The 5 stars are for all you reviews. The place is having a going out of business sale. I was going to buy a floor model, but after reading all the reviews I wont go check it out. I couldnt believe what they say. Wow worst reviewed shop ever. I left a review so I can watch . Where is the popcorn read more

Terrible experience with Total Heating. They committed to a project without coming to see the fireplaces in person, but via pictures. They never let us know that what we were requesting might not work and after clearing out the existing fireplace, they later tell us we have no other options but to replace the entire box for a minimum of $30,000. They were not helpful in any way to try and make it right. As an interior designer, I would never work with them again. read more

I simply cannot believe this company is still in business. I've been trying to help my 80 year old mother deal with this horrendous owner, who not only has ZERO customer service skill, but he literally has told us he doesn't have time to answer our questions about the services. We asked for a written estimate, and he said, verbatim: "We're too busy around here to deal with that." By some miracle, Richard (owner) has employed service people who are decent folks. I can't wait for one of them to realize they should leave Total Heating and open their own competing business in Santa Barbara ASAP. As you can see by other customer reviews, there are dozens of customers who would gladly dump Total Heating for anybody else in town who can service specific brands. read more

Just like many others, the Owner (I guess he is) Richard...is...well...like his name ...a real Richard. If you check out the Google Reviews you will see similar to the Yelp experiences. Went into the showroom which is nice, Richard gave us a rough quote. We followed up with several calls (all went to VM and none returned) and an email. In frustration we went in and he screamed "name, name, name" at us....more general abuse followed. Please remember I walked in to the store and that was literally his first interaction not knowing who I was! Anyway, he grumpily replied he will get to my quote later that day. So, here we are 3 weeks later and still no email, call or anything. It is sad to see the staff also in a general "beaten down" mode...years of abuse being hurled at them, I guess. Clearly an old time business owner completely unaware of the new world and clearly has his own issues. read more

I wouldn't even give total heat 1 star. They installed a firebox back in 2012 and have been less than even nice to deal with. They should be out of business. This last episode is my last. The only reason i even bothered to call total heat was because they are the original installation people. They are absolutely ridiculous. I requested a new sparker to be installed and a new thermostat it was not even top of the line it was a standard $20 model and my bill was $744 that is ridiculous what does this guy think he's doing. I SAY IN BOLD DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH TOTAL HEAT, HORRIBLE!! I have requested that Richard call me in person to modify this bill if not I will report him to the Better Business Bureau and take him to KEYTV news he is the worst business in Santa Barbara do not do not do not!! read more

We started shopping for a fireplace insert back in October. We've never encountered a business that acted as if they didn't want our business until we went to this one. The owner, Richard, is rude and insulting. He answered our questions as if we were idiots for even mentioning them. My husband spoke on the phone with him and emailed several times and got no satisfying answers other than curt replies. When we asked if someone could come out and take a look at our fireplace he seemed to think that was an outrageous request. After a couple of weeks of trying to get information and estimates we gave up and looked elsewhere. I don't recommend this business to anyone unless you like being insulted and frustrated. read more

They should be tarred and feathered. The AC cycles on/off every 2 minutes. Not a single damper was installed. Now I have a jet engine in the kitchen and a trickle in the bedroom. Pick anyone but this joker. read more

We had nothing short of a surreal bad experience with these guys. It's not that they made a huge mistake with my heating ducts under the house. It is the way the owner showed up and angrily blamed his failure on my wife when I wasn't home. To say that this was upsetting would be an understatement. It took complaints to multiple agencies to get them back to fix the problem. Yikes! Caveat Emptor. read more

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If I could give less than one store I would! If you're looking for the worst customer service in Santa Barbara and this is the place for you. The owner has the worst bedside manner and is not helpful in anyway I would stay as far away from this place as possible! Not sure how they're still in business but good luck if you have to use him. read more

The guy who answered the phone went from "zero" to "asshole" in under 10 seconds; don't even bother.

Absolute jokers. Charged me $100+ to diagnose my ac problem. Said they couldn't tell for sure but thought it was a leak in the outdoor unit. Told me to spend $1k to seal and refill or $7k to replace. I opted for the former. It worked for a day. Asked them to come out again. They charged me ANOTHER $100+ for a second diagnostic, during which they ACTUALLY did the job and looked at the internal condenser unit which was obviously leaking. So, double charge for diagnostic service. One of which was incomplete and cost me a grand. Just lucky I didn't opt to replace the whole unit the first time. Jokers. Avoid. read more

BATE & SWITCH! DO NOT USE THEM. I asked for a bid on 20 vents to be cleaned and received an email bid from Richard Doolittle 966-6823. First, they called and said the guy could not make it to my appointment because he was sick. This wasted 1/2 my day. I was not working to be home for them to clean. They then came to the rescheduled appt and tried to up the price $200 from the original bed that was emailed. NOPE...get out of my house! They wasted my time twice, tried to bate and switch the price and my ducts still are not cleaned! They should get a bill for my lost time. Don't waste yours. A scam! read more

I had a similar experience with the owner as previous reviews, so I bought the exact same fireplace glass doors online at Woodland Direct and had a handy friend install in an hour. SAVED $1300!!! read more

I should've read the reviews before I hired this company. Horrible customer service and very, very expensive. I cannot recommend them in good faith. read more

The only reason for two stars is the employee who provided the service. The owner has a ridiculous attitude. Very poor customer service skills which really reflect he cares less about providing even a modest level of customer service. Look elsewhere.. read more

There is no customer service & the customer is always wrong at Total Heating. A Few phone calls & 1 email & I just couldn't deal with rudeness of owner and lack of professionalism. Worth going outside SB for heating needs or try local plumbers read more

Fabulous service by Jeremy! He arrived in a timely manner, diagnosed the problems with both gas fireplaces and promptly remedied them. We are now enjoying toasty fires. Bravo TOTAL read more

Great experience with Total Heating for installation of a fireplace. The purchase was easy, the price was fair and they kept us informed throughout the project. Actual installation was yesterday- the crew (James and Jeremy) arrived on time and made the installation a pleasant experience. They were professionsl, friendly, accommodating (accepted an on the spot change order) and were extremely clean in their work. The entire Total Heating team - Richard, James and Jeremy earned their 5 stars! read more

What a jerk. I see the owner every single morning at our coffee place, and I smile and say Hello - he has looked past me for over a year. But I was so frustrated with my fireplace insert, one time I approached his table and asked if I might run a quick question past him. He said NO, call my office, they will send someone out. I called - they would send a guy for $122, to look and answer a question, but any work needed would be extra. Ha! I told them no thanks, did lots of Yelp research, and fond Core fireplace in Pacoima (a wonderful guy from Core came out, see that review!) Total Fireplace? Total Fail. read more

Called about a part that I need for my fireplace. Was informed that the part/installation was too small for them to be bothered with it. While I have always preferred to do business locally, I will not recommend nor conduct business with Total Heating given their lack of concern for customer service. read more

I had them out twice, 2 service calls, to fix a gas fireplace. Problem not solved. The service guy and I figured it was probably the pilot assembly but couldn't be sure. I figured I would buy one and install it myself. I got the assembly, but when I started to do the replacement, I noticed that there were a couple of wires that didn't match up, and there was more disassembly than I had initially thought, so I called these folks and asked them to come put it in. The owner said he wouldn't come out and install it because they didn't make any profit on the part. After 2 service calls, at $120 each, that didn't fix the problem, this seems really lame to me. I try to treat service personnel with respect and generosity, and expect the same from them. read more

Like the other review stated Rude! Overpriced and arrogant. Called to get help troubleshoot an issue to find out what I possibly could need and before even finishing describing my issue was interrupted and told I was wearing him out. Unprofessional and unhelpful. read more

Left work early to meet Richard at my home to get an estimate on a new heater. After waiting for an hour, he was a no call no show! I got a call about ten minutes later saying that he would be to my home in 10 minutes. Not going to give you that chance - my time is valuable and you just wasted it. Going to look elsewhere. read more

RUDE, RUDE, RUDE If I could give zero stars, I would. From the odd woman who answered the phones and acted like she was suspicious of me to the owner who was about as rude as I've ever been treated, I couldn't believe a business would operate in such an unprofessional manner. Upon requesting to get an estimate on replacing my fireplace, and booking an appointment, the owner called and stated "no can do" without a greeting or even identifying himself. He proceeded to tell me that he was "tired of going to homes and giving estimates in the $6-7K range only to have people back away from the expense...'time is money' " was his pithy quote. I'm glad his business is so good that he can blow potential business off so rudely. Clearly the positive reviews are friends or relatives. BEWARE. read more

Now after trying to rip me off by selling me a $4,000+ AC unit that I did not need. Yelling at me because my Home owners insurance wanted to verify the need for the replacement, and found out that the replacement was not needed it was only a $65 loose wire repair. They are now harassing me calling me multiple times on my cell phone and calling the house phone. Do not use them!!! read more

Awful service and expensive. I found out later that they charged me way too much which is my fault for not checking around. They totally screwed up the installation of a heater in my small house. (There were NO safety issues). The heater was incredibly loud and made a whining sound. When I had them come back to look at it, they told me that it was normal and to put weather stripping on the door. I had someone else come in and it ended up that the intake had the wrong kind of grille and it took a new $20 part to fix the problem. They let them in my house in the morning and they told me that it would be done by 3:00. I went home early at around 1:30 to check on the progress. My front door was wide open and the heater was running and they weren't there. They finally showed back up at 2:45. Stay far away from these clowns. read more

A little more money than some bargain people, but the service is worth it on repairs. Very professional and knowledgeable.

SO glad that I dodged a bullet here. I contacted this company wanting an estimate for the installation of an air conditioner. They came on a Wednesday, an hour and a half after his scheduled appointment with no phone call to say that he was running late, refused to discuss any options on cooling my home other than a traditional system that would require replacing my current, working, furnace and completely replacing all the existing ducting, which didn't need to be replaced. I had multiple suggestions that had come from discussions with other companies and lots of research, but all of my suggestions were shut down immediately. I was promised an estimate the next day or on that Friday. I had to call them today (Monday) to find out what was going on, as it was longer than I had been promised for an estimate. The owner then called me back, saying that he would be able to get me an estimate tomorrow and that the person who came out shouldn't have told me a timeline of when to expect an estimate. He was INCREDIBLY rude about it. I responded that I was concerned about the lack of communication that I had been receiving, especially since the man interrupted me multiple times within the 2 minute conversation. When I asked for clarification that I would be getting an estimate tomorrow, he became irate with me. He said "you know you seem really angry and I think we are going to just f*****n' pass on your system." and then hung up on me! This was potentially a 20,000 dollar job and he just blew me off completely! I consider myself incredibly lucky that we did not go any further with this, because the company can't even handle a simple estimate without berating customers and being generally nasty. UPDATE: The owner is now calling me on my cellphone to harass me and accusing me of lying, asking me to take down the review. Even more reason to leave it up. Don't even call this company for an estimate. He doesn't seem to understand that you can't speak to customers the way he has spoken to me and it seems multiple other people. RUDE RUDE RUDE and now is getting to the point where I'm wondering if police are going to have to be involved because this guy has my address. read more

Completely unhelpful unless you want to pay them a ton of money. I'm fairly handy, so I did a bit of troubleshooting on my gas fireplace and made a guess that the valve is shot and needs to be replaced. I'm smart enough to know I should hire a professional to do that, so I called Total to see what kind of cost that would be, or if I could live with it broken for a while. After asking if I could get a ballpark number on replacing the valve, he replied, "No." and hung up. Thanks! Edit: Because we weren't able to find anyone else to give us a better idea of the problem in any short amount of time, we bit the bullet and had Total come out to troubleshoot, for $110. They basically told us what we already knew, then later provided a quote to fix it for over $400 more. This seemed extremely expensive to replace a valve, so I continued to shop around. In the mean time, I requested the part number that we needed from Total assuming the $110 fee was worth at least that. Total gave us the runaround and after calling back twice still never gave us that information. They essentially took $110 for nothing in return. Luckily I found someone else that came out that week to diagnose (for FREE) and replaced the valve for just over $100. My experience with Total was completely disappointing and borderline criminal. Avoid these guys if you can! read more

Scheduled Total Heating and Air to come up and do a servicing of our propane-fueled "wood-buring" stove/fireplace. We also needed to order a new glass front for the fireplace. They were professional, thorough, on time, and very kind. We'll definitely use them again, and appreciate their quality work. read more

We have had a wonderful experience with the owner of this business . Installed an electric fireplace. Always responded quickly to our calls with questions. Install done professionally and courteously. I would highly recommend working with Total Heating!! read more

Absolutely the worst customer service I've ever dealt with. Multiple trips out for the same issue, and charged a $105 service fee each time. Would NEVER use again ! read more

Unpleasant experience with the owner. The employee was efficient and did her best but when she referred me to the owner for questions about fireplaces, he seemed impatient and said he had no time to answer my questions. Both the employee and I felt awkward. I cancelled the service appointment and will purchase my fireplace somewhere else. read more

Purchased and installed a fireplace. Store had many choices and everyone was very helpful and patient answering our questions. The installers were wonderful and everything went very smoothly. read more

Total Fireplace of Santa Barbara was able to diagnose the reason our top of the line gas fireplace we bought in 2013 had NEVER WORKED. It wouldn't ignite, the flames put so much soot on the glass we couldn't see the flames, 4 years of service calls by the Orange County dealer where we bought it never fixed it! One tech even told us the problem was we had "dirty propane". Another said we had the fire logs stacked too high. We were angry and frustrated! When we discovered Total carried our brand of fireplace we decided to have their technicians take a look. On the first visit Daniel determined the conversion from natural gas to propane had not been done properly. It took a couple of weeks to order all the parts, and on the second visit Daniel and Jeremy completely rebuilt it from the shell up. Since then we have had a perfect fireplace to warm our family room! AT LAST! We have to thank Mr. Richard Doolittle, who owns Total, for having a great service department and for stepping in to solve our problem, even though we had bought the fireplace somewhere else. 5 STARS from our family read more

THE WORST SERVICE I HAVE EVER RECEIVED! It's shocking that they are still in business! BOTH times I have walked in, the woman there has exclaimed "I'm going to take my lunch out of the microwave, so I cannot help you." Lol... ARE YOU JOKING ME???? Talk about terrible customer service, and a wretched first impression! Additionally, the man (whom I believe to be the owner) is always moody and treats his clients as though they are an inconvenience. In Santa Barbara, your business reputation is EVERYTHING... and if customer service is NOT a business ethic that is upheld... then that business is at a HUGE loss... and destined to fail. I expect that they will not stay in business much longer. Will never return. read more

Excellent service and nice people. I purchased a custom fireplace screen and it turned out perfectly.

I called Total Heating and fireplace to schedule a cleaning of my Jotul gas fireplace. They gave me an estimate over the phone, gave me an appointment in 2 days, arrived exactly on time. They were mindful of setting up a tarp in case of dirt, got right to work cleaning my fireplace, the glass, vacuuming the logs and interior. Dan was polite and didn't waste time, and took the full hour to clean it beautifully. The final price was the same as the quote. Nice job. read more

My husband first met with Richard to ask about installing automatic starters in our two fireplaces. He was supposed to come out to our home to give us an appraisal, but we waited three weeks and heard nothing from him. So we went to the store one day but Richard was on vacation. There were two people at the desk; one on the phone and a woman who couldn't help us because she had to eat her lunch. We waited 10 minutes, just standing there watching one on the phone and the other eating lunch. Finally, the person on the phone helped us and said he'd come to our home to give us an appraisal. He came to the house for all of five minutes and promised an appraisal in a day or two. We waited almost two weeks and heard nothing. I left two phone messages and still have heard nothing back from them. This is such bad service for a small city like Santa Barbara where most merchants rely on referrals and good references. These folks are unprofessional in their service and I would never trust them to take care of the fireplaces safely. read more

Beware of pricing policy and ask about cost of any part. Diagnostic is a fixed cost. Any installation also fixed cost. Paid $122 for a 15 minute install on top of a shocking small part close to $300. Would never use again. read more