A Ultra Comfort

As part of the big home renovation, we needed to replace a fireplace gas insert. As normal, we did some research, some price shopping; most companies would give us a similar quote for the small Napoleon gas insert, so we picked up Ultra Comfort as the closest to us. Originally, it sounded like a great idea, because when we called UltraComfort, Matt was so eager that he even delivered the fireplace and all the accessories to our house, so the transaction was completed at a record time and very convenient to us. Good news ended here.
For our installation, we needed 50 feet of the pipes (which we told Matt and agreed upon); however, the sufficient length of the pipes has not been delivered (the box was not sealed by the manufacturer – don’t even ask me whether we received what we were supposed to) , and numerous attempts to resolve the issue by phone or attempts to find Matt – all of a sudden he was not available in our area anymore – ended up in wasting my time, my husbands’, and our contractor’s – who drove all the way from Thornhill to Mississauga only to hear that he was supposed to pay extra for the pipe of the correct length (that’s NOT what I was told on the phone). Did I mention the delay on the renovation completion because of all this mess? Don’t get me wrong – it is not our first reno, so we have had our share of not fully professional contractors, of not most friendly customer service people, and of sub-quality products and services. However, this was the first time when I received an outright and blatant deception as response to my request – the person would say one thing talking on phone to my husband, then something totally opposite to me, and then the third version of the story to our contractor.
To add insult to injury, one of the inside plates of the fireplace came broken. I have been told that it could happen, because it is extremely fragile. When I called Matt to ask for replacement, he told that it would cost me $200 and 2 weeks of waiting. (My contractor told me that it is the first time he heard that the replacement costs money, normally Napoleon would replace it immediately without charge). He ended up installing a broken plate, pretty much gluing it together (did a great job ) , as at this point I was not in the mood to lose more days of the project.
Sanity check: When we called to Napoleon later, they confirmed that replacement plate is normally replaced without charge and hassle. And their standard pipes are indeed shorter than 50 feet, so we were supposed to be told about that when we ordered the fireplace , do the special order and pay some small extra (which I would do, no problem). However, that’s not how this whole process has been handled. Totally unprofessional, lot of frustration and wasted time. STAY AWAY.