Vent: That $400 chimney sweep was a complete waste

Paid a guy from a local company to clean our chimney last month. Said he did a full inspection too. Then we had a small smoke backup issue last week. Called another guy out and he showed me the flue was completely caked with creosote. First guy barely touched it. Anyone else get scammed by a home service company around here?

3 comments

3 Comments

foster.tessa27d ago

That first company you used sounds exactly like the scam my neighbor fell for - she paid $450 and got a "certificate of service" that was basically a piece of printer paper with a fake logo on it. Next time ask for photos of the flue before and after, and watch them pull out their brush kit so you can see it's actually dirty when they're done.

amy_west27d ago

Did he at least leave you a receipt with a fake company name on it? I swear these guys are all the same. Had a "chimney pro" come out last fall, charged me 350 bucks, said everything was fine. Then I had smoke coming back into the living room during the first cold snap. Second guy said the damper was basically jammed open with gunk, and the whole flue looked like it hadn't been touched in years. Took him like 20 minutes to really clean it and fix the damper. First guy probably just lit a fire and called it a day. I ended up reporting him to the BBB but nothing ever came of it.

lewis.mila27d ago

Oh man, I read this article from Consumer Reports a few months back that said chimney scams are actually super common because people don't really know what a clean chimney should look like. Like most homeowners just take their word for it and pay up. It basically said a lot of these guys just spray some water up there or sweep the first few inches and call it done. That first guy you had probably did the bare minimum to get your money. It makes me so mad because a real cleaning involves scrubbing the whole flue with brushes and checking the liner. You gotta watch them work or ask for before and after photos with a phone light next time.