A Better Fireplace & Stove Co. — Local services in Mammoth Lakes

I hate to write a long review, but its important you know all the details about this business! I had A Better Fireplace & Stove Co. rebuild my fireplace at Horizons4 Condominiums around 2004. At that time, the design, planning, demo and build-out of our fireplace was handled superbly by Scott Voss and his team at A Better Fireplace & Stove Co. At that time, A Better Fireplace removed our old fireplace surround and installed a new EPA II approved Buck Stove with thermostatically controlled blower to distribute the warm air, local river rock fireplace surround with raised hearth, and beautiful, locally-sourced natural log mantel with clear finish. It became the focal point of our condominium. A Better Fireplace handled everything from start to finish including the city building permit. The products they used and high-quality workmanship have withstood the test of time over the last 16 years. Other than annual chimney sweeping, the entire system has not needed any maintenance or repairs, a testament to their 5-star rating. Fast forward to 2020, I purchased a property at Snowcreek that still had its original construction, super dark rock surround (I always thought it was lava rock) from floor to ceiling, and had been painted over with white chalk paint to brighten up the space by a previous property owner. Prior to closing escrow on the property, I knew who to call, A Better Fireplace & Stove Co. Only this time around, I had the pleasure of being greeted on the phone and working with Shelby Cottrell, Scott's daughter and the second-generation leader of this family-owned business. Working with Shelby during the pandemic, over the telephone and by email was a delightful experience. She responsive and quick to reply to email and voice mail messages (I seemed to always call after hours and leave a voicemail due to my busy schedule), she was detailed-oriented, thorough, trusted, offered design ideas, provided a realistic timeline, ordered materials quickly once we executed the proposal(which impacts time to job completion), pulled the building permit and oversaw the project from start to finish. Not only that, I mentioned on the phone my past experience with her dad, and she said her dad is still around. Scott was out to our property several times supervising their team through demo, framing, drywall, masonry, installation and testing. He was so kind to remember our previous project and our interaction from many years ago. This business is truly a family business with Shelby's parents offering their support and expertise, her husband completing installations, and their infant (the third and future generation at A Better Fireplace!) greeting customers at their showroom. So the new fireplace is now the focal point of our new home, and let me wrap up, we chose to keep a Quadrafire Castile Pellet Stove (installed by A Better Fireplace 3 years earlier by the Seller) with Moose Mountain Ledge Veneer mixed with McGregor Lake Veneer Flats, a hearth with grey hearth stone with a wall mounted thermostat and the Audio/Video package. At framing they also built in an additional storage cubby above the wood/pellet storage area with electricity for cable box, wi-fi router/modem and sound bar. The finished product is beautiful and we are enjoying it immensely on cold or snowy days. Don't hesitate to call THE Mammoth Lakes fireplace experts whether you are building a new home or upgrading, replacing, or rebuilding your existing fireplace in Mammoth Lakes or surrounding communities. Their services are worth every dollar spent!

(Pictures are L to R, the original, framing, and...

Bought a showroom model from these guys, didn't come with the remote and they still charged me $1,000 when it was used and retailed for only $1,200

Ignitor on the stove went out after 3 months, had a competitor install a new ignitor and we still having issues with the stove. Called A better fire place to see if maybe they can hook up a replacement stove at cost since this one died after 3 months and they denied the deal since I had the competition work on it.

I was never told when purchasing the unit that having a licensed competitor install and work on the stove would void the warranty as I figured A better fireplace was a store to buy the stove vs have it worked on / installed. When I buy something from Sears, and have a licensed appliance company work on it - usually the warranty isn't voided... So this was confusing.

Was also told the floor models are hardly used yet this ignitor went out after 3 months, they said parts can still go bad if the product isn't being used.. Odd.. Kept trying to upsell me on more expensive units although a few friends of ours have these units and haven't had as many issues.

Even trying to inform them the remote was missing when I bought it, I was met with resistance and denial.. Even though the website clearly said the unit came with a remote. (image attached)

Low quality customer service, doesn't seem to care about previous customers unlike what the other reviewers say.

Wouldn't recommend...

We've been using A Better Fire Place for about a year and half now. First, we had them install a new pellet stove for us. Then have been purchasing the pellets and getting our annual services from through them ever since. Throughout the construction/install process of the stove everyone we worked with (Shelby, Collin, Scott, Chris, and other staff that I haven't caught the name of) were beyond kind and professional. They always show up when they say they are going to (hard to come by in this town) and the communication is nothing short of amazing. We've been remodeling our house for quite a while now, and have worked with many different local contractors in the process. Many of our experiences have throughout our remodel have been - not so great - which is why I can't commend this business enough for their top notch service. To wrap it all up, over Thanksgiving we had an issue with our stove where a part was damaged (because of user error) and needed replacement. Chris and Colin came out asap to figure out the issue. They were fast, diligent, and knowledgable of the stove's troubleshooting steps. Shelby was able to work with the manufacturer to have the part replaced under warranty for us, which was beyond accommodating. We're so happy with A Better Fire Place and will definitely be keeping them high on our list of recommended...