TOP HAT FIREPLACE & CHIMNEY SPECIALISTS

I could not even get a quote from this company. They came out to perform the estimate. I was supposed to get an email quote within a week. I called back twice and was promised that I would either be called back or the quote by a date. Neither happened.

They came out and looked it over. Got all of the measurements. 1.5 weeks later i called looking for a quote and left my name and number. That was 4 months ago and no contact.

Top Hat did a fabulous job on a very complicated project.  Gary Hufnagel was our salesperson and was knowledgeable and not at all high pressure but knew exactly what insert would work after Don came to the house (at no charge) to look over the project. It turned out there was some obstruction in the chimney and Chuck and Joe, our installers, had to order a special 4 foot chisel  to make the chimney fit the insert chimney. They ordered the chisel and came back a few days after it arrived and did a perfect job installing the insert. Took time to make sure we knew how to use the new insert and cleaned up perfectly after the job. We were delighted with all phases of the project and would use these folks again without any question. There is lots of bad reviews of fireplace outfits and chimney sweeps. Top Hat is clearly a professional and honest business.

no response

Complete renovation of our old fireplace with mismatched tile and potbelly stove to a beautiful contemporary 3 sided gas fireplace which we love. Joe from Top Hat was extremely professional, responsive, and creative in designing our new gas fireplace with wooden mantel and wooden top. He turned our living room from a conversation piece in mismatch décor into a cozy warm remote control gas fireplace of contemporary décor that is now the crown jewel of our living room. We love our fireplace! Thanks Joe!

The technician was on time and did a great job cleaning and repairing our gas insert fireplace. It hadn't had any service in at least 8 years but probably since it was installed in 1998. It was very dirty and hadn't worked at all this past year. The tech did a very thorough cleaning and service of the unit and the cost was commensurate with the state of the fireplace, I think. The glass is now so transparent you can't see it and the flames are huge and bright. We asked them to schedule a yearly service so we can have a pleasant fire going forward. I imagine a regularly scheduled service will be lower cost since not as much would need to be done.

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Na

They installed the wrong fireplace and had to come back to reinstall another. That wasn't so bad but now the pilot light will not stay light. The unit is still under warranty but we cannot get them to come out to do a repair.

1/26/2015: The components of the fireplace were updated, and we shouldn't have any further problems. The issues were due to manufacturer's error.

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Found that the gas valve leaked. Unortunately it was not a brand that they serviced.

We checked all the fireplace stores in town. We needed some smaller size ones and they were the only place we could get them. They were also the best priced for what we wanted. That's where the positive part of the job ends. The big wood burning fireplace in the living room was a complete mess from beginning to end. They showed up completely unprepared to move or install it. Our builders had to help them or they would have just left. Since they were completely unprepared and hadn't read the instructions, they install it backwards!! We don't figure this out ountil the fireplace has been finished in stone. Great. Then, they send a different guy out everytime to finish installing it. Nobody knows what the other one has done and they leave the instructions at the office and have to go back everytime to get them. What a bunch of clowns! Finally, they get them installed but we can't find the controls for the fans on any of the fireplaces. We finally look inside the control panel and they are laying on the bottom! They are supposed to be attached to the wall. We later find out that the guy they sent out to check the fireplaces was told about this and said it would be fixed. Of course it wasn't. We ended up calling them and telling them to come out and fix everything. They had also not installed a switch for the fan controls on the big fireplace in the living room. Just left it in the box. Really? They did fix everything finally and at no cost to us because I said I would not pay for any of it since it was done so badly. They had to pay for our electrician to do the big fireplace since they were familiar with the wiring of the house. Just such a poorly run company from top to bottom. The last guy to come out, an older gentleman was fabulous. He clearly knew what he was doing and was aware of the earlier problems. My advice to this company is to listen to this guy! He's the only one at Top Hat who knew what he was doing. Top Hat spends a lot of money on commercials. Skip the commercials and train your employees!

good and professional

they did a great job i would recommend them highly.they were honest about the problem and were able to find it right away. we had another contractor give us a quote . they came over didn't even look inside and gave us a quote of $1700.00 . Top hat was able to diagnose the problem correctly and fix in a timely manner.

They came out precisely when they said they would. Unfortunately they were too busy to be able to provide the actual repair for a nimber of months. Therefore we had to go with another company.

We were very pleased with the service. The technician was prompt, professional, friendly and very clean. I would not hesitate to use their services again.

Initial contact went great. They came out and quoted the job and their quote was very reasonable for the work that needed done. We put a down payment and was told someone would contact us with an installation date. We ended up calling them three weeks later and work was scheduled to begin three weeks from the day they scheduled (the end of October).
On installation day, the installers came in and within 5 minutes told us that a gas fireplace could not be installed due to the location of the fireplace and the location of the gas line into the house. It was arranged that another sales person would stop by that afternoon, which they did. He promised to get us a quote for an electric fireplace the next day. I never received a quote. I called/emailed them six times between November and January and only heard back once. I even stopped by the store in Verona to talk with someone but I never received a quote for an electric unit. During the last two attempts to contact them in January, I asked for our down payment to be refunded but it never was.
I ended up writing a letter to the owner requesting our down payment, which they responded promptly and I received the refund within a week. The original salesman came out as well to investigate why the installers wouldn't install the unit and assured me it could be done. Because their price was so affordable, I offered to still consider them if they would requote the work. They gave me the original quote without any kind of break on the cost. Had they knocked off even $100 off the bid as an apology for giving us the runaround on the whole ordeal, they may have had our business.

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I ordered a gas insert in January and they said they would contact me regarding an install date. No one contacted me to set up a date and, in the end, I had to contact them. That being said, the install was great, the guys that came for the install took the time to make sure that it was installed perfectly, even making a few suggestions to improve the appearance. Unfortunately, we had the wrong size face plate for the size of my fireplace, not a big deal, they arranged to order a larger size and would call when the piece came in. Again, no one called and I initiated the follow-up. That being said, overall - a very positive experience with everything except for scheduling which, all things considered, is pretty minor. I love my insert and have been using it a lot due to the chilly Spring. I would definitely recommend them to others.

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We recently moved into this home and needed to have the 2 flue, exterior brick chimney inspected. After inspection, it was decided that our wood stove insert (in the lower level) was installed with a direct connection to the flue. This is a method where the stove pipe is only run up to the smoke shelf where it stops - the rest of the flue is 13x13 clay lined. This type of install is hard to keep clean, leads to creosote build-up at the block off plate and doesn't draft efficiently. So, we decided to get it done right and put a full stainless steel flex liner running all the way from the stove up to the top of the chimney.
Scheduling: I had to be more proactive than I would have liked when getting the scheduling done. I had to email them on several occassions to remind them to set up the install time. A little bit of unresponsiveness is understood given the time of year.
Install: The installation went great. The technicians were very knowledgeable and friendly. They worked efficiently and answered all my questions along the way. I was very impressed with install.
Pricing: Pricing was right where I figured it should be given the cost of the liner and the install time.
Overall, I was very pleased with the experience. I would not hesitate to recommend Top Hat.

See above

Great. A very professional attitude. He called about one half hour before he arrived to let me know he would arrive slightly later than planned...a few minutes later. Much better than the previous business who didn't call and didn't show up! The job was done efficiently and quickly. I was told about upcoming possible repairs to the wood burner but was not pressured into doing work. Very friendly and considerate of our home. Glass on the fireplace and wood burner were left cleaner than they were since they were new. He cleaned up any mess that he made before leaving.