Carolina Fireplace

About as bad as one could imagine. I originally called the first or second week of January. They scheduled an appointment for about January 24th. The technician came in and rubbed emory cloth on the thermopile and made a few adjustments and it lit. He was here for about 5 minutes and charged me $125 (which supposedly came with a 30 day guarantee) which I thought was ridiculous but they did tell me that up front so I wrote the check. That evening I tried to turn on the fireplace and it once again didn't light. I called the next day and they said they wouldn't be able to come out for another week which I found irritating since that's like ordering a burger only to find they didn't make it the wrong way then they tell you to go to the back of the line to get it fixed. Either way, I waited another week. He came back out made a few more "adjustments" and the fireplace lit. Once again, that evening I tried to turn on the fireplace and it wouldn't light. I called again the next day and they scheduled me another week out. I told the girl I thought it was ridiculous and she told me it's because of how busy they are. The day of the next appointment comes and no one arrives. I called, they said they tried to call me because their ONE technician was in a bad car accident so they had to cancel all the service calls for the week. I didn't recieve any phone call or voicemail. Fortunately, he's OK but they scheduled for another week out. That day comes and once again no one comes over. I called and was told the owner was trying to pick up the service calls and he's a little behind. He told me he called and left a message. I asked what number and they had 2 of the last 4 digits in my phone number reversed. I gave him the RIGHT number and he said he'd call me back to see where the owner was. Naturally, no call back. I called the next day and was told they'd call me back when they find out when he can be here. Finally, on Feb. 15 Tim (the owner) came over and "adjusted" a few things and got the fireplace to light. He apologized for all the hassle and gave me back $80. He also said that if the thermopile needed to be replaced, he'd do that and not charge me for the part. I really don't know why they didn't already do that since it's pretty clear to me that is what the issue is. Once again, he left and that evening the fireplace wouldn't light. I called both his cell phone and their main office number twice and they're not getting back to me. Basically they got $45 out of me and I have nothing in return.

This company was recommended by Strick's Propane. I don't even know if they are a company because their invoice has no company name on it. I bought a 10-year old town home with a gas fireplace that had never been ignited. When Stricks came to light the fireplace, the guys claimed that the works were broken and I had to call a repair service. They gave me the name of Carolina Fireplace. The technician/mechanic/fireplace guy Jeremy arrived promptly. At first he said that nothing was broken, but then when I said Stricks had said something was broken, he looked closer and said that the feed tube to the pilot had been broken by Stricks. He later showed me two pieces of a metal tube. He was here 45 minutes. When he raced out to his next appointment, the fireplace was roaring happily. 15 minutes later, there was smoke in my living room and all the fire alarms in the house were screaming. I almost had a heart attack. I then shut down the fireplace and opened all the doors and windows. I also placed a panic-stricken phone call to Carolina Fireplace. This call was never returned. When this alarm scenario happened repeatedly, I called the Wilmington Fire Department, who kindly sent out 3 WFD, who assured me that gas fireplaces are very safe. The firemen did ask me if this company was licensed and insured, and I could not answer them. My bad. The next morning I got the owner of Carolina Fireplace on the phone. He said that Jeremy should have told me to open all the doors and windows, and that the fire alarms would probably go off. He said he was very sorry. I said that if he was really sorry, he could give me a break on the $175 bill. He thought that was amusing, and said that "maybe" he'd send Jeremy out to reset the 5 smoke alarms that were still blinking away. I am not a spring chick, and I had to climb up on a ladder to reset all 5 of those alarms (9' ceilings). He never sent Jeremy, which is part of why I am giving him this bad review. $175 for 45 minutes work is a lot of money. For that kind of dough, I think that the least a company could do is to warn the customer about smokey conditions and fire alarms going off. This is not rocket science. Next time, I will also be careful to ask for documentation as to certification for this kind of work, and insurance. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth for Stricks Propane, too. If they broke the mechanism, they should've footed the bill. Once the holidays are over, I think I'll call them to discuss.