CALIFORNIA WINDOW & FIREPLACE INC

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I ordered a fireplace on September 1, and was told it should take 2 – 3 weeks. That was longer than I expected but maybe my expectation was off. Three weeks came and went and I heard nothing. A company with good customer service would have called me when they missed the deadline they set. At 3 weeks plus 1 day I called and left voicemail but got no reply. At 3 weeks plus 2 days I called again and was told they were reorganizing their warehouse and it would be another 3 weeks. I’m not sure why reorganizing was a higher priority than delivering my order. In mid-October the fireplace was delivered. The boxes were dated 9/15 I guess my order really sat around for a month while they bumbled around. They started the installation and informed me that my contractor would need to plumb the gas line a provide a new storm cap. Those items seem like normal installation and yet they refused to do them. After my contractor set up the gas line, Cal Fire still refused to finish the installation until the storm cap was in place. They offered zero support for that. After several months of non-activity by Cal Fire and my contractor, I hired Canyon Fireplace to provide the storm cap. Eventually, I managed to get back on Cal Fire’s schedule so they could complete the installation. What is the deal with their 4 hour window. How can they not know their schedule better than that? In summary, while the fireplace seems to be a good product, Cal Fire’s customer service is terrible.

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California Window and Fireplace, Inc. did an install of a gas fireplace insert in November 2014. As part of that they also investigated a problem with our Marvin sliding door. There was a nominal investigation charge for this built into the labor for the fireplace insert project. They informed us that the parts necessary would be a warranty repair by Marvin. Kudos for long term warranty by Marvin too. They subsequently ordered replacement parts from the Marvin company and both we and they waited for the parts to arrive from Marvin. Early in January California Window and Fireplace, Inc. contacted us and set an install date for the sliding door repair. On the appointed time they arrived, did the repair and tested to make certain that it was working. There was no additional labor charge for this service because we had initially setup the door repair as pat of the fireplace insert project. We recommend California Window and Fireplace, Inc. as a customer service oriented company, going all the miles: Checking warranty, ordering parts, tracking the parts and everything to ensure that the door repair was done to our satisfaction.

The initial contact at their store/showroom was very good, informative and gave us a ballpark figure to work with. The sales pitch was low key and concentrated on making sure we understood the various models and choices that could fit our fireplace. We went with accurate dimensions in hand so that there was little to guess about. The follow up visit by the owner at our house was positive and, since the company does doors and windows we had him look at our sliding door problem as well. After doing due diligence by looking at other companies, we decided this company was the best fit. The prices were reasonable and they carefully spelled out what they would do and what we had to do to prepare for the installation. The installation day went well for installing the insert. A two person crew - one thorough expert and one knowledgeable helper installed the insert well within the time frame allotted. They then went through all the controls for the appliance both manual and the remote control device so we understood how to operate the gas insert. Since the water heater had to be turned off in order to connect the gas supply, they re-lit the water heater and made sure it was working before leaving. As for the repairing the door - they ordered the parts, but as yet they have not received them.

That was good. They did a very good job and we were very happy with them. They were very knowledgeable and very helpful. They knew exactly what they were doing, what was needed and what gas line was needed. Their price was also pretty comparable to others.

I have used them a lot, but at this point, I have all my windows replaced. They have also done retrofit windows for me in the past. Their pricing was very good and the installation was very good. There was a small issue with the installation and they came as soon as I called. My experience with them has been very good. I have been a very satisfied customer with them. I would definitely recommend and use them again.

We never heard from him again. I called and left voicemail the next day to get an update on the estimate and the call was never returned. I followed up with an email after another couple of days and did not receive a reply to that either. We had visited their showroom and liked the fireplace inserts they offered. Now we have to go somewhere else.

No problems, but repair was delayed due to their technician falling ill. Overall, however, they were very accommodating and the repairs were completed properly. They're a small shop, but I like these guys.

They were excellent and did everything they were contracted to do on schedule. Everything worked out quite well.

Installers arrived in morning instead of afternoon as expected - wrong house in same neighborhood. Went to correct house but came back soon because the scheduled house did not have the prelimnary work done. Asked if it would be ok to go ahead with our project ahead of schedule and were very happy that we let them do do. Everything went very smoothly except that the metal surround left a small gap across the bottom between the insert and the tile. They checked with Sean Volheim, who had done the measurement, whether a custom surround would be required; but with guidance from Sean were able to adjust the unit so that the stock surround covered the opening. They commented that Sean had saved us $400 by knowing that the stock unit would do the job and how to make it do so..

100% success, two guys came and one worked on each fireplace. The downstairs fireplace in particular is much improved due to the cleanup job they did. They also demonstrated the operation of all of the fireplace controls which is nice, since I didn't even know how to find the controls before they came. Both guys were very helpful and knew all about the fireplaces.

I was very happy with the quote process, it was broken down into material and labor for each window. Another window company that we got a quote from, which was a couple of thousand dollars more for the same exact windows, just gave us a list of the windows and bottom line price for the entire job, including installation. They would not give me a quote that priced each window, nor would they break out the labor and window cost.. So I was very pleased with the price and the quote process. Once I was given the quote they didn't bug me, as the other supplier called me a couple time each week. As a matter of fact I w Once I signed they required 50% for the cost of the Windows and the other 50% the first day of the installation. The labor cost was paid at the end of the job. I was very please with the installers, they did an excellent job, cleaned up both inside and outside each day. It took them about 3 1/2 days to completed the installation.

We were very happy with the work that they did. They worked with us on time lines and we are very satisfied.

All I needed was a new fireplace glass door. Scheduling a day and time for the person to come take a measurment did not seem to be very customer oriented. His schedule seemed to be limited. He seemed to like Monday's (which were not good for me). Finally, he came over (I live 4 miles down the street) and he was 10 minutes early (which is ok with me). I had to provide a flashlight for him to take measurements. Didn't seem to know what he was doing. Called me a day later and said he needed to come back to take a measurement and I would have to remove the existing glass doors so he could measure. I have no idea on how to remove the existing glass doors. He said he was sorry. Possibly this vendor is much better at windows. This vendor may want to consider telling customers up front that they only do estimates on Mondays and they can only measure fireplaces if there are no existing glass doors installed. .

Sean Volheim was very helpful in showing us the features and helping select a window product. Definitely will go there for an estimate.

I went through several other companies for an estimate and found theirs to be the best. They were knowledgeable and I trusted them. They did everything right and the workers were good. Everything went well except for one window which had a kind of crack on the wall and it looked odd. I was apprehensive how the work would look, but the guy who came over was an artist and did a good job on the duck house. After I got the house painted, I came to know how nice it looked and he did a lovely job. They were all professional.

We got a great price, and we are happy with everything. They did not install the windows, but we did purchase them through them. There was some miscommunication in the measurements of the French doors, however. Because they were considered custom, they would not exchange them and we were forced to reorder another door. I would advise anyone purchasing from them to carefully confirm the measurements (for your information: a 'standard' door height for a patio door is about 3" different than a 'standard' front door).

We were quite surprised with the excellent price this company gave us. In the past, when we compared estimates we noticed that many of their competitors were jacking up the price of the product and their labor, sometimes as much as two thousand dollars more. We loved their professionalism and their cleanliness. We will use them again.

I am quite satisfied with the workmanship. I am a repeated customer (they did two other Andersen wood patio doors for us before). They are not very fast in response, but since I wasn't in a great hurry, I thought it was ok. They snapped the screen door lock at one point and haven't returned to fix it yet. That was over three months ago. One worker asked me to give full payment before completion, but that was straightened out via phone with manager, Bob. Turned out the guy was new, so no sweat.

They were the only one able to provide a beautiful fiberglass front door that could cut out our mortise lock. Everything was fine except they originally received a door hung backwards, although the order they submitted to the factory was how we wanted it so it wasn't there fault.

They installed three new windows in August of '04. I am very happy with their work performance. They did good work and I have no complaints. This is the same company that originally installed the first windows on the condominium. They worked great too but I wanted newer more energy efficient windows.

THE OLD WINDOWS WERE REMOVED AND THE NEW DOUBLE SIDED WINDOWS WERE INSTALLED. ALL SEVEN WINDOWS WERE REPLACED IN ONE DAY AND AREA WAS CLEANED. THE WORKERS WERE PROFESSIONALS AND COMPLETED THE JOB PROMPTLY.

THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE WAS AWFUL. I HAD TO CONTINUALLY CHECK TO SEE IF MY WINDOWS WERE IN. NO ONE WOULD CALL ME BACK. THE GIRL THAT WORKS IN THE OFFICE WAS RUDE.

SEAN VOLHEIM WAS EXTREMELY POLITE AND A GREAT PERSON TO WORK WITH. HE GAVE US A FAIR QUOTE AND PROMISED EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION. WE WERE NOT DISAPPOINTED.