CRICKET ON THE HEARTH

Nine years ago, Cricket on the Hearth installed my gas fireplace (FP). Now that we are ready to sell our house, a home inspection revealed that my FP does not conform to code. That's because Cricket did not install an emergency gas shut-off valve within 3 ft. of the FP, per code. (Note: This requirement existed when the FP was first installed.) I recently called Cricket and asked why this requirement wasn't met. The person I spoke with, who I believe was the owner, did not know the answer to my question. My goal wasn't to argue why the valve was not installed upfront. Rather, it was to get one installed ASAP, so the code-lacking FP would not impede the sale of my home. Consequently, I asked the gentleman what it would cost to remedy this situation. He gave me a reasonable price to install a valve... $150. But he added that, given the COVID-19 situation, the work could not be done right away. I understood, of course, and asked for a ROUGH idea on the timing. "No idea," was his reply. "And I have lots of customers ahead of you." For me, time was of the essence since my home was on the market and a deficient FP could hinder its sale. I explained this to the gentleman to no avail. Now, I'm a reasonable person. And, given the virus situation, I understood why the work could not be done immediately. But to brush me off as he did was unacceptable. After all, shouldn't Cricket have installed the shut-off valve in the first place? Was it right of them to leave my home vulnerable with a FP that lacked an emergency shut-off valve? To make amends, shouldn't they have offered to correct the situation as soon as permissible (given the COVID-19 situation)? The answers to these questions are obvious. Long story short, I found a qualified resource to install the valve, and he did so right away. It cost me $250, but it was money well spent to remove a major potential obstacle to selling my home. Because of Cricket on the Hearth's lack of customer care in this situation, I would never recommend them to anyone.

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After deciding to install a gas fireplace in the family room we shopped around for a unit that would takecare of itself as much as possible and look good doing it. The space was relatively small at 300 sq feet. We wanted the fireplace experience so we weren't looking at stove style heaters. After looking at the competition, we decided to shop at Cricket On The Hearth for two reasons: First, the staff at Cricket On The Hearth - Jennifer, Charlie, Paul and Mike - are wonderful. They are very knowledgeable, professional and couldn?t have been more helpful throughout our entire experience with them. We loved working with them. Secondly, we really liked and chose the Kozy Heat Bayport fireplace that they sell. To us it had the look and features we wanted: Realistic fire arrangement and ability to burn and control room temp during a power outage. At first we thought the light kit was over the top, but after a short time watching the showroom model fire, we really liked the glowing coals affect the amber glass gives with a lit fire. Kozy Heat also managed to make the edges of the ceramic logs flutter like a real wood fire. It's very convincing and if Kozy Heat finds a way to add subtle sound effects it will absolutely seem like a wood fire, without the smoke. To prepare for the installation by Cricket On The Hearth, I built a framing structure for the fireplace unit using 2 x 3 studs and plywood. It is a zero clearance, double walled firebox except for 10? directly above the top at the front. Kozy supplies a 1/2?, 10? high ceramic panel that goes in front of the stand off spacers on top. The heat of the unit blows out of there so it gets hot. If you have successfully built anything out of wood, it wasn't that hard. Cut parts the same, build panels, make a 4 sided box and use a level. The manufacturer supplies detailed specs. Our 36? unit had to be no less than 16? from the back wall. It could go deeper into the room and be on or off the floor. The room had some outlets added, so the electrician added a 15 amp breaker and a line for the fireplace. It uses that power for lights, fans and pilot ignition. You can also light the pilot with a battery pack if it is off and there is no power. This gas line for this needs its own ground wire, so make sure the electrician understands that if you do this. We had Cricket On The Hearth do the install. With the changing laws, necessary permits, and technology, we wanted someone who knew every part of the system, who had the experience to know what problems to anticipate. We are so glad we had them do it. It is straightforward after the fact, but there are specific things like gas line specs, the need for permits, that may or may not be like a gas stove or water heater. Charlie (COTH owner) and Mike knew the system well and how to install it and hook it up right the first time. Considering that they were deactivating the old forced air furnace that used to heat the space, things went very smoothly. Now that the fireplace is up and running, we love it even more than we thought we would. We will tile the framed structure around the unit and it will look even better. We had some confusion about the screen in front of the glass. The federal standard requires a cool to the touch, fine mesh screen in front of all sealed gas fireplaces. With the Bayport model you can have a smooth, inside frame/screen that sits flush with the front of the fireplace, or various styled metal frames that adjust out from the unit to overlap whatever surface treatment you put around the fireplace. We thought we choose the plain frame that overlaps, but we had mistakenly ordered the inside flush screen. If we were going for a very modern look that would have been fine, but the rest of the house is more Craftsman so we wanted the overlap. We were kind of stressed about the problem, but Cricket On The Hearth told us how to remove the inside frame/screen and swapped us for one of the display screens that was the overlap design we wanted. The staff was great, as usual, and it could not have been easier. Our work was done at the start of Cricket On The Hearth?s busiest time of year and despite our questions and problems, everyone at Cricket took the time to explain, educate and solve any issues we had during the process. There is a negative review about them here, and I don't understand how all of it could have happened given the experiences we had with each person at Cricket On The Hearth. A good gas fireplace is a major addition to any home and some of it can have owner involvement, but a lot of it demands a well trained skill set to do it right. Our experience is that Cricket On The Hearth does it the way you really want it to be done to enjoy the perks of a gas fireplace with peace of mind. We highly recommend them.

We chose to have the unit installed by a licensed plumber versus Cricket on the Hearth as we thought their installation price was high and the lead time a bit long. From first turning the thing on, it never worked correctly. Would shut itself off constantly and would make a little explosion type noise when first igniting. Called Cricket on the Hearth and spoke to Bob - he said that because we chose to have a 3rd party install it that we needed to call the manufacturer Kozy Heat. We called them, they gave us a few things to try including repositioning the pilot - none of their suggestions alleviated the problem. We then called COH and spoke to someone else who also gave us some suggestions that didn't work. A few weeks later we had to have a service call done for someone to come look at it. Charlie (owner) came out and took it apart and did something and said it seemed ok - well, it wasn't! if we left it off for a significant amount of time (week or more) and then turned it on, it made it's mini-explosion at time of ignition and then would go into its cycle of turning itself off and on again repeatedly. I was then told to contact RGE and have them come out and check the gas pressure - they came out - put the gas pressure as high as possible and actually looked at the unit. He said that it looked like there was an issue with gas building up in the unit. We placed ANOTHER service call and this one we were charged $100+ for. He had some kind of part he put on it when he came and said it was working fine. Well that was the end of the season so we really didn't use it much. Summer of 2014 we got a call from COH saying there was a recall on the unit and they needed to come out. They sent some kid out for a retrofit kit installation. Unit again, not used for about another month or two until it got cold outside. That was last November timeframe. I turned the unit on via the remote, ran downstairs in the basement to put some laundry in and immediately heard a loud explosion like someone knocked over a large dresser or something upstairs. I ran upstairs to see that the fireplace metal doors and frame of the gas unit were laying halfway across the room and the fireplace box was completely full of flames!!!! My husband had run in from the garage and immediately ran downstairs and turned the gas off. It was a VERY scary experience! We immediately called COH and were told that we would have to wait for two days to speak to the owner when he was in next (this was a Sat). I demanded a new unit and when I was contacted 3 days later by Charlie who left a message saying we were approved by the factory to get a new unit, I called back only to get the extremely condescending and rude Bob who told me that we would have to be responsible for re-installing the bad unit and transporting it back to the store. I was also told that because we didn't have the box from the old unit that they were not giving us a box or directions with the new one and we would have to swap that out when we got there. Such a gem that guy is - such an asset to that company. Anyway, good thing we have a truck and some help as it is at least a two man lift item. Long story short - there is a recall on this unit and a report filed by the Consumer Safety Board and they knew that and still chose to treat us the way they did - I will NEVER EVER recommend this place to anyone!! BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THEM.

On time, job done professionally.

unknown

The installation went smoothly. It took under 5 hours to install. I am extremely happy with my fireplace. I love being able to have a fire on a moments notice. But, I did have an issue with it not staying lit and it took a couple of visits before that was rectified. The thing that bothered me about Cricket was communication. Installation was supposed to be at 10 in the morning so that I could go out to run an errand and be back in time. I returned at 9:30 and they were in my driveway already. Another time, they came to try to fix a problem but never told me when they were coming....I had a fire going...so they couldn't fix it that time. Another time I called and the call was never returned...so I had to call again. So, while I probably would go to them again... I would be sure to stay on top of the communications better.

They are dependable and do very good work. They have a nice clean store. I have been using them for a few years.

very good service

As above.

The entire job was done flawlessly. The two installers were completely competent. The house was left in a meticulous manner. The gas logs have an excellent appearance and are functioning perfectly. I am very impressed with Cricket on the Hearth - its main facility with its display room and personnel and the installation service.

This experience went really well. We purchased the model of fireplace that we wanted and they came out and installed it for us. I have them come out yearly to clean and maintain the fireplace. My wife and I really love it.