Town & Country Chimney Service Inc

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n 2007 we had these folks install a new damper for $500 + dollars. We may have used it a dozen or so times in this period. This season when we attempted to close the damper after a fire the cable broke in our hands. We were left with a wide open damper and temperatures in the teens. We called immediately and they said they only guarantee for one year and they couldn't come out until the following week. The following week it was raining in the morning that they were scheduled to come in the afternoon. They cancelled and rescheduled about 4 days later. That afternoon it was sunny. We have a one story chimney. The installer said the first damper was installed incorrectly. No we will find someone else in the future.

First they remove the top 9 rows of bricks and crown. Only then did they look for matching bricks locally. They had photos of the existing bricks for 2 weeks but did nothing with them. Showed me very poorly matched bricks which I rejected. Nothing happened till the third day when a whole new crew showed up with better matching bricks but still obviously different color. I reluctantly agreed. But after the chimney was reconstructed and I had signed off on the job, I belatedly noticed that the bricks used were also a different size and where the original chimney was 3 bricks wide the new section is about 3 1/3 bricks wide. Another issue - they said they sealed the chimney yet the "defy" sealer their website describes is not supposed to be used on new masonry (not for 28 days). On the plus side they did appear to be competent with the brick laying and capping. And once they got going they were quick and did clean up well. My email complaint was ignored.

We hired Town and Country to clean the chimney of our newly purchased house. They recommended replacing the chimney caps as well as adding a lining to the chimney because the interior tiles were separating. They recommended not using the fireplace until the lining was fixed. They provided an estimate for the additional work. We had them replace the caps, but hold off on the lining because it wasn't in the budget ($2000). They were prompt and professional and left things tidy when they left. We haven't had any problems with the chimney since.

They showed up on time in the morning. The work was done pretty quickly and I was able to use it that night.

They showed up on time. I was very impressed with their workmanship. The bricks that were damaged had to be replaced. They had to mix a lot of mortar. I was very impressed by them. They rebuilt my whole chimney, just amazing. They are very skilled and professional. I thought the price was very reasonable. I was very happy with the finished work.

The workers arrived within the alloted 3 hour time slot. Job was completed in a timely fashion.

Took a picture of the problem so we could see it (the top of the chimney is 2 stories up), cleaned up meticulously when done.

They cleaned both chimneys quickly and didn't leave a mess. Also removed an old fixture for no charge, so they were very helpful!

We had used this company for chimney cleaning and were pleased with the service and results so went back to them when we decided to have a new fireplace installed. The salesman was very knowledgeable, friendly and responsive (at first). Unfortunately things didn't turn out well. Our project was delayed because (we were told) the mantle had been damaged and they were waiting for another. To make a long story short, they ended up telling us they had cash flow problems and couldn't afford to buy the fireplace we'd selected, even though we'd given them a $5000 deposit on the work. The owner kept going on about how it would turn around and he'd keep in touch if we'd only give him another week or so (this was about a month after the original date the work was to be done, and about 2 months after signing the contract). We decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, but two weeks later we not only hadn't heard anything, but nobody was answering the phone anymore (just voicemail, where a live person used to answer). Thank goodness we made our deposit with a credit card and were able to dispute the charge.

They hadn't expected to have to chip out large pieces of concrete, but they stuck with their estimate and left everything as clean as a whistle.

My husband met with a Tand C representative for the inspection (this was related to a home sale). The representative said the chimney was fine and the crack was "nothing to worry about." About a week later my husband received a phone call from the owner indicating that the buyer's real estate agent was "looking for something that wasn't there" and he had to come out the following day to inspect the chimney again. He and my husband could not come up with a mutual time that worked. He called our real estate agent and was rude to her. He called the buyers real estate agent and lied, saying we refused to meet him. Within the next week we all met the following week for the inspection during which he said that his employee was an "idiot" and didn't know what he was doing. He came back with an estimate for over $2000 saying that the crack had to be fixed. He then proceeded to be rude to both agents along with my husband. It was the most shocking experience with a contractor I ever had.

Town and Country was great. They installed a Fireplace Insert (kind of like a woodstove that goes directly into the fireplace) very professionally. They diagnosed and fixed previous dangerous problems in our chimney at the same time. They helped us get wood. They gave us a tutorial on how to build a fire in our complex fireplace insert.

Great job. Arrived on time, I was actually late and they were here waiting. Very nice and did a good job keeping area around stove clean. Also looked at flue for boiler and told us it needed to be relined and gave us a price of $1500. Price went from $135 last year to $185 this year.

The estimator arrived on-time, provided written estimate. They were able to do the job within a week, all work completed in one day. A very professional job.

They finally called a half hour past the 4-hour schedule window. A courtesy call would have been nice to say they would be late. That was discussed later. The two techs were friendly and professional. Knew what they were doing. I almost passed out seeing the totally clogged pipes with wet lint. No wonder why the water problem. Job completed to my satisfaction. Tech recommended having the service done yearly, but I think that is excessive. Maybe every 5 years. Checking this list of other companies after the fact the price was a bit high.

Because of heavy rain on the original appointment date. The sweep called to reschedule to a later date. On that date, he called to confirm about half an hour before coming. Then showed up with an assistant during the scheduled time frame. He examined a crack previously known to us in our prefabricated fireplace. Recommended replacing the cracked wall, quoting a cost of $529. He didn't suggest that it was an imminent safety hazard unless the fireplace were heavily used. He correctly guessed that we have some trouble with smoke backing down the chimney and said the chimney is not really tall enough to draw well in windy conditions. However, he said it would be costly to redo and didn't try to sell us an upgrade. The assistant did most of the dirty work. The whole thing took maybe half an hour. We have not used the fireplace since the cleaning, so it's difficult to evaluate the work. They left things almost perfectly clean and it looks fine.

From the first phone call to the final call, it was two weeks before the tarp was removed. I think there might have been a temporary lack of communication within T and C that resulted in this situation: The adm. asst. who answered each call seemed surprised the tarp still had not been removed. However, no explanation was given. On the final call, we were connected with the boss, who also expressed surprise that the tarp had not been removed. I was assured by the boss himself that the tarp would definitely be removed the next day, and it was. Overall, I can commend the quality of the work done and the courtesy of the crew. However, the situation re: The tarp removal resulted in lower grading. We would have understood an explanation of "we've been very busy" or "we are short staffed at the moment", etc. But it took mention of Angie's List to get things moving. Also, my husband requested a warranty statement, and he is still waiting for it. No doubt this is all just a temporary glitch.

The chimney work was satisfactory. It's a little hard to tell with something like this because we can't get on the roof to see the work up close. It looks good from the ground. The workers broke a very large section of a Hydrangea bush when installing scaffolding and did not tell us. We pointed it out to them and they said "This happens sometimes." We asked them to haul away the broken bush as it was too large for us to put out for recycling. They said they would, but did not. We called the owner and told him what happened. We also asked him to take off the cost of a new Hydrangea bush from our bill. Someone came and removed the broken bush the next day and owner agreed to take money off of bill, but didn't apologize - again stated that "This stuff happens sometimes." Bottom line - the owner made things better but it would have been nice for the workers to tell us about what happened and for someone to apologize.

Rick was sarcastic and condescending. He would not even look down the chimney as he would not entertain a blockage as a possible cause of the problem, as the plumber had suggested. We have had a lot of problems with our HVAC system and had many contractors look at and work on the problem. Rick stated repeatedly that I had made a "common homeowner mistake" whenever I explained why a certain aspect of the work had been done a certain way.

They were prompt in doing the work and they cleaned up well. They really work efficiently, but the craftsmanship is mediocre.

Their workforce was extremely courteous during the initial appointment set up, estimate, inspection, and work. The estimate and inspection were very thorough and I received an estimate while they were still on site. Other similar contractors estimated that the work would cost three times as much and would take up to 5 days. Work was able to be scheduled within 7 days and was done quickly (in 5 hours) and thoroughly. Everything was kept very clean and all debris was hauled away. They took before and after pictures of the conditions and provided them digitally. The masonry work was done meticulously and all areas where they worked appear cleaner than they were before.

THEY WERE UNBELIEVABLY FLEXIBLE. I HAD TO GO OUT AT THE LAST MINUTE UNEXPECTEDLY AND THEY GRACIOUSLY RESCHELDULED FOR THE NEXT DAY AND ALSO GAVE ME A MORE SPECIFIC TIME THAT THEY WOULD ARRIVE AT MY HOUSE THE NEXT DAY. THEY WERE GREAT AND I PLAN TO USE THEM YEAR AFTER COMING YEAR.

THE CHIMNEY HAS NOT BEEN CLEANED OUT FOR SEVERAL YEARS, AND THEY DID A THOROUGH JOB IN SEEING IT CLEANED. THEY WERE VERY COURTEOUS, HOWEVER, THEY DID ARRIVE LATE ON THE DAY THEY WERE TO SCHEDULED TO CLEAN IT UP.