Vonderhaar Fireplace Stove & Masonry

Before converting a wood-burning fireplace to a gas log, we called Vonderhaar to inspect and sweep the chimney. We wanted to ensure the chimney was clean and nothing was living in it before converting to gas log. I called Vonderhaar and scheduled an appointment the same week we called. We had called other companies and they were scheduling further out, at higher estimates. Chris was the employee who came for the job. He inspected the chimney (from the roof and looking up into it from the fireplace), found nothing living in it, and confirmed it was clean. He told us he could sweep the chimney though doing so was unnecessary since it was clean. He gave us some asked-for advice about the new gas log insert and the chimney cap. The cost was lower than the original estimate because our chimney didn't require cleaning.

I would not recommend Vonderhaar to anyone. We had them out for a chimney rebuild due to a cracked crown. We picked Vonderhaar because their quote was lower than the others we had received. However, in the end we were out much more money, time, stress, and frustration than I would want anyone else to have to go through. They caused damage to our roof that led to multiple leaks in our house. They did flashing incorrectly and rather than simply re-doing it, they did a poor repair job that had to be re-done by another company. They dropped debris into our flu vent, which caused it to be clogged. This led to damage of our furnace and hot water heater plus carbon monoxide was backing up into our house. They took zero responsibility for anything and tried to place the blame elsewhere multiple times. Greg was very unprofessional and even used profanity towards my husband. I understand that not every job goes exactly as planned, but the lack of acceptance of responsibility shown by the company as a whole was appalling. In the end we had to have multiple other companies out to fix the issues Vonderhaar caused. I will say that Randall was very nice and tried to help smooth things over, but we had already had too many issues by the time he was employed by Vonderhaar. Look elsewhere for chimney work and definitely don’t use them for any roofing work!

Kurt and his team did a good job of replacing the stone work and installing the door and mantle. It looks quite nice now that it is done. But if you are doing any work in an existing site, be prepared to hire another contractor to finish the job behind them. They don't do drywall work, or carpentry, or electrical. This would have been OK if they had stated it up front. But they did not. The bid for $6300 stated that we would have a complete job. Only after the job was half done, did they start telling me all the things they "don't do." In fact they didn't even want to clean up the mortar that was splattered on the new stone and walls until I insisted.

We've used Vonderhaar in the past and been satisfied. In this instance, we scheduled to have them check out the gas fireplace at our rental property. We had to wait 6 weeks for the appointment. The girl they sent out didn't seem to have a clue how to fix it and finally told my tenant that the gas valve needed to be replaced on a fireplace that was 18 months old. We never got a quote for what it would take to replace the gas valve but we we kept getting invoiced for the service call. I got Doug from DBA Gas Fireplace out to the house and he fixed the pilot light with a can of compressed air and some know-how.

the workers that came to my house were fine. the people in this office have no idea what they are doing. first, a guy comes out, tells me part needs to be ordered, will take couple weeks & they will call when part is in. after 3 weeks, i called office to see if part was in, was told they don't order part unless i call office & order it myself...repair guy doesn't order it. also, that it had to be paid for before they would come back out. i gave them a credit card 12/4 and then they said part was stocked, didn't need to be ordered. a guy came out and installed the part 12/7. today, 12/11, they send me an invoice for the amount they charged to my card on 12/4!!!!

Very thorough and professional service.

I put down 25% and was put on a schedule. When they came out two people worked on putting the coating and a new flue. The older flue had a handle on the outside of the fireplace and they asked me if I wanted it on or off. As I was deciding what to do the one worker pulled on it and it pulled the mortar out and left a hole. I was then told I would have to get someone to repair it. I asked them if they could do it and they said they needed fire mortar. So I went out to see if I could find some. I called the office and the lady told me they would take care of it. Several weeks later someone came out and patched it and it looked terrible. It was a white patch on dark brick. So I had to call the office again and she asked for a picture. She agreed that it was not good and she would have to have a mason repair it. Meanwhile I had a second project that needed to be completed on the outside. I needed about 25-30 bricks replaced. Again I sent in 25% down payment. I was told I would have to wait nearly 21/2 months because they were really busy. They wanted to come the end of August. I was going to be out of town so I scheduled the first week of September. I mentioned that I still needed the inside brick fixed and I was told I would have to wait until September because the mason was busy. When the first week of September came I didn't hear anything so I called and asked if I was still on the schedule. I had talked to someone who was less than friendly and in a very condescending tone was told that was what I requested and they would be there Wednesday. They did come to the house and the mason was unaware of the problem in the house. He worked on the outside and left because he had to go and look for bricks to match my house. Again a day passed and scaffleing was left on the house and I had no idea what was happening. I called and told the office I was not happy with the lack of communication. I don't know if I should be home since he was to fix the inside as well. After a discussion which I feel I had to coax an apology the mason returned and finished the job and came in and put mortar on the brick to try to match the color. He said if I didn't like it he would come back and replace it. I looked at the outside and noticed part of it was not completed and he said he had to order the limestone and it should be about a week. That was the first week of September. I didn't hear anything and again we had to go out of town the first week of October. When I returned there was scaffleing up with boards. I called the office to find out what was going on. I told her the inside was not right. The mason came back Oct. 13 and finished the outside and had to replace the brick inside the house. My complaint is this: Very poor communication to the customer. Lack of concern shown by the office when I called. I will say Jennifer did help move things along after I told her I was upset. I don't think a job should take this long. I don't have a lot of experience with masonry work and I am not sure if this was normal. I picked this company because I thought I would receive good and honest service and feel very let down. On the positive side the mason and his helper were very nice and the work was well done in the end. Just a long drawn out process and I felt little consideration was given to the customer.

The repair person was very polite, on time and clean. Showed me a bad wire for ignition . Stated blower was disconnected . Fixed blower. Fireplace was working. Repairman showed me rusted burner pan causing minor flame distortion. Suggested replacement of pan. Then blower started to blow out pilot light. ( maybe why someone disconnected it?) Repairman suggested I replace whole unit. Left brochure. Called back with bids over $10,000.00!!!!Told me minimum to fix!

I was very happy with the service, the tech arrived within 3 minutes of the beginning of the scheduled window. As it turned out, the fireplace was just dusty and needed a good cleaning, it now works beautifully. The tech even showed me how to keep it clean so that I won't need maintenance as often.

I chose Vonderhaar Fireplace, Stove & Masonry for my recent chimney rebuild because they have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, many favorable online reviews from past customers, and are even recommended by other contractors. So I was surprised when I was told that a masonry crew would be working on my chimney and nobody ever showed up or called. This may have been excusable once but it happened on 4 separate dates! I was eventually forced to postpone a scheduled roof replacement until the work was complete. My 2-day project dragged on for more than 3 weeks and the office seemed to be unaware of this. I would not use this company again or recommend them to anyone who needs similar work.

Inspection showed a crack in the chimney crown (pictures furnished identifying issue). Received an estimate for repair or rebuild. Scheduled an appointment and the work was completed and picture furnished of resealed crown.

Used someone else way to expensive 4 times price of competition.

Requested a quote which arrived within a week. I thought this was very responsive. However the quote was for tearing down a good portion of the chimney and rebuilding, and the cost was a good bit higher than I was expecting. I requested a call back via email to discuss the quote to understand the scope of the work and got no response. I called the store about a week later and spoke to someone in person and made the same request...still no response several weeks later. I'm not sure how you can expect to drop a $5000 quote on a potential customer and not expect to answer a few questions. I'll be contacting someone else for this work.

The technician was quick, neat and efficient.

It went very well. They charge an upfront fee to come out, diagnose, as well as begin the repair process, including the price of ordering parts. They fixed everything, and even accounted for unanticipated issues as the repairs continued. For instance, after finishing the downstairs fireplace it then began having some issues clicking on, and then some additional spots that appeared on the glass.. However, they were able to repair that quickly, as well. To top it off, a few days later I got a rebate to cover the difference between the estimated and actual costs. They were responsible, responsive, and fair.

The technician was punctual and cleaned the soot out of the unit. He then reassembled the unit and briefly tested it before he left. However, as he was leaving I noticed that the flame was burning way to high and orange in color. I called the tech back in and he confirmed that the unit would probably soot again quickly and that the air fuel mixture was the problem. He indicated that he couldn't adjust the air/fuel mixture and that he needed to change the valve to fix the problem, he estimated the fix at $700. A week later Vonderhaar called and told me that they were not able to find the replacement valve to fix the unit and since it was no longer manufactured and recommended that I consider replacing the fireplace. It is only 6 years old. I made a few calls and was able to find a replacement valve, which I ordered and recieved several days later. I called Vonderhaar to see if they would come out and replace the valve and they quoted me $400 to do the valve replacement. That seemed excessive to me so I decided to check with some other gas fireplace servicers to see if I could find somebody to install the new valve. 2 of the companies I called referred me to DBA and I schedule the repair with them. They were able to schedule me in 2 days. When I told the story to the DBA repairman, he told me that there was a 95% chance that the valve had nothing to do with the problem. DBA came out in 2 days and within 15 minutes found the problem which had nothing to do with the valve. The airflow was being restricted in the unit because the rock in the bed had fallen into the gas dispensing bar and was blocking the airflow. This should have been taken care of during the first cleaning but the Vonderhaar repairman didn't bother to check the gas dispenser for airflow blockages. The DBA repairman told me that given the problem, this should have been one of the first things that they checked and cleaned. The total cost for the DBA service was $150 and totally worth it. I am returning the gas valve which cost $192 and I am so glad that I had DBA come out and service my gas unit. Two important points for consumers to know. 1. Vonderhaar would have replaced my valve for $700 and not fixed the problem. The unit would have sooted up again as soon as I started using it with the new valve. 2. The DBA Repairman told me that the valve in my unit was the most commonly used gas valve and that he could get 100 of them almost overnight. I totally believe him because I was able to order my own replacement valve and I am not in the industry. I would not recommend Vonderhaar for gas fireplace servicing.

We are very happy with our experience. The service person Ryan was very professional and called when he was about 15 minutes from our home. We have a no shoe policy in our home and Ryan was more than happy to comply. He was very friendly and explained the steps as he was inspecting our fireplace. Our fireplace is now running efficiently and we are confident in the work that Ryan performed. Everyone that we dealt with at Vonderhaar have been helpful and professional and we will definitely be using them in the future.

The actual installation went well and the stove looked great (I did not notice the cook plate issue until later). My issues began when I started trying to use the stove in November. The house filled with thick smoke and even though I opened all windows, the smell would not dissipate. I called Vonderhaar (talked to Jennifer and Colleen) and was advised that the issue was because the stove needed to be "cured". That is a process where you burn tiny fires and then progressively larger fires until the stove is broken in. Well, I built 4-5 progressively bigger fires and the smell continued. So I had a disgustingly overwhelmingly smokey creosote smell in my home for about a month. Anytime I was in the house I had to have the windows open just to breathe. I had people over familiar with wood stove operation who told me that was not normal. Also, a black sooty fluid began to appear at the back of the stove where the stove pipe met the stove. Also the cook plate was not installed plumb. Not a functional issue but it is an aesthetic one. I have called Vonderhaar probably 20 + times in the last month requesting help and to no avail. There are 3 people in the office who work there - Jennifer, Colleen and Katie. I've talked to all 3 about this problem on multiple occasions and basically I get told that either they need to talk to the owner/installer, or they will get back with me, or they hand me off to someone else in the office. Also, if they say they will call me back, they don't. I have to continuously call them back. I am spending a lot of time calling their office and waiting on hold in their phone system. Note: the stinky smell has dissipated some what so that I can now breathe in the house without opening all windows but I know there are still draft issues since it takes an hour to build a fire. I am writing this review here in the hopes that it will persuade the owner - who I cannot talk to directly- to contact me and make this right. At $8000 I would expect the company to stand behind their product and work with me to fix any issues. I will keep Angie's list updated on their responses to me. Updated 2/6/2016: I met with the owner twice and both times it was a positive experience. He was very nice and quite knowledgeable, and responsive after looking at the stove. He added more pipe which I think helped. The bad smell has completely gone away. I built 2 fires since his last visit and both times there was no smell and everything went smoothly. So I am changing my grade from F to B based on the owner's responsiveness.

It has truly enhanced our home It's better than expected would hire Vonderhaar again

When I called to set up an appointment, it was a 2-week backlog. That was fine, as I called mid-September hoping for a repaired fireplace by winter because our chimney leaks. September 30, 2015, they came out and inspected everything, and advised me on what repairs were needed so we could use our fireplace. However, they could only flash the chimney this year; the new concrete crown that was needed would not be able to be completed until spring, 2016. Now we're out $89 because I want to use it this year. What a disappointment. I wish they would have told me how backlogged they were before they set me up for the inspection.

The employee who did our chimney cleaning was excellent. He did a great job cleaning and was very pleasant. Going into the cleaning, I knew that our rotary damper assembly needed some new parts. The pin and set screw were missing. These are very inexpensive parts. However when the employee called the home office, all they could offer was an entirely new assembly at $189.00. We also have some loose firebricks at the back of the firebox. It sounded to me that Eric tried to get a price on an inexpensive fix, basically just to replace and remortar the 5 loose bricks. The home office would only say that he had to tell us we needed our entire firebox rebuilt for $800. He also said we had minor cracks in our crown and suggested a crown seal at $250. I was happy to hear that we still only had minor cracks in our crown, because they told us that 10 years ago and offered us the same service, but my husband just sealed it himself, costing us maybe $20 in sealant. I knew going into this, that chimney inspection companies are notorious for scare tactics and upselling, and I was not disappointed.

Scheduled this service about a month and a half ahead of service date (low grade on responsiveness). Arrived on time. Asked the provider to clean the unit and check for gas leaks (there was a faint smell of gas). Service person replaced the battery on receiver, "cleaned" the unit, "checked for leaks" and relit the unit. Well, a month later, the pilot light will not stay lit, there is still a faint smell of gas and I discovered that the area underneath the logs is filthy. Clearly it had not been cleaned at all. Waste of money.

The provider told me that it would cost $89.00 for them to come out and give me an estimate. When I stated that I didn't want to pay for an estimate, they told me that the price would be credited to the work. Thats all well and good if I choose them to do the work. I don't know about you, but I don't want to give a company $89.00 when there is no guarantee that they are going to be competitive with other estimates.

He did a good job on the stove, but I just spent all morning cleaning the living room due to the dust he left behind. He didn't wear covers for his shoes and used a quilt like cloth cover on the floor that left more behind than it prevented it seems. Other companies we've used in the past did a more thorough job to prevent this. We'll go with another company next time.

Provider was called to clean a gas fireplace which had not been cleaned for at least 5 years. Fireplace was also not working properly - going off and then relighting after a time. Repairman cleaned unit with no mess in the room, carpet was well protected. I was told that if the problem continued, it was likely due to a value which usually wore out after 10-15 years, about the age of the unit. Fireplace worked better but the problem recurred, Contacted vender and new valve was ordered and replace within a week, Fireplace worked well after that but noticed a very faint odor of gas at various time. Called vender again and repairman came promptly and found very slight leak in a fitting and tightened it. No problems since then.