So, yes, Kenneth Rebbela and I had a disagreement over an order he placed, All of you heard his side of the story, and we all know there are two sides to any story. He never told all the truth and omitted some very important facts that would not make him look good. Any honest person with any common sense would know something must have happened to get to where he starts his story. So let me tell you what happened. I will get to that later here.

He ordered Qtrd Old Growth W Oak with good flake. he never told me he wanted all that in the Log Run grade up to 7″ wide at $12.90 bf as is on my web site. If he would have told me that, I would have told him, boards that narrow under 7″ would not have much flake if any, and would be mostly rift and maybe have some comb figure in some. He just assumed he could get all that he wanted at the cheapest price. We all know you only get what you pay for, right. The Log Run Grade also, would probably, have a few defects in it and would not all be clear. There would be some clear stock in it but it would be mostly rift. It would all be from several different logs and not match perfectly in texture among other things. All logs are a little different. When I went to pull his order, I went through a few bundles but there was nothing in them that I felt comfortable to ship him. I did find a veneer log that still had some clear book matches and it had very good figure. I decided to pull that for him because I always pull orders that I would be happy with so no orders never come back to me. I do this often and my customers always thank me for upgrading the order when a lesser grade just don’t have what they want. Most wood workers do not understand what it takes to get high quality boards out of a log. All large Old Growth logs I saw yield wide boards were the figure is.

He also told me he didn’t want to drive up here to help pick it out and to pick it up. He asked me to ship it and he would pick it up at the terminal as I suggested because it would save him some money. 

After I shipped it like he told me too, I sent him the invoice and the BOL. I got an email from him about the extra cost of the lumber and the shipping was more than he expected. He said he was happy to call me and discuss it. I emailed him back and explained what I did and why. I also explained how the shipping rates now are out of control and I got him the best rate I could as I do for all my customers. I asked him to call me and hopefully satisfy his concerns when he saw the lumber. Instead, he sent me another email and told me I had to refund the extra cost for the lumber and also split the cost of the shipping, and if I didn’t do that, he threatened to stop payment on his credit card. So he tried to extort me and on top of that he threatened me. He stated in the email that he felt that was fair. He never gave me a chance to have a conversation about it like most men would do.

Now back to the beginning. I called him back, remember, he had already threatened me and hadn’t given me a chance to try to help him in some way. I was not happy. He had the lumber in his possession and I asked him what he thought of the lumber. He was happy with it but hadn’t had a chance to surface it. He mentioned it had sap on one edge That’s always the case when you cut Qtrd W Oak and are book matching it. You always get one live edge and you can use it that way if you want. You also get wider boards from one end that you would not get if you trimmed all that off. Logs are tapered and that’s natural and it’s common. I explained, sap is not a defect in W Oak. A lot of people today want live edges on the lumber. He refused to try to understand  what I was trying to explain to him. It was getting difficult to talk to him. Now here is what he left out of his rant. I offered several times to refund they extra charge of the lumber just to settle it and move on. He was getting top of the line Qtrd, Old Growth book matched Lumber at the lowest price but that was not good enough. He still expected me to pay for half the shipping too. I explained, that has nothing to do with me. I told him, he needed to argue that with the shipping company. Remember, He told me to ship it to the terminal and he would pick it up there as I suggested. The cost was not my responsibility and got him the best price I could. I told him again, I would refund the difference in the cost of the upgrade but was not responsible for the shipping. Yes, by now it was getting heated. He threatened me again and hung up. Now he has the lumber, I tried to settle and take a loss if I had too, but I still don’t know if I have a deal with him yet because he would not take my call and instead, called his credit card company and canceled his payment. He also spent the rest of the day writing the post here and trashing me, and lied about some of what went on and omitted the fact that I offered him a refund. Now I also have to fight with the credit card company too.

He has my lumber, and he don’t want to pay for it. I asked him if he thought that was fair. He said yes he did. Now I ask you, How would you feel if he did that to you after you tried to meet him in the middle? Ask yourself why would he not mention that I offered him a refund in his statement about me. The fact is, I started Talarico Hardwoods 50 years ago, I am 78 years old now, and have a reputation with a customer base that goes back 50 years that includes many very famous and important people around the world and my lumber has been used in some spectacular projects around the world. You would be amazed at my client list. Just go to the home page on my web site. You will see me and President H W Bush fishing together. He used to hire me as a photographer when he went fishing. I am also a professional outdoor photographer good enough and honest enough for the President. 

I ask you, do you think I would still be in business after 50 years if I did this to my customers? I think not. Sometimes it’s the customer.