I had just bought my home. The previous owner had left lots of firewood in the basement, but to look at the inside of the fireplace, you could tell that it had never been used - which I found odd for a 20 year old home. The fire-bricks and mortar were still white. I tried lighting a fire. It worked well for about 15 minutes and then the smoke backed up into the house. I thought that I should have it inspected.
I called Magic Touch and they were able to send one of their guys out on short notice. The woman on the phone was very courteous and accommodating. When their technician showed up, he was very polite and friendly. He explained every step of the job to me. It was raining outside, so he swept the chimney from the inside. He pushed his brush up the chimney from the fireplace opening, adding 5-foot sections at a time. He said that it was very dirty because the brush wasn't travelling very well, yet, I didn't see any soot or debris come down. He pushed until he couldn't move it anymore and said that he felt his brush hit the chimney cap. I watched him pull out 20 feet of brush (my chimney looks to be about 25 to 30 feet from the fireplace to the cap). I gave him the benefit of the doubt and he assured me that he could see all the way up to the top where there was light was coming in.
I tried lighting a fire after he left and it was worse than ever. None of the smoke was passing through them chimney. I called them back. Again, the woman on the phone was very accommodating, professional and apologetic. They sent another technician over the next day. He actually went on the roof and found that the previous owner had wrapped fine window screen material around the cap to keep out pests. It was clogged with ashes.
The fireplace works great now, but I feel that they should have been more thorough, especially for the dangers involved (fire, smoke, carbon monoxide, etc). No harm done though.
As for price, I found them very reasonable. It's not an easy job to do, very dirty, and it was done for only $135.
I would still recommend them, problems aside, just because of their courteous service.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $135.00
- Company Response
Thank you for the feedback Mike & Ana. I'm sorry our Technician missed the plugged screen on the first visit. He definitely should have noticed that. The day after the second Technician was out to your home, he took the first Tech aside and reminded him that in our business we have to be very careful not to overlook situations such as this. I'm sorry it happened, but it also gave us an opportunity for what we refer to as a "teachable moment".
Kindest regards,
Marc