I read many of the reviews and was concerned that the service might be a problem. However, their price was most important to me, so I took a chance. I was a $4000 job. One company's est. was nearly $7000. Another company was closer but still, there was a price advantage to MCS. AFTER ALL WAS SAID AND DONE, THE WORK WAS TOP NOTCH. The quote was held too, and the estimate was explained upfront. Many of these companies will give you a loose estimate saying there could be this or that and of course they find the "this or that' costing you more. I am one of those people that does the vetting of companies and checks them out through multiple sources. If I don't' understand something, as I'm not an expert in this area, I use the internet to understand what is needed and how it's supposed to be done. This allows me to monitor the outcome to some degree based on what I learned. They repaired the crown, lose bricks both on the chimney and in the firebox and added a liner. The video from a company and the photos from several companies showed there was loose or missing grout in the flue. So multiple companies saying the same thing and seeing is in video and pictures made a difference on the work to be done. The result was MCS, did a five-star repair that will last for many years. read more

I've used this company several times. Always great service. Appointments on time. Guys are very nice and friendly and helpful.

Awesome company! John was so professional. He explained everything to me and was very fair!

Great service very punctual saved me 800 another company wanted to charge to install a damper when my original one just needed to be put back into place will definitely use them again Ryan and John are great ask for them by name read more

Good value excellent service and very punctual will definitely use them again.came and did a cleaning and repositioned the logs properly and did not put a price increase either read more

Maximum Chimney Services - Chimney Sweeps Near Me

Great service! John came by within the time window we agreed and did a great job with the chimney sweep. He also provided a range of very reasonably priced solutions to a problem with air flow. Very kind and considerate of furniture. Amazing value. read more

Quoted a price to install a powered vent on our chimney. Included damper replacement and "removal of shims." By the time the job was finished, the cost had nearly doubled. Have contacted and emailed Maximum since late November, 2017. They've promised to address their overcharge twice - since then they've stopped responding altogether (all calls answered by a service). Today is January 14, 2018. Still waiting. Their work is decent. Their business ethic - not so much. Cannot recommendati [Update April 2, 2019]: Out of business - and none too soon. Their installation lasted exactly one season, then zzzttt! For those folks who moved on after reading my review: Phew! Dodged a bullet (...and you're welcome)! read more

JJ I stand by my statement! And absolutely don't want anything from you ! You left us hanging in the middle of selling property , I don't need a doctor note from you a phone call would've been nice , instead weeks went by sold the home and now you reach out You need better customer service ability, our time is worth something also, waited around way to much for your promises . A free chimney sweep from you ? No thanks! read more

STAY AWAY!!!!!!!! If I could put zero stars I would. Gentleman that came out was nice and quoted me a fair price. I agreed, signed a contract and put down a 30% deposit. The day of the work to be done I receive a call that they under bided me and would not do the job. I asked to talk to the owner and he was such a dick!!!!! Never never use this company!!!!! read more

On Dec 3, 2015 at 6:30pm, I answered a call from someone who identified themselves as Barbara, a rep for Maximum Chimney Services in Wood Dale, IL. She started the conversation by telling me that their records show that I have not used their chimney services since Nov 1, 2010. She asked me if I would be interested in getting a "FREE INSPECTION" for my chimney. I told her yes and confirmed the date for Thursday Dec 10, between 12 & 4pm. She reconfirmed the major intersections near my house and I reconfirmed with her that this inspection was free before ending our call. Today, Dec 10, I decided to call at 2:22pm to find out if they were still coming. The young lady Mary Jo, who I spoke to advised me that no such appointment had been made and apologized by saying that Barbara was relatively new and must have lost or accidentally deleted the info. Mary Jo stated that if I want a chimney inspection that it will cost me $149.99. When I ask to speak to a supervisor, she said she was the supervisor. I told her that I was not at all happy about this and if something like this can happen then how could I trust in their services and thanks but no thank you. read more

I'm not sure about these other reviews, but our experience with Justin the technician was EXCELLENT. We were told the tech would arrive between 12-4pm & he arrived at 4pm. He called around 12:30pm to let us know that it would be closer to 4pm, & then called again at 3:30 to let us know he was 30 minutes away. He was polite, friendly & took his shoes off before walking on our carpet. We rented a house and wanted to ensure that the chimney was swept before it got too cold. I found a $50 coupon in the mail & for a sweep & 14-point inspection it was $109 total plus $6 something in taxes. He offered us some sealant options and gave us recommendations, but was not pushy. read more

Do not use this company for Dryer Vent cleaning. They assured me that they provided this service. A total waste of money.They are using a power vac to push and pull lent thru but it is ineffective. They blow lent all over my roof top and I had to tell the tech - Rich Watson to go on the roof and pick up the fricken lent. You want a company that will go into the attic and address the root of the problem where the duct work elbows and cause lent traps over time. Maximum Chimney is NOT that company. They also convinced my husband to add two fire place storm collar seals and seal flashing.... who knows if we even needed it. At that point I did not trust a word out of his mouth. Be careful, a person on your roof can do anything and say anything and you have no way of knowing if its true, short of climbing up or using a drone. read more

Absolutely horrible. Two guys come in and start 'cleaning' - vacuuming, taking pictures, etc. and then tell us we need over a $1000 dollars in repair - a termination cover for $167 with a lifetime warranty, repairing the smoke chamber with chamber tech 2000 at $475 with a 10yr warranty and a list of other ridiculous 'repairs' - tells us using the fireplace is a possible fire hazard. We had a good feeling our fireplace was perfectly fine but wanted it cleaned and inspected as we had just moved in several months ago. Called another guy who's been in the business over 25 years and was highly recommended by other moms in our town, and he was awesome - laughed at how ridiculous MCS comments were and how they totally tried to scam us - the sad thing is probably 1 in every 10 people will probably pay their outrageous prices and claims. Do not use Maximum Chimney. read more

BEWARE! A NO SHOW! I had an appt with them today and called when I did not see them after an hour. The person on the phone stated that they did not even have me down for an appt today. Unbelievable! I took the day off work and rearranged my calender since the repairs would take one day. I had to call several times to get someone to answer my questions about the estimate that should have been my first sign! They also got three cases on BBB although they were resolved, that should have been my second sign, but I figured they were resolved. I got my third and final sign today! My time is very valuable and so is my time off from work and to waste a day for nothing is really upsetting. read more

DO NOT use this company! John Judd did not fix anything! He took our money, and plenty of it, and left us with a leaky chimney. He will not answer phone calls or texts. He WILL take your money and leave you with the same problem he came to fix. He even used a product on our chimney which does not comply with manufacture. After he came to fix our leaky chimney, and it was still leaking he told me the 10 year warranty wasnt for the product, but the workmanship. Neither was good!! He can't keep his company open long, and opens new ones in various locations, names, etc. BEWARE he WILL NOT DO A QUALITY JOB! read more

My experience was a bit different than the reviews I read here. The former owner of our new home had the chimney capped. ( It was a home made job done very badly) they came out and gave me a quote, $5,000 less than their competitor who wanted to replace the entire fireplace. I then called and set up a date to have it uncapped, water proofed, and cleaned. They were to come on a Thursday, but called on Tuesday to say they were shipped the wrong part and rescheduled for a 4 hour window on the following Tuesday. When the end of the 4 hour window came, I called the office and had to leave a message. The tech called back in 15 minutes to say he would arrive in about 45 min. He came and did the work for the price quoted. Yes they were late, but the work was done correctly and I would call them again. read more

Maximum replaced my rusted out prefab fireplace last year. They were on time and had all completed by Christmas as I asked. A leak I had was fixed and the price was right. I had my brick chimney tuckpointed and it looks like new. I highly recommend them. read more

Serious lack of communication ...my appointment was from 8am till noon and was told that I would get a head's up call 30 minutes before tech showed up. Finally get a call from tech at 11:30 saying it's going to take another 45 minutes .+another 1.5 hrs for cleaning . When I called the offices for cancellation, the receptionist did not even have the courtesy to apologize. Try some other company or groupon. read more

I thought I only needed a cleaning and possibly a damper repair. It turned out they had to remove the elaborate scaffolding system the squirrels had built with sticks from the top all the way down to their home on top of my damper. Everything got removed and the entire chimney and fireplace got cleaned. Additionally they took photos of the deterioration near the top of the chimney and showed me, which they were able to repair along with installing a stainless steel top to prevent new visitors into my chimney. They were were very thorough, professional, and did a very good job. read more

maximum chimney service is the MOST UNPROFESSIONAL business that I've ever done business with. The office employees never know who you are nor do they ever have any information. The workers are highly inefficient. It takes weeks to get anything resolved with this company. Instead of guaranteeing their work, they'd rather tell you that you need something else so they can charge you more. Oh yeah, don't EVER expect to speak to the owner, he never comes to the phone. Please Beware of this company!!!!! read more

WORST COMPANY TO DEAL WITH. First they schedule an appointment to clean your chimney, then they call just before they are supposed to show up and tell you that they need to reschedule. This is after you have taken the day off from work so now you have to take another day off. Then when they get there to clean your chimney for the $100 dollar price they quoted you, they tell you that everything is wrong with your chimney and that it needs another $600 dollars worth of work. Then they get upset when you say that you only want the chimney cleaned for right now and you will get estimates on making the repairs. Total bait and switch read more

WHAT A SCAM!!!!! Stay far away from them. Tried upselling from the minute he walked in.said we needed 4950.00 worth of work.I have the chimney cleaned and inspected every year. Just not by them. NOW ITS A FIRE HAZARD????. After he did the cleaning he tried selling us a gas line to make it easier to start a fire...We already have one.A new one at that.said the clearances on top of the chimney was too small and he saw it the minute he pulled up. After he left I took a ride down my block and saw many identical to mine. So all of us have the wrong clearance? Was quoted 109.00 special on the phone. They dont tell you there is also a $6.85 surcharge. Wouldn't have been a big deal if they told me when they gave the quote. read more

Recently had Maximum Chimney Services out to do some tuck pointing work on my chimney. Got three quotes on this job and MCS came in at the most reasonable cost for the work which needed to be completed. Had a few minor issues, but MCS stood by their word and completed the job to our satisfaction. Office staff (Sharon) was very polite and friendly and assured us that the job would be completed to our satisfaction. I without hesitation would recommend them. read more

This company calls me a few times a year. EVERY YEAR. I started by politely refusing their offers, they continue to call and I continue to tell them every time that my house doesn't even have a chimney! This still hasn't stopped them. I continue to get calls from them even though i have NEVER done business with them and I am on the national do not call list. How can anyone trust a company that goes out of their way to break the law? Their chimney services must be as poor as their sales tactics as they cannot seem to retain enough legitimate clients and are forced to continually cold call people that they are legally not allowed to call. read more

I wish I had checked these reviews before scheduling this company. The guy who came to my home ("certified fire inspector") took pictures of the fireplace and immediately started trying to up sell me. I told him we had just bought our house and the inspector had indicated that a cleaning was needed, but not much more. He proceeds to try to tell me that our chimneys (woodburning and heating flue) need $6,000 of work. I told him I'd call our home inspector. The inspector (who is someone we know) said it was a typical scam that he'd seen before. At this point, he has another guy cleaning the fireplace. He tries to tell me that without the additional work our wood burning fireplace was "not operational". I said, "then why are bothering to clean it?" He didn't have an answer for that. Additionally, he smelled like he'd had two pitchers of beer for lunch. Run, don't walk, away from this company! Beware! read more

The office called me 12.26 to straighten things out & offer me a discount on the service. I felt this was fair & agreed to move forward. The tech that came was very friendly & explained what he saw & showed me pictures to help me understand what was needed. A few days later, the owner, John, called to say he thought he could repair the lining rather than replace it, which would save us some money. I appreciated his concern & customer focus. The final work was performed to our satisfaction. read more

I'm not one to write reviews, but feel its my responsibility to share my experience with this company. Similar experience as others - extremely unprofessional tech showed up at my house for a basic chimney sweep and all he did was try to upsell me - agreed to a small repair in addition to the sweep and what a nightmare. EXTREMELY sloppy repair job and he was kind enough to leave us a HUGE mess with soot and mortar on our furniture and tracked through my house. Will NEVER use or recommend this company!! read more

Horrible!! Was quoted three different prices by them:$139,$129 & $95. They scheduled between 8-noon and called at 10:30am tell me they wouldn't be there until the afternoon.. Gets better-they then called at 2:45pm to cancel? Thanks for wasting my Saturday!! They then told me they would give me a deal-$99??? Come on, this is a scam!!!!! Will be using someone else and chalk this one up to not doing my research prior to. read more

Had a standard fireplace cleaning for the first time after 10 years in our house, in addition to a recommended new seal. I was given a 4 hour window for service and received a 30 minute courtesy call prior to their arrival. The service man, John, was very professional and I would recommend MCS out of Wood Dale. read more

Our experience with Maximum Chimney was extremely positive. John, the owner of the company, came out and was very professional and gave us an extremely reasonable bid to rebuild part of our chimney and replace the liner. We received four different bids for the exact same amount of work and his quote was definitely the most reasonable. I had a friend who is a contractor look over the bid and he said it was perfectly priced. The people at the company couldn't have been nicer or more friendly. Joe was the worker at our house (along with a second worker). They were incredibly hard workers and took the time to explain everything they were doing every step of the way. I can't say enough about everyone at this company. Highly recommend!! read more

I had these folks booked to clean my chimney last week, ahead of Thanksgiving weekend when we will have family and friends in from out of town. It was a 2PM appointment and they told me to allow for a two-hour window. When they hadn't arrived by 4:20 I called to get an ETA. Someone called about 15 minutes later and left a message saying they were behind schedule and needed to rebook. I called the following morning to reschedule and never got a call back. BTW, Maximum uses an answering service, so every time I called I spoke to a different person. I asked to have a direct number to the company but they claimed not to have it. Maybe these people do good work but I wouldn't know. I was never able to find out, and my experience trying to communicate with them was only frustrating. BTW I was able to find another company who was extremely responsive and fit me in during an impossibly hectic week ... at a lower price than I was quoted by Maximum. read more

I scheduled to have the chimney inspection done along with air duct cleaning at the same time and they showed up not prepared to clean the ducts (I specifically explained several times that I wanted both done together before having the new carpet installed). They quoted me $109 to inspect the chimney and then handed me a bill for $374! They said that was because they inspected, cleaned the chimney, and had to install a different copper pipe. However, the chimney had never been used and was mesh covered on top, it did not need cleaning and they showed me the pipe they wanted to replace but didn't actually replace it. I called the office to try to help me figure out a solution to the air duct cleaning situation and the staff basically told me they couldn't help, very rude. I would not recommend using them read more

Had them come in patch the fire box. Was a little concerned because of the other yelp postings, but our experience was much different. They called 1/2 before arriving as promised. They arrived on time, completed the job and left our home as clean as they found it. Their price was almost 1/2 of a quote re received from another company. We are very happy with their work and plan on using them again. read more

I made an appointment. They cancelled an hour before the appointment time. Rescheduled the appointment, they no-showed, then said it was a scheduling mix-up. Made a third appointment. A no-show again. read more

fixed a problem we have had for 5 years with remote on gas firplace ($$) and had 3 others look at it ($$$ over 4 1/2 years).

I called Maximum about staining on my chimney. I was told I needed a flue inspection and fireplace sweep for two fireplaces. That was done at a cost of $298. The acid wash to clean the chimney was $498.(!) I was told I needed an elastomeric cement repair to the chimney crown for $649. (!) Reluctantly, I agreed to all this. The entire process took about 90 minutes. I was also told I needed new caps for the fireplace flues. I decided to wait on that. Three weeks later, one of my stainless steel chimney caps blew off. I called and asked to have it reinstalled and was told again that I needed new caps. Now, believing I have been had, I checked into the price of the elastomeric coating and found the cost of a five gallon bucket to be about $55. That means I was charged nearly $600 for 30 minutes labor to apply it. When the technician arrived to reinstall the cap, he asked me if I had bought new caps, the same ones he told me on his first visit that needed to be replaced. If you need chimney work, I advise you to look elsewhere. read more

Zero stars for Maximum Chimney Services. Two men, one man was a helper, came out the first day and left because it was too hot. The job was supposed to be completed in one day. The second time they spent the entire day and said it would take about another two hours. The third day was another full day. As the employee was walking away from the roof with his ladder in hand I came out asking if I could inspect the work. The work was NOT completed and is still NOT completed. I have called the company many times to have the person that quoted the job (Rich Watson) come back and inspect/go over the job with me. I tried a number of times to arrange an appointment. My calls were not returned. Finally, I did get through, an appointment was made and Mr. Watson was a no show. Good luck trying to contact the company - all you get is an answering service. I am extremely dissatisfied. Cross this company off your list. No recommendation from me. Bob V. read more

Scam scam scam. These people will 100% take advantage of you and your bank account. They seem very nice (and probably are good people) but they will certainly run you for your money. They quoted $1,444 worth of work that was "needed" and they made it sound like it was a dangerous not to do it. Fortunately, we just purchased our home and the inspection on the chimney passed. I did purchase (stupidly) the chimney cover that they told me I "needed" for $250 (they originally told me it was $280). My husband came home and was dumbfounded as to why I paid $250 for a chimney cover when they are $40 online and he could have installed it himself. 100% my fault for falling victim to the scam and not doing my research before. But, just save yourself the trouble and frustration and either use another company, or do a lot of research on chimneys before they come to your home. I definitely would not recommend this company to anyone. read more

Very unreliable company. They either haven't figured out yet how to efficiently schedule appointments or they can't manage their staff. I was given a four-hour window for their arrival to clean my chimney and fireplace. Thirty minutes AFTER the deadline, I received a call from the office telling me that the appointment before mine took longer than they expected and nobody would be coming out because "it would be too dark for them to work." To appease me, they offered an appointment for the next day with "just" a two-hour window. Again changing my other commitments to accommodate their schedule, I sat home all afternoon waiting for someone to show up. An HOUR AND A HALF PAST THE DEADLINE, I received a call, apparently from the tech, offering a flimsy excuse for why he wasn't at my home, which I allowed to go into my voicemail. Fifteen minutes after that, I received a call from the office wanting to confirm the appointment. I told the young woman on the phone not to bother sending anyone out because I couldn't afford to waste any more of my time waiting for someone to not show up. I find it hard to understand how a company with these business practices manages to stay in business. read more