Upside Down Chimney Sweeps

All seemed well at first — the woman answering the phone was courteous, informative (Upside Down has evidently joined/​merged/​turned into/​been acquired by Greater Boston Chimney Sweep), and able to schedule a free estimate at a convenient time.
The first hint of trouble was when I called to reschedule (our closing was delayed by over a week) — and left repeated messages over two days, asking for a quick call back just so I knew they’d got the info. No call until 15 minutes before the appointment, saying they were running early and was I there now? OK, early would have been great… if it were relevant. Listening to your voicemail would be even better.
I did manage to reschedule, though. Today, I waited through the specified two-​hour time window with no sign of them, and no phone call letting me know they’d be late. Eventually I called, and got the woman, who said he was probably running late and she’d give me a call back in a few. Half an hour later, I was still hanging fire, and further calls to the office went straight to voicemail.
(I realize that contracting involves a variable schedule, and sometimes a day’s schedule will go all to pieces. What I consider essential in these cases is KEEPING THE CUSTOMER INFORMED — a 20-​second courtesy call saying «I’ve got some work that’s taking far longer than anticipated; I’m very sorry but I’ll be an hour late» does wonders. In my experience, contractors who blow you off when giving estimates do not suddenly become less lackadaisical when it comes time to do the actual work.)
EDIT: The fellow called me back the next day, very apologetic — he said the appointment didn’t get copied from the scheduling-​calendar to his calendar-​for-​the-​day. I’d be more inclined to forgive this if it weren’t part of a pattern of logistics failures, but I’ll upgrade to a 2 for following up (and showing up at the re-​re-​scheduled appointment).

Our big house maintenance project last year was to get our old chimney back up to speed. That meant a new chimney liner was needed. We called around and Upside Down, which is right down the street from us, had the best estimate by far. Tim, running his own business, was a really nice guy. He came over for free (he was out running errands) on a saturday morning to inspect things before giving us an estimate. He was on time and let me know when he had to go get a part to help him finish the job. Our chimney, being old, was not uniform all the way through with the bottom being one size and the top being another. He took it in stride and finished the job on time.
We got a notice that he joined up with another company recently. Hopefully, he is still able to provide his services as we would use him for future cleaning or repair work.
Note: Always get multiple estimates before having contractors begin projects. The best estimate may not always be the best guy for the job. Check out anybody with the BBB before hiring as well. Do your homework.