BALTIMORE -- The Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland is warning consumers to be cautious when hiring a cleaning company after receiving multiple complaints about one chimney and/or air duct cleaning company.
The company goes by the names Healthy Air Duct Cleaning Services or Healthy Air Duct and Chimney Cleaning Services. It was a member of the Better Business Bureau in 2004. In 2005, its membership was terminated.
Scott Lucas said he got a coupon in the mail for a $99 chimney cleaning by the Healthy Air Duct Cleaning Service. He said the company told him the job would take 45 to 60 minutes.

"The two guys came into the house. One put a blanket on the floor and the other had a wet-dry vacuum and did nothing. The other stuck a small brush up the chimney. He was in and out in not even five minutes. I was shocked," Lucas said.

He filed a complaint with the BBBGM. The bureau said that in the last 36 months, they've heard 35 complaints about the company.

"Thirty-five (complaints) in three years is not a lot. Twenty-eight in which (the company) don't respond is a great big deal," said Angie Barnett, president and CEO of the BBB.

Barnett said the complaints were consistent in saying that the company doesn't answer customer complaints, consumers were dissatisfied with the actual service and the advertising was misrepresentative.
The company markets itself as a member of the BBB.

"They're not. They are falsely misrepresenting themselves to consumers with a trusted symbol -- that of the BBB," Barnett said.

The bureau also said consumers have complained that they believe they're getting an elaborate, detailed service by looking at the company's ad.

"They think the truck is going to come up loaded with HEPA equipment. In actuality, according to our consumer reports, they show up with a vacuum canister on their back and short extension hoses, and you question how they can do a good job," Barnett said.

WBAL TV 11 News I-Team reporter Lisa Robinson went to the business address the BBB said the air duct company supplied to them, but no one was available for comment. No calls were returned, either.
The Office of the Maryland Attorney General also received 11 complaints about the business, five of which were reported in the past year. Robinson also discovered the two companies are not registered to do business in Maryland.

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/13020422/detail.html
 
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