A-1 Safety Chimney Service, Inc.

It went fine. I would use their services in the future.

These guys were awesome!! Incredibly thorough in their work, prompt, explained and showed evidence of their repair. Really wonderful to work with!

Will and Mike were great. They took the time to answer questions and showed us pictures of the work that was completed.

I purchased an AL deal and the office contacted me within 24 business hrs. They worked with me to schedule work quickly within my hectic work schedule. They also had to work around another work crew that was working in the same general area. The guys were professional and they were very respectful to clean up. As one would expect, they did find follow on work that they suggested should be done. The cost for additional work was very, very high.

Everything went well without a hitch from the appointment maker to the guys doing the job

They were great. They were prompt, professional and thorough. They made a valuable follow up recommendation based on safety issues they discovered. I would absolutely recommend them.

The "sweep" of the three-story chimney was done with a wet/dry vacuum from the first floor. While a 20 feet broom wasn't expected, the effort was minimal. Inspection included photographs (emailed a week later) and quoted a new damper rather than repair. When company was contacted to return a cap to the top of the chimney that had been blown off in the storm, the service agent stated no one would be in my area to do this. DO NOT HIRE!

The guys were great! I had A1 safety chimney service come out to sweep out my fireplace. They called me a half hour before showing up which was awesome since I was running some errands. They were really professional and made sure to keep my white carpet clean! The put down a tarp before bringing in their equipment and made sure that no dust made it into the room. The technician did a top to bottom inspection of my fireplace, the chimney, furnace flue and my dryer vent. He took pictures of everything and explained all of the issues I had. He answered all the questions I had and made sure to write it all down for me. I had 2 companies come out last year that gave me pricing to fix the same things and A1 came in lower than the other guys and did amazing work. They showed me pictures of the process during and after. I love their professionalism and will definitely have them out again.

The $99 deal is an up sale gimmick. They did what was included in the deal, but then gave me a written estimate for all kinds of stuff that I didn't ask for. Some of this I appreciated because it was necessary (patching cracks in chimney), which I agreed to even though the price was high: $226 to put some kind of waterproof mortar stuff inside the top of the chimney) and almost $700 to patch the cracks and waterproof the chimney. I thought this was high, but since I got them from Angie's List, the work obviously needed to be done and they were already there, I agreed to it. They showed me before and after photos and it did seem like they had corrected the problem. However, I was left with a feeling of distrust because of what else they tried to sell me at OUTRAGEOUS prices. Included in the estimate was the price for a new chimney cap because "it looked like to old one was going to start to rust." OK, maybe that was legitimate, but I said no to that. He also told me that I should replace the stuff under the gas logs because it was too old; this would require removing the old material and replacing it with new material. So OK, that seemed legitimate. But, he had on the unsolicited estimate that the cost would be $350 to replace the old material with reflective glass chips under the gas logs. I said no to that and he then tried to sell me lava rocks for $265. I agreed to the cheapest new material he offered, which was $95, because the old stuff was already gone. I looked up the cost of these fireplace materials on Home Depot's website and both the glass chips and the lava rocks sell for about $29 a bag. Maybe they use the world's most wonderful version of these materials, but their quoted prices are ridiculous and I strongly felt like they were trying to rip me off.

Got the $99 sweep service. Nothing but an opportunity to try to upsell!!! Stated that there were cracks inside our chimney and a cap needed to be replaced. Tried to put a ton of pressure on my wife to agree to the "special" rate of around $1,200 to do repairs right then and there. Thankfully she turned them away and asked for the pictures of the alleged issues which we never received. Would never use these guys again and would warn others against doing so. From reading some of the reviews, sounds like they probably got a few folks with this approach and looks like some others saw right through it. BEWARE! On top of what I just described, they took the handle off of the damper for some reason and left it like that. I was not able to put it back in place so we had to call them to come back and re-install. Not professional and a further waste of our time. At least they didn't try to upsell us again when they came back to fix the issue they had created.

The initial inspection and cleaning was on a Big Deal for $99. The damage to the chimney was worse than I knew, but that made sense because I hadn't had it looked at in years, nor had I had the chimney swept in years. The repair cost was $1570, and the work was done immediately. James, the lead technician, showed me pictures detailing the exact damage and carefully explained what needed to be done along with the warranties would be on the various components - repair to badly cracked concrete, replace mortar that had been washed out as a result of the cracking, and replacement of caps (one missing, one badly damaged by fire). James also showed me "after" pictures as well and I could really see the difference, and I could also see how good everything looked when I went outside. Both technicians were personable and professional and James was a real pleasure to work with. He gave me advice on how often to have the chimney cleaned and inspected - after using up a face cord of wood. The work was done in a timely manner. I was very happy that the additional repairs could be made immediately, rather than having to set up another appointment. All in all, I will definitely hire this firm again and highly recommend them.

They did a fine job. Said we needed extensive work on chimney, but will get another estimate before committing.

Total job took 2 hours. After the job, I questioned Bill about the $400 charge for 30 minutes of grinding and repointing areas in the fire chamber. I thought that was excessive, considering how little work needed to be done. Bill raised his voice and exclaimed that it's a flat fee. He's taken years to develop the technique to do the job. I told him that he didn't need to yell. He said that he was not yelling. I asked him to take the 15% off offered through Angie's list, but he said that the Groupon that I used for chimney sweep was the only promotion he could give me. He asked me what I wanted him to do and I said that he should reconsider the amount he was charging me. He then said, if I don't reconsider then I suppose you're going to slam me on Angies list. I said I would only state the facts. He said "What should I just stick around for 8 hours, the job doesn't take that long". Exactly, which is why I believe he overcharged me. He said he disagreed, and walked quickly away. I think my neighbors will affirm that Bill was quite loud. He protesteth too much, so me thinks he overcharged me. Total job was $1913.00. My mistake for scheduling the day of chimney cleaning. Get several bids, or you'll be flat-rated out of house and home.

I think the world of this company. Their people are courteous. They are ALWAYS on time. Their office people can handle any curve ball you throw at them. (I had to re-schedule at the last minute because of a business conflict. "No problem," was their answer and the team was immediately rescheduled for the next time I was available.) They clearly know what they are doing and they do it with good humor. (They ended up putting my damper in during a truly exceptional rainstorm. No complaints. They just laughed about it. The rain stopped the minute they climbed down off the ladders. That was a reason for more good humor.) They also do not try to soak you for money. They will tell you what you need and what you do not need. Finally, they do their work well.

The technician called a half-hour before arriving as promised and arrived within the time window. He diagnosed our smoke problem after looking inside and getting on the roof to determine the problem. He suggested a fix and was able to get the parts and fix it that day. After not being able to use our fireplace because it resulted in so much smoke that our eyes would water, we are using it without any smoke coming into the house. It's been great. I only wish we'd called them sooner.

Inspection was easy to schedule and we were happy with the inspection services performed. They did recommend additional chimney /roof work which we have not found necessary. Overall the basic service was fine and our chimney has been working well.

I was upset with the high amount of the bid. Never the less, I did put in the claim with my homeowners insurance company. An adjuster came out and looked at the chimney and took pictures which he reviewed with me. He said there was no evidence of a lightning strike. Lightning usually leaves burn marks, especially on the metal top of the furnace flue which shares the chimney with the fireplace flue. The claim was turned down. My impression of A-1 was that they probably highball their bids knowing that some insurance companies will approve them, or if they don't, possibly the customer will be naive enough to go ahead with their bid. Anyway, I bought a tall ladder for $300 and a few bags of mortar mix and did it myself. Not recommended if you are afraid of heights or not to handy.

Great. On time, efficient, courteous, fast and very helpful recommending how often this cleaning should be performed.

Technicians were friendly and explained their recommendations in great detail complete with pictures! Only complaint is their great work makes them popular. Took 6 weeks to get on the schedule and they had to reschedule once

They came out and were very professionally and friendly explaining in great detail aspects of wear and tear on a chimney, options for fixes, and future improvements/maintenance. I did not feel any pressure to move forward with them and as this was my second quote from a provider, I knew what I would be getting into which was helpful. Their prices were lower than our other quote and the work was completed quickly and on-site during the time of our inspection.

This went pretty well. They needed to do some work but I don’t think they were clear on what work they were doing. They could have a bit clear o the masonry work that they were doing. There were several different things that they recommend and most of them were pretty clear but the one thing that they wanted to fill in completely they changed the shape of it so it would be a problem. It worked ok but I would have liked to know what they were doing.

Everything was great! They were very detailed and inspected much more than I was inspecting. The items that were wrong, they quickly repaired so I would be able to enjoy fires in my fireplace all winter long.

I recently had my chimney rebuilt, and the mason had to remove some of the clay tiles lining inside. They told me ahead of time that would be necessary. So, I needed a chimney liner. My mason doesn't provide that service. I got 3 estimates to do the job and A1 Safety Chimney was in the middle of the range. Based on their suggestion to use a stainless steel liner and their claims about quality, I contracted with them to put a liner in my chimney. They tried to force a liner into the chimney larger than would fit. I heard them jumping up and down on the roof and one guy yelling at the other that he should be careful. They ended up cracking the mortar near the base of the chimney inside the attic crawl space. It was rocking back and forth. They stopped the job, told me it would cost $380 and left. However, they kept my full $1000 deposit and won't return my calls. Bill was the person I dealt with and he initially seemed like a good guy. After the problems, he beat it out of my house and I haven't been able to get a call back. I called my mason who came out and stabilized the chimney (built bracing inside the attic to support it at the break) and didn't even charge for the call. Lori Hannigan at Edward Cross and Sons is great. They really stand behind their work. Too bad A-1 Safety Chimney doesn't. Update: After a year of trying to get a refund of the $620 portion of my $1000 deposit I finally got a call back. I called many times over the course of a year and got nowhere. Within days of putting my experience on Angie's List I got a call back and a refund check for $620. Go figure. I hate to give a bad review, but I feel like I gave them every opportunity to make it right. I'm just glad they finally refunded what they said all along they weren't due.

Very well. They were very professional, very clean, thorough and communicated all concerns regarding our chimney's overall health. No ashes or soot got into the house during the cleaning process. They cleaned the chimney and took photos before and afterwards and explained what the kind of soot, etc. that was on the chimney walls meant, and how it could be dangerous if not taken care of. They also told us approximately how many fires you should have in a season before having another cleaning. There was a small crack on our chimney cap. They came back to make the repairs and were able to do it quickly and easily. We enjoyed using their services and I would recommend them to friends.

Professional, responsive, quick, clean...would highly recommend them to do a chimney sweep. We had an additional issue with caulking around the outside of the chimney on our roof. The guys quickly identified the problem and solved it the same day. Very pleased with the services.