By the numbers

17: Consumer protection inspectors in the state’s Department of Agriculture’s Division of Quality Assurance and Regulation.

2: The number of wood sellers the state has sued since 2006 for shorting buyers, one from New Gloucester, one from Windham.

115: The number of cubic feet in a “thrown cord” of wood, 13 less than a normal cord.

10: The average number of gasoline pumps that local Sealer Tom Verrill determines to be inaccurate out of 100 tested. On average, seven give too much gas, three too little.

Firewood delivery seem short?

Gas fill-up feel sketchy?

Are your energy purchases …
Measuring up
Gasoline and firewood complaints to the state are up four-fold in the last year – as many as 10 a day from people who feel like they’ve been ripped off. One state inspector’s day, and what he found.

The day started in Auburn, poking around a Coburn Street woodpile. Homeowners Paul and Linda Martin had just paid $300 for two cords of green logs intended for the winter after next.

“We thought (the price) was probably too good to be true,” Linda Martin said, trailing off.

Carl Blanche leaned against the hood of his truck, punched his calculator, then delivered the news: The pile only amounted to 1.13 cords. He promised to call the seller out of Peru.

“They may end up bringing your wood right over, they may not do anything,” said Blanche, who works for the Department of Agriculture’s Division of Quality Assurance and Regulation. “Is this bad? Yeah, this is bad. Have I seen worse? Oh, yeah.”

Blanche’s job: Making sure you get your money’s worth. He suspects a lot of people don’t know he exists.

He specializes in fuel inspections (firewood, gasoline, home heating oil, propane). Public complaints are up four-fold over last year, mostly people who feel like they’ve been ripped off at the pump or by a wood dealer.

“We’re all behind the eight-ball trying to keep up,” said Division Director Hal Prince. “I could use easily another 10 to 15 people.”

Prince has 17 consumer protection inspectors. Currently, three focus on weights and measures, like Blanche.

Since 2007, firewood calls have increased dramatically, Prince said. As heating oil has doubled in price, more people have gotten into selling wood and might not realize there are rules that govern cord size and delivery tickets – or might skirt them anyway.

“I think they were banking on us not to stack,” said Linda Martin, whose husband had called the state two days before. The couple relies on wood stoves in the winter, with oil as a backup. “We don’t have money to burn.”

Blanche hadn’t heard of the company that delivered the Martins’ wood, which could be a good sign. He tells Linda that at the next stop he plans to make that day, in Poland, he’s gotten five or six complaints about the same man, including one where he charged a homeowner $600 for less than $300 worth of wood.

More bad news in Poland

Blanche’s turf stretches loosely from Waterville to Kittery. He’s been an inspector for 10 years. Most work is by complaint, then by request – like calibrating new milk tanks this week in Skowhegan – then by routine. Sometimes businesses know he’s coming, sometimes they don’t. Blanche said cases are often a judgment call. If someone makes good right away, case closed. If there’s a pattern or particularly severe offense, he forwards information to the Attorney General’s Office.

Since 2006, the state has sued two wood sellers, Roland W. Hale II in New Gloucester and Bryan Hale in Windham. Both agreed to civil penalties in the thousands, in addition to restitution, without admitting wrongdoing.

“That’s half the battle. We haven’t been able to get back the money,” said Assistant Attorney General James McKenna. “On the other hand, they’re not selling anymore.”

Part of the problem: “A lot of people can’t tell how much a cord is. I heat with wood and I have a hard time.”

A standard cord should measure 4-feet-by-4-feet-by-8-feet stacked or 128 cubic feet. A “thrown cord” can be a little less: 115 cubic feet.

In Poland, Doris and Greg Herrick had ordered three standard cords of firewood. When the Bryant Pond wood supplier they contacted had to be prodded for a delivery ticket -a receipt for delivery – and responded by scribbling it on a scrap of notebook paper, Greg told his wife something doesn’t feel right.

Blanche measured the pile this way, that way, and poked at his calculator. The verdict: More than a cord short. He figured they overpaid almost $200.

“I appreciate the fact that they’re able to help us. If I called this guy, ‘We don’t have three cords,’ he would probably blow me off,” Doris said.

Two years ago, the Herricks took delivery from another wood dealer that looked short. They called the state. Blanche came out. “The next thing we know, we had a load dumped in our yard,” she said. That visit got results.

Blanche warned that might not happen again.

“I don’t know how much luck we’re going to have with this guy. And this is one of his better loads,” said Blanche, who declined to name the errant wood dealer. “This one is going to the AG’s Office. He needs to be stopped. Something needs to happen.”

A week later: ‘Awaiting results’

The third and final stop of the day: a gas station in Naples, to check up on an anonymous tip.

Prince said his office gets between five and 10 calls a day, most concerned about gasoline. Pumps that jump up as much as 50 cents before the gas starts flowing. Gallons that don’t seem like true gallons. Prices out of whack. And even store owners wanting advice.

A lot of old pumps in Maine couldn’t handle the move to $4 a gallon, Prince said. And it’s not legal to sell by the half-gallon, a common fix.

“A good number of complaints we’re getting are from consumers who don’t realize it was in half-gallons,” he said. “It’s a rude surprise to them.”

He’s told stations in that bind to block out the sale price on the pump and hang a big paper sign above, which isn’t legal either. Prince said he’d rather do that than go the way some states have and shut stations down entirely.

Where most firewood complaints Blanche investigates turn out to be true shorts, the majority of gas station pumps he checks are fine.

“However, there are some situations. Without people calling in, we’d never know,” Blanche said. So the state investigates every complaint. Sometimes, he finds mechanical issues. But more often, drivers who weren’t so focused on cost before are paying rapt attention now, and are surprised to see how many gallons it takes to fill up.

Outside Tommy’s Variety on Route 302 in Naples, Blanche introduced himself to owner David McGowan and brought a pair of special, $1,800 “provers” (metal measuring containers) over to the pumps. McGowan was half-expecting him; a customer had complained when $14 didn’t buy her a half-tank of gas and said she’d call the state.

Blanche pumped five gallons of regular from the hose in question. It gave out just a hair over five true gallons.

“So we’re golden. I knew we would be,” said McGowan.

The other three pumps: All well within the very narrow state limits.

Tom Verrill, a local sealer who inspects scales and gas stations around Lewiston-Auburn through a contract with the state, said 10 of every 100 pumps he checks are off. On average, seven give too much gas, three too little.

“Usually, once or twice a year, I find half- to three-quarters-of-a-gallon extra in five gallons,” Verrill said.

Unlike with firewood, the Attorney General’s Office hasn’t sued a station for chronically shorting customers, according to a spokesman.

Blanche, based in Hallowell, logs about 600 miles a week crisscrossing the southern half of the state. Sometimes it’s very frustrating to go to a house like the Herricks’ and confirm a short but then not bring relief, he said. When dealers come through, it’s a satisfying job.

Wednesday, a week after the initial inspection, Blanche said the Martins in Auburn had been told they’d get more wood by their supplier, but it hadn’t arrived. “We’re awaiting results right now.”

Doris Herrick in Poland had called a cell number for her dealer and found out it had been disconnected. A new phone number and new message revealed that the Bryant Pond man would be gone for a month.

“So we’re out of wood and we’re out of money,” she said.

Blanche hadn’t been able to reach that dealer, either, he said Wednesday. “Since then I’ve measured another one from him. Possibly the worst one yet.”