Chimneys R Us

Signed up for their Del Mar Fair special, for the inspection and a sweep. They came and of course found issues with it. Minus the inspection and sweep I paid a little over $ 300.00. I had NEVER had issues with my chimney prior to these goofballs going up there. Today the wind blew, and down came the chimney cap! Fools! They did not put it back on correctly after their sweep inspection and «repair». Did I mention how rude the lady answering the phone is? Yeah, well she seems to have a chimney up her BUTT!

I am a Realtor. The Buyer of a home I had in escrow wanted the fireplace cleaned and noticed that this company had a «special» for $ 119. The buyer also wanted the Rain Cap re-​installed, it had fallen off the chimney, but still looked OK. An inspection report also suggested that the «crown» on top of the chimney be resealed at the edges. Larry the «tech» from Chimneys-​R-​Us said the existing rain cap couldn’t be re-​installed because the screws were rusted. He said he would replace it with a new one for $ 179.00. These are commonly found at Home Depot for around $ 40. Installation time is minimal.
In my opinion, the biggest rip off was the re-​sealing of the «crown.»
Larry said he would re-​seal the crown for $ 349.00. The homeowner thought it was too much so they called me. Larry got on the phone and said he could not guarantee a long lasting seal unless his special sealer and installation was used. Since we had to keep the buyer happy and we were out of time, I reluctantly said OK. The total bill was almost $ 700. The homeowner told me Larry was there less than 1 hour. Based on that, in my opinion, their profit was about $ 600 per hour. I will never use or recommend this company again. Fool me once, that’s their fault, fool me twice, that would be my fault.

If I could, I’d give them negative stars! The Chimneys R Us representative showed up at our home an hour early and spent very little time cleaning the chimney and more time taking photos of the chimney crown to tell me the crown had cracks. He offered to do the crack repairs at a pretty high price so I asked for a written estimate so I could check with other chimney firms to see if the price was in line with other companies.
I checked the internet for other chimney companies and found one with very high customer reviews so I called to ask what the cost of repairing or replacing the chimney crown would be and was quoted about ½ the price that the Chimney’s R Us representative quoted. I made an appointment for the other company to do the crown replacement and, as they were finishing the work they took a photo of the inside of my chimney and showed me that Chimneys R Us had not completely cleaned our chimney. I called Chimneys R Us to ask for a refund and the owner called me back and acted very insulted and angry that I wanted my money back. I emailed him the photo of the dirty chimney and said he could come back to clean it so I gave them another chance to get the job done right this time.
This morning their representative came early again (our appointment was at 8 am) and said he would not take much time. He laid out a cover on the floor and turned on a very loud vacuum and exited out the front door. In a few minutes he returned, waved the vacuum hose into the fire place. He turned off the vacuum and took it out the front door. He returned and picked up an orange bucket that had a few cleaning tools in it that I never saw him use and walked out the front door without saying a word and not showing us the finished job of cleaning the chimney. My husband sat in the family room and never heard the representative up on the roof so he thought the representative had not started the job.
I’m sure the representative was probably admonished by the owner for doing such a poor job but he could have had a better attitude when coming back out to finally get the job done. Instead he silently walked in and out of the house and had the worst attitude I’ve ever seen of all the contractors and workmen that we’ve had to our home.
I’d recommend not using this company since the owner was defensive when he was asked for a refund even though he could see the picture of a very dirty chimney after their representative was out the first time. If they wanted to re-​assure me that the work had finally been done, they would have shown me a photo this time but their representative clearly didn’t want to be sent on this job and was not going to be very customer service oriented so we’re unsure if the job was finally done at all.

Saw their booth at the Del Mar fair and set up an appointment. They came by today to clean my fireplace and give me advice on fixing/​replacing my old wood burning stove. They did a great job, they were very knowledgeable and explained everything that I needed in very clear and understandable terms. The cleaning/​inspection went by so fast and they were very thorough. They even noticed some cracks in the back wall of my fireplace and installed a heat shield as a projective and preventative measure. I was very happy with their service! The only things that sucks is they are all the way in El Cajon and I’m in North County so if I wanna look at their products I’d have to make a trip down there to do it. Their website I guess isn’t up to date or something.
All in all, I am a satisfied customer.

The sweep pointed out missing grout in the inside of the fireplace and said he would grout it for «free» if I bought the $ 150.00 heat reflecting screen for the back of the fireplace. I could see the missing grout so I agreed and paid the extra. Foolishly, I did not check all the grout in the fireplace when he was done so I thought it was a good job until I tried to build a fire the next night and saw that he had left many grout lines unfilled on both sides of the fireplace in an easy to grout place. I am really disappointed. Really, I feel cheated.
Cathy, La Mesa

Venit, Vicit, Vidit.
He came, he saw, he conquered (cleaned).
My H. seemed happy with the results and he knows more about it than me. I still don’t understand why he switched from Kleen Sweep since we were so happy with them for years. Guess I have more customer loyalty. This business did come highly recommended by a Property Management Company we know. Total price $ 109. I don’t know if that reflected a referral discount or if it’s their regular price. The guy, John, was talkative and left things very neat and clean when he was done.
Comment of the day: «Gee, you don’t see much shag carpeting around these days!» (installed about 1971, :~})

We first met Chimneys R US at the Del Mar Fair. They were offering a special summer price for a complete cleaning. Since we use our fireplace regularly each winter (it’s our only source for heat in the house) I figured we were due. The guy showed up right on time. My wife actually forgot about the appointment so she was not sure what to make of the sooty guy on our doorstep. But he was very friendly and got right to work. He cleaned and inspected the flue and firebox. He gave us a clean bill of health and went on his way. I’m so glad we had this done this summer because we have used our fireplace quite a bit over the last few rainy months.