Complaint Review: Chimney Cricket

I had just moved into the neighborhood, and needed my chimney cleaned out, and a new cap installed. After some research I went with Chimney Cricket because they were $10 cheaper than another chimney service I had called, and had better reviews online. However after what happened with me, I wish I had paid the $10 extra dollars and gone with another company.

The beginning of my service began smoothly, with the owner saying that they could come out the next day at 9am "bright and early". So, the next day came, and I got up early so that I could be up and ready for when they showed up. 9am came, and went. 10am came, and went. At 11am I started to wonder if they even going to come that day, so I called the owner. His only explanation was "We had 2 other customers before you, and both of them had neighbors that wanted chimney services done as well. We will be there as soon as we can....We appreciate your business". I said "All right, see you soon", wondering in the back of my mind why they couldn't have at least called and said they would be late. 11am came, and went. 12pm came, and went. At around 1pm an unmarked truck showed up, and sure enough it was Chimney Cricket.

The actual chimney cleaning went smoothly, and they did a good job (not even getting any soot on the carpet). When they were done with the cleaning part, they said they needed to go get the chimney cap. At the time I had to go out and run to the hardware store, however one of the workers told my wife that the total would be $350 for the cleaning & chimney cap. While I was out at the hardware store the owner called me and said that the cap was more expensive than they thought, but that the cleaning was $150, and the cap was $300, but they would take $50 so the total will be $400. I was a little annoyed that they can't get their prices straight, but told them that I understand, and $400 was all right. When I got back to the house, I found out that the workers had already came and gone. My wife had already wrote them a check, and everything. I asked her "So, it was $400 right?". She said "He was going to cut me a deal, and charge me only $425, so I wrote the check for that". Confused and frustrated I called the owner back, and asked him why we agreed on the $400, and suddenly it changed it $425. After some discussion he finally agreed and said that he would mail me a check for the $25. I did not hear anything for 2 weeks, so I called the owner who did not answer the phone. I left a message asking where my check was, but to this day, over a month later i have not received a call back nor a check for the $25