012
He got the money they required to survive from all the buyers in 2011 and hid it. As they all knew the bank was on its way, this always happens when Revenue Canada and IRS are chasing you also.
-
Today I spent time checking what I needed to do in Pennsylvania to help solve our problem. I contacted the banks involved and spoke with the Fraud Division. Was told to go to the PA State Police and file a report. A very friendly trooper took all the information and I have an incident number now on file. I gave him all the names and phone numbers of others I have been in contact with that are shorted as well. You can expect a phone call perhaps from them. I have been in contact with the PA Attorney General's office and the Philadelphia branch of the FBI as well. I will be meeting with my local state representative tomorrow for further advice. We may be out the money, but hopefully the thieves will not have much time to enjoy the benefits of our labor. It's just a matter of time till the law finds the guilty parties and prosecuted those involved.
-
Thanks for keeping everyone updated. It would be nice if the truth finally comes out and people are held accountable for actions instead of the dealers taking the heat for everything.
-
THanks for doing that! I've notified every authority I can find and they've been very friendly but not very encouraging about openning files or following through on reports. My loss is too small they say and I should have known better. Arghhh!
-
My loss is small also in terms of what I think they owe me but huge in terms of what they have done to my business name and emotional stress and health. I always try to do the right thing in life and give them the service I would expect and am so very frustrated that people have lost money, worked for years to build a business and left out to in the cold (literally).
-
I decided after 5 weeks to cut my losses. I Talked with Jerry Barrick and located steel, in Lewisberry , Pa, got it rolled in York ,Pa, at Kottcamp, and retrofitted the entire stove pipe with insulated stainless from Burkholder Sheet Metal in Epharta, Pa. I am out $750 in warranty repairs but I have a like new outdoor boiler that is now a CoonsDr as WoodDr does not exist. Sometimes one must cut their losses and move on.
-
you will be much happier with a coonsdr, im sure. there is a little more satifaction when you the hot water you get yourself into tonight IS your own doing and it's not trouble ::)
-
Coonsrich why don't you post a picture of your "new" unit for us to see? You might have a job fixing WD warranty issues!
-
Go to www.wooddoctor.com (http://www.wooddoctor.com). Arthur has posted the long story of what happened to Wood Doctor. Haven't read the whole thing yet but I'm sure it's worth a peek.
-
Could someone please combine all the WoodDoctor threads? It seems they all have repetitive, word for word posts.
-
That's funny Art.
Request for less repetition repeated 5 times.
Yeh, that's funny.
-
Glad someone noticed... Its like the department of redundancy department.... ;)
-
it does seem if there is some information that is the same in three or four posts. And maybe it is redundant but the information before this began seems it does belong. i will wait and see wht the new owner does with it as moderators may be a thing of the past or new ones will be on the board. it appears (to me) as mr turple wishes to make clear his position on certain matters that others have posted in different threads. i say as moderator at this time it should stay unless the whole thread is deleted and i am not prepared to do that at this time as the information before these posts may be of interest to wood doctor owners.