Woodstove & Fireplace Shop

Nightmare experience with this shop. Paid almost $5000 for a gas fireplace insert including installation. At the appointment almost 2 months later, the installers came but did not set the gas fireplace up safely/correctly (my plumber told them) and then left to go to another job, leaving mine unfinished. Barry ran my credit card through for the final (third) payment, after failure 1st visit, without my permission when the fireplace was not safe or useable. The second time the installers came, they did not call or page my plumber as had agreed upon. The installers took a sledgehammer to the top of the chimney damaging the crown and the top few rows of bricks of the chimney. Instead of fixing the liner which needed to be near the top of the chimney, they shortened the chimney! Put a top on that was clearly used as it was dented and rusty, not new. Barry was rude and did not return my calls or emails. Barry left the installation with damage and unfinished. I had to hire a professional mason for thousands of dollars to repair the damage and finish the installation. Worst home improvement experience in 35 years I have owned my house.

We went to the shop with pictures and measurements; after talking with the sales rep, we scheduled to have Barry come measure ($75, towards purchase if you go that route) since I wasn't convinced I was accurate in having something that would fit in the existing fireplace. Barry came and measured, based on that and what we had seen we selected a unit and decided to move forward. There's pre-install plumbing and electrical work to get done; we had some issues getting the plumbing work done - a recommended vendor came, spent a few minutes and left then didn't provide an estimate for long enough that we went with a different plumber - this has nothing to do with the stove shop, but we'd suggest shopping around for the plumbing work. Scheduled a date for the install, but due to the plumbing issues we had to postpone at the last minute - no problem at all from the stove shop rescheduling and got a date about 3 weeks out from the initial plan. On the day of install, everything went smoothly, a few hours later we had a fireplace insert. There was one issue with a custom surround - it wasn't sized correctly but since Barry had done the initial measurements he took care of remeasuring, fixing and replacing with a properly sized surround a few weeks later. Looks great! I don't know what other projects we'll have that fall into their realm, but we'd absolutely use Littleton Stove Shop again.

My wood pellet stove was incorrectly installed and after several attempts to get it done right, I had to hire an outside service to fix it paying extra out of pocket. In short, the instructions with the stove say it should be vented to the outside for air intake but the installers refused to do this. The stove did not even warm the room it was it but it is listed as the largest capacity made (Quadrafire). After trying to work with Barry for weeks he was condescending and arrogant. It was extremely disappointing. The stove now works perfectly and heats my 2000sq foot house.

We have dealt with this company before but installation was new. We knew where the shop was and went without an appointment. They have a good variety of products on display and were responsive to our questions. We purchased the insert and scheduled the installation. The installers were on time and very professional. They spread out drop cloths in the work area. I was hoping they would connect it up and show me how to use it but they told me they are not licensed to connect gas lines. My gas line installer will come back to set it up. They sent me the installation manual on line but it was vague in parts. I called the company for clarification a couple of times before I got a response. I called again to clarify what the installers would do but never got a response. The stove looks great in place.

Avalon stove parts must be purchased through their dealers. The stoves fail. You then face ordering through this outlet-pay in advance, in full, including a charge for shipping from Avalon to this dealer. Wait a couple of weeks-pay $30/pound for simple steel parts, then, since they "do not have time to ship," you must go to the store to get the parts. For me, that is couple of hours and a 50 mile round trip. If you do go into the store, notice the posted signs about return policies and restocking fees. To me, it seems clear that they feel hostile toward customers and operate in a monopoly fashion. Find some other place to shop!