Description

I have an old gas fireplace that needed service/repair, so I searched in google maps for a company to do the work. Zephyra Chimney Repair and Fireplace Inpection, at 38th Ave Brentwood, MD, was one of the companies that popped up, with tel # 1-227-250-0103. I called them on or about Aug 21 (don't remember exact day), someone called Sara answered, and I made an appointment for Aug 28, between 11-2 PM. On Aug 27, the day before the appointment, I got a call from 1-888-858-2696 to confirm the appointment for next day. According to the voicemail, it sounded like the call was from another company Feurton European?? Fireplace Inspection (not sure of the spelling). Because the company name and phone # was different, I called Zephyra at 1-227-250-0103 (the original #) to confirm the appointment. They said 1-888-858-2696 was their corporate # and my call to 1-227-250-0103 will confirm the appointment for next day. On Aug 28, I got text from the technician David from tel # 1-917-774-9038 who said he was running late. He eventually came at 2:45 PM. He looked at the gas unit and said (without any troubleshooting) you need cleaning to unclog the system. Since I don't have experience with this, he convinced me to get a cleaning for $500 (my mistake that I agreed). He did say it may or may not work, but that he can return for additional work after that. I asked him if there will be additional charge, he said the next visit would not be additional charge. He sprayed chemicals and vacuumed the surface of the burner unit and the firebox and left. That's all he did. He had asked me to pay electronically by Venmo, but I told him I can only write a check, which he agreed. (The check is already cashed). He asked me to write check to ZND Pros. This is now a third company name. (3 different company names: Zephyra, Feurton, and ZND Pros.) I looked at some YouTube videos that evening to educate myself what a fireplace service looks like. Relatively speaking, I thought what David did was amateurish. So I thought of looking at reviews on google for Zephyra Chimney Repair and Fireplace Inpection, the original business where I made the appointment. But that business was no longer showing up on Google Maps search. It just disappeared! There is no fireplace business on Google with tel # 1-227-250-0103, although that is where I made the appointment. I thought that was strange. I contacted the email address from which I received the ZND Pros receipt for $500. I have asked them several questions to clarify the situation, but they have not replied back so far. What is the local address and website for their company? I only have phone #, no address or website for either of the 3 companies. How did ZND Pros get my contact information? Because originally I made appointment with Zephyra. The tel # for Feurton Fireplace (1-888-858-2696) on google looks like it is for some travel agency. I have asked ZND Pros to confirm if they and their technician are licensed/certified to work on gas fireplace. No reply so far. There are several things fishy. 3 different company names. Telephone numbers but no address or website. There was something for Zephyra that showed up in my original google serach, but then disappeared! There is no place I can write a review for the company. Additionally, the technician David who showed up, his number (1-917-774-9038) seems to be also associated with AIR DUCT & Chimney Services & Green Cleaning LLC that have many complaints on Yelp. Overall I feel this may be a potential scam. Zephyra could be a fake company/website temporarily set up to collect new customers. It is possible the information was then passed to ZND Pros and then Zephyra's website is removed from web. This way no reviews can be written. I also have doubts whether the person who showed up is qualified (licensed/certified) to work on gas fireplaces. I feel a bait and switch in this case: my original appointment was with Zephyra for service/repair of gas fireplace, what I got was just an expensive surface cleaning of the fireplace with ZND Pros so far (with another company name in the middle).