This review is for Fireplace Doctor of Austin but as their sites all are the same - except for city - (http://fireplacedoctoraustin.com/ is the same company as http://fireplacedoctorchicago.com/) it's obvious it's a national chain and the review really should be for simply The Fireplace Doctor period. We made two appointments with Fireplace Doctors and they've canceled both times without calling to tell AND when addressing this - no offer to reschedule - just "Oh - they cancelled that - they didn't call?". The first time we waited all morning to no avail, even missing out on going on a boat with friends cause of their allotted "be ready" time frame. They didn't have the courtesy to call and let me know it had been canceled - I had to call a good hour after the end of the given time range. I gave the benefit of the doubt that "hey - things can happen". That is until the second appointment of "Now we see a pattern". The second time, we called the day before the appointment to make sure they were coming out. They had quite a bit of trouble locating our appointment only to tell me in the end that it had been canceled (again without offering a reschedule). Then, they put me on hold to speak to the supervisor, Jason, and then did the whole "put me on hold for 8 minutes and hang up on me" bit. This was purchased through Groupon and it makes one wonder a few things: 1) Does this company simply maximize their incoming cash by advertising discounted services on Groupon and then playing rescheduling games to the tune where people get exasperated and never use the discounted service 2) Do they treat all their customers like this and they simply are rotten to the core in relation to customer service. How does a company twice cancel an appointment without notifying the customer and without the small consolation prize of offering a reschedule? One also can't help criticize Groupon also for the lack of vetting their vendors/clients they work with. I keep hearing about people being denied service or treated differently because it's through Groupon - not a good long-term strategy for any business - if anything Groupon should use it's "umbrella" status as the portal for these coupons to make sure goods/services are rendered at a consistent level with their "deals". If the complaints get to a certain threshold - sorry - you're banned. Amazon keeps their 3rd party vendors in check - Groupon seems like the wild west in comparison. read more

Steer clear for these folks - I too found them via Groupon - they were book solid for months, then cancelled on 2 appointments. Now I'm try to get my money back. Keep away! read more

Purchased the $49 groupon for $200 in services. Difficult to schedule, understandable, they sold a huge number of groupons. Didn't call to confirm appointment but based on reviews, I confirmed with them. Service agent was nice, but there for 20 minutes. Outside of vacuuming our fireplace, I didn't see anything else done. Hardly a deal, even at $49. Buyer beware. read more

STAY AWAY!!! I purchased a cleaning via Groupon for my brother and sister-in-law... bad idea! They have canceled 4 times and have stopped giving lame excuses. Now seeing if Groupon will refund the amount paid. read more

DO NOT USE THEM!!!!!! They do not show up or call on scheduled appointments. They are using GROUPON to get to people and upsell them for services they do not need. Tried to speak to the manager and was told it is their policy NOT to speak to customers. I am filing a complaint with the better business in IL . Gary Lynn should be forced to give full refunds to all those GROUPON customers who are treated to this terrible service. read more

Do not call these people. They no longer service Chicago. If you purchased a Groupon, call them and get your money back. We were supposed to have a sweep done on 10/26 (after the first one was rescheduled on little notice) and when I called them today they said that Chicago is no longer serviced as of "about three days ago". read more

Stay away from these folks !! They booked me months in advance and 12 hrs before the date I recived a call for a reschedule. They just don't want to resolve and said that there's nothing they can do. read more

Called 4 times now to ask where my refund is that was supposed to be issued on June 30 and each time I get a new employee who says the "person is out of the office but I can give them your information." I've never heard back from anyone. Now I'm disputing the charge with my credit card company. read more

I would recommend staying far away from this company. Had a scheduled appointment with The Fireplace Doctor Chicago and missed a day of work. They never showed up. I called to see where they were 45 minutes after we didn't here from them and they needed to reschedule our appt. 5 hours later in the day. We couldn't make the appt so we rescheduled for a few days later. Took another day off of work and they canceled my route because they didn't have enough scheduled appts in the area. Called the main office spoke to a supervisor about our problem and he hung up on me indicating I was using a Group On coupon and my business wasn't important to his company. I emailed the area manager and owner of the company trying to give them a chance to respond to my issues and never received a response. I am shocked how a company stays in business based on how they treat customers?????? read more

The repaired my chimney about a year and a half ago. The problem we had with leaking still persists. I have been in contact with them for almost a year. I was told by them they no longer service the state so that I should get an outside estimate and they would pay for the repairs. I did that and they verbally agreed to pay for the repairs. I have been waiting to get a check from them since June!!! Everytime I call know the contact person is always busy and never gets back to me. The person handling the file know has changed 3 times. The only way for me to get the person on the line is to give a fake name like I am a new client. This place is awful to deal with and the work they performed was atrocious!!!! How companies like this are in business is an absolute joke. I would never recommend them to anyone. This company is like a Ponzi scheme. How about that lifetime warranty!! :) read more

Take your business elsewhere! This place is a scam! I purchased a groupon to have this company come out to do a chimney sweeping, inspection & moisture resistance evaluation and they never came out. I had called and scheduled them to come out 3 different times and each were more than 3-4 weeks apart. The day before they were supposed to come out I get a call from some 800 number saying they were not going to be able to come out. My groupon was almost set to expire and I had to call for a refund before it would be to late. I'm worried other people too are getting the run around and never being seen. Stay away from this company! read more

Too bad you can't give zero stars. Similar story as the others. Had a Groupon and made an appointment. When they didn't show I called and was told that we were on the list to be called (when I wonder) as they were no longer servicing our area. Said we should call Groupon and that they were aware of the situation. Will try, but in the meantime STAY AWAY! Poor, or non-existent, customer service. read more

I had the same experience as the other two customers who reviewed the Fireplace Doctor of Chicago. This is the WORST company ever. Do not use them!! I purchased a Groupon for a chimney sweep. I scheduled an appointment TWICE and BOTH times, no one showed up!!!! When I called to complain my concerns were clearly irrelevant to the representative on the phone. I have never felt as disrespected as a consumer as I have by this HORRIBLE company. TAKE YOUR MONEY ELSEWHERE!!!!! I am now working with Groupon to get my money back. SO not worth the hassle! read more

My review is also for the Fireplace Doctor of Chicago, yet the people I have talked to call me back from a Florida number, so I wonder if anyone is or ever has been in Chicago. I purchased the Groupon for the Chimney Sweep, Inspection, and Moisture Resistance Evaluation that expired July 25, 2012. I called the Fireplace Doctor on June 13 and made an appointment for Saturday, June 30th at 8am. I wasn't informed of the 2 hour window, so at 8:45 on the 30th, when they hadn't yet arrived, I called them again. It wasn't until that time that I was informed that they had to cancel my appointment because there "wasn't a technician in the area." I was angry about it, but more so because I had declined out of town plans for the weekend, which I could have accepted had the Fireplace Doctor had the courtesy to let me know they wouldn't be showing up. Regardless, I rescheduled for the next available Saturday- today, Saturday September 1st at 8am. I was assured my Groupon would be honored. Again, the appointment was cancelled. This time, however, I was given a courtesy call on Thursday the 30th. I called them back and was informed that the reason was once again because there "wasn't a technician in the area." I told him I wanted them to pay a technician overtime if they had to, but that I wanted my appointment honored. He told me only the owner had the power to do that. I asked the representative, Jason (who stated he was a manager), if he thought this was acceptable, and he actually told me to get my money back from Groupon. I asked him what specifically happened, and why there wasn't a technician twice in a row--I asked whether there ever had been a technician, or if they scheduled it hoping there would be enough appointments in the area to put one there. He stated that the first time, the technician was moved, and the second, the technician was no longer with the company. Then I stated that the auto-reschedule they had given me was for a Thursday morning, and that was completely unacceptable to me and that it should be cancelled. Then he asked me for my phone number so he could pull up my account to cancel the appointment. Until then, I had thought they had a caller ID system that linked my call with my account, as many places do, since he was answering my questions so specifically. I asked him how he even answered my questions, and how he knew about the technicians and why they weren't in my area, if he didn't know who I was. He replied, "well, you're in Chicago, right? that's what your area code says." So, it's not that there wasn't a technician in my neighborhood. There isn't a technician anywhere near the Chicagoland area. Wouldn't you think a company offering a Groupon to Chicago would at least have a few full time Chicago-based technicians on staff? Talk about a joke. read more