Dean's Stove & Spa, LLC — Local services in Southington

Bought a pellet stove from them. When setting up the install I asked 4 or 5 times if they needed to come out and inspect anything before install, I was assured that pictures of the house, chimney and fireplace was all they needed. A week later they called and set up a delivery time. I work a lot and usually saturdays so I took the day off and waited for the installers who called to cancel. Strike 1. I set up another day with them which I was told would be a few weeks later, then the next day they called and canceled that date and set up another date, now I’d already told my boss I needed to be off the originally planned second install date. Strike 2. So now I had to rearrange my schedule again to be there for the third install date. This time they showed up, knocked on the door and said were here for your install but we can’t do it because you don’t have flashing on your chimney. I said didn’t I ask you guys 4 or 5 times if you needed to inspect anything before install. He just shrugged said get it fixed and call us when it’s done. They threw the stove in my garage and told me they were pretty booked so it would be a few more weeks before they got back out to install it. I called a chimney company and he came out that same day. Climbed up there and fixed the flashing in about an hour. Then said hey if you want I’ll just put the cap on while I’m up here and you can hook the stove up yourself. So of course I said yes. Why was I going to pay $1500 for a fix on my chimney and another $800 for installation when I could just pay $1500 and be done with it. About a month later I was having trouble with a part on the stove so I called deans and asked about getting a replacement part. They said hold on you hooked it up yourself? I said yeah well the guy who came to fix my chimney, you know the guy I had to hire after you assured me you didn’t need to inspect anything, installed the line for me for free while he was up there and it took him all of 10 minutes. Well they didn’t like that so they told me I owed them $250 for delivery. Honestly at that point I was so tired of the back and fourth and terrible customer service I just said fine, send me the bill and I’ll pay it, I don’t want to deal with you ever again. 9 months later I still never received a bill and I figured they realized what p.o.s they had been with not coming to inspect and rescheduling on me so many times that they just didn’t send the bill in hopes I’d remain a customer. Boy was I wrong. They called me asking me about the outstanding balance I had for delivery. I explained they’d never sent the bill and i assumed they didn’t because of their terrible customer service. The woman on the other end became very rude. I politely explained my end of the story and even said that had they sent the bill 9 months ago I probably would have paid it. But here we are 9 months later and you’re being rude and threatening to take me to small claims over a $250 delivery bill that I never agreed to or signed for. Eventually I had enough of this rude woman and said do what you need to do and hung up on her. 2 days later a bill finally showed up for delivery. I’m not paying it on principle of the matter. I asked you to come inspect. You didn’t. I was cancelled on multiple times when I had to take time off work to wait for you. You didn’t care. The stove was left at my house because your employee didn’t want to take it back with him. I would have never paid for delivery to begin with you’re 2 miles a way and I have a truck. These people are the absolute worst The only positive I have is that the sales girl I dealt with originally was extremely nice and helpful. But the idiots running the place...

We purchased a natural gas long set from this company; we had converted our home from oil to natural gas and needed to replace the existing log set. After the conversion was completed the installation of the log set from Dean's Stove and Spa was put in place. After the completion was done, i noticed that there was a loud sound made when the unit ignited, causing the front glass doors to rattle even though they were in the open position. Upon further investigation we found that the unit did not go from a high to low position, it made a clicking sound as if it was going to change the flame height but nothing happened. Also when running the gas low to the pilot was so loud that we could not hear anything over it. At this point we were not comfortable using the unit, between the ignition sound and the constant loud sound of the gas flow, not to mention the large flames we called Dean's Stove and Spa to inquire as to our next step. The first time that my husband called he spoke to someone who said that a technician would be out within the week to make sure that the unit was not defective. That we would receive a call within 48 hours to schedule an appointment, this was in September. A week went by without a call, my husband called again to be told very rudely to "not hold his breath" there was no technicians, that Dean's Stove and Spa did not take returns and that all they would do is replace the old unit with another one for a fee. We explained that the gas sound was very loud and that over all we were very unhappy with the unit. Again we were told that was our problem, we were stuck with it. At this point I called our credit card company to dispute the charges; they were unwilling to stand behind their merchandise, blaming us and our HVAC technician, we felt at this time there was not another avenue to go through since at the end of the second conversation the employee at Dean's Stove and Spa told us they held no responsibility for this unit. Another three weeks went by and another sales man called us at home to discuss the log insert, at this point my husband explained the last very unprofessional conversation that he had had the last time, the woman sounded very sorry, even said that she was going to review the tapes to see who it was and discipline them. At this point we felt we had gotten somewhere, she then said that she could send out a technician to look at the log set, at a cost to us. We did not feel like this was something that we should be responsible for, at this point it was already October. After further discussion the women told us that she would contact the manufacture and see it that service call charge could be waived and that she would be in touch with the next few days, again we heard nothing back! On the evening of November 29th the technician called to let us know that they would be at our house the next day at a cost to us. However, even if we were willing to have anyone at this point look at this unit less than 12 hours is not enough notice for anyone. At this point we had already purchased another unit, one that is much quieter and functions correctly without a loud boom upon ignition. We told the service technician that had taken care of the issue and that there was no need to come out. The log set from Dean's Stove and Spa has been place in the original box and is ready to be returned to the company. However, at this point they refuse to take it, blaming again the manufacture. I feel as though we had sufficiently tried to resolve this issue, we were blatantly held with no regard and frankly we will never be doing business with this...

If I could give negative stars, I would! "Dean's" created my appointment(for Nov 15) , 3 weeks ago, for a simple service call to verify the cap on the chimney liner. When they didn't call the day before to verify the appt, I left a message on their maintenance line for them to call me. "Dean's" didn't call. On Tues the 15th, no call, so I called their service line, and no answer. Called their busy sales line for 1 hour before someone picked up. After reminding them of their commitment, Bruno told me that he would, "get to the bottom of this" and have someone call me. 30 minutes later, a lady called back and told me that she had to reschedule the appointment. I was not happy, and declined her very unprofessional response. Dean's needs to clean up their act ... including 3 other, similar experiences with Dean's, I hesitate to call them for anything. Dean's got too big for their britches, and makes things convenient for them, and inconvenient for customers. Edit/Addition 11/22/22 About Monday, 11/21 (don't recall if this was Sun or Mon) ... a young lady from Dean's calls me. She tells me that Dean's has rescheduled the above, missed appointment for Saturday, Nov 26th. Not believing that a business actually behaves this way, I tell her, "No one asked ME about this (reschedule ... after I had already told "Dean's" to forget about rescheduling). I replied that I had called another business to accomplish the task. Dealing with Dean's is like working with The Keystone Cops. Edit/Addition The company that I called, after Dean's arrived on time, climbed the chimney, and found that there was nothing wrong with the vent pipe. When I asked the cost for his service, he declined any payment, and asked that I remember his business for the next time that I need assistance. I certainly will!

Reply to Dean's 9/28/2023 reply to my complaint(s)... (9/28/2023) It took you a long time to respond to my complaints. As usual, Dean's summarizes their lack of service by apologizing for the "inconvenience". My experience with Dean's was much more than "inconvenience". In your reply, you blame me for cleaning the pipe from the bottom. This has nothing to do with anything, as not only was the chimney cleaned thoroughly, but there was nothing wrong with the chimney cap as a result of cleaning it from the bottom. Second, it was I (not an inspector) who noticed & notified you about the poorly-sealed flue (cement). After your tech "fixed" it, I had to go back and reseal it, due to an incomplete job. Third, it took three separate visits for your tech to finally remember to bring the correct hardware, so as to connect the thermostat. I made three additional phone calls to follow up on your forgetfulness. Forth, while your crew was up on the chimney, I'm sitting in the cellar, suddenly smelling soot. Upstairs, there is soot, everywhere. We spent the next day, vacuuming ceilings/walls, etc. Good thing that we moved everything out of the room. Forth, other than your warranty, Dean's never offered me free pipe-cleaning, or services of any kind. Fifth ..You used a very late, and very out-of-touch reply to justify Dean's incompetence. There is the phrase, "out in left field"". Dean's is not even in...