Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/06/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I had Commonwealth Chimney repair my chimney and install a liner. It was difficult to get the company to complete the job with the person not showing up for several days at a time. Once the job was finally completed, I noticed that there was a problem with my hot water heater and that some of the plastic on top was melting due to the exhaust gases not venting properly. I called Commonwealth Chimney several times to come and fix the overheating problem. I never heard back from them. I had to call another chimney company to come and inspect the chimney work, and they said the liner was not installed properly and that there was a drafting problem, and that they would need to start over and replace the liner to get the problem resolved. I now have to have another company redo the work that Commonwealth Chimney did at additional expense.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/21/2023

  We collected an $1,132 deposit for the work that was agreed upon on 3/15/23, and started the work on 4/3/23.  During the project, we noticed that in order to correctly connect the liner to the base of the chimney, we had to remove roughly 9 brick from the exterior part of the chimney , at which we charged an additional $259.  We took before and after pictures, and allowed the customer to see the repair work, step by step , at which he was happy with.  We completed the project on 4/8/23, a total of 4 days .    We received 2 calls and 2 voicemails from the customer around the last week of May, 2023, almost 2 months after the work was done, in which he stated that he was concerned with an o ring on top of his hot water heater that was melted, and he wanted us to return to install a tee cap for the liner base, in order to fix the issue. Our work is guaranteed and we provide customers with un-limited warranties, so we would have loved to have the opportunity to have went back to take care of the issue .  Unfortunately, I myself had a death in my family, and I had to take 2-3 weeks off from work in order to deal with it.  When I returned back to work, I was prepared to contact the customer and go back to take care of installing the part for free, but I found out on my website that he had contacted another company only a week after he attempted to contact me, and decided to believe the other companies opinion of the work that they wanted to do, and they obviously told him that the work I did was not done properly.  I feel bad that they lied to him in order to have him pay them thousands of dollars, and I feel disappointed that I could not get the chance to take care of his issue , especially knowing that he hired another company to do extra work just a week or so after I had missed his 2 phone calls. If the customer had an emergency issue , like carbon monoxide entering his home, or the liner not drafting , I would have returned from out of state much sooner and I would have called him back immediately.  The voicemail that he left in regards to his issue/concern obviously needed to be addressed, but in no way he had mentioned he had an emergency issue. In other words, if he could have waited an additional week for my return/call, this matter would have been taken care of free of charge. 

  Business Response

  Date: 06/23/2023

  I had completed the necessary chimney repair work for **** within 5 to 6 days. He was on site to see the step-by-step repair work. I was doing for his chimney and towards the end of the repair work, he asked me to change the connection I had made for his chimney liner to the heating appliances.  I only did this to make him happy, rather than have him refused to pay me when the work was done. After I finished the entire job, **** was extremely pleased with my work and happy with everything I have done. Almost 2 months after the date of the work being completed, is when I had received two missed calls with two voicemails from ****, only stating that he had a concern. He never stated that he was having a problem with anything. At the time of his missed call, I was out of the state spending time with my family in ************, to deal with a death in my family. This was why I was unable to return his phone call sooner than later. When I did return back to work, and to attend to my business, I wanted to contact **** right away, which was about 12 days after I had missed his call, but before I attempted to call him, I had noticed that he was very quick with leaving me a bad review on my website, and it was too late for me to call him, because he had hired another company to supposedly repair his chimney and take care of his issue. In my 18 years of experience in the chimney industry, I have never had an issue like this, where I had done a repair job for a customer, and was not given the time and the chance to respond. ****, has every right to feel disappointed due to the 12 days it took me to possibly contact him back. If **** could have waited, just a few extra days, then I would have returned to his home, and I would have taken care of any issue or problem he had at the time free of charge, especially due to the warranty that I provided him with.  Instead of **** patiently waiting for my call, he unfortunately contacted another company too quick due to him being paranoid about a minor issue. Which ever company he had contacted and hired to do the Chimney work, basically lied to him and took advantage of a gullible person, in order to take his money, and in order to do that, they had to make him believe them, bye bad mouthing the chimney repair work I have done.  I would have been more than happy to take care of any issue or concern that **** had at the time, but I was not given the opportunity to do so, therefore, the warranty that I provided him is considered voided, and he will not be entitled to a refund. Even if he believed the other company, he should have waited a few extra days to talk with me about their opinion of my work, and at that point, I would have taken care of the issue or concern he had. I cannot provide any customer with a refund, especially if they do not give me the opportunity to help them out with their issue or concern, as well as being impatient, and choosing to call another company.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/26/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I'm afraid this is a totally inaccurate response to the situation and not what happened. 

  First the work was started on 3/14/23 and was completed on 4/8/23. I have the cancelled checks to prove the dates when the deposit was provided to start the work, and when the last payment was made at completion. That's certainly more than 7 days... 

  The work to be done consisted of repairing some brick work on the top of the chimney and placing a liner in the chimney, as I was told the liner was necessary. After inspection, he told me he found debris in the chimney and had to cut a hole in the side of the chimney to remove it, which turned out to be just some old mortar. This made a liner necessary, and he proceeded to put in a liner and do the brick work. The external brick work looked fine, but the problem occurred due to a problem with the liner inside the chimney that is invisible from the outside and connections to the furnace in the basement that I only discovered by accident several weeks later after I saw the melted plastic on top of my hot water heater.

  When I called to get the repairs needed, I stated that I was having an issue with overheating on my water heater, and that I needed him to come out and fix things. I didn't discover the problem until May 18 when I called and left a message. I called again on May 24 and left another message stating the problem. I heard nothing back. This was an urgent problem as I did not want to do any further damage to the water heater of cause ** to get into my living areas. I waited several days and heard nothing.

  On 6/16/23, I had another chimney company come out to fix the issues after not hearing anything from this company. I could not continue to wait to hear from him while my water heater and possibly the furnace if I used it could get permanently damaged or worse cause damage tot he house. It was an unsafe situation.

  In taking apart the work that had been done, the company I called to do the repairs discovered that the liner connection inside the chimney had come apart and was not even connected to the piece going up the chimney. It was also not the size claimed (6 inches) and hat been stitched together from two pieces of liner rather than one continuous piece that is the proper way to do it. Further, they found that the connection at the bottom of the chimney that came out to the furnace and water heater was also not properly connected and leaking gases as the Tee connection had been cut and only connected using some adhesive instead of screwed together. This caused the exhaust gases to not properly vent through the chimney and back up onto my furnace and hot water heater, as well as release into the basement.

  As the repairs were being made, I took pictures of what they found so I am able to document what the situation was before the new company took apart the failed chimney connections, and after wards when they finished the replacement work. I also took pictures of the original work as it was being done for reference. As a result of the repairs done by the new company, we now have a fully functioning chimney with proper venting and no more overheating.

  At this point this whole experience is in the past and I don't wish to continue to spend time on this as it appears there will be no responsibility taken. I do want to make sure that others understand that this was an issue with the contractor and perhaps think twice about employing him. This was not just an issue of cosmetics, but rather an issue of safety.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************