It is disheartening for me to need to write this but necessary in the event a similar issue occurs for someone else. Upon arriving to my house the young man didn't even gather any equipment to do any work. For me that was a red flag knowing he had already made his mind up to create a scenario that my fireplace was in need of major repair or else he just didn't want to work. The young man looked up in my fireplace without even opening the damper. I have a Class A triple wall flue. Very safe. I just wanted it cleaned. He immediately told me the flue was damaged, dangerous to use. Repairs would be around $4500. Once I showed him how to open the damper he reaffirmed his original opinion that the flue was not safe. It was my decision to have a local business do this work as he is a young man with a young family. This was a mistake because in trying to use this business he just tried to take advantage of me. I was charged $65 for this terrible service and he said he would give me an estimate in writing if I decided to have him do the work. Moving forward a week...my fireplace has been checked then cleaned by a business outside of my local area. Please be aware of those that either don't want to work or just lie to make money. I would never have that kind of work done without a second opinion anyway but there were too many red signs in this young man that I knew his words were just wrong. read more