Chimney Cricket

VERY DISAPPOINTED! The technician who came out was not very knowledgeable as he had only been on the job about 4 months. He did inspect and clean our downstairs chimney which has an attached wood burning stove. He stated he did not know anything about cleaning out excessive creosote and sent pictures to his brother who was much more experienced. His brother stated he had never seen a smoke box so badly coated in creosote. I asked the technician if it could get that bad in one season and he said no, this took years. I informed him that we had their company out last year to do the check and they said there was a bit and suggested we purchase some creaoway powder from them. We did and used it periodically last year before burning, so we didn't expect it to be that bad. His response was that they had a bad bunch of people working for them last year around that time so he could see how that could happen. That is unacceptable! So, our house could burn down due to a chimney fire because of a bad batch of employees. I didn't take it out on him, as that is like yelling at someone about the price of groceries, but I figured after he was done we wouldn't use them again. He checked the cracked ceramic and said it was okay to use, but not to use the wood burning stove chimney until we could have it clean. I asked him what that would take and he said he didn't know but would find out and set an appointment for an estimate for us that night when he got back to the office. I got a call a couple of days later from an office employee about how we were going to pay. She insisted on a credit card over the phone and was rude about it. I told her to give me the address and I would send a check (I was ready to pay the technician when he was finished, but he never asked, so I figured we'd be billed). Finally, she gave me the address and I sent the check the next day. While on the phone with the office worker (I believe her name was Stormy) I asked if the technician had set up an appointment for the estimate I requested for the creosote cleaning. She said it was never mentioned, but she could set it up then. We set it for December 13 just so we could have an idea of how much we would have to shell out. Today is the 13th and I called and believe I spoke with the same woman. I asked for confirmation on the estimate appointment so we wouldn't just be waiting and she said there was no record of it! I guess I will have to find a much better, more reliable company to do all future work and not look for coupons. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY AS THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR SAFETY! I just wish I had kept last year's receipt of service as proof. And I didn't receive an invoice of service this year. Hmmm.

They did a great job! On time, clean, and gave us lots of pointers and tips (we're first time homeowners). An added bonus.. They were half the price of two other quotes I received AND could get me in the next week. Oh yes, and they had an Angie's List coupon for $10 off. Perfect!

Chris showed-up on time. He said I had written a review that was critical the work he had done on the chimney a few years ago and did I still want him to clean my chimney. I said yes. The work he had done previously was repair brick work and stucco the brick. I was not happy with the stuccoing job. I guess I was a little ruff on him. He cleaned the chimney flue and in addition sprayed the flue with something that would help clean creosol and with a spray that deodorized the flue at no additional cost. I was very happy with his service and I will use him again.

Set up appointment over a week ago for "sometime after 3". Received a call from Chris before noon while i was in a meeting. He left a message to call him back. Called him back about 1:30 when I was able to call. Left him a message that I was returning his call and that he could call me. Took vacation time from work to be home so the chimney could be cleaned. Never received a call back and no one ever showed up.

Chimney Cricket took very long to complete work and then work was not properly completed. I foolishly paid for job before completed. In process of doing work, machinery used to do job destroyed planted yard shrubbery, but was never replaced as promised. Called them many times but with little response. Totally unreliable, although in earlier work they did adequately repair house chimney; but then they decided to become a kind of building contractor, which, apparently, became his problem. .

He came out on August 6th 2013, and I hired him to repair the chimney. I gave him $750.00 deposit. He has never call me but I have called him every week since September first. He always has some excuse. The work has never been started and the problems related to the Chimney problems are getting worse. It is now heating season and my chimney is broken!

Great. Met with Chris (the owner) the Friday before and he got up on the roof and inspected everything on the stack. He took photos while he was up there so he could show me what was causing the issue of the leak. He came inside and inspected the fireplace. We went over all the details and he explained to me how doing this repair now would save me over $3,500 in repairs if ignored and left as is. I didn't think what he was asking for a price was high so i booked the job. His crew arrived when he said they would and the was it. I paid for the services and 4 months later there are no leaks in any of the areas he repaired. Great job, great service, and great guy. I would definitely recommend him to anyone looking for chimney repair and maintenance.

Chris cleaned the fireplace and the flu and then he inspected it. He did find that the cap needed to be treated and disclosed it on the bill. He was very good and efficient and quick and did a great job! He even gave me service the same day that I called him! Way to go Chris!

They did a thorough job but, the price was a little high. The work was adequate.

The young man showed up, inspected the chimney and wanted to charge me thousands to repair it. He would not certify it usable until these repairs were done. As far as the chimney cleaning was concerned it took him two days to do the upper part of the chimney. He never cleaned the firebox. I called another chimney cleaning/repair company after he left. Had the cleaning/inspection done in one visit, and minor repair to the chimney cap. This was all done for less then half of what Cerrito charged. I called Cerrito demanding my money back and of course I got no response. I also reported them to the BBB. BBB did not get a response from them either. Beware the chimney sweep who comes to your house without a vaccuum. Stay away from these guys.

Chris is a great guy and his crew did a marvelous job....once they started the job. He had to reschedule the job three different times due to other work they were finishing and that got a bit frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I'd hire him again and highly recommend him, just be sure to push the communication.

Initial meeting with Chirstopher went very well, he appeared very knowledgeable and was able to discuss my concerns and explain in detail what was needed to bring this fireplace up to safe usable condition. He answered all my questions about safety. I was told the work would take all of 4 hours. Christopher informed me I would be able to burn a fire immediately if the firebox was "primed" and he explained how to do this, if not primed I could burn in 24 hours after the repairs were made. The work was scheduled for Dec. 6th, 2012. The crew of 2 arrived 12:15 pm and set right to work. They got right to work installing the damper cap and 1 (Steve I believe) then came in to begin repair of the firebox. Initially grouting around a few loose bricks was removed by grinding it out and within minutes Steve began adding new grout. I approached him and inquired about the other walls were there was cracked grout and holes in the grout. He stated that only the grout around actual loose bricks required grinding and that he would grout over the other places. Having repaired cement steps myself, I was quiet curious as to how the new grout was going to adhere to old damaged stuff with no prep or cleaning, but Steve stated he had been doing brick work for 2 decades and knew what he was doing. I became alarmed when a short time later -1:30pm- he was cleaning up so I again approached him. When I looked at the firebox I could see were wet grout was added, but not all the walls had fresh grout and the floor was completely void of repair. At that time I informed Steve that the entire firebox was to be repaired including the floor and the chimney still needed to be cleaned. He then told me he did not know this so I asked if Christopher had given him a work order or instruction and he replied he had not given him anything only told him to do the damper and repair the loose bricks. I then showed Steve the contract with the list of repair items. He informed at that time he had no more grout and did not have a brush to clean the chimney. I informed him I was not happy with this, and that I had an appt. and would return in no more than 1 1/2 hrs. He offered to go to the Home Depot and purchase more grout and return to finish the firebox, but would have to reschedule the cleaning. I left for my appt before the crew left and they had a 15-20 min drive one way to Home Depot. I return just under 90min later. The Chimnee Cricket crew was not at my home. On inspection I could see wet grout on the floor of the firebox and everything was cleaned up. This worried me because they had 35-40 min total drive time, what ever time it took to enter the store, pick up grout, and check out. At best the crew had a max of 45 min to re-grout the floor and clean up. Within a few minutes the crew again arrived informed me of the floor work, told me they also purchased a brush and cleaned the chimney and they hung a large storm window that I had taken down and repaired. "Just to be nice." All of this in 45 min. While I was very suspicious of how a "full 4 hr" job took 2 hrs I paid the balance of the $1100.00. 2 weeks and 3 small fires later as I cleaned the floor of the firebox the grout work began flaking off-no wonder- it was at best paper thin and covering loose that easily moved under the broom. As it was the holidays and I was heading out for 2 short trips I decided to call Christopher after the 1st of the year. Christopher seemed very concerned when I informed him of the workman ship and he schedule Jan 18th to personally repair my fireplace and clean the chimney (as I do not believe it was ever done). On Jan 18th I waited for Christopher to arrive and when it was well past our schedule time I called him and stated his wife and daughter were ill and he was taking care of them. I was suspicious of this because of the background noise I could hear. He asked if he could call me the following week to reschedule as his calendar was not handy. I agreed. 2 weeks later I left him a message and requested he call and reschedule. No return call. Again on Feb 18th I left a message informing Christopher I was very unhappy, that he had $1100.00 dollars to do a job and that I was at the end of my patience and please call to schedule this work. It is now a full 3 full days later and NO CALL. Christopher has had more than enough time to correct this problem. I totally regret hiring this company and would never recommend them.

Obviously the contractor showed up and found they could not provide the service and left. I contacted the home office the next day to ask when someone would be out - no response. Finally got a live person, was told that they could not do the work (chimney too high) and that the person told the home office that I had been notified. I never talked to anyone. Would never ask them out again.

It went great. They guy was wonderful. He's professional, knew what he was doing, sealed everything off and told me what he thought about my chimney. There was an issue that wasn't part of the deal but he came in and took care of it.

I like the quality of his work. The front tube work was nice. If we don’t need our fireplace cleaned, he doesn’t charge. He is cheerful and friendly. He is not very good about returning phone calls and sometimes he has been late.

One sub-contractor completed the job in six hours. Critter Control was called to remove the raccoon. The quality of work is acceptable but the price seemed too high for actual service. Sub -contractor returned to reset part of brick walkway as part of original price.

Horribly. They came out and gave me an estimate for chimney repair, then hounded me daily for a deposit so I would be placed on the schedule. I finally gave them a deposit and scheduled the service for two months later. No one ever showed up. They finally called at 10 am the day work was supposed to begin to say their crews were busy with other jobs and could not make it. They stated they would call me back to let me know when work would begin. I received no call for two days, called them, and still not call back for two more days. When I finally did speak with someone they admitted they could not get in contact with their sub contractors. Really?! This was scheduled for two months as far as I knew. The fact is, they took my money and never had anyone lined up to do the job. When I confronted them with this, they did not deny it. At that point I asked for a refund and had to call MULTIPLE times. It took over a month to finally get my deposit refunded. No one would call me back until I became irate and stated I would be happy to go to court over this. In addition to all this, the man who came out for the estimate told me this was a local company. It is not. The nearest office is in Troy and the corporate office that FINALLY refunded me is in Florida. They use subcontractors and apparently not good one since they won't even call them back to let them know when they will be available to do a job. He also stated there was a 10 year warranty on all work while writing the bid. That is not true either. The office manager told me there is a 1 year warranty. All around poor customer service and half truths. They were very anxious to get a deposit, but unable to do the job. This is the worst experience I have ever had dealing with a company. EVER!

James did an outstanding job and the price was good.

They were very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and prompt. Both the owner who did the bid, and the men who came to install, were pleasant, personable and efficient. I would recommend them wholeheartedly.

Very well. Would absolutely recommend.

Chris was on time and called ahead to let me know the exact time he would arrive. He was friendly and got right to work explaining what he was doing and why. He recommended for the future and even left us a fire log for tonight.

Great! He was very friendly & quick.

Fast, clean & efficient - will able them again.

I feel that he did a good job on cleaning my chimney but he was suppose to come back and do a repair job at the top of the chimney but failed to do so and did not even bother to let me know that he would not be coming over.

He was great. He showed up during the window of time that he set up earlier and even called when he was about 30 minutes away. We just moved into the house so he went over everything with my wife and answered all of her questions. We would highly recommend them.