Plank Road Fireplace

BUYER BEWARE Short version: If you purchase a fireplace from Plank Road Fireplace be aware that you have a high chance of never receiving your fireplace or getting your money back. Long version: In December of 2024 we were looking to purchase a gas fireplace for our camp. We bought a fireplace from Plank Road Fireplace almost 20 years ago and had a great experience then, so we decided to buy from them again. We went to the store in late December and spoke with the salesperson and explained that we were interested in buying a fireplace but didn’t need it right away – the camp it was going in was still under construction. They said they could order the unit and hold it for us when it came in, and if we ordered it that day they could lock in the 2024 prices. My wife and I ordered the unit and put down $3200 that night. In February we still had not heard from Plank Road Fireplace, so we went there and asked if our unit was in. We were told that the bad winter weather had delayed shipments, but the unit should be in soon. March arrived and we had still not heard from Plank Road Fireplace, so we again went back to the store and inquired about our order. This time we were told that they were having issues with the distributor (something about the distributor having just been sold) and that the unit would be arriving in a week or so. At this point we began leaving messages with salespeople to have the owner, Mike, call us with an update. Mike never called. In early May we were ready for the fireplace to be installed at our camp, so we began calling them daily for any information. Most days they did not answer the phone. When we went to the store in person, sometimes they would be closed during normal business hours. One time when I arrived early to speak with someone, there was another individual already waiting at the door and he asked me if I was waiting for a fireplace I had ordered. When I said yes, he mentioned that he was a contractor and was in the same boat – he had ordered thousands of dollars of equipment that had not been delivered yet. He said that he had called Plank Road Fireplace numerous times, had never spoken with anyone because nobody ever answered the phone, and had left many messages that had never been returned. We finally were able to speak with a salesperson around May 7th. We were assured that Mike knew our situation and would be delivering the unit ASAP. Another week went by without any communication from Plank Road Fireplace, so we finally called it quits on the order: we told Plank Road Fireplace that we wanted our deposit back. The salesperson assured us that Mike knew we wanted a refund and that a check would be forthcoming. It is now late May of 2025… no check – ever. No phone call from Mike - ever. We eventually disputed the charge with our credit card company and received our money back that way. This is not the same company we dealt with 20 years ago. They had our deposit for 5 months without ever delivering a unit to us. In contrast, we purchased the exact same unit from a competitor in Baldwinsville and our fireplace was ready for pick up in 8 days. The entire 5-month experience with Plank Road Fireplace was nothing but a constant string of lies, unreturned messages, and extreme frustration. I will not ever be doing business with them again.

Look at other poor reviews - this is the truth of this place. 1. Terrible customer service. Never return calls. Never follows through. 2. Never came close to time frame deadlines. Project quoted at 4 weeks took over 8 months. Their excuses - it wasn’t us, it was company x with the part or manufacturer y not delivering it or is just behind. 3. Price is ridiculous the product. 4. Called day of install to cancel for…reasons?? Never returned multiple calls asking for progress. Clearly only care about themselves and not the customer. When they were on site, installers were courteous and mostly proficient. They did lie about not completing the install when they originally said it was all good to go so had to wait months to finish.

$51.00 for the part and $120 for the labor which took 20 minutes to install... I knew before hand, so it wasn't a surprise, but even so......

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Excellent Would not hesitate to use again!

A great company. Cleans our wood burning fireplace every year. Will never call anyone else. Great service! Tops! Tops! Tops!

I spoke to the people at Plank Road a few times before deciding to purchase the fireplace there. I was told they would install the fireplace, I told them I would have the "box/frame" built and ready for them. So that is all I thought I had to do. The "knock-out/ box" was ready for them...they arrived on-time and looked at the framing and then said they would have to charge me extra to hook up the gas and elecric. I had them leave, my boyfriend had to bring over the gas and electric into the box for them. Next a contractor was doing some work on my house and said that the fire-resistant drywall needed to be caulked with special caulk. When I asked
Plank Road, they told me "nahhh - just the drywall up was fine".
The contractor doing other work told me it wouldn't pass inspection if I didn't... I removed the fireplace, fixed the drywall - inspite of Plank Road.
Plank Road then returned and installed the fireplace. After it was in and operational, I asked them where the "brick back" was...they said "oh that was extra". it shouldn't have been as I had purposely asked about it when I purchased this fireplace. I would not hire these people again! There was hidden costs and inaccurate information that had to potentially cause a lot of grief.

Installer was very polite and efficient.

They were on time, fast and thorough. Service was as expected.

Reinstalled a wood stove fireplace insert that was improperly installed by the original dealer and left cold air pouring in.  The quantity of cold air leaking in around the wood stove insert has been dramatically reduced.  No complaints.

Very satisfied with everything, They have a super team..

They moved our wood stove from one location in our home to another location in our home. The took a part the original installation, and moved the stove and installed in the new location. They also removed an older stove that was in the new location and hauled it away. The entire project went very well and only took one day.

In the showroom they were patient and very in-depth as we discussed installing a new gas fireplace to replace a woodburning fireplace. They came to house twice for installation and again for a service call when pilot would not light due to our error. The fireplace is beautiful.

This installation was excellent.  And the timeframe between 'order date' to 'install date' was very good, just 2 weeks.  The salesman gave me various options when I was looking to replace my wood burning insert with a gas or pellet insert.  He relayed the high/low points of both options.  I decided on the gas insert. The installation was professional, it met the town code requirements, and the folks were a pleasure to work with.  Highly recommend this company.

Installation went well.  It was done fairly quickly in spite of a downpour that day and everything was clean when they finished.  I was nervous about them cutting into the roof, but everything is still tight and dry over a year later. This was our first pellet stove and it has been a learning process. The stove itself has been hit or miss with thermostat issues.  We ended up resolving that ourselves with the manufacturer after Plank Rd Fire could not provide assistance and seemed unaware of glitches in the owners manual.  Subsequent trips to the store have been met with very poor customer service and surly attitudes by the employees.  It seemed once the stove was purchased they wanted nothing to do with helping us.  Supplies and materials are now being purchased elsewhere and we will not return to their store.

Everything went well from beginning to end. There was an excellent selection at the store and the staff was very knowledgeable. The installation went smoothly, and the fireplace is operating just fine. The new tile for the fireplace surround and hearth was installed by tilers supplied by Plank Road Fireplace, and their work was also excellent. No problems encountered at all, and I am very pleased with the whole experience.