Al's Chimney Service Inc

Description of Work: I hired Al's Chimney Service the summer of 2008 to do a chimney repair during a large remodel. The company submitted an estimate of approx $5500 to extend stonework & lengthen my chimney to stop a draw problem causing smoking into the living space. (Burning a fire in it had been impossible for years as doing so created a noxious, unliveable environment.) The owner assured me that lengthening would solve this problem. Unfortunately, as work proceeded other necessary repairs were discovered, which I agreed to pay for. Al's Chimney also discovered the need to reinforce the roof structure to support a higher chimney. Although this should have been established in the original bid, I agreed to pay for this too as the house is very old and original construction was sometimes substandard, The whole process was lengthy and was not finally completed until late this summer. To their credit, Al's Chimney did a good job working around other subcontractors and remaining flexible with their schedule. But when all was finally done and a fire lit in the fireplace, the smoking was as bad as ever. The company insisted the repair should be sufficient! When the problem was demonstrated for the company, they added a different top to chimney. When this failed, they added a metal fascia to the top of the fireplace opening which did not help. Then, they insisted that air vents would finally solve the problem. It did not. I brought out another chimney company to evaluate and was told that (in their opinion), the additional three feet of chimney top was insufficient relative to the size of the firebox. When this idea was discussed with company, they told me that the entire fireplace would have to be rebuilt to change the firebox and since this wasn't practical, I should consider a permanent glass door to enclose the opening. As no other option was available short of a total rebuild, I agreed that this should be done even though this was not the outcome I had wanted. A door was ordered and eventually installed. I agreed to pay the contractor only THEIR cost for the glass door and explained that this was more than generous considering the fact that I had already paid them a great deal to lengthen a chimney with no measurable improvement in function. They agreed, until the bill came with additional labor charges. In the end, I paid both their labor charges and the cost of the glass doors. Unfortunately, a few months after we had finished this transaction, the door hinges appeared to have loosened up enough that they would no longer close without a gap at the bottom. When I called to ask the company to come out and evaluate the problem, they made the appointment. On appointment day, however, they called and left a message refusing to come out without charging "for labor up front". They informed me that although the doors are under warranty, there is no warranty on their own work. Needless to say, I have hired another company to find a solution.

Description of Work: Al's Chimney Service rebuilt our fireplace chimney. He also put an insert in it and reinforced it.

Description of Work: They came out and removed a swallow's nest from my chimney and then cleaned the whole chimney and put a new cap on.