John F LeBlanc Chimney & Slate Service

I hired John LeBlanc?s Chimney & Slate Service to rebuild my chimney from the roofline up in September of 2008. I hired John solely based on a recommendation from a colleague who, it turned out, had only heard good things about his company. I didn?t ask for any other references or to see any of his other work since I was in a hurry to get the job done and John seemed eager to do the work. This turned out to be a big mistake on my part. John?s crew did a very poor job. The joints are so big I?ve described the chimney as a school of bricks swimming in a sea of mortar. There was no attempt made to cut any bricks to fit and the whole mess isn?t plumb and clearly bulges out in several places. John tried to convince me that it was a decent job and that I was, in effect, being too fussy. When I spoke to him on the phone and told him that I wanted it rebuilt, he told me his guys were too busy and that he couldn?t pull them off the other jobs they were doing. I then told him that I wanted him to refund the $1500 I?d paid him so that I could have someone else rebuild it. He got angry, told me that wasn?t fair and that I should take him to court. Then he hung up on me. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, to which John never responded, so I filed in small claims court in June of 2009. I was awarded $1350 plus court costs and John paid the award in July.