Funny Story Not About the Kids

[This is long because I am wordy.]
Because of the dire predictions of a really cold winter, Dwayne thought it would be a good idea to make sure our upstairs fireplace is in working condition.  Since we haven’t used it in the 7 1/2 years we’ve lived here, it seemed like a good idea to have it cleaned and inspected.  We knew the exterior was fine because had had it complete resurfaced in Spring 2007, when Dwayne noticed that bits of brick had fallen from the chimney.  We had it looked at and decided upon a company that did all things chimney, including resurfacing.  We chose the brick to go with the patio and retaining walls we had built the year before and one week and $7000, we had a new-looking chimney.
Before:                                                           After:
         
Pretty nice, huh?  (Again, all style and vision credit goes to Dwayne.)


We needed to make sure the chimney interior was as good as the exterior.  I researched my usual 5 best fits from Angie’s List, called 4 of them, and got inspection appointments with three of them.
Company A came out, thought the damper was still in decent working order, just needing a bolt to fix it. Then Company A climbed up on the roof to take a look outside and found that the crown and caps had been done incorrectly and needed to be redone.
Company B came out and decided the damper needed to be replaced and he swept the chimney. Then he climbed up to take a look and found the that crown and caps had been done incorrectly and needed to be redone.
Company C came out and decided the damper needed to be replaced, and a few interior cracks should be filled in. Then he climbed up on the roof and found the that crown and caps had been done incorrectly and needed to be redone. Then he took me out the the front deck so he could show me everything that had been done wrong on the entire chimney as well as the crown.
By this time, I am hating this whole process. I felt so stupid for not knowing that the top of the chimney had been been done so badly. What kind of estate steward am I? I should have learned all about chimneys and crowns and gone up a ladder myself (with a 6 month old) to make sure the work had been done correctly back in '07 and...and...well, I had failed my duties.
Company C was still going on about how poorly the dry stack had been done and how unsound that process was---can you just hear the blah, blah, blah? He asked me a few times who had done the work and I couldn't remember, of course. But finally I went down to the office and grabbed my chimney folder. And guess who had done the entire chimney resurfacing, crown and cap work 2 1/2 years ago?
Company C.
By this time, he had taken pictures so he could show his boss.  After I showed him the paperwork, he stepped outside to call his boss.  In private. 
Boss is coming out this week to take a look.  If it stays interesting, I’ll update.