Brian's Chimney Service

My experience with Brian's Chimney Service spans about 7-8 years -- it's been a mixed bag, but I'm happy with the final outcome, so "all's well that ends well". What happened is that years ago, my neighbor was having a chimney cap installed by Brian's Chimney, and that seemed like a good idea, so I went over and asked the guys if they could do ours too (our fireplace is sealed off/non-working, but rain would occasionally drip through). They installed a cap (which they had with them on the truck) the same day at a reasonable price, and I was very pleased.



Everything was fine until last December (2013), when a couple of squirrels, who I'm pretty sure were mating in the chimney by the sound of it, chewed their way through the fireplace barrier and popped into the living room. If you've ever tried capturing hormonal squirrels in your home with a laundry basket, with 2 dogs and 2 kids in hot pursuit, you know it's not as much fun as it sounds! ;) By some miracle we got them out with no harm done to anyone (2- or 4-legged), and managed a quick "fix" of the fireplace barrier by filling the cavity with steel wool, peppermint oil and "Great Stuff" foam.



Happily, the squirrels did not return, and the chimney sort of fell off my radar until this October when I realized we'd better get it taken care of before the start of squirrel mating season. I had no memory of who had put the cap on originally, but my neighbor tracked down her Brian's Chimney receipt and I called them. Jeffrey took my call, and I explained my situation. I was afraid he'd tell me it wasn't their problem because it was so long ago, and I didn't have my receipt, but he said he'd discuss it with his brother and get back to me.



After a couple rounds of phone tag, Jeffrey called to say someone would be out the next day to look at it. Sure enough, Brian Jr. came the next afternoon, went up to examine it, and said that there was a gap between the cap and the [I forget what the top of the chimney's called] big enough for the squirrels to squeeze through. He fixed it on the spot by installing some additional metal pieces to act as a squirrel-proof barrier. Brian apologized, saying that it never should have been left the way it was, and noting that the worker who installed it originally wasn't with the company any longer. He didn't charge me anything (I wouldn't expect to have to pay to fix something that wasn't properly installed), so that was great.



I feel confident that the issue was taken care of, and that we won't be troubled with any more squirrels in the living room. It would have been great not to have the problem in the first place, but sometimes a business really shows its true colors when something goes wrong, as it did in this case. I thought Brian's Chimney (the owner's sons, Jeffrey and Brian Jr. in particular) handled the situation with a lot of integrity -- I think many companies would say "Too bad --that was so long ago it's no longer warrantied, and you can't even prove we were the ones who installed it anyway". But they were honest, took responsibility and fixed it, and I'd recommend them even more highly now than before I knew there was a problem. Thanks! :)