Family Hearth and Patio

Beware. The owner came out and quoted us to replace our propane fireplace. He saw the distance from the ground to the roof and we specifically asked how the current chimney pipe would be capped and said that it wouldn’t be a problem. Install alone was $1200 which does not include any drywall, studs or any work other than dropping the fireplace in the hole. Electrical was a second charge. Electrician came out three times. Once when demo was not completed, then to install new wiring, then again to fix the incorrect wiring orders by Family Hearth and Patio came out. When the workers came to “install” they stuffed insulation into the old pipe and said they don’t go on the roof. When asking the owner what the fix was he said it’s too dangerous for his workers to go on the roof and would be $400 more for a bucket truck, yet he saw our house and knew the layout. Luckily they weren’t able to cut a hole in the side of our house for the direct vent as the electrical was installed incorrectly (the electrician even called the store to verify what was needed). For the overpriced direct vent pipe and $400 up charge I was able to get a reputable chimney company to come out and install correctly.nnFamily Hearth and Patio deliberately keeps their contract vague to avoid being on the hook to do any work. They never pulled REQUIRED permits with the town but have all the papers ready in case the customer asks. I paid $1200 for installation they they couldn’t even do that right. Highly recommend avoiding them. Hire a contractor and get it done right, cheaper and with the required permits. Total scam.nnUpdate to owners response:nnOWNER was here and said the roof would be capped per code. His response clearly states they had no intention of capping. Leaving the old pipe open and stuffing with insulation behind the wall is not quality workmanship or per code.nnFamily Hearth and Patio did NO framing.nnI did not have friend do anything. I hired a reputable chimney company to come do proper chimney work with PERMITS. The chimney company was working on MULTIPLE homes with the same issues with Family Hearth and Patio.nnWhen we shook hands and parted ways I was under the assurance it would be installed properly with me paying for the chimney work. They had no intention of installing studs, mounting to studs or doing any work to ensure proper floor height setting for the finish work I had to do. This was all completed outside of Family Hearth and Patio’s “technicians”.nnCompany also pulls NO permits with the town as required. He had all the paperwork and right answers when things were questionable, but never submitted required mechanical or electrical permits to the town.nnThis is the last place I would use for service on anything I own. There are other companies that provide service on units.nnLook at your contract if you go with them. They will list installation with no specifics. This is to benefit them when questioned and they say that is extra. My fault taking our meeting and agreement on the value of the contract. Get it in WRITING what they will do for the instillation.nnI waited a year to see if there was any follow up from Family Hearth and Patio to ever see if there were any issues or concerns. After his installation team left the stove in the rough opening and got it running, that is the last I heard from them. They never even came back to put up the mantle their demolition team removed - which was part of what Paul agreed was the installation.nnAfter the whole process it is cheaper and you will get better service to hire a contractor to do the work.

Once again, I must complement Family Hearth and Patio on their service. It is legendary. Our fireplace fan was making a high pitch whistling noise and Kenny and Charles came over this morning to check it out. Kenny should be the spokesperson for customer service. He told me not to worry and that he would either fix the fan or replace it. Well, in about 2 minutes, he diagnosed the problem and fixed it. Then since everything was open, he proceeded to clean the glass and spruce it up a little. Seriously, you guys are the best. I still have a few of your business cards at church and I recommend you to everyone.

We had a great experience with purchasing our amazing new wood stove. The staff is very friendly, polite and helpful. The salesman Bence was very knowledgeable and helped us from start to finish. Their installers Ben and Ken were so kind and professional. They were punctual and installed our wood stove perfectly. The two young lady's in the office are very nice and helpful and were quick to get back to us. We will definitely be using them in the future.

I never write reviews but I feel like I need to in this case. My wife and I just moved to CT from NC and we thought we wanted a wood burning insert for the fireplace in our new home.nnMy brother-in-law has a wood burning fireplace that we really like and we were looking forward to having one ourselves.nnI realized when I started researching which one to buy that there were many options that I was not aware of and we felt overwhelmed. I happened across these folks in New London and went to their showroom. The people there were fantastic! They walked my wife and I through ever option and ultimately we decided to go with a gas insert rather than wood burning and we can't be more happy with the decision.nnMy 5-star review is not for the product (although we are more than happy with it) but with the way we were treated. My wife and I quickly realized that we were out of our eliminate and everyone we spoke to at Family Heath and Patio gave us great information and helped us make our own decision.nnWe never felt pressured to buy anything and they were patient with us through the entire process and I assure you were probably not their easiest customers. We had a lot of questions.nnI highly recommend this company and I hope this review is a proper way to say thank you for all the help they gave us.nnThank you Family Hearth and Patio. Great Job!

Update to below posting: As soon as I wrote the below post, the owner called me to see what he could do. He told me he would make it right and the company did. They sent out an experienced tech who found the problem right away. Since the previous tech did so much damage, they ended up replacing most of the interior of the pellet stove for the fee of the initial service charge. The experienced tech even brought along the man who serviced the stove so poorly the first time so he could learn what happened and hopefully it doesn't happen again to another customer. I am happy I reviewed the company, as they seem to take the reviews more seriously than a phone call to customer service.nnOriginal Post: One star - Our initial interaction with the owner was fine. He was the one to come out to our house to measure for the pellet stove. He definitely worked hard at upselling. However, it is the maintenance and repair team that is a HUGE hassle to deal with. First of all the customer service team forget to call you back and when we did get a call back it was useless because they still didn’t have our part in. The first time a tech came he did not have the correct part, it took WEEKS to get part in. Second time tech came out he had absolutely NO idea how to work our pellet stove. He was in our home for several hours and it worked for less than an hour after he left. He came back saying the feed was too tight, now our stove eats pellets too quickly. This last time we couldn’t even get a tech out to fix our pellet stove in March (when COVID hit) so were left having to use electric heat. The communication is terrible. Wish there was another company along the shoreline who sold and services pellet stoves, as this store just doesn’t have it all together in my opinion.