STOVES N STUFF LTD

We were happy with the price, the delivery, the installation, and the performance. Not only did it save on electric costs, we were very happy with the quality of the heat. We decided to order a second stove insert for a fireplace which was never used in the basement.

The man behind the counter was initially somewhat lacking in courtesy acknowledging me until he felt like it, but once he gave me his attention he was ok. However, I was ultimately concerned that they do not make a visit to the home to take measurements for the fireplace insert or inspect the conditions to make sure they know what specific materials will be needed to complete the installation. They want you to take all the measurements and give them to them, on which basis a lot of money will be committed to ordering the item. If you want them to come out, they charge extra. I visited two other places subsequently that assured me that of course they come out to do an initial estimate, measurements, and discussion of installation needs for free. That makes a lot more sense to me as far as ensuring that the process goes well.

Great. Everything worked out to our satisfaction.

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The installation was great. That was a subcontractor though. I think they pretty much just use one man to do it. He is not an employee of Stoves N Stuff, but he was great. It took him one day. He was very prompt. He came when he said he was going to come. He was good. The installer was fantastic. I was a little bit disappointed with the guys at Stoves N Stuff. I went in and chose the screen, which is the outside. I had to do all the measurements. They gave me a worksheet. I had to come home with a tape measure and take measurements of everything; the opening, how far back the chimney wall went and the chimney measurements. I was very uncomfortable with that, because I thought I was spending a lot on that and what if my measurements are off and the insert doesn’t fit. I did not like that they didn’t measure anything. Although I'm happy with this flip a switch and my fireplace comes on, I don’t think they gave me enough feedback because I think the unit I chose was way too small for the hole that I have. I could have gotten something almost twice as big if I wanted to pay more money. But no one ever said that the one I chose is pretty small based on the measurements I gave them. With regard to price, I did look at prices. I think these are expensive no matter where we go. I would not use them again in the future. If I had a friend that was going to get one of these inserts, I would tell them to look elsewhere first. It's in and it's functioning, but the process of purchasing didn’t go well. I don’t think they provided me with enough information to make the best decision.

We stopped by Stoves n Stuff in Emmaus and showed them the door. They consulted with their store in Tamaqua and told us how they proposed to replace the glass and make the door as good as new. They told us the repair would cost $200 and would take a week. We had a very pleasant conversation with the guys at the Emmaus store and felt comfortable leaving the door with them for repair. It took a bit longer for the repair to be completed than originally quoted but we were just delighted with the finished product. We were especially pleased with the brass fittings as they match the originals perfectly. The door's insulation now looks as good as new and the door now fits tight (which it hasn't in a very long time). I did have to call back the store a couple of times to check status, including the last call when I was told they would definitely call me. Other than not keeping us abreast of the progress of the service, we were pleased with our service experience. Had they called when they said they were going to I would have given them straight A's regardless of the service taking longer than originally quoted as it wasn't the amount of time the repair took that was as much a concern as their not keeping us posted as promised. We had never visited Stoves n Stuff before but the quality of the repair was so positive that we will definitely consider them for our future stove needs.

I stopped in at SNS around 9/13 or 9/1412. I said I was interested in replacing a grate heater that I had for the past 20 years. I made it clear that I did not want a fireplace insert. I had gone on the SNS website and already knew the kind of grate heater that I wanted to look at. I had brought pictures along of my current grate heater. and said I was looking for something simlilar. SNS deals with a manufacturer, Stolls fireplace doors, for their grate heaters AND heat exchangers. Grate heaters and heat exchangers are 2 different items. SNS did not have either item in their showroom to show me. So, from the Stolls brochure, I chose the grate heater that the blower motor laid on the hearth. We talked about setting up an appointment to have my fireplace measured. I asked them to call me after 9/20/12. Eleven days had passed, after 9/20, when I realized that I did not hear from them. I e-mailed them and mentioned this. Ray was very apologetic (Ray was not the person I initially talked to on 9/13 or 9/14) and got the ball rolling on this again. It ended up that SNS subcontracted out the fireplace measuring. If SNS would have done the measuring, it would have cost $70 but I would receive half of that back if I purchased from them. The subcontractor charged $75 to measure and I would not receive any of that back even if I did purchase from SNS and the installation of the doors and heat exchanger was going to be $120. My wife and I returned to SNS on 10/27/12 to talk, indepth, about our potential purchase. We talked to the staff member that I initially talked to on 9/13 or 9/14. On the 10/27 visit we were told that the grate heater was discontinued. So now our only option was the heat exchanger and that involved another date for an additional measurement. Whereas burning logs sit on a grate heater, the heat exchanger is a box unit that attaches to the top of the fireplace doors and the doors and exchanger then attach to the fireplace. By the way, with the grate heater, I could have used my existing fireplace doors, saving quite a few bucks. But remember, we were told that the grate heater was discontinued. I found out later that this was not entirely true. I should have looked into this sooner (I only looked into it at the time when when my unit and doors were probably in transit to SNS). But at that time, I did call Stolls and asked them about the discontinued grate heater. They said that the grate heater that had the blower motor lay on the hearth was, indeeed, discontinued but the grate heater with the blower motor inside the doors was still available. SNS should have known this, We would have liked to use our existing doors but because SNS had told us that the grate heater was no longer available our only other option was the heat exchanger and that involved custom doors. We spent more than we had to. On 10/27/12, we put down a deposit on our purchase for the doors and heat exchanger, since we were told the grate heater was discontinued. From 10/27/12 to 12/26/12 (when I called SNS asking about the status of our order) we heard nothing from SNS, On 12/26/12, I was told that Stolls had contacted SNS the previous week to inform them of the shipping date. This was a bit of information that SNS could have relayed to us a week earlier but I only found out because I contacted them. An installation date was set for 1/12/13, nearly 4 months since my initial contact with SNS. I believe that some of this 4 months could have been shaved off if, first, SNS would have contacted me around 9/20/12 (when I asked them to) and secondly, when a second measuring appointment could have been prevented. A week before the installation SNS called and asked for payment of the order balance. I said that I would really like to have everything installed before I paid off the balance just to make sure everything fit. SNS said they would call me the following week. They called the day before installation and indicated that the balance had to be paid once the items left their property (which was going to be the next day). I got the feeling that if I didn't pay the balance then, the installation would not take place the following day. So the next day was installation day. Installer arrived on time and it took about an hour but I felt the installer was rushing, especially since he said that he was not familar with this kind of heat exchanger and never installled one. I only noticed a flaw in the installation the following day. The left hand side of the doors were not flushed against the fireplace as the right side was. There was a gap along most of the length of the door enough that I could get my left hand pinkie in up to the first knuckle. Instead of calling the installer back, I was able to make an adjustment to the inside of the door so that I could push it flush up against the fireplace.
I rated SNS a C for responsiveness because of the fact that they never contacted me after 9/20/12 and might never had contacted me if I didn't contact them and also because they should have known that Stolls still did carry the grate heater that we could have used with our existing doors. I don't know if a C rating for price is accurate, only the business knows what their mark-up is. I know we spent more than we had to since they told us that the grate heater was discontinued when, in fact, one of the 2 Stolls grate heaters was available. That lack of information forced us into making a higher priced purchase unnecessarily because we probably would have spent way less that $1,000 if we were told that one of the grate heaters was available. I indicated that I would not hire them again. That may not be the case but SNS certainly would not now be my first or second choice. I know this is a long review but I tried to be as accurate as a could from memory and several e-mails that I had saved.

he overall process was professional and smooth from start to close.

Excellent they were very easy to deal with and reasonable pricing.

It did not go well overall. The stove was delivered on the date that it was suppose to be delivered but they sent no stove pipe along to install the stove. They dropped the ball big time in the Emaus Store by not following up on what had to be done to install this stove. When they finished taking the stove in the house they proceeded to tell me I owed them the balance of $2900, when in fact I only owed them the $900 because they did not record my $2000 payment on the delivery invoice. After a few calls they had that figured out and charged me the correct amount. Wednesday night the 15th I received a call from a sub contractor who Stoves N Stuff called to install my stove, he came out on Thursday the 16th and did an awesome job of installing the stove pipe. That evening I got a phone call from Stoves N Stuff asking for a CC number to charge the stove pipe, never once did they tell me the total cost. I come to find out on Sunday that they charged me $2800 for stove pipe that I was verbally quoted three times would cost me $600 to $1000. Needless to say I would not recommend this company in the future. After communications with other people who have had experience with this company, I should have looked into this further and hired or purchased my stove elsewhere. It also came to light that it is a habit of this company to not install the more difficult installations and to sub them out to other contractors.