SOUTHWEST FIREPLACE

I had a wonderful experience working with Debbie to submit a work order, scheduling the tech was professional through the service, and Roy was on time, very professional and considerate when servicing my fireplace. He answered all of my questions thoroughly and cleaned up after his service. I had a follow up conversation with Dean in the office after the service because I had an additional question and he was also very pleasant and professional. I would highly recommend using Southwest Fireplace.

They installed 3 fireplaces for us. Two of them spewed soot all over our new white home. They showed up 5 months later to fix it, and turned a sooting fireplace into a broken fireplace. The third fireplace never worked and they continually ordered the wrong parts over the last 6 months. When we finally got someone else to do the repairs, Southwest wrote us saying they will no longer honor our warranties and will issue another $500 bill for work they refused to come perform. What a terrible way to do business and a sad organization. Trust the bad reviews on them, I wish we had

Dean was very pleasant, professional and helpful. He was able to help me fix the problem and it didn’t cost me a thing

Once we were able to get an appointment, the person was on-time, professional and did a great job getting our fireplace working consistently and we have had no issues since the repair/maintenance to the appliance.

They come and check your fireplace every winter and Summer to check for any problems.

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They were excellent. They were very careful with the drop claus cleaning and putting the insert in. They didn't do any damage to the bricks or anything.

The smell of gas was noted in the room adjacent to our fireplace.  I called Southwest Fireplace to schedule a service call. Roy was the name of the serviceman.  He was very friendly, knowledgeable and professional.  He removed his shoes at the front door and laid a tarp/blanket down in front of our fireplace before inspecting it. Problems/issues were resolved.  Roy answered all of our questions and concerns.  We will definitely use Southwest Fireplace again if we should ever have any fireplace problems in the future.

Before we get to the point in the job where quality of workmanship becomes a factor, you have to get an appointment. This part happens to be more of a labored and frustrating experience here than any other contractor I've worked with to date.

The first time you call, the receptionist transfers you to a “salesman.” It doesn't matter if you aren't buying anything other than basic service (chimney sweep, repair, etc), you speak to a salesman. If you've hired this company in the past, and your assigned salesman is not in for the day, you get to speak to voicemail and wait 24 hours or more for your salesman to call back. Don't expect an immediate morning callback either, as they appear to prefer hanging out in the showroom to dealing with phone clients.

When you finally get to speak to your salesman, he will discuss the issue with you, make what sounds suspiciously like a sales pitch for what is really a basic service that you already want, and solicit a down payment for the job. All well and good, except this is not the phone call where you actually schedule service. After taking your money and before hanging up, he'll inform you that you'll receive an additional call to actually create the appointment... within 1-2 days. That's right, you've now agreed to the job and put down a down payment, but you can't actually get onto the schedule yet.

If you're lucky, some time in the next few days you'll get a call from the scheduling person who does exactly what should have taken your salesman an extra 30 seconds to do during the initial call: give you a date when they'll show up (assuming it's not raining for outdoor work). The date will seemingly always be at least 1-2 weeks out, padded with however many days it took the keeper of the date book to get in touch with you.  I actually wound up calling them back 48 hours later in at least one case, wondering why no appointment was made.  When I got the scheduler on the phone she gladly set up the appointment but it did not appear she had any plans to call me in the near future.

When dealing with some non-essential service, I suppose it wouldn't be a big deal to wait the better part of a week just to create an appointment, but in my case I was dealing with a water leak and subsequent water damage, and found the whole process ridiculous and stressful. There was no apparent attempt to speed things up, no matter how clear I made it that damage was being done to my house during the delays. And lest you think I just caught them on a bad week(s), I went through the same drawn out procedure on no less than 3 occasions spread over more than a month.  It's just their routine.

The experience with the workmen was OK.  They did show up on time, and they were what I would consider professional.  The chimney sweep went fine and the chimney does appear to be clean.

The leak repair did not go as well.  I first paid for a "diagnostic" visit.  The diagnostic of my leak consisted of a visual inspection with the recommendation to replace the flashing.  I went through the scheduling routine again and paid to have the flashing replaced when basic caulking did not stop the problem.  

Sadly, the new flashing was either installed incorrectly, or not the answer for the leak.  Water is still coming into the house.  I've had several roofers here at this point, and none of them find fault with the roof beyond the chimney.  Since the repair, at least one has suggested the new flashing was not installed well.  But no matter how you explain the situation, it doesn't come out well for this company.  Either they charged me several hundred dollars for a botched repair, or the diagnostic I paid for was perfunctory and did not correctly determine the source of the problem before jumping to sell me an expensive solution.  I will now have to pay even more money for someone else to deal with the problem.

Conclusion: Probably safe for a basic chimney sweep, but cannot recommend for repair work.