DUXBURY CHIMNEY SWEEP

Re: Aborted Chimney repair. Don’t rely on this company to perform under contract. We have been customers of Duxbury Chimney Sweep since 1992. They were always good to work with. New ownership while helpful, you can’t count on them. April 2019 management quoted our repair job, took our deposit, did not deliver, unilaterally cancelled a non-cancelable contract when there was no provision to do so then returned our deposit over 60 days later leaving us still with a dangerous crumbling chimney that they were contracted to repair. Fact Pattern: April 2, 2019 - $3,285 contract signed for relining of our boiler chimney with a well thought out proposed solution by owner operator Carter Defranceaux. $1,400 deposit made for completion in April 2019 “2-3 weeks”. Marshfield, MA building permit applied for by Carter and was signed by us for submission to town hall building department. Weather happens (like it does every April) and told Carter that we were most flexible on spring scheduling. Late April 2019: Started to experience serious project schedule creepage with no real follow though by Duxbury Chimney Sweep. Part of the agreement was that I wanted to be on site when work was being done for general safety reasons as somebody would be working on our roof. Had to chase for scheduling. Weeks go by no with no real effort for them to schedule us to have this work completed. June 4, 2019: I inquire yet another time for the repair work start date as the written contract was due to expire 6/5/19 and we had plenty of good weather days gone past. They immediately schedule for three days out when I happened to be traveling—again part of the agreement was for me to be here with people working on our roof for just plain safety reasons. June 9, 2019 after numerous phone calls, emails and broken promises on getting back to us and excuses why not, I receive this via email: “Hi Brad, sorry we are unable to meet your needs. A check is in the mail returning your deposit. Kindly, Christina," My answer to them: “I can't believe you folks come out, quote, take a deposit, file the building permit, we wait over two months, we determine a suitable date then you unilaterally cancel a written contract we have with you for no reason? What kind of reliable company does that? We have a written, signed contract. I suggest you fulfill the contract terms as agreed and advise of date confirmation if install.” Our stance: My wife said take the check because they would probably do a substandard job and probably would not honor any published warranty if ever needed. They responded to my answer above to them, “We are busy now and going to Europe in July”…(Sure did not say that in the written contract and July is four months after we expected work completion) June 11, 2019: We receive via US mail a copy of our contract with their signature in (our) buyers signature block area stating “cancelled” when there is no cancel provision to do so and with no stated legal reason to do so. Deposit was returned via check. CONSUMERS BEWARE. I wasted two months of valuable time, they had use of our $1,400 deposit during that period and we still have a dangerous crumbling chimney. Shop elsewhere.

It went very well.

Provider and quot;cleanedand quot; chimney and instead of the $210 fee I was quoted wanted $275 for the service. Then explained that the cleaning was not effective and another cleaning would be necessary and would also be unable to complete cleaning without installation of many extras for a mere $4,000 more!!!! I had another company come to evaluate problem and work needed as well as to do full chimney inspection. The chimney was properly cleaned...with handfuls of creosote being removed and received complete and thorough inspection report. The charge was $400.

They did more than the regular required examination. They certain standards to do examination. They beyond that with the same price. He was a very experienced chimney sweep. They were awesome. We need a chimney liner, I will call him back.

On time, thorough, helpful. Fixed some balky parts and gave a concise review of what it should take to fix the problem with downdraft.

It didn't.

I moved into my house in the middle of November and upon the recomendation of several people called up and left a message for Duxbury Chimney Sweep. It took a little bit to get in touch with them as this is their busy season and I was busy moving in. This is understandable and does not effect my review. I spoke with them on the phone and they told me that it would be a couple of weeks before they could come out so we setup an apointment for Friday December 9th. I was home ALL DAY on 12/9 and they never showed up. I called that afternoon thinking I might have had the wrong date and then the next day and still have had no response. A No Call No Show in my opinion is unacceptable. Will not use them again, have another apointment with another company who was willing to squeeze me in after hearing my predicament.

It was what was expected. It was canceled a few times because of rain. They do not come out when it rains. They had to reschedule for a month later.

I called Duxbury Chimney Sweep and wasn't able to get a hold of them after a week. I called another company listed with Angie's List and asked that they look at the cap. Duxbury Chimney Sweep had called because the other company told her I was trying to get ahold of them. The man came out and said it was unlikely they would put the wrong size on it. He went up there and confirmed it was the wrong size. He said he would put the right size on and it would cost $50 more but there would need to be more pointing done and other work. He was abrupt and I told him I didn't want him to do the work since it wasn't done right the first time. He got hostile, abrupt and stomped out. He was not willing to refund the money for the work he previously did incorrectly and was trying to get more money from me. I will not have him do any further work on my property even if I have to sacrifice payment for the wrong item. Update:"RE: Case ID 15836-- Please print my response to the Duxbury Chimney Sweep""s response: A few facts: A roofing inspector, whose name I'll be glad to furnish, was the person who told me that ""oh, by the way, did I know I had the wrong size cap?"" The ""technician"", who was actually the owner, did indeed come inside to look at the fireplace and flue from inside. He admitted, immediately, that he had installed the wrong sized cap. I was not at all ""upset,"" simply firm. He became agitated, mumbling and flinging his ladder back on his truck. This company has been dropped by the local Better Business Bureau. The woman who wrote the response was a personal friend of the second roofing company's secretary, and I had no objection to that second roofing company passing along my complaint that I couldn't get Duxbury Chimney Sweep to return my calls. Whatever gets them to respond! It's interesting that it took another company to prod them along."

They were very reasonably priced and they didn’t try to sell us anything we didn’t need. We will have them out again this year. They cleaned up after themselves. You didn’t even know that they were there except to look up at the cap on my chimney. They were knowledgeable and they knew what they were doing.

I have an oddly shaped chimney, but he was able to help out a lot. He is very prompt and professional, and is also very good with my dog. The quality of this work really stands out, and he is just a really nice guy.

They started with an inspection which determined the need for the repair. For the inspection they looked from both the roof and from inside the house. When on the roof they took pictures with a digital camera and then showed me exactly what the problems were. They showed up on time for both the initial inspection and the subsequent repair activities. They were pleasant and completed work in a timely manner. The only bad note occurred at a separate appointment to clean the chimney. It was lightly raining the day of the cleaning but they never called to say they were not coming due to weather or to offer to reschedule. I subsequently found another company to perform the cleaning.