Chimneys R US

I was skeptical to call these guys because of their Unilocal rating (1 star at the time of this writing), but let me tell you I got top notch service. I originally called another company who did some work last year right before we moved in. After 3 messages I gave up (no human. Just a machine). There aren’t many options in the area that I could find, so despite Chimneys R Us’ Unilocal review we gave them a call. The receptionist was very pleasant and we got an appointment for a week out, which considering the time of year is pretty good.
The scheduled day we got a phone call and Joe told us he’s about 10 minutes away. We completely forgot about the appointment and happened to be out. Oops. We let him know we’d be a couple minutes late and he said no problem. Showed up at the house and he was already checking out the chimney from the roof. Came down and introduced himself and got to work inside.
He was here for maybe an hour. 30 minutes of that was cleaning the chimney, which he did an excellent job and even let me poke my head up there to take a look (spotless). The rest of the time was spent talking to me about an insert I was interested in, and taking a quick look at my basement fireplace (which I thought was a piece of crap but he was loving it and told me I should use it all the time) and my currently unused wood stove chimney in the corner of the house. He was super informative and really helped me solidify what I need to do in the house for heat efficiency and what my cost options would be. Super friendly, very knowledgable, and really seams to love what he does.
I also informed him (before he started) that at the last chimney inspection we were told that we’d need a new chimney liner (this was from the company I tried calling originally that never called me back this year). This was something that I was pretty anxious about mainly because that’s a very expensive job, but also of course it’s a safety concern. After his inspection he told us it all looks good. There’s a few hairline cracks around but nothing to worry about right now. This is something they certainly could have taken advantage of, but he was honest about it and even made sure to snap some pictures to let me see for myself.
The bottom line is don’t be scared by these bad Unilocal reviews. Maybe Gene is a pain in the ass or something (I’ve had no communication with anyone by that name). Just ask for Joe. He’s the man. One of the friendliest people I’ve met, and he really knows his stuff. I did ask about their bad Unilocal review. I’m not sure they really even know about Unilocal.They put all of their testimonials on their website. I’m going to contact them and tell them to ask people to make some Unilocal reviews for them because this rating is completely unwarranted and I’m sure they’re losing some business because of it.
There was also no $ 100 estimate fee or anything that some of these reviews mention. Maybe it’s because I already knew I needed the chimney cleaned. They didn’t try to charge me anything more than what they said the price of the sweep was. It’s not the cheapest chimney service, but it is great service and I’ll be calling Joe for all of my chimney and fireplace needs in the future. Thank you Joe!

This is the second time we met with and tried to work with Gene (old guy). He first was VERY rude to my wife who met them in the store and had valid questions.
I then requested a quote for a new fireplace or wood burning stove install at a house we are renovating. He came out and was miserable, unhelpful, and just plain rude.
Upon getting the $ 99 bill for coming out and being a dick, I mentioned that we cut checks from the office and will mail it in. His comment «There is no billing unless i say there is a billing. I’m the owner and will do what i want». He should have added «I’m an ass hole also»
I will not ever give him a cent of my business.
Unfortunately the younger Gene who came out was a nice and helpful guy, but the older guy killed it. We deal with hundreds of contractors a year in our business and this guy takes it as the A-​Hole of the year for 2015. It amazes me that he is just so rude and plain mean; especially as the owner. I’m sorry for anyone who has to ever work for him or with him. Close your business, you dont need to interact with regular decent people.

BE CAREFUL! Very overpriced and a rip off! First off, every time I spoke to the woman who answered the phone, she acted like I was bothering her and was hard to schedule with. My chimney needed to be repointed, cleaned, and then have a chimney cap installed. Chimney’s R Us charges a $ 100 estimate fee that you will lose if you do not use them. Despite the $ 100 fee I decided that I would go ahead and get the estimate done by them as well as 3 – 4 other companies. The estimate I received from Chimney’s R Us was hundreds of dollars more than 3 other companies. I decided that I wouldn’t get the repairs done but wanted to have Chimney’s R Us come clean the chimney out (this was included in the original scope of work remember). So when I called to set something up and asked them to apply the $ 100 to the cleaning price, they would not do it even though it was INCLUDED IN THE ORIGINAL SCOPE OF WORK!!! The women at Chimney’s R Us tried to say that the estimate did not include cleaning the chimney… nice try… except that I told her multiple times that I wanted the chimney cleaned BEFORE the chimney cap was installed. I specifically recall her verbally agreeing and comprehending this request. She then tried to tell me that they offer a free estimate if you get the chimney cleaning upfront. My whole experience was filled with excuses and horribly rude customer service. If only my concern was received with polite and insightful customer serivce I doubt I would feel the way I do. Do yourself a favor and avoid them.