Got my replacement Boos board.

[Mosca]

fzxdoc I saw your question,

What a joke.



Nice big goozer right in the center of the ”top” side (when the Boos logo is properly oriented).

How did that get past quality control? I’m thinking the same thing you probably are: it’s cosmetically unacceptable to retail it, but it’s perfectly fine to use it to settle a courtesy, non-warranty, no obligation claim.

Whatever. I’m sure it will work fine; the bottom is fine. I’ll just turn it over. But why would Boos want that out in public, with their name on it?

My plan is to oil it and let it sit a week, then repeat for several weeks before actually using it. But man, I’m done.

[Michael_in_TX]

Ugh. This saga is so disappointing.

[Hulagn1971]

I thought this was a joke. Really just salt in the wound. Now I'll definitely make sure to avoid Boos products.

[Jfrosty27]

What?!?!?!?!?!
I can’t believe they even used that board in the glue up. Man have they gone downhill. Another company living off the reputation. Nope. No Boos board for me.

[Donw]

In 2024 they basically change upper management. I’m sure the new people all promised higher profits to the Board, so tradition and quality were the first to go.

“November 22, 2024
John Boos & Co. made six new hires. Notably, Damon Childers now serves as president and CEO for the Illinois-based manufacturer of cutting boards, butcher blocks, and commercial-grade stainless steel kitchen equipment.

Childers is only the fourth President of the iconic 137-year-old company. A foodservice industry veteran of more than 25 years, Childers’ background includes leadership positions with Accurex, Heritage Foodservice Group, and ITW.

Ty Jones joined John Boos & Co. as vice president of business development. His foodservice industry background includes working with Hoshizaki America, Kooler Ice, and Welbilt.

Patrick Smith was hired to serve as vice president of business development and director of strategic accounts. Smith’s foodservice industry background includes working with Accurex.

John Boos & Co. also added to its marketing and e-commerce teams with Lisa Bosio as the director of consumer products and strategic marketing, Samantha Gann as director of e-commerce and digital marketing, and Sarah Fisher as the brand marketing manager.”

[Huskee]

BOO!(s)

[Jerod Broussard]

Nice.

[Mosca]

Here is my reply:



Hello, [CSR’s name],

I received my replacement cutting board today. Thank you for your consideration. I would have argued the point that I mistreated the board, but that wouldn’t have been productive; the Boos company didn’t have anyone in my kitchen over the last two months, but they had my money and they had control over the process, so I felt it was enough to recognize that I was getting what I requested.

I’d like to share with you a photograph of the cutting board:



Nice, huh? I guess “beggars can’t be choosers” should be my attitude on this. I have no doubt that the big goozer right in the middle of the top, with the Boos logo proudly displayed upright on the front, is something the company can be proud of.

I’m not asking for anything. I’m just pointing out how a company can make a goodwill gesture of product replacement and turn it into a loss.

All the best, I’m sure your job must be very difficult.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Mosca you can tag them in Linkdn I think

[Carolyn]

Will they contact you and tell you natural wood has imperfections, and that your board has a beauty-mark making it an identifiably unique addition to your culinary journey?

[Sweaty Paul]

Wow. This isn't good customer service by any stretch. Bad look Boos. I will drop them from further consideration. I need to order a block to have on my counter top when we have all three of us working on something as it gets a bit tight around the butcher block. Thanks for sharing as they were close to the top of my list.

[DavidNorcross]

Yeah. I will stick with my RonB board….Sorry it turned out like this for you Mosca

[58limited]

Yeah, my RonB board has had no issues and I use it a lot for baking. Gets a lot of flour and sticky dough on it and a lot of scraping with a dough cutter.

[Mosca]

Damon Childers’ email was pretty easy to find. I forwarded the entire email chain, along with the photo, and this added:

——————-
If you guys are fine with this, I’m fine with it, too. This is my 3rd Boos board; two haven’t warped, one has warped. I’m your demographic, an old guy with enough money to blow on a piece of wood.

I’m not going to blast you on social media. You will stand or fall without my incredibly minor presence there regardless.

——————-

[Carolyn]

Blasting them on social media? Not exactly, but you are sharing your bad Boos experience with a message board that is searchable on the internet, and anybody on here looking for cutting boards might just decide not to purchase a Boos. (I am good with that. 😉)

One of the things I like about this board is people share their experiences with companies, and I know they aren't doing it for "followers" and "likes."

[Mosca]

These comments are behind a paywall, though.

[Huskee]

It's refreshing to see an educated, realistic, intelligent human with the ability to get their point across without getting loud, obnoxious, and vulgar. So many today think this is what they must do in order to get results when things don't go according to plan. I work in healthcare, which I think is worse than retail because sick/in-pain people have even less self control, so I see the latter daily. Humans can be embarrassing. You done good.

[fzxdoc]

Nice communications--you get the point across without being unnecessarily confrontational. I wonder if Childers will even roll his peepers over those communications, but I hope he does.

It's a terrible way to treat a loyal customer. Most people who have cutting boards use both sides, so even though you are gracious enough to say you'll flip it over, the point is, why should you?

I must say that I'd possibly be hopping mad about this, and I'm not easily riled except for big issues that are heartfelt. But this whole deal stinks, nonetheless. A cutting board is not even close to the heartfelt category; even so I'd say you've handled the entire situation with grace. It's a very expensive item for what it is, after all. (An RonB or an Spinaker cutting board, OTOH, might be worth going to the mat over, but then that would never be necessary anyway.) It's the Boos people who did NOT handle the situation with grace. Boo to them.

Kathryn

[Donw]

Well said.

[Mosca]

It’s easy to get worked up over stuff that is inconsequential. But opening that board… well…

Unstated, and buried here as a sub-comment: when I was unwrapping it, that big knot was covered up by the company logo label, and I was thinking, “Huh. Nice board.” And then I peeled back the label.

It felt like a big ol’ intentional middle finger.

[RonB]

This really sux. That board is made up of strips of wood. The defective strip cost Boos almost nothing. The person gluing up that board just should have been that strip in the scrap pile.

[WI Bubba]

I see 3 strips that I would have tossed in the scrap bin. But I still think the real problem is the width of the boards they are using in the first place. With boards that wide, they are asking for problems. IMO

[fzxdoc]

They don't all make boards of the top notch quality that you do, Ron.

Even so, a knot like that on any quality level of cutting board is inexcusable.

K.

[HawkerXP]

That is knot acceptable!

[WI Bubba]

I had a very unpleasant experience with Rockler Woodworking once, and found the CEO on LinkedIn. I sent him a message on there and he actually called me a couple of days later wanting to hear more. We talked for almost an hour and he explained where he thought the problem was and explained that it was really out of their control and why. This was early 2020, and we all know what was happening then... When he got done explaining the situation, all I said was, "if one person at your company had given me the explanation that you just did, I would have been happy, and moved on. It still took another 4 or 5 weeks to get the situation resolved, but I knew why it was taking so long and didn't mind as much.

The point of all this rambling is that sometimes the big bosses don't know what is happening in the trenches, and it takes someone taking the time to track them down and explain the problem to get their attention. Hopefully you are the spark of change at Boos.

[Richard Chrz]

Wow, just so pathetic of them, this wronged the situation. Added insult to injury.

[jayjordan]

Just removed the Boos board I had on my Amazon Wish List. 🤬 them.

[Mosca]

If I had to do it over again I’d be seriously looking at Boardsmith.

[Donw]

I have to agree Mosca with your sentiment. I have 3 Boardsmith boards and consider them worthy of passing down in my will.

[TripleB]

Mosca I bought an Edge Grain Boardsmith years ago. But with the new kitchen cutting board, it was too thick and raised the angle to chop too much. Let my daughter take it with her to Portland. Boardsmith's are great boards.