I made the huge mistake of contracting this business to install a fireplace accessory and clean my fireplace, which was allegedly part of their $220 service call. Regretfully now, I didn't see all the negative reviews, and found these reviews were accurate to the letter. What I was left with was; a damaged floor due to negligence, an unfinished job and a totally filthy fireplace. Plus a bill that was nearly twice as much as a reputable fireplace dealer in Crossville. Please DO NOT make the same mistakes I made. Believe the negative reviews, read them all and be leery of anyone calling them professional or knowledgeable-- these are total lies. These people are crooks and will mislead you in every direction!! read more

As a new homeowner, we had no idea how to use the fireplace, especially now, at Thanksgiving, when we really wanted to enjoy it. We called on Custom Fireplaces & More in Cookeville and they promptly sent out technicians Larry & Janet. They are so kind and well experienced as they inspected and took our fireplace apart, cleaned every inch of it, showed us how to manage the pilot light and the blower and reset all the logs to maximize the flames. True professionals!!! I highly recommend this establishment for all your fireplace needs. Thank you so very much. read more

Custom Fireplaces & More - Warm Fireplace - Fireplace Services Near Me - Cookeville, Tennessee

Larry came out to clean and inspect our gas fireplace. He was very informative and did a fantastic job. The fireplace seems to be heating our home better now and we will be contacting him for future service to keep our fireplace in tip top condition and safety. read more

Purchased wood burning insert and hired them to install. Got a quote from Bob and they installed. After install, bill was $900 more than quoted. Fran stated that was for parts and additional labor and travel time. ( I was unable to get a word in while speaking with her) None of this was originally quoted. With this said, I agreed to pay half of the $900 and after some discussion, they agreed. That portion of the bill was then paid. Moving forward, had issue with fireplace drawing correctly so I called. What a mistake that was. Fran refused to come out to fix unless I paid the remainder of the add on bill after we had agreed that I pay half. Felt blackmailed, so will not do business again! Called business in Crossville and now dealing with much more pleasant folks! read more

I've only lived in Tennessee for maybe 8 months. I live in Algood and I was at Walmart and got to talking to a local and they told me to go talk to Bob and Fran about a possible Fireplace install. Said they have a wide variety of choices but to be careful cause Fran can start talking about how shes a teacher and a published writer all about nonsense and deter you from what you actually came for and end up staying hours all the while standing up and not getting anywhere. So I was skeptical to say the least!!!! But let's do it anyway. It's close to my house. Saying all of this because that is what I was told by the local at Walmart. Anyway...with all that being said. I finally made my way in after several calls without a call back. Saturday morning 5/25/24 and all I could hear was screaming at the top of their lungs. It was several peoples voices. Sounded like an older person. "She kept saying, I'll do it in my own time" over and over. Then I hear, you have to do something about it. He's a thief. You can't let this continue. He's stealing from the company! Well guys you lost a potential customer! What kind of business is this? Very rarely do I leave these types of reviews but seriously if you have a thief working for you and you're not handling business you don't deserve my business and furthermore the yelling that I heard a big turn off and was very unprofessional , quite disrespectful and disgusting . So anyone needing a Fireplace go to Crossville they actually answer your call and get back to you. Just say'n read more

Absolutely horrible experience trying to deal with these folks. As other reviewers have stated, the estimates they send you are essentially "word-salad" documents that do NOT clearly itemize the various steps and parts that will be required for a job. I had to laugh when I read other reviews describing Fran. Suffice to say, those reviews were spot on. She's engages in more obfuscation than explanation, and it's clear she does so so she can really jack up the price. Plus she's the Queen of Excuses when it comes to why they did not respond to you promptly. Former and CURRENT employees have confirmed the "games" Fran likes to play with customers in order to overcharge them. I once received an estimate form her that was $1800 HIGHER than the estimates provised by three other fireplace businesses. Enough. The current owners need to sell this business to someone else. Avoid this business at ALL costs. read more

I would not recommend dealing with this place. Fran is a scatterbrained know-it-all. DO NOT deal with her. She did not install our fireplace as per requested and took 6 months of badgering her to finish the job. She had every excuse under the sun why she didn't send the workers to finish the job. Listen to the other people and STAY AWAY. read more

Almost impossible to get straight answer on price and installation of fireplace. Handed it off to my builder out of frustration. He could barely get a crew there to do preliminary work, which they only did bare minimum. Then owner called months later saying my builder was rude to her crew and they wouldn't go. Learned that my builder was frustrated because they had stood him up 3 times.... Promised a day.... No show. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Turns out Sales person who knew of missed appointments and owner not communicating at all. This strikes me as a very disorganized and dysfunctional business. I'm taking my business elsewhere. read more

I struggled for a month to get an estimate out of this company. The only thing they are able to do is provide a steady supply of excuses and line items that they wouldn't perform. I knew exactly what I wanted but was repeatedly questioned about my needs. Their primary goal seems to be unloading in stock items instead of what the customer wants. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!!! read more

So I been debating if I'd even post this but as a consumer It's my duty to caution you! PLEASE BEWARE OF THESE TWO OWNERS! Yes they have been in the business for a long time but... its on top of my list as the most unprofessional almost transactions I've ever almost made. Fran the owner is a pathological fabricator of untruth. Calling her a liar is too good, and this all needs to be said about how they run their business! She'll look you in the eye and the untruth just rains from her mouth. The sorry word is over used. She says she doesn't sleep obviously doesn't go home her shoes are at the front desk looks like a cyclone hit as she dives under papers to find her glasses. So unprofessional as shes slopping food in her mouth while shes on the phone with you. Try sending a message with dimensions x 20 plus times. Texting pictures 8-10 weeks of nothing! Finally getting on a schedule only to be cancelled 6 times. Oh people don't come to work? Seriously Lady fire the non compliant employees then and run your business right! Better yet stop the excuses! Just say hey dummy I got your money and the contract says Im keeping it! No refunds just wait your turn! You're gonna have to wait until we get to other 20 people that have been waiting! I ran into a former employee that worked in sales and he told me that Fran writes up these word contracts. Just words with stuff no itemization so she over charges customers and adds in hidden charges. How would one know? No breakdown just words. Also I understand she has Fees for customers who come against her. Called A-hole fees. So I looked at this garbled contract that Fran Marengo respectfully submitted to me and its just like the guy said. Just words who knows what everything is costing. Im not made out of money, Lady! Anytime I get a quote it's itemized. I wanna know what I'm paying and Im certain so do you. Shes a master of manipulative wording! SO PLEASE AND I AM A CONSUMER TOO GET YOUR WORDS TRANSLATED INTO ITEMIZED Numbers. Stop her From scamming you. Beware of this company. Do your research before you sign and get garbled in the manipulation of words with no breakdown of figures from The Lady with a Mullet Shes old but she knows exactly what shes doing and that's cheating you and anyone who's not smart enough to see what their paying for! By the way I got a stove, I watched some youtube videos and it's working great. It's up to code too. Should have done this sooner and not wasted time with this joke of a company I cant get back! Good grief! read more

When it comes to buying wood burners and heating your home, it's the Wild West. You can do all the research, and still not really know all the ins and outs. Fran was tremendous in finding the right stove for our application, offered expert advise (30 plus years in the business), and tremendous followup and service. There were MANY times, given my hectic work schedule, that Fran would correspond with questions and advice well after 10PM at night ! WOW !! Can't say enough about Fran and Bob (owners). At the 1 year mark, still checking in to make sure we are satisfied and warm ! And to both of those I give an A++ !! read more

Custom Fireplaces & More - Our Brown Enamel Hearthstone Manchester...warm'n toasty !! - Fireplace Services Near Me - Cookeville, Tennessee

Their staff is extremely knowledgeable on all the products not just the ones they carry . we ended up with Castleton by Hearthstone are choice wasn't steered into this purchase, took a couple of weeks to come in on the stock order and we had an estimate including installation in about 10 minutes. When the unit came in we were able to schedule installation within a week everything went well, Alex and Travis were very professional and very neat on the Job site. They were very careful not to damage anything bringing in this 550 pound monster. Installation went well and we ended up using a few pieces less of the piping so our cost was actually a little cheaper. Pretty rare in this day and age to have honesty and integrity in the workplace .Will use them again with our next fireplace inside and out. Thanks for all your help. read more

The worst service in the country. I've been waiting 6 months for connection appointments are made. No one shows. No one calls. I DONT know how they are in business read more

Larry was very professional. He was very knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. Performed annual service and called back the next day to see if there were any more questions. Highly recommend keeping Larry onboard. Good help is hard to find. Service was performed in Jamestown, Tn. read more

Do NOT purchase from this company. While Fran has been very helpful in her wealth of knowledge, their installation and excuses are over tiresome. We purchased a fireplace back in September of 2021. Since September, the company has canceled our appointments to finish installation 9 different times. The excuses ranged from weather, COVID, no one showing up, and distance. Then when we would call they would not return our calls or just say "we know". It's June 2022. Still no working fireplace. I gave them one last chance before making this negative review. Received a call from Fran, was suppose to be scheduled again, it's been over two weeks and still no schedule. Tried to call and text, no reply. So unless you are in their immediate area, you will NOT get serviced. read more

My experience with CF&M was awful. The two men who came to inspect my fireplace Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017 seemed knowledgeable enough. I paid $125 for the inspection with the expectation that they would follow through on any repairs needed. I called back Friday of that week and the man who answered was unhelpful and seemed to imply I was out of line to expect anything to have happened by this point. He told me that I would be called. I called back two weeks later and the same guy answered. Again, unhelpful, said he "couldn't get Bob to slow down and tell him what was happening." He again said I should wait to be called. Four weeks after their initial visit, I called back and got someone different on the phone and demanded to know what was happening. He told me that my service order had completely fallen through the cracks. If I had not called back this third time, they would never have contacted me. Bob (owner) came out that day, inspected my fireplace again for some reason. He wanted to take the door to repair it, but I told him I frankly needed to see proof he intended to the whole job first. He said he would order parts. He never called me. I went to their store a week later, having still received no word, and told them I was either going to get a refund or go straight to the BBB. Bob said no, that the work "had been done." Sure, an inspection occurred. My fireplace was in one piece before that $125 inspection. Now it's in pieces and I DO NOT TRUST this company to do the work. Save your time and money. I hear Bacon's Chimney Sweep does a great job. read more

We called for a fire place cleaning on 10/24/19. The price was to be $300. two workers showed up on time. They looked up the chimney Next they walked around the house and pointed out some cracks in the stone. The never climbed up on the roof. They said that a 28 foot tall fireplace can be safety inspected from the ground, no ladders needed. Two men spent 1/2 hour talking. No sweeping was needed. So they cut the price to $250 Worst rip off I have ever seen. Two very lazy employees. I hope my house doesn't burn down because of this poor inspection. read more

Horrible experience with Custom Fireplaces & More. Started the project in November 2018. Awful communication, terrible customer service, completely unreliable as far as scheduling, and the end product looks atrocious. Took them 10 months to finally complete. Agree with other customer...the most unprofessional company I've dealt with in years. read more

Most unprofessional business I have ever done business with in years. Abolsolutely horrible!

I purchased a direct vent insert from a vendor in Bowling Green, KY who went out of business soon after installing my unit. The installation was not performed correctly and I needed assistance problem solving the many errors we were having with the system. Fran spent a significant amount of time with me helping me to locate the manufacturer, advocated on my behalf and assisted me with working through the manufacturer to have my warrant honored - all FREE OF CHARGE. Her technicians then serviced my unit and did excellent work. They were friendly, knowledgeable, and prompt. I could not be more pleased with the service they have given me and their willingness to go the extra mile to assist me with this product. read more

Tray came yesterday and put a new thermostat on our fireplace and cleaned it. Good job and nice young man

After dealing with these people on more than one occasion, we have left the latest transaction feeling rode hard and put up wet- so to speak. Repeated discussions on stove problems and billing errors have fallen on deaf ears, and we are now left with a faulty stove and receiving repeated bills 2000.00 over what we were quoted. I have spoken with area contractors that feel this outfit has a reputation for overcharges and poor management. Do yourself a favor and buy from any of the many other reputable companies that are a little less concerned with high profit, and more concerned with customer satisfaction. Other reviews I have read mention unethical business dealings. Beware... read more

Buyer beware! Fran and her team seem knowledgeable and helpful, but read the invoice carefully. If you have to return anything, there is a 25% restocking fee! They sold us a stove and stove pipes, and told us we could install it ourselves. We tried to get them to install for us, but no one would schedule it. When we contacted Fran for more information about installing it, she determined that our set-up was not allowed for the stove we purchased. We had not even opened the boxes, and returned the items within 2 weeks from purchase. She tried to charge us the 25%, but my husband talked her down to 3% - what she said she had to pay for running our credit card. She still charged us the 25% on all the stove piping - about $100!! We did our own research and bought from a company that installed everything for us, even with a guarantee. read more

I bought my fireplace here 21 years ago. I could not get my pilot light to stay lit. I called them up and talked to Fran, told her my problem and she talked me through how to clean and check the pilot light. By following her instructions my wife and I repaired the problem. She was very cooperative, helpful and detailed in her instructions and she saved me a very expensive service call since I live 50 miles away. This is why we do business with Custom Fireplaces in Cookeville, TN. read more

Still in a disagreement over a surprise bill and after speaking with builders and contractors, find out these guys have a rep for surprise charges and mysterious calculations. Do yourself a favor and shop around. OR, GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING unless you want a BIG surprise. read more