Complain about a product or service

First Choice Maintenance

544 East Meadow Avenue
East Meadow, NY 11554

Carla of Bellmore NY writes (10/17/01):
I was contacted by phone by this company for a chimney cleaning which I scheduled for 9/18/01. When the men came to clean the chimney, they also said that we needed a new top flue, needed bricks to be tightened and had to have a chimney cap installed.

I agreed to have the work done. The cost was $25 for the cleaning and $350 for the rest of the work. They also informed me that I had to have a smoke pipe replaced in my basement and that my oil service company could do that. On 10/6, the oil company came to do that work and the service man said that my chimney had not been cleaned because he removed a garbage pail full of soot from the bottom of the chimney.

We then contacted First Choice immediately and asked to have someone come over to explain what had happened. Two service men did come and they didn't really have any answers as to why there was so much soot if the chimney had been cleaned properly. They said that the manager, Charles would be contacting us to discuss our concerns. No one called us despite two messages left for Charles.

Today (10/17), my husband went to the office and spoke to Charles and asked him why we were never called back. Charles did not seem to know anything about it. My husband explained out displeasure about the shoddy work that was done and our uncertainty about the necessity of the other work that was done and if that too was done improperly. Charles did not seem to care much about our concerns and finally told my husband that he would refund the money for the cleaning ($30) which he did.

Although we did receive a refund for the chimney cleaning, we feel that we were taken advantage of. I was home alone with my children when the workers came and put my trust in their expertise. When they told me that work needed to be done, I believed them and had no problem paying for the service. If the oil serviceman did not come, we would never have known that the chimney was not cleaned. Now, we doubt the necessity of the other work that was done and paid for.

By not returning our calls, First Choice did nothing to allay our feelings of being ripped off. They probably would never have done anything if my husband did not go out of his way to visit the office.

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