Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Top Hat's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Top Hat

  401 Linn St Baraboo, WI 53913-1044

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  Top Hat

  5117 Verona Rd Fitchburg, WI 53711-4496

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/17/2023

  Type:Customer Service 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.

  The company came out to perform an inspection and sweeping of the fire place. Spend less than 10 minutes inspecting the fireplace, did not perform any sweeping and charged me $289 for the service. I am not sure what I'm getting charged for.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/22/2023

  We were called to this home to do a sweep and inspection. At the time of booking all customers are informed of the pricing, and we block off a two hour window to complete the sweep and inspection. Sometimes we arrive and it takes the full two hours due to the dirtiness of the fireplace and chimney, and other times we arrive to a chimney that requires minimal cleaning but we always still clean and perform the inspection as the customer has called and requested that service from us.  Some information that was omitted here is that the customer was not actually present for the sweep and inspection, and the customer has already had the charges explained to them over the phone by our operations manager.  We are happy to provide the customer with a copy of the inspection sheet that outlines exactly what the sweep did if the copy that was left at the home was misplaced. 

  During the phone conversation the customer was asked why the sweep and inspection was signed by the person present at the home if they were unsatisfied with the service. It was then and only then that the customer informed the operations manager they were not actually present. In speaking with the sweep following the phone conversation the sweep did confirm it was a short stop, however the chimney was indeed swept from the bottom and that he believed it was the customer's grandparents present-- and that the grandfather even helped the sweep carry his tools he had brought into the home, back out to the truck. 

  We have no way of knowing ahead of time when the customer requests a sweep and inspection-- if one is needed or not, we take their word and block off that billable time on our schedule for them. In this case the need for cleaning was minimal but the services requested were still performed at the price the customer was quoted. While we don't like leaving customers unhappy, we do not feel this complaint is justified. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/24/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  So you just admitted that you did not perform the two hour of work you charge customers for. You are charging 2 hours for a 10 min job. Let me get this right, this is the scam you are running that the BBB should know and investigate. You charge customers for a 2 hours slot, come and do the job in 10 min. Then go straight to the next customer and charge them for 2 hours again and do this over and over to get as many customers in, in a day as possible. That is actually how I got my appointment after a cancelation. Well great business plan of exploiting customers and charging them for a service that was not provided. 

  In regards to your point of "the customer not being home." There was an adult in the house during the visit, which is what was expected. It is non of your business who that adult is. Additionally the charges were not explained over the phone. No one from the company explained to me that a 10 min visit would cost be upwards of $280 dollars. I will guarantee you that the appointment would have been canceled. 

  That is correct, there is no way of knowing ahead of time what the chimney's condition is, however, you can practice good business ethics and charge the customer appropriately when you arrive and find out the full 2 hour is not required and a 10 min visit for inspection is all that is needed and adjust your price for serviced provided accordingly. No one here is asking for a free service. I am asking for a fair service. I am asking the business to charge the customers ethically and charge for the service that was actually provided. 

  Regards,
  
  *******************************

  Business Response

  Date: 11/28/2023

  Any business that conducts their business by appointment sets a specific time allotted for an appointment, and typically there is a minimum flat fee for the appointment. If you go to the doctor or to the dentist and the appointment doesn't take as long as they booked you in for, do you ask them for a refund as well? Service was requested, the requested service was performed, and you were charged accordingly. We book four two hour appointments a day for each of our sweeps, so your assumption that we are running a scam to "get as many customers in per day as possible" is absolutely not true. Our schedule is booked months ahead of time, we don't add appointments to the schedule same day if the chimney sweep seems to be getting appointments done quick, and the chimney sweeps are not incentivized to do their work as quick as possible-- our focus is quality and has been for the last 40 years. We can agree it is none of our business who was home, but given the complaint was made as if you were there, we feel that is relevant context to add. This person who was there signed for the service and did not express any issues at the time of the service. There were also not any issues expressed to our chimney sweep who spoke with you over the phone at the time of the service as well. We are up front about our pricing-- which was the same pricing you received at your last sweep, we communicated with you and the person at the home about what we found, and provided you with documentation to back that up.  We do not feel after all of that, the offering a discount after the fact is necessary. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/28/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  I'm glad you brought up doctor's ******* Being in medical field, that is exactly how that works. Doctors charge insurance based on amount of time and service provided. Don't confuse your co-pay with what actually your doctor is getting paid. Maybe educate yourself before bringing up an empty excuse to provide unethical service to your customers. Again not looking for a discount, asking for a fair price for services provided. When I was called about the service, I was not under the impression that the whole thing took 10 min and that the charge was what it was. Rest assure I would have said something and brought up the issue. It was only when I got home and saw the invoice for what I was being charged. Either way, here is the complaint now. You provided a 10 min inspection, why don't you charge appropriately for that service. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *******************************

  Business Response

  Date: 11/29/2023

  We did not provide a 10 minute inspection. We provided a full  sweep and inspection as you requested, and as you received documentation reflecting. Your were consulted on the phone at the time of the inspection, and the person you chose to have at your home during the inspection expressed no concern about the service and signed off on it. We may not be educated to your liking, but we are educated enough to be able to think of countless additional examples of businesses who charge a flat rate for an appointment/service. At this point we understand you are not going to accept any explanation from us, and it seems we are crossing over into personal insults and assumptions which we will not participate in any further. Your accusations of our ethics or lack thereof are not an accurate portrayal of how we do business, and we have 40 years of happy customers to back that up. We are sorry you are not one of them, but we will not be discounting your sweep after it was already performed. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/29/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  Happy to send in a check as soon as you provide an appropriate invoice. Ball is in your court. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *******************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/19/2022

  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.

  About 3 years ago, I bought a wood burning stove from Top Hat in *******, ********* and they also installed it and they also provide service when needed and order parts as I bought it under warranty. Two years ago one of the parts ceramic that vents out the fumes from the wood while it's being burnt broke and I contacted Top Hat immediately and they confirmed warranty and said they will order it but every few months when I call any times) they act like it's the first te I'm calling and I have to explain again in detail, and they keep on guaranteed that they will order my part. In October, I called them to have a chimney sweep and have top hat also bring my part and they guaranteed again they were bringing it but they did the chimney sweep and not the part. I turn my chimney on as it's freezing outside and yesterday the fumes were coming inside my house which are toxic. They happened to call me this morning and they wanted me to pay the sweep in order for me to get the part that they will supposedly be ordering. Nothing was ordered and now I am left with a chimney that I paid _10,000 but can't use unless I get that part that they only can get as it's under warranty. Please help

  Business Response

  Date: 01/06/2023

  Around the time this complaint was made, we scheduled another appointment for this customer. As the attachement reflects, we installed the part in question on 12/29/22. According to our records we previously replaced other warranty parts for this customer. When we did a ******************** sweep this past November the issue was noted with the latest part that needed to be replaced, the chimney sweep was not covered under warranty and we ask all customers to pay at the time of service. We ordered the new part in November and were back in December with the new part and the customer has been taken care of.