No Communication, No Service, No Refund

On 25 April 2022, I contacted Fireplace & Chimney Co and had a consultant out to my house to inspect a cracked fireplace (an Earthfire raku). We agreed it needed to be replaced. We asked the consultant to give us two quotes - one where we were quoted for just replacing the 'pot' or bottom part of the fireplace, and one where we were quoted for moving the entire fireplace to a completely different area of our lounge. The consultant promised us we would receive the quotes on the same day.

On the 28th April (a bit later than promised), we received 2 quotes. However, the quotes had very little difference (only 1 extra "EPDM Waterproof Collar" was noted on the second quote) - which did not make sense; and furthermore the quotes were made for a large raku earthfire, instead of a small one. I queried this with on the 9th May. There was no response, and so I followed up on 11 May and was promised they would be sending me quotes on that day. I received nothing, and followed up once again on 14 May. They mentioned there had been miscommunication between sales and the inspector, and promised they would call me on Monday 16th May. Monday came and went and they did not get back to me as promised. On the 17th, starting to get desperate, I followed up once again at 9am. They called me back and promised they would be sending me corrected quotes in 10 minutes. They did not get back to me as promised, and so at 12pm that day, in despair I drove to the shop on Fish Hoek to speak to someone face to face. The person at the shop seemed as appalled as we were, got the salesperson on the phone, and we surprisingly had our corrected quotes sorted within half an hour.

After all the hiccups, I was a little concerned about proceeding - but I gave the company the benefit of the doubt, wanting to support local shops in my area (I stay close to Fish Hoek). I accepted the quote and paid a deposit of R12,352 on 17 May. My installation was scheduled for Wednesday 1st June.

On Tuesday 31st of May, I thought to myself it was a bit strange that nobody had contacted me to confirm the installation for the next day, and to tell me what time to expect the team. I called Fireplace & Chimney Co office at about 10am. I was promised that "they" were busy with the scheduling book at that very moment, and that somebody would definitely be calling me during the course of the day to confirm the installation details with me. I waited all day for the call, and it never came. I called back in at around 4pm. They promised me again that "they" were (still) busy looking at the schedule book; and assured me (with a bit of a tone) that somebody would definitely still be in contact with me that day, and that all was in order for the next day - and we'd still be going ahead. Nobody contacted me. The next day, having made arrangements at work to be available at home for the installation, I called in, once again. To my shock, I was informed that "the team is working in town today, and it looks like they won't make it out to you today".

Annoyed, I agreed to reschedule for Friday 3rd June from 11 - 12. Friday came, and once again I made arrangements with work to make myself available. I waited and waited, with no contact and no team arriving. I called in again. I was then informed that there had been a problem getting my unit delivered from Knysna (this was very different to the story I was given previously). I expressed my severe irritation at their failure to communicate this to me, inconveniencing me severely.

They promised the unit would be arriving over the weekend, and we once again rescheduled for the following Wednesday 8th June. Again, I received no communication from Fireplace and Chimney Co, and they did not deliver on their promise. I called in again on the 9th June, furious.

They once again promised me that they would do the installation the following week Wednesday 15th June. Wednesday came, and I was forced to call in again. I was told that the team would not be coming and that the unit was still in Knysna. I was furious at this point, having been inconvenienced by missed appointments 4 times. I expressed utter shock that they hadn't bothered to inform me.

They apologised, and pleaded with me not to request a refund. They offered to install a different fireplace temporarily which I thought was absurd and refused. They then offered me a 15% discount for 1 more chance; and promised me that they would contact me on whatsapp that day (Wednesday). I waited until 1pm Friday 17 June, and heard absolutely nothing from them - and was left with no indication of when I would have my fireplace installed.

On the 17th of June, having lost all hope, I requested a refund in writing via email and asked them to confirm they had all the information they needed in order to process the refund. I tried to visit the shop, but it was unfortunately closed when I arrived. I went back to the shop on Monday 20th June, and found the original salesperson manning the store. I expressed to her all of my frustrations, and that I wanted a refund. She promised to expedite the process, and that we should be able to get our money back in about 3 days time. She gave us the owner's phone number. She promised that they would respond to my email requesting the refund.

I tried to call and message the owner numerous times over the next few days, but he avoided my calls and ignored my messages.

On Wednesday 22nd June, Fireplace & Chimney Co had still not acknowledged my refund request in writing, so I followed up again.

On Friday 24th June, I finally had a response in writing saying that they acknowledged my request, that their refund policy is "7 - 14 days" and that I would receive my refund no later than 29th of June. Wondering how they would process my refund without knowing my banking details, I once again asked them to confirm that they had all the info they needed to process my refund - I asked them to kindly confirm this by the end of the day. By the end of the day I had had no response from them, so I mailed them to say that I then take it as confirmed that they have all the details needed in order to process my refund. They then responded just to say that my refund would be processed on 7th July. I rep**** to say that that was not acceptable to me. I had originally been promised a wait of 3 days, subsequently I was promised a refund no later than 29 June - and then just because I asked them to confirm they had my details I was then told I would only get refunded on 7th July. I once again appealed to the owner to get into contact with me, and continued to try to get hold of him while he continued to ignore me. I once again (in capital letters) asked them to confirm they had my details needed in order to process refund. I received no further response.

On the 28th June, the day before my refund was supposed to be processed, I went into the store and found the original salesperson manning the store. I found a number of other disgruntled customers at the store, also trying to find out what on earth was going on with their refund requests. The salesperson asserted that she definitely had my banking details, but to her embarrassment she could not find them when asked. I provided her my details, and she emailed me with the owner and the accounts department on copy, to say that she had now received my account details and that my refund would definitely still be processed on 29th June.

During this day the police were called to the shop by another disgruntled customer. The police advised me to wait a full 14 working days before taking legal action against the company - as that would give me the biggest chance of seeing my money back.

On 29th June, I did not receive my refund nor any communication from Fireplace & Chimney Co. I followed up with the original salesperson.

On 30th June, the salesperson told me that she would follow up. I got no further feedback on this day.

On 1 July, I continued to follow up a number of times. The salesperson forwarded me a list of people's names who were supposed to be getting paid on their "Friday evening payment run".

On 4 July, I followed up with the salesperson again, noting that I had not received anything. She mentioned she'd send an email to accounts for me. I appealed to her to please give me the number for accounts department. She provided me a number for someone, however the number has always only gone straight to voicemail.

I noted to the salesperson and to the owner that Thursday the 7th July would be the 14th full working day since the date I formally requested refund, and that if I did not receive my refund by then I would be taking legal action and laying ******** charges against them.

For the first time in this long process, I had a response from the owner - and he promised me I would be paid by 7th July and that this time it was not an empty promise.

The 7th of July came and went and I received no communication and no payment. They then ignored my messages for a while. I followed up daily.

On 15 July, the owner told me he could refund 50% of my deposit by the following week, and the balance the week thereafter - and that IF I agree, he'll send me an acknowledgement of debt. I told him that I should not have to agree to any new payment structure for him to simply acknowledge his debt to me.

I did not get any further communication, and no money was refunded to me.

I am now pursuing legal action. I have laid ******** charges, and hand delivered a letter of demand in an attempt to get my money back via the small claims court - this process is ongoing.

There are only so many words that can describe this behaviour, unfortunately I cannot use them on a Hellopeter review.

I can only strongly advise not to use this company.

In the meantime I have gotten another company to do the job for me, and it was done within a week.