I had this firm replace the movement on my 34 year old Seth Thomas grandfather clock.
This guy is a fast talker, so be careful to get very specific with him about what the house call and appraisal will cost BEFORE he steps into the house. I hired him to give me an appraisal and before I knew it, he was removing the movement and insisting that he had to replace the movement. Which was probable true, but he didn't give me a minute to even think about.
He took the old movement with him which I insisted I wanted back. Naturally when he returned to install the new movement, he did not return the old movement. He did eventually return it with some of the hammers missing.
He never showed me the new movement so I could see what I was getting for my $1100. I can only hope it was a quality product since it is now in the case. The clock seems to keep time well but the chimes are all screwed up. When using the Westminster chime setting, one note in the sequence was much softer than the other notes. He was slow to call me back but he finally made a house call after I made a couple of calls.
He said he thought that the chimes sounded fine but when I pointed out the problem he attempted to "fix" the problem. The result was that the chimes sound worst than ever. I should mention that this guy, by his own admission, is very hard of hearing and wears hearing aids in both ears. When I told him the chimes were worse sounding, he said that that he thought that they sounded fine. When I insisted, loudly, that he fix the problem, he said he was going to walk out of the house. He then tried to adjust the sound by taking out the brand new hammers and replaced some of them with old hammers from clocks he has repaired. The sound is now so bad that we no longer use the chimes. He insisted all was fine and left without resolving the problem.
I will now have to hire another clockmaker to repair the chimes or attempt to fix it myself. I will most likely have to buy some new hammers to "replace" the old one he put in. Don't let this guy anywhere near you grandfather clock. We are very upset as the clock was a special gift to us. read more