Safeside Chimney and Duct Cleaning

I had Safeside come to my home to clean out my dryer vent back in mid January. When it was finished, the technicians said that my vent was completely cleaned out and that I should have no problems for quite some time. 4 months later, I had to fix my dryer because the control panel had malfunctioned. When the control panel was fixed, the technicians told me that there was blockage in the vent. That blockage was the likely reason that my control panel had broken. So, in essence, the blockage from January was never rectified. When I called Safeside, they said that it wasn’t their fault, but they would send someone to look at it. Not their fault??? I have a blockage in my vent that could have caused my house to be set on FIRE. That is most certainly their fault — they didn’t clear blockage properly! Plus, the operator/​receptionist on the line was rude, loud, and very unfriendly. I’m going with another company to look at my vent. DO NOT USE SAFESIDE.

We’ve had them out 3 or 4 times for a cleaning, to install flashing and a cap and to seal the bricks when water was getting in our attic. They are knowledgeable and friendly and seem to fix it right the first time without automatically going to the most expensive option.
Scheduling in four hour windows is a bit rough, but they always are willing to give me a call when they get there, get up on the roof and talk to me when I can get home to meet them.

Extremely disappointed! They went and changed my appointment time in order to fit THEIR SCHEDULE without any concern for mine. I tried to get them to honor the appointment I made because I could not change my schedule or find someone to sit around during the appointment windows, but they would not. They tried to reschedule to another day, but again, that was inconvenient for me as well. The original appointment was the only day and time I had free due to work obligations. Very unprofessional. I understand that they provide a service, but not everyone can drop everything because they made a mistake in scheduling. Comcast has never even done this.
Plus, this isn’t the first time they’ve done this to me. They need to become better at scheduling.
It’s a shame as the one time they were able to come to clean my chimney, the sweeps were very professional and explained everything. We liked them enough that we wanted them to clean our dryer ducts.
Disappointed.

Guys stole my chimney cap and tried to rip me off. This company is nothing bunch of scam artists who take advantage of the working man. I will never use their services again.

Great folks, great service! First estimate I had came to 900 bucks, the guy wanted to replace all the dryer vent tubes with hard pipe, re-​route them, and create a new vent on the other side of the house. He had a binder full of pictures of examples of the «right» and «wrong» way things should be set up — total Appeal to Fear. Safeside guys cleaned the vent and cut off a little extra of the tube and done. They also went up on the roof and noticed we didn’t have a cover on one chimney so they did that, found a big crack in it, and are coming back to repair it. Easy, no fuss. Friendly guys, great vibes, loved on my dogs.

Each year for the last 3 years I relied on Deans stove & spa. Always had a issue; from over booked technicians to unfriendly servicemen (especially if you have dogs). Well NO MORE now that I discovered Safeside Chimney. I called and set up a appointment with no issues. My service techs were Steve & Willy, these guys were amazing. Upon inspecting my 2 chimneys I was told I had developed crown cracking on both. Steve explained the function of the crown and why it is very important to maintain (something Deans missed for the last servicing). For a reasonable price I had both chimneys done and had the chimney cleaned (which was what the original appointment was for). I could not be happier with the service I got. From this day forward Safeside will be performing all chimney services. Steve & Willy I want to thank you so much for the services you provided me. It was so refreshing to deal with a smooth running business

We had Derek from Safeside come by the house today to examine the crown and give an estimate. he took time to explain every step, show me in detail what they were looking for, then he explained what they had found, made recommendations explaining why they were recommended and what they would accomplish. He offered to stay with his crew and complete the work if we desired, since it was very important for safety reasons to have the work xompleted. They did the work quickly and very neatly, he then kindly exaimed the roof to make sure no damage had occurred. I highly recommend this fantastic company!

I used this company to clean my chimney for several years with no complaints. The last time they found a hole in the lining and i had to get a new one. They told me that the liners are custom made and would call me when it was ready. They also said not to use the heat due to the danger of a leak. They never called to say it was ready. When i called they said they had forgot. They came out several days later and installed it. The tech who did this damaged my chimney in several places but denied doing the damage. He tried to charge me $ 600 to fix it. Fortunately i had the pictures from when they cleaned it to prove what happened. I spoke to a VP at the company who never apologized and said they would call me to set a repair date. They never called. When i called back i found that they had come to my house with no appointment and fixed it. I really dont appreciate them coming on my property without my knowledge. I will never use this company again. They do not seem very honest and dont even apologize when they get caught being dirtbags.

Good service from the initial visit for an estimate to the day when they installed our chimney liner. Showed up when they said they would (a little early for the install, but they waited for me!), technicians answered questions and were personable and professional and the install went well. I would recommend them to others.

We had a brick come loose in our fireplace and had Safeside come out to give us an estimate to address that and sweep the chimney while they were at it. They were able to get us in within a few days of my call and called when they were on their way (which was within the estimated service window).
Two gentlemen came, one to clean the chimney and one to give us an estimate for the repair. The chimney cleaning took maybe 15 minutes. No complaints with the cleanliness. We were surprised by the amount of the estimate (four digits) to replace the brick and called upon a family friend who used to be a chimney sweep. He both disagreed with the scope of their recommended repair and the quoted price. As a result of his opinion, and, frankly, our gut, we went a different direction.

The absolute WORST service — not only are they unreliable, but their work product is shoddy. They put a chimney cap on that was too big. They applied a TON of silicone and it came off. We call them to address this and they promised to come to look at it – they never showed up. Stay away from this company. There are better contractors out there.

They recommended a pellet stove as I complained about my 1000 dollar oil bills… I was hesitant as I thought it would be to much work… needless to say I heat my house for 5dollars in pellets a day… no mess, arrived on time, called before hand. very professional. Thank you guys for advice and follow through

We had Safeside scheduled for today for 3 fireplaces cleaning. The guys showed up within given timeframe, were extremely thorough and efficient. Free evaluation of all chimneys and vents was included, minor cracks around chimney lining were fixed at the time of inspection at a discount, great job overall. Will use again and highly recommend!

After having them come out and clean our fireplace and hard to clean Godin coal stove– which they performed exceptionally at– we decided to give them our business for duct cleaning. What another great experience! The two guys they sent were personable and knowledgeable, explaining what they will be doing. I’m one of those homeowners who HATES having service people over. I felt comfortable right away.
They were very neat, organized and professional through it all. Everything was done to perfection and once they left, you would never know they were even here, except that the ducts aren’t blowing dust out! Highly recommend!

Wow!,
After a week of shopping the competition to install a wood stove insert, they came all the way from Hartford to assess the situation… where all others said «just fax us these dimension on this sheet and we know how to do the rest.
It turns out the these guys were honest and said that the pre-​construction insert fireplace we had MUST be documented to be rated for a wood stove… and the stove itself must be DOCUMENTED that it is rated to go inside a pre-​construction insert fireplace.
If I had listened to the others and gone forward… and God forbid had a fire, my insurance would instantly be voided and unpaid.
The firewall of the original insert likely cannot take the level of heat output a wood stove would create.
These guys win the credibility test for sure. It was even recommended after inspection that before anything we should have the guts of our existing insert replaced for safety no matter what. They left a copy of their insurance, license and an official write up of the inspection which shows integrity even though it’s difficult news for us to move forward with.
Better than burning the house down and insurance not covering it… or worse!

Either I got really lucky, or they’re working hard to improve. I had an expired Living Social coupon — they honored it. I had no problem scheduling. They gave me a two-​hour window, between 2 — 4pm. They showed up at about 2:45. They did a very thorough job cleaning, and installed a much-​needed cap. Been putting that off for a while. They were friendly, polite, informative. Took picture of everything they did for me. I’m a happy camper.

The company was prompt — was helping a friend who I was visiting — he had to go to work so I stayed to meet the chimney cleaners — the guys were professional — and agile when it came to climbing to the roof and getting to the chimney — almost a tightrope walk.
Put the big brush down the chimney and I watched as they fed about 40 feet of poles pushing the chimney dirt to the bottom and the other guy vacuumed the debris — all they were missing were the top hats

They make the Cable Guy look prompt, courteous, and reliable. They never showed up for my appt. Saturday. They also didn’t call to cancel. In fact, they still haven’t called me back. Now, I will use «Chim-​Chiminee» (yes, that is seriously their name, too cute) instead. They have 5 stars on Unilocal

I have used them too. They are very fast, charge a lot, and aren’t very thorough. I still had a bird skeleton in my chimney AFTER they left. There is nothing they do you can’t do yourself with a shop vac, seriously

This review is a «live, minute-​to-​minute» breakdown of my experience with Safeside. I purchased a prepaid certificate from a local radio station, so I’m pretty much stuck with them, like it or not.
7:55 AM:
Let’s say you schedule an appointment with a service company (a chimney sweep, for example). They give you an appointment 3 weeks down the road and can offer you no better than a 4-​hour window (9:00−1:00) in which to expect the tech to arrive. That day comes and you’re still in bed, your girlfriend is half-​naked and getting ready for work and the tech decides showing up, unannounced, an hour early should be just fine.
Now let’s say you speak with the tech on the phone after the door goes unanswered and inform them they’re an hour early and that they’ll need to return at their scheduled time.
8:45 AM: Just to be safe, why not leave a message for the tech asking that he call back with his expected arrival time? 9:00 is approaching and I’d like to be able to plan my day.
11:00 AM:
Should you need to call their office 3 hours later to confirm they’re still coming? What if you do and are told they’re on the other side of the state now and you’ll just need to wait around all day to greet them whenever they arrive (with no guess as to when that will be, except that it will be after the original 4-​hour window). Should you be annoyed? I am.
3:45 PM:
Would you expect at least a courtesy call at this point? Maybe. Oh well, call them. Speak to a manager again. He promises to call you right back when he figures out where his techs are.
4:15 PM:
Received a call back? Of course not! I’ll just call them again. Get the manager on the phone again and begin to express my extreme distaste in my first experience with their company when I’m informed he’ll likely not have anyone out here now because it’s getting dark. To alleviate my frustration he reminds me that «I already had techs at my house and I turned them away.» Are you kidding me??? THEY WERE AN HOUR EARLY… NOT MY FAULT! He’s gonna call back again when he talks to another of his area techs.
Something vaguely resembling an apology is muttered. I believe it was «I hear ya.»
4:30 PM:
The manager actually called me back this time. Someone is on his way.
5:00 PM:
Nothing new. No tech yet.
5:10 PM:
The techs arrived. Clearly, they’ve been informed that I’m a pain in the ass. They’re very meek but pleasant enough. I’m told this should take about 30 minutes. I’m gonna just stay out of their way.
My 4-​hour window turned into an unexpected 9 – 10 hour window with potentially the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced.
Let’s hope my house doesn’t burn down now, which it may if their services rendered are as terrible as their business practices.
Thank you Safeside.