James Ball Chimney Cleaning

James Thank you. Your men were efficient and cleaned up after themselves. They were both very nice polite gentlemen. Regards and Happy New Year Joe

Rich was terrific and very professional. Very polite and informative. Came to simply to quote on the job. When I accepted the proposal he said he was able to start right away and he was done in about 2 1/2 hours. It was a bit more work and took longer than he had anticipated, but stuck to the quoted price. Would highly recommend this company!

Thanks, James. Rich and Curtis did a great job. I was impressed by their professionalism and attention to detail when it came to cleanliness. I'm also wondering how Santa gets down that chimney, but I'm guessing he must be a small guy, despite the holly jolly belly size. I appreciate your recommendations and am giving them serious consideration to address in the very near future. A couple of my neighbors asked if I was satisfied and would recommend your work. I told them, most definitely. Besides reiterating what I mentioned earlier, I said, how could you not like a company whose motto is "We Kick Ash". I believe another friend of mine from Elmsford called you recently but was told they were out of your geographic boundary. I told them that was too bad but it would be worth considering selling their house and moving closer.... I look forward to working with you in the future. In the meantime have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi James: Rich and Curtis were professional and no-nonsense type guys . Straightforward and honest, and completely respectful of my home (they used towels from their van to wipe their feet without me even having to ask) and CO-VID precautions (masks worn the entire time while in the home). Appreciate the way you conduct business and you gained a lifelong customer.

Poor Customer Service. Arrogant. Money-hungry. I scheduled an appointment with Mr. Ball on 9/16 for his next available appointment....which was 10/26 (over a month away). He immediately sent a confirmation email saying that someone would be there between 8:30 and 9:30 on that day and there was a $75 missed appointment feel if I wasn't there. I waited over a month for the appointment to come around. On the day prior to the appointment, I emailed to say that I would be dropping my son off at school and may be a minute or two late. His response...."if you are not home we do not wait... and there is a $75 fee." Nothing more (such as "I'll let the guy know") On the day of the appointment I arrived at 8:37. I saw the van driving down the street. I tried to flag it down. No luck. I ran inside and called James Ball explaining the situation and asking for him to tell his guy to come back. No answer. I called a second time. No answer. I emailed twice. No response until 12:16 in the afternoon. When he emailed me, he stated that his person arrived at 8:25 (5 minutes early) and left at 8:36 (6 minutes after the scheduled 1 hour window). He then said that if I wanted to reschedule, I would have to pay $79.76 first, and then maybe can can squeeze me in. He wrote about how busy he was, all the emails and calls he gets, and how it's 1st come-1st served, and to call him to give him my credit card number. No "sorry", "let's talk", "these things happen"...nothing. Just....you owe me money....I'm busy....call me to pay. I called Mr. Ball. I said I was willing to pay the fee and needed the appointment asap. He said that his next appointments were into next year! Obviously, I was surprised and while I was getting my credit card, I pointed out that his person was early for the appointment and waited only 6 MINUTES for me to show up from the beginning of the 1 hour appointment window before he left (and I arrived 1 minute later). I said that I tried to call several times and sent emails to try to get him to come back and how I this felt like this was a little unfair. Clearly Mr. Ball did not want to hear my thoughts and was unwilling to be understanding of the situation because he only response was, "I have a bad feeling about you." I said "What? Why?" He then said that he did not want to work with me and hung up. I was floored. It is clear that Mr. Ball is a very busy man who can pick-and-choose his clients and is more than willing to tell you this. He is self-important, cares little about his customers or their circumstances, is looking to monopolize on both, and his sole focus is to make money. He is inconsiderate, has poor customer service, and fails to have any compassion. I would never treat customers like this! I would never recommend someone who treats people like this! If you hire him, you too will eventually see this... so don't hire him. I'll restate it: 6 minutes for an appointment made over a month ago. No consideration or compassion. I do not recommend.

They came quickly and at a convenient time. They left no mess behind which was great. Very knowledgeable and always pleasant.

Rich, of James Ball, LLC, came to inspect and clean our chimney. He is knowledgeable, articulate and enthusiastic and brings a high level of professionalism and integrity to his work. I was very pleased with his work and his willingness to explain his work including the intricacies of fireplaces and chimneys as well as areas that we should keep an eye on for possible remediation in the future. A true craftsman who adds value by educating his customer.

James and his team were fabulous. They used a camera to first assess issues with our chimney lining. They outlined cost and timeline in advance. At no point did I not know what was going on. Work was clean and completed on time. They showed pics upon completion as well. Top notch, highly recommend

Thank you so much for your help with my chimney this morning. Richie, the gentleman you sent, did an outstanding job explaining everything to me and I felt most comfortable trusting his guidance. He was really respectful and thorough with answering every question. He is to be commended because he truly represents your company well. There was a lot of concern with choosing a chimney company that I can trust and I definitely made the right choice. Thank you again. Fr. Elias Villis

I would highly recommend James and his services. His installer, Rich was extremely polite, very knowledgeable as well as personable. I appreciated how they walked me through the how and what of my chimney maintenance, extremely helpful. Excellent job! Julie S.

Just got my consultation with James Ball and wad extremely impressed! His stepson had come over and was extremely professional, patient, explained everything he was doing and educated me as well. He was very knowledgeable and gave his honest opinion on the services that would be needed for our home. This reflects very well on this company and I have already scheduled my appt for work to be done which was very reasonable. They return the $79 consultation fee if you book within 2 weeks, but after that visit, I didn't need to wait that long or look anyone else up. Highly recommend!

Very helpful, well spoken and professional! Five stars!

All three agreed I my fireplace did not need a chimney cleaning. However they did state in writing: 1. (Duffy) “We recommend that you do not use the fireplace”, 2. (Ball) ”In our professional opinion based on what we found, our training and applicable NFPA building code 211, that use shall be discontinued until . . . repairs are made”. 3. Napolitano) “It is recommended that the fireplace not be used”.. Instead, they stated: 1. (Duffy) “ would not be comfortable trying to repair the fireplace.” 2. (Ball) “ recommended that the ”Smoke Chamber” be “parged” (sprayed with an insulating high temperature mortar). Offered to do the job for $1,400. (From the pictures he took of the smoke chamber it was clear that, in fact, the smoke chamber had already been “parged”. 3. (Napolitano) offered “to install a Bell Fire Retrofit System for $12,000.” I was upset that I had a beautiful fireplace that could not be used. However, what I was being told did not make sense. At the suggestion of a neighbor, I called my Town Fire Marshal. He offered to come with the Town building Inspector to review the fireplace two days later. In the Building Inspector’s and Fire Marshall’s view, the smoke chamber was already parged and the fireplace was safe to use without any further work.

Arrived as scheduled and goes straight to work. James and his assistant, Rich, are very knowledgeable on chimney subjects.

Very personable young man did thorough job, giving us tips on how to keep our chimney and dryer vents from having issues going forward.

Mr Ball was very knowledgeable. He and his staff were very pleasant, accomodating, punctual and tidy. We had 3 companies come to give us quotes. The other 2 were telling us we needed things that we had fixed 2 years ago. Mr Ball was honest and gave us a very fair quote. We also felt the most comfortable with him. They completed everything in 2 visits. They were here on time and made sure they cleaned up after themselves. He also gave us real photos of the inner workings before and after and a video. We learned a lot. Video:. [*** Link removed ***]

The chimney camera found an old beehive that was causing the problem. The camera was able to dislodge it. But the real point here is how professional James Ball Chimney Cleaning was throughout the process. James, the owner, was directly involved in trying to diagnose the problem on the phone and by email. They showed up on time (confirmed the appointment, also), were courteous and a pleasure to work with. After the process, James took the time to painstakingly explain exactly what the camera captured and went out of his way to discuss possible future preventive measures that don't involve him. It is rare, in 2016, in Fairfield County, CT, to find great old-fashioned service like this.

He charged twice as much as any other provider and refused to clean the ash pit unless I was willing to pay an hourly charge. I will never use this company again.

I assume it went fine, the guy who did the work was very nice and seemed to do a good job but since i haven't climbed up the chimney myself it's hard to say. but i would use them again.

Everything went as predicted. Very professional job.

We contacted this source through Angie's list; we also contacted two other providers through Angies List. The other two providers told us that the work Ball was recommending was totally unnecessary .He proposed thousands of dollars for unnecessary work. He told us the chimneys were unsafe to use and the others told us they were perfectly safe. He recommended thousands of dollars in work that was totally unnecessary. He should not be recommended or used.

He waxs on time, and did what he said would remove the creosote buildup in the flue. He charged what he said, and nothing more. We will have him clean our fireplace flues again in 2016. He did a very good job. He was very neat and considerate of our furniture.

Before I hung up I asked him if the person coming to do the job would be a licensed chimney sweep. He said "No- I'm the only licensed chimney sweep in the company." I said "Well, I'rm sorry, I'm going to have to think about his now." He said "I understand" and we ended the call. WHY would I let someone who wasn't licensed do the job, especially for that price, when everything I've read said it's really important to get someone "Qualified" and licensed? (Especially for the inspection part.) He's licensed but the guys who do his work are not.

Very professional. Came first to provide an estimate. They were on time and knowledgable. We scheduled the repairs and they again were on time, very courteous, and very clean.

After initial installation I had the workman return twice to make minor reports. All was done quickly and at no additional cost.