Firewood scams reported in C. Oregon

For many Central Oregonians, firewood is essential to staying warm in the cold winter months. But recently, some people have reported getting scammed out of full firewood cords.

Wanda Hill lives just outside of Eagle Crest Resort. In October, she ordered two cords of wood for $180 each from the Facebook Marketplace.

They were delivered in November, and she says it looked short.

Turns out she was right. Once it was all chopped up and stacked, Hill realized she was a full cord short.

But she couldn’t get a hold of the sellers, and now she has a message for other firewood buyers.

“I would just say you need to be aware, you really need to be aware of what you’re buying and what it’s going to cost you,” Hill said Tuesday. “And if it’s going to cost you a little extra to have it stacked, have it stacked and know what a true cord is.”

After being shorted, Hill checked Craigslist to see if she could track down the sellers. Instead, she found a post, warning people not to buy from the same person who sold her the wood.

The post said two other buyers had been shorted 2/3 of a cord of wood, and that the seller failed to make it right, even after promising to do so.

Hill said she didn’t sense anything off about the firewood sellers.

“Just seemed like hard-working people, so I just trusted, like you should. But I’ve been around firewood most my life and have stacked firewood, so I know what it is, and it just looked short from the dump load,” Hill said.

We contacted the sheriff’s office to find out if other cases have been reported, but have yet to hear back.