Acme Stove

Came here looking for a very specific stove from Vermont Castings and they were listed as a vendor. After waiting five minutes for someone to speak with us, we were introduced to Tony who we told we were looking for a small wood burning stove to heat an all season porch. He immediately says you can’t use a stove on a porch because the humidity, but when I told him what model we were considering from Vermont Castings he changed his tune and said that’s the only one that would work. That said, he didn’t have a floor model to show us («I just sold that in February) and didn’t have a price list to quote us, so he took our information to get back to us.
Two business days later, I get a phone message around 3:45pm from Tony saying that it would be $ 4,300 installed despite me telling him that our builder was going to install it. I called back around ten minutes later to find out he left for the day, so I left a message saying we needed to know the price just for the stove. Tony called me back the next day around 1030am and said it would be $ 3,600 in the «Bordeaux» (one of the two colors it comes in) including shipping. I asked how much for the «Classic Black» as we indicated we could be interested in either. «I don’t know, I didn’t price that out» Tony replied «Probably a couple of hundred dollars less.» So I asked if «couple» meant $ 200, $ 500 or $ 700 to which he says «Couple means $ 200.) So then I ask how much if we picked it up rather than having it shipped and he says that was the cost of having it shipped to them. Something told me that was a lot more than it should have been and told him as such, saying we’d have to get back to him.
Sure enough, I googled the stove model and price and found a 2014 suggested retail price list saying it should be $ 1,039 for the black, $ 1,419 for the Bordeaux. Then I emailed to other retailers, one of which got back to me in 19 minutes (not two days, plus another half day to actually talk to them) with a price of «$ 1065 plus tax and $ 125 S/​H to our store». Tony either didn’t quote us for the right model or was trying to triple the price of the stove despite assuring us «We always sell below retail price…»

Oh my god! Oh my god!
I should have listened to the other reviewers, This is a text book experience you will have at All Gas Concepts. Print this out, people. It will happen. I swear.
You will go here because honestly there are few vendors that have the selection and they are well located if you are in the NOVA area.
You will meet a portly guy named Tony White, a Duck Dynasty type, who will ignore you while he speaks to other clients with great authority. You will be impressed by his knowledge. «Oh, here’s a real gas geek, not like the big store guys» you’ll say.
Tony will not sell you the stuff. «We’ve been doing this for 85 years as a family business». He will present options. But you will want the best because, after all, a gritty, contractor type is showing you the goods. You will likely buy Mendota. Pricey but, hell, it’s cold there and ‘you need something reliable’. $ 4000+. How about installation and service?
***** And this is where it gets crazy ****
Tony will say «well, Scott of All Gas Concepts has been our go-​to service guy?». How much? «I don’t know, around $ 1500». What if we want our own contractor? Here’s where Duckman will snap «Why would you do that?!». OK. OK. You relent.
All Gas Concepts will show up with FOUR people to measure the stuff once the product is delivered. Will quote you nearly $ 3000 (!!) for installation. After installation, Scott arranges for county inspector.
Inspector will find some issues. Scott needs to be back here, he says. You call Scott. You call Scott. Weeks. Months. This is serious.
You will call Acme Stove. «Why did you refer me to this contractor?» Tony starts yelling «well, he is out of town. sir. sir, i’m talking to you. I will not stand for this, sir!!!» He’s yelling at YOU, the person who parted with $ 7500 of hard earned cash.
Weeks later. Scott will show up. Incredibly rude, gets into arguments going «Well, if only you had blah blah blah».
This is a down home racket, as someone mentioned. Which vendor will give you the name of only one contractor? This is a Duck Dynasty racket. Product is good, but they’d didn’t make it. Some Canadian or North American company did. Their job is retail — customer service. And I swear this «85 year old family run» company is the worst I have ever encountered. I am heading to the Better Business Bureau.

I called for information from Acme Stove and got an incredibly rude salesperson. Unbelieveably RUDE. I would not do business with this place if they gave me the part free. Stay away unless you enjoy rude people!

I worked with Tony on a remote control problem and he helped out in very professional way. Great service!

We have had a great experience with this company. We researched barbecues and bought a Napoleon from them. They have been extremely helpful, answered questions after we bought it, gave us some very good free stuff with the barbecue, and overall we’ve been very happy and would buy it again from them.

my experience was a little different from everyone elses.
we bought a Mendota fireplace gas insert from them. we shopped around, and they were the only ones that had a discount (ten percent) on these inserts. I dealt with Mike Joseph, who was very helpful and patient in finding us the fireplace we wanted.
these guys sell inserts, but don’t do the installing themselves. They contract out (probably get a kickback from the referral, who knows). the guy they sent us was less than impressive. we opted to go with another installer, which was fine with ACME. i had some follow up questions with Mike, and he answered them. i saw the way other customers were treated, and it was less than ideal, so i tried mainly to deal with Mike.

So far so good, they were very nice at the store and the installer gave us an estimate before we even ordered the stove.

I had a horrible experience with Woodburners a few years ago, so when we bought a house in Falls Church we tried ACME. They were fabulous to work with. We ordered gas crystal system, they had a serviceman come out a few days before the install to walk through the home and determine what was needed. They ran our gas lines and installed the unit in no time. From order to final install it was less than 2 weeks. Staff were very professional and knowledgeable. We are thrilled with our new fireplace unit.
PW and DK, Falls Church

Wow! What horrible customer service. I called them because Vermont Castings’ website referred me to this local dealer. One of the most unfriendly least helpful person I ever talked with in retail. I guess I will be buying my parts and accessories else where. I would advise others to do the same.

it’s true, reader — listen to the other reviews. i bought a gas insert from these dudes fall 2011, no issues the first year. then had to contact their recommended service provider, scott of all gas concepts, who is a nightmare — really, he’s a parody of a small business. impossible to get hold of, incredibly rude, literally picks fights with customers on the phone trying to arrange an appointment … rings the bell & runs, does not call, does not knock … obviously has been doing this for years and has his gig built to his liking so must have the small-​time luxury of telling potential and active customers to eff off… when you go back to acme to see if they have another provider, they start yelling at you too about how great scott is! really? honestly? who’s cousin is he? what kind of a down-​home country racket is this? i’m beginning to see a culture of building services providers in this area that is truly back woods …
go elsewhere, customer, ANYwhere else …

Please do yourself a favor and steer as clear as you can from this company. Wow, such a bad experience with them.
We bought a woodstove from them in November and they were great through the buying process. That is, until they had our money. Then we had all kinds of trouble getting the stove installed. They assured us it would cost a certain amount, but surprise! when the so-​called «professional» installers showed up, the cost jumped a thousand dollars! We ended up getting a (fantastic)private installer to do the job for us and all was well, that ended well.
That is until about two weeks ago when I opend the stove to add more wood and the handle broke off in my hand, after only running it for 4 weeks. :(I called Acme Stove immidiately to have them come fix it. You would not believe the schpiel I got over the phone «We SELL woodstoves, we don’t FIX them», «How on earth did you manage to break the handle?», «What were YOU doing wrong that caused the handle to break?», «I’ve been in this business for over 20 years and I have NEVER heard of this happening», «This is going to take WEEKS, if not, months to get fixed… its winter, it’ll be impossible to get through to the manufacturer to order the part», «Yeah, the part is covered under warranty but the labor to install it is not, so you will have to pay for that»; «No, I haven’t gotten around to your broken handle yet because we handle customer issues as they come in, and you aren’t up yet. Wait until WE call YOU, this is going to take a long time»
These guys were patronizing, rude, unapologetic, and completely, 100% uninterested in fixing the woodstove that we had just paid thousands for! How they stay in business treating people this way is beyond me.
So what about our woodstove you ask? Well, my husband stopped into a woodstove place near his work last Saturday. By that evening, the manager of the store had emailed us to let us know that they’d love to get our stove fixed for us. He had contacted the manufacturer by the end of the weekend. The part was here by Wednesday. Today two very nice technicians came out and had the handle fixed within 20 minutes. No labor charge at all. Completely fixed in under 6 days.
Of course, if I had waited for Acme Stove Company to accomplish this it could have taken «weeks, if not months…» You’ve been warned! Steer clear!!! ;)

Elizabeth seems to have encountered similar treatment.
The remote control for the gas fireplace stopped working. The previous homeowners who had it installed five years ago left all receipts and manuals – so I know they bought it at Acme Stove.
When I called, the guy was very curt with me at first, and it only went downhill from there. First he said, «it’s probably a battery issue.» No. «Well, have you checked the receiver?!» and because he was SO patronizing and rude, I was stunned, and didn’t react RIGHT AWAY, and he barked «I’ll take that as a no!» When I said «I haven’t answered you. I’m reacting to your condescending tone.» He said, «you calling me condeNsending?» I said «nope, that’s not the word.» And he said «I’m sorry you feel that way. I can’t help you» and he hung up on me.
The rep in Rockville was far more professional. Still, pushing me toward an expensive and unnecessary visit seems to be their MO. I found the problem quickly and that was that.