Alan's Chimney Sweep

This is the email I sent to AJs after their second visit I had you come out and service my wood stove over a month ago. It had been working fine but I figured it was time for a cleaning. Your techs came out and said it was "clean as a whistle" but serviced it anyway. I was happy to pay the bill. After they left I had a lot of trouble lighting the stove and it would either smolder or go out.

I tried many times with the same result so I called for a follow up service. Tiffany told me that the team that came out was no longer with you guys and "that was a good thing". I basically lost out on a month of the coldest weather we've had in a long time without my wood stove. Anyhow, your guys came out today (they were very nice) and said the "heat blanket" was out of place and blocking the air flow so they removed it and said I didn't need it, which is fine.

The problem is it was working fine before the first team came out and was not working when they left. The second team charged me $100 for "an inspection fee" which is basically charging to diagnose a problem that the first team caused. I'm really not happy with having to pay an additional $100. You should tear my check up and this visit should be no charge.

If not, I cannot recommend you in the future. This is their response: I see you have an issue with being charged another service/inspection charge. First, paperwork says a cleaning was done 10-20-21. After that you say you couldn't use it. If you had called within days of having the problem, we wouldn't charge for a follow up. From what I see you called 01-31-22, more than 3 months later and got service 02-16-22.

The guys found the issue of the baffle blanket which can happen at any time during use if you have a good draw. You are asking for a no charge service, when the total was already discounted 20% because it didn't need a cleaning. There was still a service and the $100 doesn't only cover the work done at your house. Thank you for understanding. Jana My follow up: Actually, Jana, I don't understand. I've lived in this house for over 10 years. I've never had a problem with the wood stove but thought that, after 10 years, it should be checked.

I began having problems immediately after your guys left but I assumed my wood was wet or maybe it was behaving differently now that it had been worked on but it just kept smoking and smouldering. How does a heat blanket that was fine for over 10 years miraculously move on it's own after having been worked on by you? Why did your office gal say that it was good that that crew no longer worked for you? Enjoy the $100. It's the last you'll get from me.

BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY! I WISH I READ THE REVIEWS PRIOR TO DOING BUSINESS WITH THEM! BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE! DON'T BE FOOLDED BY THE GOOD REVIEWS A FEW OF THEM ARE FRIENDS OF THE EMPLOYEES! I am not one to speak derogatory towards anyone. And, I am a bit bothered that I even have to write a review as I don't think it is kind. But, I am not sure what else to do and I was told to write a review to help others.

I purchased our second wood burning stove from A.J.'s Stoves in Gardnerville NV. I paid $2800.00 for it and $600.00 to have it delivered and another $600.00 to have the second one delivered, which it was illegal for them to delivery to me in the State of California. I also later found out the EPA was within the last months even it being a brand new stove.

I have been dealing with Crystal the owners daughter and sent her many video's of the stove's issues. When you open the door to load the wood the smoke gushes into the Livingroom and so do the sparks. I requested her father come out to take a look at it and witness the smoke and smell the smoke and she continues to tell me that they were not even supposed to deliver it up there and he would not be coming out.

I immediately removed the stove from our house as the fire department advised and it has been sitting in our garage now for over a year and we are still without a stove and are being forced to incur the expense of running our heater. I have asked her to please come and pick up the stove and we can find another one. She yelled at me at the top of her lungs and hung up.

I wish I would have read the reviews before dealing with this company. If any one has any suggestions on what to do, I gladly welcome any advice. I am trying to post the video's, but, It only will let me upload photos. HERE IS A. J.' S STOVE'S IN GARDNERVILLE, NV RESPONSE TO MY YELP REVIEW IN AN EMAIL THAT I COPIED AND PASTED FOR YOUR REVIEW AND THEN MY RESPONSE TO THEIR HORRIFIC RESPONSE!

We will not be doing any further business with you. I never spoke to you in a derogatory way. I may have raised my voice, but that was in defense of being yelled at myself. All that is in the past. We didn't do anything illegal, so I would like you to edit your terminology. We refused to do more for your due to the limits of our license. We can deliver anywhere.

What you need is a proper inspection and a smoke test by a professional, both of which we cannot do due to location. There is no way that two completely different units have the same issue. The common denominator is the chimney setup and how it is used. So please consult somebody local who can perform a level 2 or higher inspection for you, and hopefully a smoke test. Again, I wish you well, but we are no longer doing any favors or business with you. Krystle Wow, and, now you are lying.

Let me make myself very clear. You telling me you are not doing any further business with me is ludicrous. I am the one demanding that you pick up your stove because I am not doing business with your establishment. You trying to deflect your wrong doing on me is just another horrible customer service tactic that your company is displaying. I'm sure if anyone listened to the conversations I had with you they would be mortified in how you yelled and continued to yell at me.

I will take no issue in letting others review your customer service skills and let them decide. Again, please have your Mom or Dad contact me ASAP to resolve this matter. As clearly based on the reviews you are certainly not the one that resolves things appropriately. You don't get to SCREW CUSTOMERS, LIE about it, and STEAL their monies and then when you get called out on it you lose your mind and try and blame the customer.

You did lie. You were not allowed to deliver nor install it in our State and you charged me $1200.00 to do so. And, as to your rude comment "common denominator" please take your time and Re-Read your company's reviews. This is about the 5th. time I have asked to speak with your supervisors and you continue to disregard my request which only leads me to believe you pocketed the money as you requested I pay you cash on the delivery/install charge. I should have known better. Please pick up this stove and refund my monies immediately. Thank you, Cheryle

We had an appointment for a service call for cleaning on our gas fireplaces. They were a 'no show'. When I called that afternoon during business hours, no one answered the phone. I left a message wondering if they were late or not coming during the scheduled time, but didn't get a call back that day. They called me 24 hours later and acted like my appointment was for 2 days later (which I know I didn't schedule because I have a class on that day and never schedule for anything for that day.).

When I mentioned I had left a message yesterday, she never referred to it, didn't apologize and tried to make this my mistake then she hung up on me. Customer service is very bad, 'no show' for service, office does not answer the phone during office hours, and phone calls are not returned in a timely manner. The front desk service is rude and unapologetic for their mistakes and does not work with the customer for solving the issue. I do not recommend this business/service.

Absolutely horrid customer service. Picked out a stove and pre-install was scheduled. Two nice guys came out and checked everything out. all was good with where we wanted the stove. We wanted to put the stove in the middle of the wall. but were open to options. No problem they said other than a short elbow at the ceiling. Three weeks later two more guys from AJ's show up.

They came to do a pre-install check. Hmm. already had that done. But no worries. had a second check done. These two guys agreed with the first two. The day of install. Brian apparently their main installer comes up with a completely different plan as to where the stove pipe needs to go. Instead of short pipe across the ceiling and two elbows. it is now going to be 3 feet in a direction of 90 degrees from where the pre-installers indicated.

I asked Brian is there a problem with the stove going in the middle of the wall. From there it went downhill. He told me it "wasn't his fault" that roof valley was in the way. It wasn't "his fault" that now we would have a 3' pipe running across the ceiling. He also told me he talked to the pre-install guys and it didn't jive with what I was saying.

Basically calling me a liar. We paid $400 to have the gas line run where they told us it would work. Brian. "Not my problem". It got worse with Brian so I told them we were done. His words. "that's fine I am done with you guys too!" Never gave us any options to resolve the problem. just NO customer service or respect! No wonder they have poor reviews!

AJS is simple wonderful! From their selection, installers, to office help, AJ's is helpful and wonderful! they are a family owned and operated business as well. I needed help relighting my Regency gas stove and crystal walked me through it like a champ. the most difficult part was getting down on my knees. Krystal was kind, patient and explained things in laymen terms.

We had it done in less than a minute. they could have easily scheduled a service call to have done it, but didn't. they just walked me through it. Appreciated more than i could express as i live on a very modest fixed income and don't have an extra dime a tthe end of the month. thanks AJS for being kind, honest and not all about the money, and genuinely caring about your community!

AJ Stoves installed a gas fireplace insert last month. They did and excellent job installing the insert and then followed up to make sure the surrounding area and mantel for the fire place and was property constructed.

Paid $50 for cord to seal on stove. Came off in less than a couple weeks. Their tack said didn't work because "I" bent the door! Truth showed itself when it fell off! Just what ya love being lectured & accused by their for their shoddy work!

I recently purchased my home and I wanted to have my fireplace insert inspected and serviced. My neighbor suggested that I call A J stove for this service. Keith came to provide this service. He completely inspected, cleaned, adjusted and tested the unit to make sure that it was functioning properly. I will highly recommend A J stove to every person if given that opportunity. Charlie W. Minden, NV.

I can't believe the negative reviews, called AJ'S Stove because I had a chimney fire, there response was nothing short of impressive, I live in Yerington and even though I'm so far away they took care of me the same day, the crew showed up and we're very polite and knowledgeable, and the scheduling representative was courteous, there pricing was in my eyes was very reasonable, I will definitely be calling for all my stove and cleaning services. Thanks Guys Clark Sanford

Called and discussed the problems with my gas fireplace. AJ employee said she would call me back. 6 days passed with no return call. I called another business and got an appointment in a week. AJ must be very busy and also rich because they are interested in providing services to customers.

This is the third time I have used AJ's, ( and the last ). After spending almost $4,000 dollars with AJ's, and being our hometown go to, I figured I would give them the benefit of doubt ( 3rd times a charm right? ), and hoped this time would be a better experience since I spent that amount of money with them. Nope, they have proven to be consistently unworthy.

We scheduled an appointment for a simple chimney sweep over a month in advance, ( May 13, 2019 ). The appointment was for today, June 21st, 2019 at noon. I took time off of work to meet their scheduling, and they finally arrived at 13:43. I did however receive a phone call at 13:27 explaining they would be there in 10 minutes. If they had been 10 minutes late, even 15 with a phone call, that would have been acceptable, but in this day and age with all of the communication sources available, it is totally unacceptable not to be notified that they were going to be over an hour and a half late.

To scratch another bite, when I called and spoke with AJ's office, the female that I spoke with had nothing but animosity during our conversation. I guess they assume that they are the only game in town, but I have a newsflash for them.

Had to wait for two months for them to come out. Because there was an inch of snow on the roof they said they couldn't go up there. We were told we had the best wood stove made. Our stove puts out so much smoke we've had to open all the windows to air the house. My guess, something isn't right with " the best stove made" We were also told the way to control the heat was to open our windows ( wth?) I don't think that would work well when it's raining sideways into the house. In short, we paid $75 after waiting 2 months only to have it smoke up the house on our 2nd fire after cleaning. Won't be calling them again.

Terrible experience. Had a stove repair appointment set up five weeks in advance, which was the earliest they could fit me in. On the morning of the 9 am appointment they called at 9:34 to say that they would not be coming because I could not be there in person. I had previously called several times to make certain that everything was clear. I have a voice message from them on my phone telling me to leave a key code for their workers.

This morning they said that they didn't know who would have told me such a thing. I even arranged to have a handyman go to the house to let them in and coordinate. What a waste. There were other problems, as well, but this was the last straw.

Owned/used a wood pellet stove in my home. Called AJ Stoves and inquired about replacing a broken part. Receptionist was VERY rude on the phone. The screwed up part of the deal is that AJ Stoves was the only dealer in the county that handles my brand of stove. Sucked it up and ordered the part. Here is the "icing on the cake" - tech's show up and immediately start complaining about this and that.

Even politics came into the conversation. I told them to finish and leave. Will NEVER call them again. Remember professionalism starts from the top and goes down from there. It seemed (IMHO) that the tech knew that he could say whatever he wanted and not worry about it.

A few weeks ago my husband and I drove from Carson City to check out their inventory and talk to someone. We are looking for a wood insert and have some specific requirements, so its like searching for a needle in a haystack. The blonde women who greeted us was initially nice, yet when my husband started asking about specific needs we had, she got very short with us.

She kept interrupting my husband when he spoke, and when it was clear she didn't really want to help us, she stopped talking to him and spoke only to me. I was appalled at her "salesmanship". We will never go back.

They are pros. Had them install a wood stove I bought second hand. The finished job looks really great, they even inspected and cleaned up the old stove. At the end they even explained how to work everything. Thank you Brian, Keenan, and Krystle!

I went into AJ's stoves and ordered the Mirage stove they had on display. I was told it would take about 3 weeks to get it in due to it being around Thanksgiving. I was okay with that. We had an install date of Jan. 9th. I tried calling a few days before hand just to verify and never got a call back. 4 calls later with no response, I decided to just go in there and see what was going on.

I told them I had been trying to call for days and got the convenient response, "Oh, we just left you a message." They told me that since it was close to Christmas and New Years, the company that makes that model was on vacation for two weeks and it would be coming in after that. An annoying delay but one I could live with. I then got a call from AJ's stoves telling me that the company couldn't find my stove and it would take a while longer.

So I waited. A week or so later I got a call telling me that the stove had been delivered, but that they had sent a white one and that they had to reorder the titanium one that day and it would be in within the next day or two. Later that week I got a call telling me that they had delivered another white one. Enough is enough and I told them to cancel the entire order.

The only reason I gave them two stars is that the girls that handled all this for me were very pleasant and understanding. I was annoyed that they never returned my calls. I realize it was the busy season for them, but when you're given an install date and plan your entire schedule around it, it's frustrating when they don't let you know it won't be happening.

We had such good service from A J's Stoves! They came out to service our fireplace and they were very professional and explained what they were doing. They cleaned both sides of the glass on the inside (duel fireplace) and left it looking like new. The office staff was also wonderful in getting us scheduled for an appointment. We highly recommend their services.

Having lived in Tahoe for years, one of the things I was after was a nice replacement for my fireplace. Masonry fireplace but it had a gas log. Yeah it worked and was pretty, but I was always left wanting more. With central heat, the motivation wasn't ever really there but I would get the occasional bug and go looking over fireplace inserts every year or so.

One year the bug bit hard. So I decided that I wanted to do some (okay, a lot) of research into fireplace upgrades, replacements, etc. Found the wonderful world of inserts (and all my neighbors have them) so pretty much narrowed down what I wanted. Now people who know me know I research things to death and when I make an informed decision, it's usually grounded in some really excellent research, glowing reviews and a track record a mile long.

But the cost of an insert is just one part of the the equation. There is the installation aspect of it which includes labor and materials. Plus for something like an insert, there is the "is it an appropriate sized one for the dwelling" which includes the hearth, and firebox. I believe I settled on one. As I mentioned, I research things - to death. I'm also very stubborn.

These folks changed my mind. They managed to sell me a more expensive insert. Now, I have no problem walking out or disagreeing (or even waiting months) when making decisions, but their expertise, knowledge of the subject and ability to communicate with me convinced me the one that I needed was not a no-name brand, but one that was going to last for the lifetime of my home (along with some other deciding factors).

They came out, covered everything, knocked out the smoke shelf, put in the new insert, TILED a bit around the gap (yeah, they actually tiled w/ spare marble tile I had when the fireplace was refaced earlier) instead of trying to upsell a larger face covering. I am VERY happy with my decision and VERY happy I found them. They provide a full range of services and have a nice little showroom so you can actually look at the various inserts that are available.

They took their time, several times, to walk me through a multi-thousand dollar decision and got it installed in the time frame between X-Mas and New Years. This year I am currently enjoying the warmth of a new insert and very glad these folks are around. I am very surprised that they weren't already on yelp with a bunch of glowing reviews and I would be hard pressed to understand why someone an alternative as these folks have been in business for decades, great customer service and response, and actually show up on time (not Tahoe time). So, fireplace insert and a steel insulated chimney liner installed in the middle of winter. Whats not to like?