Chimney Cricket in Media, PA is a highly responsible and professional business. They completed their work on time and explained technically what they were doing and how they were doing it. After the cleaning and inspection was completed, they gave recommendations on what to watch out for. Reasonable priced and highly recommended! read more

Definitely a tough company to work with. I've had them come out for inspections twice; our chimney is in rough shape but we weren't ready for a major overhaul. The tech tried to sell us a $25,000 replacement, and then when I asked for a quote for just a cap to start he stopped responding. I called the company twice again to try to follow up and each time they said I would be contacted but no one ever did. Almost a year later someone reached back out as follow up, but when I asked for them to do they cap they just said they couldn't help me. I guess they only want big jobs and aren't trying to form relationships with new customers. I'd recommend trying to find a different chimney company. read more

Chimney Cricket has been wonderful to work with. The guys were professional and friendly. Matt was in charge of our project. He was respectful of our time and space. He kept things clean. He always explained what he was doing when I asked and at the end of the day he told us what to expect the next day. They restored our wood burning fireplace and we used it for the first time last night (the day they finished) - it was amazing! Nice work team! read more

I contracted with Chimney Cricket to install a fireplace insert which the assured me at the time would be simple and had absolutely no chance of going wrong. When they had actually opened up the Chimney, they allegedly found structural problems which had to be fixed before the insert could be installed. I had no choice but to proceed since I had 3 stories of scaffolding outside of my house and a chimney that had been destroyed/ ripped apart by Chimney Cricket. Peter Beardsley took advantage of this situation by billing me everything he possibly could since I had no choice but to go ahead with the repairs. As an example, he tried to charge me $900 to repair drywall they had to destroy to put in the liner. Chimney Cricket did say that they would "work with me" and reduce costs if the project ended up being cheaper than expected. When all was said and done, the project ended up taking 45 hours despite the fact that Chimney Cricket had budgeted 96, for a savings of $4,000 - $5,000. In response, Mr. Beardsley completely forgot Chimney Cricket's promise to "work with me to lower costs" and kept all the money for himself. When I explained that that wasn't fair because I had no choice but to go ahead with the repairs, he told me that I didn't have to go fix the chimney and could have just left it in a non-functional state (I guess since Mr. Beardsley views honesty as optional, he would have no problem just lying on a seller's disclosure if I go to sell the house in the future - I feel differently). He refers to giving me a $1,000 discount, but raising the price by $1,000 and then discounting it $1,000 isn't much of a discount. Peter Beardsley combines stupidity, poor customer service and dishonesty to devastating effect. I would highly recommend against using this business. read more

Great selection of fireplaces, excellent service and timely replies to inquiries. Word to the wise: Just be certain that the model of fireplace you choose is NOT necessarily the latest and greatest so much as a reliable model that is well-supported by its manufacturer. read more

Would not provide a quote without first completing a full inspection and sweeping of the chimney, which costs $245. I already had this completed on my home (with a new home inspection) and was looking for a price to compare for a liner replacement. Chimney Cricket wouldn't provide anything without first looking themselves. If you know what you need and are only interested in a quote, don't waste your time. read more

These guys cleaned and inspected my chimney and told me I need a new liner and repairs (wonder if they ever tell anybody their chimney is fine?!). I agree to have an insert installed and had very detailed conversations with the salesmen. We wait 3 months for the fireplace to come and they finally come to install it. They spend two hours working on it, rip out my flue and then stop. They then tell me they can't install it because my surround is not built right. Nothing changed from the original inspection or conversations with their sale department. Then they just leave and I have a hole in my chimney after they ripped out the flue and now have cold air flowing in. Total waste of time. read more

Chimney Cricket doesn't answer phone. Never calls back after repeated messages. The work that was requested was never completed and was seriously overpriced. Rated F read more

Very responsive when we had a chimney emergency. Professional, prompt, and courteous. Highly recommended.

This company does not understand how to follow simple instructions. I told them not to discuss the call Any with any issues. They proceeded to try to use scare tactics on a 88 year old to do a expensive chimney repair. Guess they thought they could take advantage of an old lady Not this time read more

It was brought to my attention that the Chimney Cricket company that I reviewed was not the same company but under the same name. I want to retract my evaluation as it does not apply to this company. My apologies to this reputable business. Sharon Moll read more

I had four chimney companies come to give estimates. Chimney Cricket was the fourth and fixed the damper which came off of the track. All other estimates tried to sell me a new damper lock top box. This would have been unnecessary, changed the "vintage" parts and was more invasive to the house. Chimney Cricket reset the damper, cleaned up and was in and out in twenty minutes. We would have had to wait until February for the new damper, which we really didn't need. Now we can use the fireplace and kept the original parts of our old stone house. The other estimates were from $450 - $1000 for the new damper, the cost of resetting the damper was $125! Excellent company, trustworthy, professional and efficient. Jeff Clifton and his colleague are easy to work with and honest. read more

Hired Chimney Cricket to perform a level 2 chimney inspection on a prospective house purchase. Returned my call within a day, was accommodating, and delivered the report promptly. Would recommend. read more

We recently purchased a home with two fireplaces, and reached out to Chimney Cricket for a chimney inspection as we would like to start using the fireplace on the main floor of the house. We were told during our initial home inspection that the fireplace needed some minor re-pointing work. Chimney Cricket returned an estimate of over $10K in work telling us that the only "safe" way to get our fireplace in working order was to install a new liner and smoke chamber. Surprised by the amount of work quoted, we contacted another company for a second opinion (this time doing additional research and getting personal recommendations). The second company quoted us less than one third of Chimney Cricket's estimate and told us that all we needed was indeed some re-pointing and filling of missing mortar. They even told us that the work was something we should do in the next few years - but our fireplace looked safe to use as is! Also, while the Chimney Cricket inspector was at our home he took a look at our furnace and water heater and informed me that there were issues with how the water heater was installed and that it was a fire and carbon monoxide hazard. (I should mention this was not included in our written report they provided, just what the inspector told me while at our home - no idea why it wasn't included in the report/estimate). Worried that it was unsafe, but skeptical since none of this was mentioned during our home inspection, I had a heating/plumbing company come out a few days later who informed me that there were absolutely no issues with how the water heater was installed. So I spent a few days worried about nothing! I hope others can avoid the experience we had with Chimney Cricket. read more

They told me I had extensive damage to my chimney that required $6,500 in repairs. But when I had a mason check it out, all I needed was to have the loose paint power washed off and the chimney repainted. No damage at all; just loose paint. I've heard of being overcharged but that's insane. read more