D & G Chimmney Service

Gary arrived at my home to see what I needed to complete the installation of my pellet stove. On the first visit he arrived unprepared. He was borrowing my tape measure and not writing anything down. He left and told me that he would call me with a price. Gary called the next day and wanted to take another look at the stove. We agreed on a time which he did not honor. He showed up out of the blue and expected me to place the pellet stove so he could take measurements. I did what he requested simply because I wanted this installed. On this visit, he had me go find a pen and paper as he dictated the quantity and length of pipe that was going to be required for the installation. He left and told me he would call with a price. The following day he called me and quoted me $600.00 parts and labor for all silver pipes. It would be $700.00 parts and labor if I wanted flat black pipes on the interior and silver on the exterior. I opted for the black pipes and agreed to pay the $700.00. Installation day. Gary arrives late as usual. He is not very prepared and is more concerned about smoking than working. We begin the process of measuring for the hole in the wall when Gary realizes that he does not have the 45 degree elbow required for installation. He actually had me making calls to the local suppliers trying to find the part. Eventually he returned from the supply house complaining the entire time about the cost of this elbow. He proceeded to cut the hole from the interior wall of my home. He marked the wall up and now I have to repaint. His drill bit was not long enough to penetrate the wall so he tried to use some other contraption. Finally there was a pilot hole and we could proceed from the exterior and complete the installation, or so I thought. Gary's hammer drill had a dull chisel. He proceeded to ask me if I could sharpen it wiht my grinding wheel in my garage. I told him that was not going to be possible and he resorted to an angle grinder to complete the hole. He left debris in my garden and there are still chunks of cinder block in my decorative stone outside. He actually said " you will clean that up, won't you ? " Now, 6 hrs later I have a hole in my wall. He proceeded to assemble the piping and install the thimble through my wall. Gary did not have any wall anchors or screws for the exterior wall, nor did he have matching black screws for the interior. The same black interior parts I paid an extra $100.00 for. I supplied him with wall anchors and screws for the exterior and drywall screws for the interior. He was very concerned about using the least amount of pipe he could get away with during the install. When the stove was piped through the wall he secured it to the back of the pellet stove. Well, upon further inspection the pipe is actually crooked, not even close to plum. When I pointed it out to him he said "next time I guess we should set the pipe first and get everything straight before I secure it to the exhaust on the back of the stove. I also asked him about the wall thible. It seemed short and there was no insulation in the area where he removed the material. I ended up going into the attic of my garage to cut off some fiberglass insulation to put around the thimble in the wall. Gary was planing on leaving it open which could allow drafts or even worse,cabon monoxide to enter my home. Now Gary has been at my house all day and I just want him to finish and leave. He attempts to caulk the exterior exhaust vent but does not complete the job because the caulk he has is hard and will not flow. He left me the caulk and told me to go out and do it when it is warmer outside. I ran my pellet stove for aboput 2 days when I noticed wisps of carbon on my interior wall where Gary installed the thimble. I proceeded to look outside at the exterior wall and it was covered in soot. I called Gary and asked that he come back and install another 6" piece of pipe so the exhaust was further from my wall. Gary got belligerent and told me that we never agreed on how much pipe he was going to use and pointed out that he had to go buy that 45 degree elbow and it cost him money.. He told me that he would come over and take care of it but he would be charging me for the additional 6" pipe. Now, If you recall when Gary was barking out pipe lengths and quantities he had included 2 12' pipes, 2 6" pipes, 1 90 degree elbow, 1 45 degree elbow and the wall thimble with exhaust deflector. I pointed this out to him and he informed me that none of this was on my paperwork. He was correct, my receipt simply said "paid in full $700.00 for stove installation" He actually only installed one 12" pipe with a built in clean out, a 90 degree elbow, a 45 degree elbow and 1 12 " pipe and 1-6" pipe with the thimble and exhaust deflector. Not even close to what was originally discussed. Since Gary has not agreed to correct this issue I am planning on pusuing a refund via the local court system. I checked and the installation is not up to code because the minimum clearance for the exhaust should be 6" and it is less than 1". This is why I am getting soot in my house via the wall thimble. Simply adding the 6" pipe as I requested and sealing the hole between the pipe and wall thimble would correct my issue and I would have been somewhat satisfied. Now I have to go find someone who will fix this for me and pay yet another contractor to correct shoddy workmanship. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this guy.