I called A1 Quality Chimney Cleaning to help me identify what needed to be done to my non-working wood burning fireplaces at the recommendation of a contractor (a masonry company) and after reading the reviews on HomeStars. I had already paid another chimney sweep company to inspect it and they were not able to tell me much.
To be fair, I don't think my fireplace situation was an easy fix by any means (although I was still hoping). The 1st floor fireplace had a blockage in the flue about 8 feet up and my 2nd floor fireplace was completely sealed off around the perimeter of the firebox.
When I called to make the appointment, I spoke with Peter and explained what I wanted and the condition my fireplaces were in. He was extremely confident that they could figure it out emphasizing their experience. When their technician, Rick, came, he attempted to loosen the blockage from below (which he couldn't) then went to the roof to look down the flue but couldn't determine anything. At the end of about 30-45 minutes all he could figure out was that one of the flues led to my neighbour's 2nd floor fireplace. He couldn't even suggest what my next step could be to solve my problem. Needless to say I was very disappointed.
I called them again the next day to explain my disappointment between Peter's call and Rick's visit. The owner, Bob, was suppose to call me back later that day but didn't. After a couple days, I called again and finally spoke to the owner. He was nice enough and listen to my concern but basically shrugged off the fact that the initial discussion with Peter was misleading saying of course it was easy for Peter to say the job would be easy over the phone. He agreed to come by himself to see if he could figure out the problem which I appreciated. He was suppose to call back the next week but I didn't hear from him for almost 2 weeks until I called him back.
He did come out the following weekend and inspected the fireplaces and gave me some additional bits of information which was helpful.
The bottom line is I felt that, like many companies, A1 Quality Chimney was great until they got paid. The followup service was disappointing and I had to be persistent for anything to get done.
Since they did not actually repair/clean anything for me I cannot speak to the quality of their work, only to their customer service which was disappointing.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $100.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- Call customers when they say they will.
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- Don't pay for inspections. Make expectation clear at the beginning.
- Company Response
We at A-1 Quality Chimney have found this situation to be very unfortunate.
The customer and poster, TKO in Toronto, had hired our company for an inspection of the chimney so that he could return his fireplace to working condition. Our technician had gone to this gentleman's home and provided a thorough inspection of the chimney. Our technician had determined that this gentleman's chimney had been structurally sealed and that construction would need to be done to return it to working condition.
The statement that our technician could not figure out what the problem was is not accurate. Our technician did in fact identify the problem as a structural blockage. Later, as TKO in Toronto explains, the owner of A-1 Quality Chimney came down to this gentleman's home and gave his own inspection, reiterating the previous inspection results and what needed to be done to return the chimney to working condition.
In conclusion, for $79.95, our company had spent several man hours over the course of two visits in providing 2 separate and accurate inspections.
The most unfortunate aspect of this incident was the fact that this individual was at some point given incorrect information as to what needed to be done to unblock the chimney.
On behalf of A-1 Quality Chimney, we regret that this had occurred and we wish TKO in Toronto all the best.
We should state that as an integral part of any home purchase, if one intends to use a fireplace, one should get a thorough chimney inspection prior to the purchase.