The Mad Hatter Chimney Service

Service Provider Response

It looks like you left messages on the Angie's list message center - it is always best to call our office directly at 317-596-0200 as this message center is not checked regularly nor are we notified when there is a message. You can also send us an email request for service from our website www.madhatterindy.com.

Service Provider Response

Dennis Lamb who is the owner of The Mad Hatter and a certified chimney sweep performed a LV 1 inspection per the NFPA211 standards which we follow. The prospective buyer that hired us to do the inspection was interested in converting this back to a wood burning fireplace therefore the estimate we provided was to remove the old insert and reline the fireplace flue with a stainless steel liner system, parge the smoke chamber and install a top mount damper - NOT to connect a stainless steel liner to the existing insert as CICS quoted. We provided estimates based on what the prospective buyer was interested in - this member was not our customer in this transaction.

Service Provider Response

We were contacted on 2/2/15 by this previous customer. She had indicated that she had leaking directly into her firebox. Via our previous report and the questions I asked the home owner I determined that she had a prefabricated fireplace and more than likely she had a bad chase cover. On 2/13/15 I sent one of my techs to her home to evaluate. The photos that were returned to me showed an inferior chase cover that would definitely be contributing to the leaking. The pictures also reflected exposed step flashing at the base of the chimney which can contribute to leaking(these photos were forwarded to the homeowner per her request). This chimney is difficult to access and the photo manager we use in the office has the ability to zoom into areas that were harder to access while on her roof. As a company who has been doing this kind of work for over 10 years we felt like we would be doing a disservice to the homeowner NOT to mention this. The price for the flash seal portion of the repair was separate from the cost to replace the chase cover. The cost to replace the chase cover was still the $1300 that was quoted by the technician, the flash seal was a recommended repair. When the homeowner contacted me a few minutes after the email was sent she questioned the cost of the estimate and I told her everything that I have indicated in this response. We are not trying to take advantage of or mislead any customer.

Service Provider Response

[member name removed]emailed our office to schedule an appt for repair estimate regarding some issues at the top of his chimney-when I called him to schedule I explained that it would be $99 for a visual est or $159 for a sweep-he opted for the sweep. I explained to him we do the sweep from the inside(he thought we did the sweep from the top) and as long as my tech could safely access the top of the chimney at the time of the appt he would. [member name removed]said that it would be a difficult access and his roof is very steep. On 12/8 our tech did sweep the flue and do a visual inspection of the interior fireplace and flue and found no issues. He then went to do the exterior inspection and was able to access the top of the chimney and took 30 pictures of the exterior and explained to [member name removed]the repairs that he recommended. No written estimate was given at this time. We received a letter in the mail from Mr S that he thought the sweep was done very quick and didn't think it should cost $159 but he thought our tech was a super nice guy and represented our company well and that he would like to schedule the repair and have the same tech do it. He also stated that he would recommend our company to others. On 12/10 and estimate for $1184 was emailed to him for the repairs we recommended which was different from what others were recommending according to what he told us. I emailed him explaining that due to the difficult access and the extra time it took to access the top of him chimney we felt that our tech went beyond the scope of a routine LV 1 sweep and inspection and that we felt the $159 was fair. I also explained what all our estimate included and that those repairs would have to be done when the weather conditions are favorable in the Spring. He emailed our office again saying he had an estimate from someone else for $750 (for different repairs than we recommended) and ask if we could do our repairs for around $700 that he would really like to go with us. He email again on 12/21 asking if we could do the repairs for $1000. We were out of the office over the holidays and when we returned we had another email from 1/3/15 threatening to "advise our attorney general, Angie's List, BBB and his attorney as to what has transpired". The only time anyone in our office actually spoke with [member name removed] over the phone was when the original appt was scheduled-all other correspondence was via email. We did email him at that time explaining again that the repair we are recommending would have to be done when the weather is at least 45 degrees and dry and that the repairs we are doing are different from what others are recommending and that we feel our price is fair for what we would be doing. We also said that we would not be interested in doing business with him because of his threats in his latest email. [member name removed]was very interested in having us do the repairs and said he felt very comfortable with our tech until we wouldn't do the repairs for the price someone else quoted.

Service Provider Response

We do have Saturday hours thru the busy season which is usually September thru the end of December. Those spots usually fill up very quickly. We apologize if we were unable to accommodate your request.