Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/16/2024

  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.

  We purchased a home and moved in on October 2nd. The seller had the back wall of the fireplace box rebuilt as part of the signed repair addendum. The work was done by Family Chiminey Repair. I have a copy of the estimate/ invoice, receipt, and photo of work completed. The back wall cracked less than 3 months from date of repair (9/24/24). I called and the woman on the phone was shocked, said that shouldnt have cracked, and that they would stand by their work. **** came out to evaluate, he stated he was the owner of the company and that he did the work himself. He stated he would not stand behind his work, that there was no warranty, and we shouldnt have had fires in the fireplace for 30 days. However, we did not use that fireplace until Thanksgiving, which is over 60 days after repair. He said we could pay him to rebuild the back wall again.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/17/2024

  We acknowledge this work was done on September 10th for the home seller.  At that time, we verbally gave him specific instructions for use of the fireplace after the repairs were made to avoid further damage to the firebox.
  
  These instructions included:
  (1) Do not make any fires for 60 days
  (2) After 60 days, you can make small fires for about a week.
  (3) Then gradually build the fires larger until reaching your desired fire size.
  
  When the manager of Family Chimney Repair was there, he looked at the back wall and exactly in the center where the crack is, the color of the brick has changed.  It is much whiter than other areas of the brick.  This shows that the fire was super strong, which created the damage right away.  There is an area of approximately 1 square foot.
  
  Based on discussions with home buyer, she stated that she never received any instructions from the previous owner.
  
  We do not give warranties for repair work - only for complete rebuilds.
  
  We have done many firebox repairs without any problems because they followed the instructions.
  
  Family Chimney Repair still wants to help the customer.  We came on December 16 with two options to this customer:
  
  ************************* the existing crack that day without any cost. The manager had all the materials with him and would do the work immediately. There would be no warranty for this work as it is only a repair and not a rebuild. She would then have to follow the instructions, above, that had been given to the previous homeowner.
  
  2) Tear down the back wall, re-do the rebuild as had been done before and she would have the instructions not to build a fire for 60 days and then slowly build up the size of the fires. Again, there is no warranty as this is repair work and not a complete rebuild.  
  
  We have tested these instructions many times and the back wall will not crack if these instructions are followed. When a new back wall is initially subjected to high heat all at once, the back wall will crack.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/26/2024

  The response from the seller is a lie. He never offered me a no cost solution to repair the crack. I wouldnt be upset and filing a complaint if he offered to repair my chimney for free like I was asking him to do. Instead he told me he could rebuild but not for free because there was no warranty. 
  
  We will not accept a repair from the psychopath liar that owns this business. We do not trust his integrity or quality of workmanship. To resolve this complaint, he needs to pay the bill for another reputable company of our choosing to do the repair. Also, other customers should know the poor quality his work is and his failure to stand behind his work. 
  
  Thank you, 
  ***** Krump