Good morning Jefferson,
Yes, we are familiar with the comments posted on Forno Bravo’s website, and yes, many of them come from loyal Forno Bravo customers. With a little research, it’s not particularly difficult to identify some of the individuals behind those comments.
One commenter is a Forno Bravo customer who works for a brick and block dealer in Texas. That company was removed from our network of BrickWood Ovens Authorized Dealers several years ago. Another is a New England landscape contractor who builds premium-priced pizza ovens and has made a habit of publishing negative commentary about BrickWood Ovens. Unfortunately, his criticism of our company seems to extend well beyond the occasional product comparison.
We addressed many of these accusations years ago in a detailed response. What’s particularly troubling is that some of the ovens being presented as BrickWood Ovens aren’t even our products, as demonstrated by this photograph.
I’ve personally contacted Forno Bravo on multiple occasions to express my concerns about their continued promotion of what we believe to be false and defamatory statements about our company and products. After unsuccessful attempts by telephone, I created an account on their forum and professionally responded to several negative comments. I didn’t advertise or promote BrickWood Ovens; I simply addressed the accusations. Within minutes, my posts were deleted and I was permanently banned. Several of our customers have reported similar experiences after challenging inaccurate or misleading statements.
Interestingly, Forno Bravo has no apparent problem hosting negative commentary about competing brands, yet we’ve also documented what appear to be negative reviews of BrickWood Ovens products posted on Amazon while logged into a Forno Bravo account, complete with promotion of their own website. You can see an example here. We find this type of competitive conduct disappointing and certainly not how we believe businesses should treat one another.
But rather than focus on our competitors, let’s talk about actual BrickWood Ovens customers.
We use Yotpo, an independent third-party review platform, to collect customer feedback. Several months after purchasing an oven, customers receive an invitation directly from Yotpo to share their experience, whether positive or negative.
We are extremely proud of our 4.89 out of 5-star rating from more than 1000+ actual customers. These are independent customer reviews, not testimonials selectively published or edited by us. To date, I have yet to receive a negative review through this process or a complaint from an unhappy customer. I personally handle our customer emails and telephone inquiries. When you contact BrickWood Ovens, you reach the person who owns and operates the business. That’s personal accountability, and we take considerable pride in it.
We also have excellent relationships with other manufacturers in this industry and tremendous respect for their products. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Bill Paschen, former president of Chicago Brick Oven, and sharing a fantastic wood-fired pizza with him at a tradeshow in Orlando. We also hold Mugnaini Wood-Fired Ovens in very high regard. Both companies produce exceptionally well-crafted prefabricated ovens. We believe there’s room in this industry for multiple manufacturers, different designs, and different approaches to building quality wood-fired ovens. We’ve never felt the need to disparage another manufacturer to sell our products.
Now, regarding your second question and the beautiful Hollenbeck Oven:
That oven was constructed using our Mattone Barile Grande – Package 3. The package includes the EPS foam form, oven door, exhaust kit, ceramic fiber insulation blanket, and three-piece cooking accessory set. We also provide detailed installation instructions and a materials list.
The Hollenbeck, however, was very much an original design by its builder. While we don’t have specific instructions for recreating that particular oven, every oven featured in our Photo & Video Gallery links to its own customer gallery, showcasing photographs of the construction process at various stages. I encourage you to take a look. There are plenty of ideas and inspiration to be found!
Thank you for your questions, Jefferson. We appreciate your interest in BrickWood Ovens and are always happy to help.
Best regards,
BrickWood Ovens
