Reevewood Reviews 

Good communication, and the flooring looks great and was fitted easily!
Arrived on time, very helpful delivery driver.

Working with Tom de Winton and Reeve Wood has been an unmitigated disaster. Do not use them.

Our project has been choc full of excuses, delays, Tom's total inability to respond to emails/calls and the most appalling customer service I have ever encountered (if you can even describe Tom screaming down the phone at you, customer service).

We were initially put in touch with Tom by our architect who has refused to work with Tom/Reeve Wood due to his handling of our project.

Problems include but are by no means limited to:

1. Huge variations in tone of herringbone boards to which Tom's response was immediately to blame us, the architect and our contractor. Order one colour and it's a lucky dip what you will actually receive.

2. The curing not setting meaning the slightest mark is immediately embedded into the finish and the timber permanently marked. Again, blame laid on contractor and client.

3. A whole batch of timber arriving in a completely different colour to what we had ordered. Tom's response below:

"Different batch of wood and time.
I suggest you get a French Polisher to match it up."

After *5 months* of blame, denial and to repeat someone else's experience "patronising arrogance," Tom finally accepted that the stain they applied had continued to darken after leaving the workshop and was therefore not correct to what we had ordered.

By this time we had had no choice but to install the flooring as any delay would have knocked out our year long project which was already delayed to initial incorrect timber colour and subsequent incorrect tongue and groove settings being sent by Tom and Reeve Wood.

We were told the incorrect floor could be sanded and re-stained in-situ which turned out not to be true as the stain is applied in a way that cannot be replicated in an in-home context.

Following this, we have spent over *one year* trying to remedy the issue with Tom which has been a period of intense frustration, lack of communication and sub par work. In the end we employed a third party contractor to try and fix the problems at our cost.

What is most depressing is that at the end of two years of arguments with Tom we will end up with a floor which doesn’t match our dining room, which has cost us considerable extra money to fix - on top of our original payment (in full and upfront) to Tom.

Tom's attitude is so woefully below par I am almost without words to adequately describe it. I cannot advise against working with Reeve Wood strongly enough.

Tom, we are still waiting for the riser and nosing piece you agreed to send 8 months ago.

Based on our experience, I strongly recommend avoiding Reeve Wood.

We initially chose Reeve because we thought we’d be supporting a local, independent business we believed to be producing high-quality products with strong values. Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case.

The first floor we received had significant quality issues—it was so badly warped that our fitter (a fitter Reeve recommend) refused to install it. Reeve insisted that this was because we stored the floor in an unsuitable environment but this was not the case - It was stored exactly in accordance with their guidelines.

While Reeve did eventually accept the flooring back, they charged us a very substantial “restocking” fee.

The replacement flooring we subsequently purchased was of an inferior grade to that described (several M2 of the supplied floor remains unfitted because the grade is so inferior) and its finish has been problematic. Black marks from our fitter’s soft-soled shoes became sealed into the finish, making them impossible to remove with cleaning. It seems the oil coat was not fully cured when we received the flooring. As a result, we now have to strip and refinish the floor entirely.

Throughout this ordeal, our concerns were met with either denial, patronising arrogance, or no response at all. Suffice to say that there has been no support or redress offered for any of the problems with the second floor we purchased.

I waited some time before writing this review, but my disappointment with this sorry saga remains unchanged.

I fully expect the usual push back from Tom - you'll see the other Trustpilot reviews that Reeve believe their customers to be incompetent. I wonder why all the happy customers referred to haven't left more positive reviews...

Our flooring issues included bowing, splintering, tongues not fitting properly into grooves, large variation of micro bevels, variation in plank widths and discoloration on some of the planks. Totally understand wood is a natural product so there will be variations but at least 40% of the wood we received was ruined by poor workmanship in their factory.
There were "Sharpie" Pen marks on inside of some of the door frames so clearly visible. They would clearly have seen this when they were staining the wood yet they didn't bother to sort.
Utter incompetence or complete indifference as to what they send out to paying customers.
On top of this their customer service is awful. They are rude and blame everyone except themselves!

Extremely unhelpful and rude customer service when I had an issue with a wood worktop that was supposed to match the flooring, all supplied by Reeve Wood.

I'm running a self-build project and was recommended Reeve Wood by my Architect. We have had a terrible experience and wanted to share this review so that others do not experience the same.

We have a significant amount of oak panelling being installed on our project. That wood panelling is being further machined and used on doors, walls and other panel by our joiner.

To ensure all would be as expected we ordered and paid for a number of sample panels from which our joiner made sample doors and panels. Although these arrived weeks after they were promised, we were satisfied with the panels and resulting finishes we placed our order with Reeve Wood in for delivery June.

The sample panels provided had a 7mm oak veneer pressed onto 12.5mm plywood. Reevewood then made it clear that they could no longer source the plywood backing in the appropriate lengths and substituted the Plywood for MDF. We reluctantly agreed as our project was already several weeks delayed.

The ultimate delivery took place 4 weeks later the planned pushing my whole programme back. When we emailed for updates, these were mostly ignored, when we were spoken to like we were being unreasonable for asking for a revised timeframe for delivery. The attitude of Tom in particular is less than helpful telling us how busy he was and how our order was not his first priority).

Finally the panels arrived. Sadly we received a product that was a long, long way away from the samples provided. We received boards that have a between 2 and 2.5mm oak veneer on thicker than expected MDF backing. This causes me several issues.

It’s not what I paid for and I’m effectively getting a 1/3 of the oak that I paid for. My team believe the product delivered is worth a fraction of what we paid for.

It does not allow us to pull off the design that was intended, for example,
Our joiners had planned for a for 3-4mm V groove between panels in key areas
The way we had planned to lip the panels to solid oak capping’s on doors etc.
This material will require both re-work and additional work from the joiner.

You can imagine being several weeks delayed and waiting / chasing for our order this was an incredibly frustrating position to be in. So I emailed Tom. His response?

"You have not paid for any Oak – you have paid for walling 20mm thick and a visual effect – not m3 of oak. You buy an aesthetic which we create. We create it to best effect – you don’t get a choice on how we do it."

"I have fulfilled my contract between us and delivered. What you choose to do following this is your choice."

" I look forward to hearing from your solicitor."

And sadly so he will. The project team are lost for words as am I.

Please do your due diligence - I wish I had.

The delivery from Reeve wood arrived damaged which was caused by inferior packaging. Regardless of this we took delivery and tried to work with the damaged items supplied, this consisted of sorting through every board to review the damage.
Whilst looking through the stock to find damaged boards we also were drawn to various issues seemingly missed by quality control. The main issue was an overspray of a white substance with a fluffy texture which was caught in the tongues and grooves of the boards, this substance would have fouled the boards fitting together correctly if it had not been removed. Resolving this issue was timing consuming but had to be done before installation and was extremely painstaking. Unfortunately, these were not the only defects we found, items also documented including shakes, snipe and large knots were found it the boards which were not described to our client when the sale was agreed.

After sorting, cleaning, and cutting the damaged boards from snipe and shakes, large knots etc, we finally fitted the flooring.

Around a year after the floor has been fitted the floor is now suffering from cracking to the hardwood veneer which seems to be consistently forming around the end grain of the boards.
This has disappointingly left our client with great concerns over the longevity of the product from Reevewood, even more disappointing is the customer service from Reevewood which is completely absent.
If you purchase products from Reevewood don’t expect a quality product or any customer support.

Oak layer was of exceptional quality but let down by the poor quality ply backing board. When I raised the issue with Tom I suggested three options in an email. Almost by return, I received a response that they were opting for the third option which was a partial refund and I would resolve the problems. The next day, the refund was in my bank account.

I can't fault them for how they handled this and I'm very impressed with the way things were resolved. Perhaps they, like many other companies in similar industries, are having sourcing issues and I wish them all the best in resolving these. I would certainly recommend them and buy from them again.

Chestnut Morgan is a building development company and we have used and recommended Reeve over many years. Our first purchase was in 2011, and I must say that we have never before had any problems until now.

We had therefore obviously thought that we were dealing with a highly reputable company over the years, but unfortunately something has changed, and I was really shocked by the poor state that my last order with them arrived in. This was due to it having not being packaged properly, and there was a lot of transport damage and presumed forklift damage. I contacted Reeve and spoke to Tom Dewinter who’s initial response was denial, which shocked me.
I then sent photos of the damage to Tom, who then agreed for us to sort through the boards and discard the dented, scratched and splintered ones, saying the he would send replacement boards, to which I agreed so as to try and help salvage the horrible situation that we both found ourselves in, and also to progress my job, since this order was already three weeks later than promised and programmed for.

When we started sorting through the boards, It became apparent that they had glue, or the finished residue left on some of the edges, which were stopping the boards from fitting together properly. After another conversation with Tom Dewinter,(photos sent too) he agreed to pay for us to clean and sort through these boards. We therefore checked through every board and had to run a scraper along the edges, and the tongue and grooves in order to remove these nodules of hardened liquid product. Tom did send some additional boards, but never paid my invoice to him , which was sent June 2021 Dated 2021 which still remains outstanding.

I am sorry to say that the Tom D Winton experience continues 5 months after the floor was laid and my client noticed some small cracks appearing in the oak veneer, for which some of these later turned into larger cracks. This was occurring in the veneer and now seems to be de-bonding from the ply background. I rang and spoke to Tom for advice and guidance and to see if he could send someone to repair these boards, especially the ones that are de-bonding from the ply backing, to which he replied: "The simple answer is NO". (Tom Dewinton, Reeve).

Their website quote, "At Reeve Wood, we're very careful about the products that we use, and particularly where they come from. To us, sustainability matters just as much as quality". This could not be further from the truth and customer care is last on their list. I would avoid this company at all costs now.

David Morgan
Chestnut Morgan

Incompetent and dishonest – avoid at all costs!

4 orders, 8 problems, before we even talk about the amount of our time wasted to rectify their (or rather Tom, the founder’s) mistakes (some of which haven’t been)…

· One order arrived with the wrong colour and wood, having also been wrongly cut. Having agreed to sort it causing delay…
· They then sent the right spec but with substandard grade wood which they refuse to rectify now
· Another order was late, despite the nonsense lead times assured when entering into the agreement
· The final order arrived and was less than what was paid for and needed. They refused to rectify this