GREAT AMERICAN CHIMNEY & MASONRY

I called them to look at our fireplace because there are cracks in the heat shield inside the fireplace. They said that they could not give us an estimate on repairs unless the fireplace was clean, so I should just schedule a cleaning and then they can look at doing the repairs at the same time. The cleaning went fine, he was good about keeping the dust under control, and not tracking dirt in the house. Unfortunately, when I asked about the repair estimates, he said that he could only take some notes and go back to talk to his manager about developing some estimates. He could not even discuss what options we might have or the range of costs that we would be dealing with. He left saying that someone would call within a week, and recommended that we not use the fireplace until it is repaired. It has now been four weeks since they were here, and I have heard nothing from them. So we now wasted money to have an unusable fireplace cleaned, and we have no idea what will be involved in repairing it.

Overall it went very well. Scott installed our stove without much fanfare. He made sure everything was up to code - Thelin has specific rules about installation of their stoves. We also got as a promotional gift at the time, 20 bags of wood pellets. Installation took several hours and the final product looked great in our space. Installation was a long time after ordering the stove, months. We did think it would be quicker. This stove has worked so well that we ordered another one several months later for the other end of our house. This time we also took advantage of their offer of an electrician to put in a necessary outlet (for a fee). Scott installed this stove also. It, too, took many weeks to be scheduled and installed. It seems not to be working as well and needs more tweaking than the first one. But, overall, you can't beat the pellet stove for energy efficiency and heat production.

Overall it went very well. Installers were late by a half hour or so but their customer service, friendliest and knowledge made up for any lost time. First, we had to find a place for the stove and piping. Once placement was decided, the two workers went ahead and made a hole in the ceiling and installed the stove and pipe. They then stayed to make sure the pellet stove worked by making a roaring fire. They stayed longer than planned in order to explain maintenance necessary for the stove and different ways to make the stove work better. They swept and cleaned all debris.