Chim Chimney Professional Chimney Services, Inc.

Review: I have no hot water as the flue for the hot water tank, which needs to be replaced, is not up to code. The plumber cannot install the new heater.

Invoice # XXXXXX

Inspection form # XXXXXX

Chim Chimney inspected my exhaust flue for the hot water heater that is in the basement. The hot water heater needs to be replaced.

The plumber cannot risk installing a new hot water tank knowing the flue up not up to code. His plumbing license is at stake.

Chim Chimney came out on October 18, 2013. An inspection and evaluation was performed. The technician said he would take the results back to the office and have an estimate to meet code regulations prepared. The estimate was in fact sent. The amount is $952.58. There was a service fee for the inspection. The company preference is that the customer pay on the spot. I paid the fee to the technician of $79.50.

I expected the repairs to be started right away. Was told they could not come out to do the work until October 31, 2013.

I received a telephone call from Chim Chimney on October 30th saying they would not be out the following day as the parts needed did not arrive. Could not understand that as most of the nomenclature is pretty much standard. Was called on Oct. 31st verifying Chim Chimney did have the required parts Advised at that point the next available appointment date would be November 9, 2013.

The invoice indicated 2 employees would be dispatched and the approximate service time would be 2 1/2 hours of labor. Was later told by an office employee it was an all day job.

The 9th of November falls on a Saturday. Many plumbers are not willing to work on weekends. If so, there is a very high service fee to pay.

All total, I have had NO hot water for 3 weeks. All showers are COLD.

Having a family, they are extremely unhappy and look at me to correct the issue. Am between a rock and a hard place.

I am stuck. Cannot go to another company as I have already paid them an inspection fee. Chim Chimney has me where they want me. I feel as though I've been pushed to the side so they can accept larger jobs. I am forced to wait at their convenience.

In this day and age, the service is completely unacceptable. The USA is not a third world country where labor/parts are an issue.

Given the variables of the time of year; month; and temperatures, this type of service lacks compassion, urgency, and priority. I am not asking for special treatment; rather, reasonable treatment.

In addition, I'm a senior citizen, along with being 100% disabled USMC Veteran.

Am completely disgusted and discouraged with Chim Chimney. Would NEVER recommend them to anyone. No follow through.Desired Settlement: I want to speak with the CEO/President, or whomever is in the top position with Chim Chimney. A sincere and genuine apology is in order, however, that is not quite enough The person in power needs to be informed and involved in what is going on with line staff and technicians. Unless otherwise, he/she will not know.

A response from the top person in charge is requested. It could be by phone, however, my preference is face-to-face. Also, at their discretion, a fee adjustment is definitely a reasonable settlement consideration.

I really don't think the staff would be willing to take cold showers for as long as we have; neither would their families. Fair would be fair.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

I spoke to Mr. [redacted] at length this week and we are fine. We had an unavoidable delay in getting the custom pipe in for his job due to the time of year, etc. We scheduled the work asap for a Saturday without charging weekend rates. Also, some pipe was to be moved by his plumber which didn't get moved so we spent an extra 1.5 hours working around the pipe on the Saturday to get the job completed. Mr. [redacted] understands that there was no room on the price to discount because we had already "adjusted" the price by not charging the weekend rates or for the extra time.

Review: I called Chim Chimney and requested they come out & fix my gas fireplace which had a very low burning flame & also for an estimate on putting in a wall blower switch for the fan. The service tech came out on 12-16-15 & determined that the hot surface igniter had a crack & needed to be replaced. The service call fee was $147 which I paid at the time of the service call. The tech indicated that they would have to order that part & that the office would call me to collect payment over the phone for the part & also regarding an estimate for installing the variable speed control wall switch. Several days went by & I had not heard from anyone, so I reached out to them. They did not get back to me until 1/13/16, almost a full month later! At this time, I paid $284 over the phone for these so called parts that were needed to complete my service. They still never addressed the wall switch. Then after almost another month (2/10/16) & again not hearing from them, I emailed them asking for the status. 2 days later on 2/12, [redacted] emailed me saying the parts were on order should be in any day. 2 more weeks go by & again, no communication. Then on 2/25/16 I receive an email with a receipt of sorts, indicating that they were refunding me the $284 for the parts and offered no explanation as to why; they just said to contact another vendor. No explanation at all! This is unacceptable and I want my $147 back for the initial service call. I called several times too to try and get someone live on the phone and left several messages. NO ONE EVER CALLED ME BACK, OR TO THIS MOMENT EMAILED ME THE REASON WHY. Only when I emailed them indicating I wanted a refund and was going to contact the Revdex.com, did they email back saying they provided the service that I paid for. That is bait and switch! They did not provide me with anything that I requested. Nothing! It is not ok to tell folks you can fix something, charge for the initial service call, then drop them! Never will I recommend them to anyone!Desired Settlement: I want a refund for the $147 initial service call fee as now I will need to start over with another company &pay their initial service call fee.

My complaint sounds very similar to the complaint filed in 2013. This company is a joke & I will never use or recommend them to anyone again. They make a business out of charging for the initial easy part, then over promising & under delivering! I am also a realtor & will make sure I and all of my [redacted] colleagues never use them again!