Southwest Fireplace

I waited 2 months to review hoping the problems would be resolved, but they don’t seem to have any interest in providing customer service. We have needed to call for service/​repair 3 times in the 2 months since we’ve had the fireplace installed. We have no choice but to deal with the rude salesman who said he really doubts we are having problems with the fireplace. Not really sure why he thinks we would lie about it and want to continue to be forced to talk to him. We’ve asked to speak with the owner… He refuses to speak to us. It takes days for them to call you back when you call to report a problem, and then days for the person scheduling to call you back, and then days to get on the schedule. The only good thing I can say about this company is they hire good contractors and installers. The service contractors have been courteous and knowledgeable. And the installers did a nice job. The fireplace looks beautiful… If only it would work for more than a few days at a time.

I would burn my house down to keep warm rather than deal with Southwest Fireplace. We ordered a fireplace from them in early November of 2014. The salesman guaranteed it would be installed before Christmas. It was finally installed in late January of 2015 after we threatened to cancel our order and demanded our deposit back (but they promised us their best installer). Not only that, but their salesman also told us that our insert that we bought would easily heat our whole basement without putting a fan in, and he claimed that it would be extremely difficult with where the outlet was located in the room. It only heats the 15′ or so in front of the area, and it takes over an hour before it does that. The fireplace directs the heat up behind the brick, because the way it was installed has it set back. Their installer was also supposed to service our other unit, but the install took to long and he had to return in a couple of days. Upon his return, he was alone and claimed the unit, which I carried into the house myself, was too heavy for him to pull out himself. So he did a half assed servicing, and couldn’t fix the problem we were having with that unit. I called another fireplace service in New Lenox and their guy was able to fix that unit and pull it out of the hearth, by himself, even though he was half the size of Southwest’s alleged best installer. Their showroom is impressive, but don’t be fooled!

I should of read the reviews before I did business with this place. Unfortunately I did not. Ordered a fireplace surround on ¹¹⁄₂₈ and was giving a 3 – 4 week window. 4 weeks go by and nothing. Emailed them and they said that they’ll look into it. Told me that it wasn’t even shipped yet. Another week goes by and I emailed them again. They said it would ship Friday or Monday the latest. 6 weeks and counting. Finally after 7 weeks I threatened to dispute the charges and was going to cancel the order. It magically showed up in their warehouse later that day going to have it installed 7.5 weeks later after my initial order. There is absolutely no communication on their part to keep me informed what’s going on. This place is a complete joke and will never do business here again. They do not care about the customer and just want to take your money going to leave you hanging wondering where the hell your product is. Installation crew was good though. I can’t bash them for the morons in the office

Absolute joke. Agree with another reviewer… would rate with negative stars if I could. Delivered and installed broken materials. Completed shoddy masonry work which had to be repaired by another mason less than a year later because SW Fireplace refused to accept responsibility for their junk work. Bottom line, two years later nothing works quite right and anything that does work or does look proper is because another company or professional repaired it. I wouldn’t let my worst enemy do business at SW Fireplace.

First sorry for how long this is.
Southwest fire place customer service and communication is terrible.
My wife and I went in to look for a wood burning insert in May, Roger was our salesman.
He seemed knowledgeable. We decided on the Quadra-​Fire voyager grand insert with a porcelain mahogany front. I had some pictures of the fireplace with measurement of the opening and the brick surround.
Problem #1
When we asked to setup a appointment for someone to come out and give us an estimate
We were told that he could give us a rough estimate and if we wanted some one to come out we would have to put a 50% deposit he said don’t worry I’m always very close. We were quoted $ 7600 I have never heard of a company wanting that large of a deposit to come look at a job.
Problem #2
We went back about a month later and paid a «deposit of $ 3800. Roger came out and ended up changing the price upwards of course. He needed to add 16′ of corners (even though we showed him pictures and gave him accurate measurements). We had also told him that we wanted a raised hearth while we were in the store. He didn’t figure in the hearth stones up goes the price to $ 8120.
Problem #3
We decided to still go ahead with the job. We went in to the store to confirm the brick and hearth stones colors. They didn’t have the samples for the hearth stones and said they would get them in a day or two and would call us. My wife asks Roger if this was the last price increase and they wouldn’t find more things he said no that’s the price. After a week and no phone call I called and was told «we don’t have them» I told them I wasn’t happy that it was ridiculous that they were holding $ 3800 of my money and couldn’t get the samples from one of the other stores. 3 days later I finally get a call saying they have the samples
Problem #4
2 weeks later we went in to sign the paperwork again. I was about to sign when my wife asked me what cast MBK on the contract meant Roger stated it meant black cast iron. We wanted porcelain mahogany.
We had never talked about the black front insert the one on display was mahogany. Roger needed to redo the estimate Again. He emailed me the new estimate and added another $ 650 The net increase wasn’t that much because I had him take off the chimney sweep the «tarping of the work area and cutting of the limestone sill that needed to be flush (I did these things myself and saved $ 400) Final cost $ 8071.
#5
After signing the contract I was told we would get a call in a couple of days from scheduling to set up the install no phone call. I called and was told they don’t schedule until all material was in and that the insert was shipped and should arrive Tuesday and I should get a call then. No phone call for over a week. When I called again I was told that scheduling had kicked my order back for some unknown reason Roger said he would find out what was happening an call me back. No phone call for 2 days I called again and was told Roger was on vacation. I asked to speak to a manager I was told the manager works at another store and they could connect me to his voice mail I also had them give me his phone number. I left a message and waited no phone call for 2 hours. I called asked for John I was told he was out for the day. I explained my problems to Drew (the salesman that answered the phone) he said he would look into it for me. Less than a ½ hour later he called me back he had texted and emailed the manager and was waiting for a call. He called me back an hour later and said I would be hearing from scheduling this afternoon or the next day. A ½ hour later I was talking to scheduling and set the date. Drew was great. Why couldn’t Roger do this?
#6
on install day the installer refused to move the power cord from the right side to the left saying it was to hard to do. The instructions showed how to do it. The only way that he did it was when I told him to move it or remove the complete insert and give me my money back. It took him all of 20 min. to do
#7
A few days later I was installing the mantle I was looking for what the height of the mantle should be as to not be to close and catch fire. That’s when I discovered that the hearth is an inch narrower than what is called for by code. These guys are supposed to be the professional and know this.
#8
I received a call asking for the balance I explained to the person all the problems I had and would not be recommending them She stated she would let the manager know. Then said what I owed it was $ 250 more than what my contract said. I had to e-​mail my copy
#9 a few days later I received a call from John the manager and explained all of my concerns He said he would call me back and try to make it right. guess what NO PHONE CALL
My fire place looks great but I would never recommend South west fire place.

I wish I could give no stars or negative stars. When you spend thousands on a grill or fireplace, you hope that it comes with better service. Be prepared to wait 4 times longer for service or a call back.
Customer service is awful!!!
Shop elsewhere!

June 1^st, called SW in Frankfort, they had put in a new fireplace for us in Nov. of 2012. The hearthstones are coming loose and I wanted someone to come and repair them. The receptionist said they can’t repair our product that they put in because we live in Indiana (what) they installed it? She referred me to their «sister» store if you will in Valparaiso, Indiana. Called them, no, they weren’t going to fix a job they didn’t install (makes sense to me) so once again I called back to the Frankfort location. Once again, the receptionist tries to tell me they can’t do it. I ask to talk to our salesman Alan, which when I told him the story he said John Ivancicts will get right back to me… a few hours later, John did finally call me. He requested pictures, I sent them and told him to call me back on June 29^th as we would be out of town prior to that. He was putting me on his calendar to call. June 29^th came and went, I called him this morning (June 30^th) at 10:20 (they asked my name) he of course will call me back in a half-​hour. Its been a long half-​hour, (1:40pm), I thought maybe he will respond to an email, he did, his words, we’ve had a power outage at my location, we are in the dark with no phones, computers, internet… but he responded to my email from this morning so how could that be.
I wish I would have read the reviews prior to us having this work done, because their follow-​up work (if needed) does not exist. Their customer service is horrible, no calls back, they can’t repair work that they installed in Indiana because they aren’t allowed (how did they install it).
I’m sure Southwest Fireplace in Frankfort will be in the dark for the rest of day and year at the rate John calls back… good luck to them. In this day and age, I wondered why I couldn’t locate them on any social media sites, I guess getting slammed on Unilocal is enough for them.
I would not recommend going to them for anything.

I dont even know where to start, so I’ll give some background… We live in a condo community that has had all fireplaces condemned and we have been ordered by the city to replace the fireplace. We saw many trucks from Southwest fireplace in the complex so we decided to go with them. We did come a little late to the game as many others in our community had already made arrangments with them months ahead of us. We meet with Sean in the store back in March 2015 and decided on a unit that we liked and gave them a deposit of half of the cost ($ 2,700) and were told that there were many others ahead of us, but that they would start the process of getting us scheduled with the architecht — from there they would submit the architecht drawings to the citty for approval and issuance of the permit. Here is where things fall apart… We waited about a month before following up with Southwest as to the status as we had heard nothing from them about a possible timeline. We called and were told, that they would not waste the architechts time to come out to measure for us until they had at least five other condo owners on board at the same time. I asked, what if you do not get five more, what then? They did not have an answer… Finally on April 30^th the architecht came out to measure, after which plans were to be sumitted to the city for approval and permit for work. As of June 13^th (another month and a half later), we had not had a phone call with an update on the status — we understand this is a timely process, but a call to let us know that things are moving along is expected when we have given them a substansial down payment.. We called on June 13^th and got a very obtuse Sean on the phone. He could not seem to understand why we were bothering him, he had no idea as to where we were in the process and when we expressed our concern, he told us that he was very busy and had had enought of our questions and that we were harassing him… Really, after 2 phone calls to check the status in over 2 months since we gave them $ 2700? I expect a lot more in customer services. Again we understand that there are many others in line ahead of us but that’s not my point. My point is that we hear nothing from them, have zero feedback from them as to where we are in the timeline and questions posed to them about that are deemed as harrassment. Thats the crappiest customer service I have ever experiened in my life — espcially when they have $ 2700 of my money (not that they are holding either, they have casehd the check months ago). When we expressed our concerns and dismay at total lack of customer service Seans snarky remark was that perhaps we could find some time to come in and do some consulting for them to show them how things should be done. Disgusting. I wish I could get my money back and start somewhere else, but at this late in the game that’s not an option. Do not recommend this company at all. Not even sure if they can handle the task they have taken on with the condo owners in my complex. Seems they bit off more than they could chew and lack of professional help is not making things any better.

Not too bad. Good prices. Had to wait on a back ordered part for my fireplace. That was frustrating. Roger Zeman did what he could to take care of me though.

0 Stars if possible!
Frankfort Store
Very disappointed with service from this fireplace store. Called a few weeks ago about replacing thermal couplings and they said there’s a bunch of different types and that I would need to bring the thermal couplings in. So, I thought I would do better and bring the ventless unit into the store & have them install it and check out the unit.
The sales person became flustered and said they would need to go to the home. They were three weeks out on repairs. I was surprised because I was hoping that they could just replace the thermocouple themselves and check out the unit at that store. No, Nooo he says they don’t do that. He he asked where did I live? I said nearby. Then he’s like why don’t we just come to your house and make the repairs there. I said what’s the difference between making the repairs at my house or doing it in the shop. He just mumbled something that didn’t make sense. Then he said he never heard of the company that made the unit so he couldn’t do the repairs???
It seems to me this Frankfort fireplace store just wants to make service calls and go to your home so they can make more money. How could they not fix the unit in their shop in the back. I would’ve left the unit there and waited as long as they needed to have it repaired. What could possibly be the difference between fixing something in their shop or at a customers home??? Very dissatisfied customer!

Agree with other reviewers No stars if it was possible. Terrible Customer service. Sales person is always to busy to answer the phone. No emailed quote as promised and does not return phone calls. Will take my business elsewhere.

I feel obligated to write an update. I guess when you’re spending thousands on a new fireplace, service is awesome. But when it comes time to spend a few bucks on finessing the job (putting an aesthetically pleasing box around the metal stack, removing the old stack, and adding matching hearth stone around the patio door), service isn’t that great. I’ve been waiting weeks for an estimate and was told «traffic became heavy». Apparently new customers are a priority over existing. I’m now working with a roofer to have them handle the job. Very disappointed.

Couldn’t have asked for a better experience! Friendly, efficient, accountable, and responsible! I worked with Alan and he was able to get me what I needed at a price I could afford. Our deck looks great with it’s new table and chairs! Thank you for great service!

I’m going three stars on this one. The store is very inviting and the staff is knowledgeable and friendly. But the pricing on everything here is about double what you should actually pay. I bought a log lighter to put in my fireplace and a log rack to burn the logs on. It seemed pricey at the time, but I figured its just what the stuff costs.
That is until I stumbled across the exact same items at Home Depot. They were literally less than half of what I paid at Southwest Fireplace. So there’s’ that.
I can’t comment on their service, but I will do some price comparison before I blindly have them send a guy over.

**** Consumer Beware****
I called Southwest fireplace when the flames of my direct vent fireplace we very low. They sent out John the technician who did a complete cleaning job of the fireplace place and the fireplace worked great after that. A couple months later I called them again because again I had low flames and they basically blew me off and were very rude to me, told me there was nothing more they could do for the fireplace because the unit was not longer made and parts for it were no longer made. I spoke to one of the managers who told me that I needed a whole new fireplace at a cost of about $ 5200. Southwest did not even bother to send a technician back out to see if the fireplace could be troubleshooted or if they could get the part for it. They do not want to bother with the small stuff they just want the big Jobs. I found out though another company that all that was needed was a new valve (which is still being made). Everything can be repaired Southwest just does not want to bother trying. Southwest is an overpriced company who just cares about profit and not the customer. Call someone else before Calling Southwest.

This company gave me great service at a great price! I live in Manteno, IL and my local Manteno shop wanted twice as much as SW Fireplace charged me. The guy from Southwest Fireplace came out, took off his shoes, was very nice and fixed the problem within 30 minutes!
I was very impressed that they came out to me from Frankfort so quickly and charged me a fair price.
Thank you
Mike

Would love t give this place a zero star review, as the others have stated. I agree that their prices were competitive but the installation was absolute garbage. After three tries to get it right, I hired a professional to fix their mess up. See you in court SW!

NO STARS!!!
Do not patronize this business. We, too, experienced Bill at Southwest Fireplace. He is both rude and unaccommodating. I think he has a problem with women as he did not return my call, but did speak to my husband. At any rate, there are many businesses that provide the same service; choose one of them.

There installation work is shoddy at best, I got a decent fireplace for a good price but don’t let them do the install their subs are a bunch of hacks