California Window & Fireplace

Highly recommend, Sean is terrific and they have great show room!

Went here off a recommendation from a friend and was very happy with the service. Sean was informative and helpful, providing details and estimated pricing on everything as we discussed purchasing a Heat’n’glo gas fireplace.
He was also very upfront in regards to service and wait times in the future. It seems that a lot of the complaints received on Unilocal are in regards to slow service during the cold seasons. He coached us on timing and scheduling for our install, as well as the need to check our fireplace before it begins getting cold to determine if some preventative maintenance needs to occur to allow for the scheduling delay. This is not a large operation, but as far as I have found, they have been responsive and helpful.
We had our unit installed last week when I was at work, and my wife was very happy with the workers. Our contractor built the frame according to the design specs (which were easy to read) and the fireplace installers completed their work in about 2.5 hours. They also answered all the questions we had and even checked with the home office when there was a question they couldn’t answer about the position of the chimney in relation to our solar panels.
All-​in-​all, a good company with a good product that requires some forethought into scheduling and the occasional preventative maintenance. Happy with it thus far. Will give future updates as we use the product and if we need to request maintenance in the future.

DO NOT SHOP HERE!!! I wish I could give negative stars!!! Our house burned down to the ground & our contractor uses this Co. My 85 year old mother & I went in to choose a fireplace. The salesman was great! We moved into the house in July 2015. My mom had open heart surgery & a stroke, so when she came home in Sept., she was always cold & the fireplace was perfect. It would heat the room she was in most of the time without the rest of the house being uncomfortable. Then, about 3 months later, one day it just didn’t work. I contacted our GC & he said to contact CA. W&F.
I called Ca. W&F & was told it would be 3 weeks until someone could come out. While I understand ‘1rst come, 1rst served’, I explained my mom’s situation & thought perhaps they could put her at the top of the list. No, they wouldn’t. I asked if the unit we bought had so many problems that a 3 week backlog was normal, & she said it was ‘that time of year’. (If they EXPECT that many service calls, I thought, then why don’t they staff accordingly? & why couldn’t they spent the extra $ 100 or whatever an hour of OT would cost to get it checked sooner?) I was given a referral for a service guy I could call, and while I would expect to pay his service call charge, I asked if the problem turned out to be a warranty item, would we be reimbursed for the item? No, she said. I said ;That’s cold”, and made the apt for 3 weeks away. The service guy, Rob (who was great) came out. He cleaned or adjusted something & went on his way. A few days later, it went out again. He came back & got it going & showed me how to clean the part that was having issues & said if it went out again, to call STEPHANIE at his office, she’d have all the information & would order the part right away. Of course it went out again. (He did mention the warranty was about to expire, even tho we’d only been using it for approximately 3 months.) By this time, it’s raining & really cold.
I called STEPHANIE, & waited on hold for almost 10 minutes, then left a message. I called back & left another message, I called again & asked the girl who answered the phone if she could just take down the information & she said no, I HAD to talk to STEPHANIE, but that she had received my messages.
I never heard from STEPHANIE. EVER, By the end of the week, I’d left 5 messages — both with the person answering the phone & on her voice mail. About 3 weeks later, on a Thurs. night, I got a voicemail from her saying the part came in & to call to schedule the repair. I didn’t call because by this time we just want to return the unit. 2 service guys just showed up the next morning to repair it & we said we just want to return it. They called the office & said they couldn’t do it that day but could come back the next week to remove it, so we went ahead & ordered the identical fireplace from another co., & paid a $ 2500.00 deposit. They never said returning it would be a problem.
The next week, instead of removing it, STEPHANIE refused to accept the return. I’ve still NEVER spoken to her. So now I have no working fireplace, & I’m out $ 2,500.00 and have NEVER received a call from STEPHANIE or anyone else at CA Window & Fireplace. I ended up buying an electric blanket for my mother so she can wrap up in it & watch tv comfortably.
That’s California Window & Fireplace’s idea of CUSTOMER SERVICE.

When I initially went in, they seemed very disinterested in helping me. I walked in and two people who were in the office didn’t even get up to ask what j needed. Finally had someone come out for an estimate. It’s been almost 2 weeks and no estimate yet. Contacted them twice and no response. No thank you. Terrible customer service.

What a nice place to do business with. Great show room and they made us feel right at home with no high pressure sales pitches.
They came out measured the fireplace and gave us a quote that was reasonable.
Gave us names of an electrician and plumber who came out and did excellent work.
California Window & Fireplace gave us date for installation and workers showed up exactly on time. They were really nice and did a great job! Couldn’t be happier.

I purchased a fireplace insert just almost exactly a year ago and have been using it every day to heat my house it work fantastic for that. Now the pilot light has gone out on my fire place insert.
I know that there is a video on youtube but I wanted some help from them. The answer that I got was call PG&E and have them help, which is who I do not need. And she also said the next nearest opening to come out and look at it is in March. Very bad customer service.

I can’t say enough good things about this place. We purchased our house back in February (2015) and the closing agreements included fixing one of the newly installed fireplaces. After having a nightmare experience with another installer called TheFireplace Element, I found California Window & Fireplace. From the first phone call they were a pleasure to work with. If they said they’d call, they called. They showed up when they said they would. Most importantly they were very polite, even when I had to reschedule at the last minute.
I will say, you do need to plan ahead. They are busy. Don’t expect to get next day service in the middle of winter. This is their busiest time. Plan ahead and have your fireplace serviced in the summer months and you won’t have to wait as long. I didn’t plan ahead this year, so I ended up having to wait a few weeks for service.

We have purchased two fireplaces here. Until now, a good experience. Now we need a service call and the earliest they can do it is MARCH 2016 — in FOUR months. I understand that it is busy time but that is just absurd. I would suggest purchasing elsewhere.

While the sales experience was ok, the customer service with any issues afterwards is just horrible. From the lady answering the phone (truly like you are bothering her) to telling me «I can’t guarantee call back in the next day» to «We can’t have you talk to the manager because he’s just not available» to «We didn’t get your message»…Honestly not sure why they work in the retail industry. I would never recommend them even if you find what you like. Get it somewhere else where follow-​through and customer service when you need it can far exceed your expectations. I was even told to not go through them but they were conveniently located and I thought maybe it was just another person’s experience. I was wrong.

My goal here is to help other customers to NOT make the same mistake I made, in giving hard-​earned money to this place. They are worthless.
I purchased a $ 5000+ fireplace insert almost 2 years ago from California Windows and Fireplace. First off, upon install they actually didn’t even know the California contractor laws for installing the unit! I had to correct them.
Less than 1 year after the install, the fan stopped working. They came out, fiddled a bit (made a mess in the living room) and got the unit to start back up. Now, the unit is having the same issue — when the fan Does work, it sounds like it’s going to take off — very loud rattle.
They have refused to take care of the matter and said that they’d only come out if I paid an additional $ 200 service fee?!
It could be a defective unit, or perhaps was never installed or fixed appropriately to begin with. Either way, they should actually CARE about their customers and work to resolve issues rather than re-​charging for work that has been already paid for.
There are many other professional retailers around town. Do yourself a favor and don’t waste your time and money here. Hope this review saves customers from the expensive ordeal I’m going through.
Updated review:
After I left the previous Unilocal comment, I was contacted by Sean. After a phone discussion and a series of emails, Sean visited my home.
Sean was friendly and polite. Most important, he made it clear that his goal was to fix the issues the unit was experiencing. In just a couple weeks after Sean’s visit, the issue with my unit was fixed. A great tech (Robert) came out and quickly and effectively fixed the problem.
Not delving into details of why/​how I was treated by the employee who initially took my call, the important detail here is that Sean certainly cares about his customers, and about his business.
In fact, we are planning for a sizable home renovation soon, and I’ll certainly call Sean to see if we can work together again.

Bought 2 fireplaces here 4 years ago. One would not light up this season. Called nov 4 and could not get service to come until ¹²⁄₂₉!!! After holidays … They did not seem to care! Meanwhile I got same week and a little lower cost servicing and repair from f&s who also warrantee their service for 1 year!!! I will buy a new fireplace from ember west and always use f&s for future service! Will never do business here again and this is not the first problem I have had with them! You would think after buying 2 gas fireplaces as well as all new windows from here they could service me sooner than waiting almost 2 months!!! It literally took f&s less than an hour to fix the fireplace and clean both! Thank goodness someone cares about service after the sale!!!

I recently purchased a gas fireplace insert and had a great experience. The product selection was numerous and Sean was a pleasure to work with. Prices are very reasonable.
We have been enjoying our new fireplace every night. The lighting feature creates a nice ambiance and the remote is very convenient. When the fan is on we can heat our entire house.
If you are in the market for a new fireplace I highly recommend you stop by and ask for Sean.

I contacted California Window & Fireplace to schedule an appointment for service on my fireplace insert. They put me down for a date last week. The called to ask if they could move the appointment to today. The tech was to arrive between 8:00AM and noon. He called at 11:45AM and asked if it was ok to come at 1:00PM as he was «running late.» I told him that was unacceptable and to cancel the visit. He offered no apology for the late change. I then called the company and told them that I expected to be the first stop today as they already delayed my appointment by a week. She did not apologize for the inconvenience but simply said that she would see what she could do. I was so angry at this point that I just hung up the phone. I recommend you DO NOT use them for service.

Our contractor sent us here for a gas fireplace as part of a major remodel at our house that included tearing out the wood burning fireplace & chimney (I was tired of smoking out the house and the neighborhood). Just be aware that installing a gas fireplace is a lot more complicated than you might think, and you really need to plan ahead, especially regarding the finishing. We had a few bumps along the way, but the owner’s son Sean got things straightened out and was very responsive.

We were in the market for an modern gas fireplace insert. We viewed three different fireplace stores in the area and decided to use California Window & Fireplace because they were 1) very responsive, 2) reasonably priced, and 3) knowledgable about products and alternatives. Our sales representative was Jesse and we were going to move forward with a stylish Mendota insert. Love!
As we proceeded down the path of installing our new insert however, we ran across a road block — our fireplace wasn’t a good candidate for the particular insert we wanted. Our sizing was wrong. Major bummer! However, its good to know that California Window and Fireplace won’t sell you a product that isn’t a good fit for your home, and that they put professionalism above profit. Feel comfortable choosing them for your fireplace needs.

We were first introduced to Sean V from California Window & Fireplace in August or September 2014 by our designer. We had recently purchased a home that had a hideous 1970s corner fireplace that we wanted removed. On the surface, initially Sean was helpful and knowledgeable. He came out to see the existing fireplace and provided ideas for how to replace it. However, one day while we were in the store, a front door caught my husband and my eye. Since we were months from making a decision on that, that went on the back burner.
In the middle of October I returned to their store to inquire about the door in question. Sean was out of the office and so I asked another sales person whose name I don’t recall. I have never seen a sales person more disinclined to help anyone in my life. I walked into the store, pointed to the door on display and said «we want this door. Can you give us a quote?» This employee gave me 500 reasons why providing a quote wasn’t so simple – my husband had prepared me when I went in, so I had measurements, etc, but this person was not interested. To a certain extent, I could cut him some slack because we weren’t his customers, but Sean’s, and he didn’t want to step on his toes. Since we were still months away from needing the door, we figured it could wait until Sean returned from vacation.
Upon return from vacation, our designer and I sent Sean numerous email messages and voice mail messages inquiring about the door. After over a month of no response whatsoever, we went elsewhere.
The only reason I am giving them a 2 star rating instead of 1 is because in his attempts to avoid work, the sales guy gave me the website of the door in question. I was able to do my research online, and found another local store who sold that door. In less than 48 hours of going to the 2^nd store, we had a quote for our front door
Finally, to be honest, this review is regarding Sean and the other sales person – the office manager/​receptionist and the fireplace installer/​technician were helpful and knowledgeable.

Very very incompetent. The service person made 3 trips to my house and even replaced a module and still could not fix my gas fireplace problem. On the 2^nd trip the service person knocked off a landscaping light and broke its pole which took me 3 hours to fix!!! After 3^rd visit, they never responded to my phones. Very shady operation. Don’t patronize this place at all.

I have been dealing with this store for 15 years since I bought windows and a gas fireplace for a bonus room I added on. Happy with the service, however, have had problems with the heat n glo heater fireplace, nothing but trouble. This store has sent out trouble shooters and I have replaced parts over and over. This year I was getting really bummed as my financial situation cannot support the repairs. Stephanie worked with me on the costs as did the repair man Rob. I really like both of them and I really think they tried to make me happy. It comes down to the product that I am not happy with. I have writtten letters to heat and Glo and been on numerous phone calls holding for 30 minutes. No satisfaction there. As it stands now I am a disgruntled Heat n Glo owner. I think their customer service is worthless.

I don’t understand why these folks don’t have a higher rating. They are as good as it gets! I recently had a beautiful fireplace insert installed and I just love it.
First, if the quality of a business can be judged by the subs they use than this one is outstanding. California Window and Fireplace recommended an honest and well qualified electrician and an equally qualified gas line plumber to prep for the install. Both of these gentlemen were more than capable, fairly priced, very conscientious and tidy. I would call either of them back for additional work without hesitation.
Secondly, California Window and Fireplace’s own installers of the insert were equally competent, capable and clean (as they had to install across my white carpet). Installation was flawless, quick and within no time I finally had my remote controlled fireplace!
Finally, I found Sean at California Window and Fireplace to be very personable, completely honest and most interested in my complete satisfaction. As a business owner myself, I’m not always an easy customer. But, honestly, I would recommend this company without hesitation. (By the way, I went to them because my neighbor used them and he was also very happy.)

I went to California Window & Fireplace looking for a tiny replacement part for a window that’s in a door in my home. I explained my situation to John and he got on the phone, searched out my part and had it there within a couple days. Simple, easy, great, service!