Western Mass Chimney Service

I hired them to work on my chimney in September 09, which after many delays and excuses they did but during their "work" they broke the tiles that cover the surface of the chimney facing the living room. After they finished installing an internal pipe that allows me to use the basement woodstove, they said that they needed to install a similar pipe in the main chimney that had to be special order. When I confronted the owner Robert Boido about the broken tiles he acknowledge that it was their fault and said he would send their "tile guy" which never happened. On 10/15/09 we payed them an additional $2000 ($800 for the balance of the initial work plus $1200 deposit to purchase the new pipe) and then they disappeared. I called him in November and talked to him and he said he was sorry that the pipe was still being ordered. I haven't heard back from him and the Winter is here.

The Owner was called to perform chimney repair down to roof level and rebuild chimneys and install stainless steel caps. After calling him a few times he finally come and performed the work and never installed the stainless caps. I have made a few dozen attempts to call him to get him to finish the job but he has not responded. I have called the BBB o get them involved and he has not responded to them. I also noticed during the winter that he dropped some debris down the chimney and now rendered my fireplace unusable. I have left him a message to that affect and he still has not responded.

The first conversation I had with Rob Boido, the proprietor, was the only good experience I had. He offered a reasonable estimate for the parts and labor that I needed and scheduled a date to do the work. He failed to show up or call on that date. He failed to return my calls for two days. When I caught him on the phone he offered a very weak excuse and, foolishly, I set up another date for him to do the installation. On that date, he showed up an hour later than he had agreed to...no mystery here...his partner mentioned they had just come from a local sit-down restaurant. Boido also admitted to staying out the night before at a bar watching a ball game that ended very late. The two packed up their gear after installing the chimney liner and connecting the stove promising to return in the afternoon with the heat reflector. Boido assured me that everything would be done and we would be able to use the woodstove that evening if needed. In another foolish move, I paid him the agreed upon price for parts and labor. By 5 pm they had not returned. On the phone he assured me that he would still be able to make it or he would call. Neither happened. The next day he did not answer his phone or return my call. The day after that he promised to return the next evening at 5 with the reflector. He did not, nor did he answer the phone, a cell phone, by the way. The following day I caught him on the phone and insisted on meeting him that morning wherever the heat reflector was located so I could pick it up. He would not agree to this and quickly got off the phone promising to call me right back. I didn't wait long (he still hadn't called an hour later) before I surprised him at home which is also the address listed for the business. He had me follow him across two towns to a shop where he said the parts would be. Instead of a 3 sided reflector, he handed me a single rectangle of 1/8" unpainted metal. He insisted this was all that was required. He denied that he had agreed to a 3 sided piece and he denied that the installation requirements called for that...which they clearly do. He brilliantly pointed out the "heat goes up" as the reason for me not to worry about my woodwork to the sides of the stove. In addition to all this, the chimney was not cleaned prior to the installation nor was a damper plate installed. I paid $350 for the chimney liner (a good price, I think) and $300 for labor (would have been happy with that if he had done the job properly).