Bob's Magic Broom

I arrived at the property a few minutes before 8:30. At 8:45 I called Carl's mobile number. He didn't answer, so I left him a voice mail to ask if he was lost or had to reschedule for some reason. At 9 AM I tried him again. No answer. So, I sent him an email asking if he was lost or had to reschedule. At 9:15 I tried his mobile again. Left him another voicemail. At 9:30 I tried his mobile again. No answer. Sent him another email. So I left. It's now 9/9, a full week later, and I haven't heard a thing from Carl. No phone call. No email. I just tried to reach him again. No answer. I'm not very happy about this experience and would recommend that anyone considering hiring Bob's Magic Broom reconsider.

They were very friendly and did a good job. Actually, he could have cleaned a second chimney flute, but he checked it out and said it was very clean and nothing was needed.

Our chimney needed to be rebuilt from the roof up. We called Carl for an estimate and he sent someone out who gave a free verbal estimate of $1300.00. We scheduled the work and were told they would come out to do the project as soon as they could, as there were other projects ahead of us. The work was completed during three consecutive days by the same gentleman who came out the first time to give the verbal estimate. On the third day, when the work was completed, Carl's worker stated he would be collecting a check from us that day. He then asked what we were quoted on the formal estimate from the company. This came as a complete surprise to us as the only estimate we had ever received was the free, verbal estimate when he first visited our home. He then told my husband he was under the impression the total for the work came to $1800.00 and then he called Carl to confirm. Because of the miscommunication, Carl agreed to charge us $1350.00. This was a positive aspect in our dealings with the company, although they could have been more communicative and clear regarding a formal estimate in the first place. After the work was done, we noticed a lot of debris on our roof, including broken bricks and mortar from the old chimney. We also noticed that a large piece of mortar/cement had been left under our back deck as well as had been spread over parts of our foundation. We are assuming this was extra and the worker was trying to dispose of it. We also never received a receipt for the work. We should have asked for one when we gave him the check, but we were going out of town and were in a rush. Therefore, my husband called Carl multiple times the next week. Carl never answered his phone and his voicemail box was full every single time. My husband also sent an e-mail to the address listed on the company's website, detailing our concerns: 1) no receipt, 2) debris on the roof, and 3) a free cleaning of the chimney which had been part of a verbal agreement -- and my husband never heard back. Due to their unresponsiveness and the mess that was left at our home, we have given up on contacting this company and will be using a different company for any further chimney repairs or cleanings in the future.

He was great. He was reasonable. He didn't charge me more than needed to be charged. He was totally honest about everything. One chimney cost me $ 230.

Never responded for my request for a quote.

I called around to several chimney sweep companies and Bob's Magic Broom had the best prices (and had mostly positive comments on Angie's List). I had them come out to clean the chimneys and give an estimate for some minor repair work in one of the fireplaces. The man who came out said that we were missing a cap on one of the chimneys and that he would include the price of replacing it in his estimate. However, I am 100% POSITIVE that he removed the cap (I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say accidentally) when he was cleaning the chimney. We had just bought the house, and the home inspector explicitly noted that we had chimney caps. A few days after the chimney sweep left, a neighbor pointed out that our chimney cap was sitting on our roof. Several weeks later, I had not received the estimate for the repair work, so I called them. They could not find any record of even having come to my house. The man I spoke with gave me a general estimate over the phone after I described the crack in the fireplace. He also said that they would charge $50 to put the chimney cap back on the chimney. Because I still needed the repair work done, I asked them to come out - despite being incredibly frustrated and disappointed with the company by this point. They said would arrive at 11:30. When not here by 12:30, I called. They promised it would be within 30 minutes. When still not here at 1:30, I called again. They said it would be one hour. When still not here at 3:30, I called again. They said they was on their way and should be here any minute. They finally showed up at 6:00pm - six and a half hours after they were supposed to arrive. (Not until 4:30, did they call me to say they were running late. So essentially, I wasted an entire day sitting at home waiting for them to show up at "any minute.") To top the whole thing off, although he acknowledged that he could have knocked the cap off when he was here before, he said that the cap we had was not good enough and so he wouldn't put it back on. We would have to buy a new cap (at $400!) and he would install it (but of course, not today - we would have to schedule another time for him to come out). And before he left, he had the audacity to try to upsell me with their gutter cleaning service . . . P.S. It has now been a month and a half, and I have not heard back from Bob's Magic Broom with a quote for replacing the chimney cap. (To be fair, I could have called them before now, but I just gave birth and have had other things on my mind.) While this company does have competitive prices (at least initially, before they caused more work for which they could then charge me) due to the incredibly poor service we received, I would not recommend them to anyone.

For years we have used a differeny chimney sweep company, but they have raised their prices dramatically, so we were looking for an alternative for the annual cleaning. We found Bob's Magic Broom through Angie's list and they have been absolutely fantastic. They will have us as new customers for life. Great price, great service, clean, punctual, and professional. I rate them A+.

The initial call was for a clogged chimney. I had no problems with the service person who came out and performed the sweep. It was quick and efficient - no complaints so far and a simple, positive experience. He took pictures and rough measurements for a chimney cap but there was no follow-up call for an estimate. Giving him the benefit of doubt, a week later I called Carl . He spent time explaining the different caps available and his preferences. He said a cap would be installed upon receiving a shipment of materials in a week or two. But several weeks went by and I called again. This went on for 3-4 times with excuses of computer was down, to just busy but promises to follow-up. I finally called to give him a chance to excuse himself from the job. Again he expressed interest but no follow-up or call back. Thus my otherwise initial positive experience was soured.

Joe arrived a little late, apparently the job before ours took longer than expected. However, he was otherwise great. Very polite and efficient. Cleaned after himself so well that I did not see any trace that he had been there (except that all the fireplaces and the oil furnace flue were exceptionally clean). This is the first time that we had a chimney cleaned, but I was very impressed with his overall demeanor and efficiency. I appreciated the fact that Joe was able to come on a Saturday, with very short notice. We were very happy and would recommend his service heartily.

A couple of false starts due to them having problems finding my house and delays in returning phone calls. But they eventually got there and did a thorough, professional job and really cleaned up. Nice guys, good sense of humor.

I selected Bob's Magic Broom based on feedback from Angie's List. Last month, when my furnace was serviced, the serviceman noted that chimney was not drawing as it should and recommended a cleaning. I checked my records and the last cleaning was in 2000. We have two flues - one for the furnace and one for a fireplace which is almost never used. The sweep (Joe) checked and fireplace and agreed it did not need cleaning, but the furnace flue was very bad and almost blocked. The cleaning took about an hour from beginning to end. The sweep cleaned up. I had no mess at all. I asked Joe how often I should have the chimney cleaned and he said about every other year. What I appreciated was that the service was prompt, courteous, and no hard upsell. I would definitely use Bob's Magic Broom again and highly recommend them to all.

Came, cleaned both chimneys, meticulously cleaned all the pieces that fall down outside the chimneys and was done! Highly recommend!

I had called another service to come in for an estimate and they called at the last-minute to say they couldn't come at the appointed time and to call to reschedule...which I did not. I called Bob's Magic Broom & set up an appt. Rep Joe, arrived on time and was just a nice guy who deemed the fireplace "just fine" to light a fire and cleaned out the oil furnace ducts...he also replaced the screws holding the piping in place. Just a professional and personable experience - I will definitely be using them again.

My oil burner had built up soot and smoked, so besides having our oil company out to service our burner we needed a chimney sweep to clean the flue. The owner answered call right away. Price was less than competitors. Service person was on time and polite. Honest - he checked all 3 flues in chimney, and said that only 1 needed to be cleaned. I showed him where some soot had escaped vent which ran from the burner to the chimney and he adjusted the vent joint to close opening, and riveted and caulked it for no extra charge. Would definitely use them again.

We just moved into a new house, and we called Bob's Magic Broom to come check out the chimney to see if it was safe to use. Carl came out and, after inspecting the chimney, told us we didn't need to get it swept since the previous owners hadn't used it and it was very clean. I appreciated his honesty when he certainly could have told me otherwise and I wouldn't have known the difference. He also checked out our very old furnace and let us know there was significant soot pileup which would need to be cleaned. Since we were planning to convert from oil to gas in a few months, he walked us through what the typical conversion was like, which was helpful. He also said we would likely need to cut a 2nd clean out door in our chimney to remove the soot, since the current door was not up to code, and we'd have to get it done anyway when we converted. He was very helpful and honest, and we will definitely use them when we convert in the spring.

They were slightly late in arriving but called to let me know that they were stuck in traffic and on the way. The young man arrived, assessed my needs and said it would be no problem for what I wanted. He also looked at my flue at my request, and told me that some creosote had built up and that while it wasn't an immediate, need he would recommend sweeping. The price he quoted for all the work was fair and I agreed to have the work done. He also scraped and cleaned my wood stove and gave me tips on its use as this is new to me and I would love to use it this winter. He completed the work promptly and cleaned up very well.

I was very happy with his work. He was responsive to my phone call and came out to do the job in the middle of a snow storm. I was very impressed and pleased.

I made numerous attempts to contact Bob over several weeks, by phone and by email. Eventually the voice mailbox recording was 'full' and would take no more messages. I gave up.

Carl forgot about the scheduled estimate appointment, although he did come as soon as I called to ask where he was and whether someone was coming. He gave us a fair estimate for the cap and told us we did not need to have the chimney cleaned because it had scarcely been used. We appreciated that tip. He told us he would have to special order a cap and would return two weeks later to place the cap, and that we did not need to be home, he would just come by and place it. He did not show up on the scheduled days nor did he call. However, we followed up, thought we had a new installation date, and decided to also add a cap on the furnace chimney. Carl did send some guys out to measure the second chimney, and he said his guys would place the chimney caps the following week. This never happened, despite repeated phone calls and messages that went on for weeks. We could not get him on the phone and could not get a return call from our messages. After weeks of trying, we finally left a message saying to call by a certain time or we would find someone else. He never called us. If we'd gotten any information at all (sick workers, a delayed special order, anything) we would probably have been understanding, but when I have called repeatedly over several weeks regarding scheduled work, I expect at least a message back. It was an extremely frustrating experience.

This man did a good job of cleaning the chimney. He was very clean and neat in his work. His conduct was very professional. We were satisfied with the cleaning and impressed with him when he was here. We asked him to give us an estimate on some additional work we wanted done, replace some flashing and put on a chimney cap. He never came back to do that for us.

Carl came to the house and provided a verbal estimate on a boiler flue liner replacement. He was late, but had a reasonable explanation. Very nice, funny guy. He spent a good 20-30 minutes evaluating the situation and said he'd be available in a couple of weeks to do the job. I tried to contact him in 2 weeks' time to schedule a date, but his voicemail was full and I could not leave a message. He never called. I tried again, got him on the phone once while he was working and he said he would call me back later that afternoon. He never did. I tried to call him again and again his voicemail was full. After losing two week's time waiting on this company, we scheduled another company to do the job.

Excellent - was nice to see a service company be honest about what is needed.

It went great. Bob was able to come within a week of calling, he was right on time, he did a great job and taught me a lot about my new house and fireplaces along the way.

I scheduled an appointment two weeks in advance, but realized almost immediately that it wouldn't work (nobody would be home). I called them 3 or 4 times to reschedule, and emailed them once. They never called back. They showed up for the canceled appointment just as my wife was leaving the house, so they couldn't do the work. They mentioned something about being overwhelmed with business. I called a couple more times to reschedule, even managed to speak with Carl once on the phone, but he told me he couldn't schedule anything because their computer was down for the day. I called back the following day, got just the answering machine, and he never responded. They never once returned any of my calls. I only persisted with them because I was so pleased with them last year. Is this is real business? They're very unprofessional.

I would not use this company unless they improve their responding time.