Olde English Chimney Sweeps

First off, I had a very friendly women answer the phone and give me a set price to come out and clean one of our chimneys. Price seemed fair and I asked her to make sure there were no other fees or charges-​she assured me there weren’t any such fees. The guys showed up within the reserved timeframe, which was good. Now is were it gets a little frustrating. I had one of the workers come and and paint this picture that one of my chimneys is falling apart and needs a $ 700 repair. I go out and look and it appears that about 3 inches of mortar is missing due to age in my opinion (the house is 50 years old) the brick work is still perfect and the other mortar is still perfectly in tact. I tell him I really don’t want them touching it, especially since it’s not even the chimney they were coming to clean. Then he tries to sell me a cover for $ 189.00, I respectfully decline.
Now he is all done and comes in with a bill for $ 99.00 more than the estimate. I asked why the bill was more, he said he charged me $ 99.00 for an inspection. I explained that I never asked him for an inspection and he never offered it as an additional item. He did remove the item, but I get the strong sense that trying to up sell services is a big part of their business model.
I really can’t comment on the quality of the work– how do you know if your chimney is cleaned properly? I will say that I wasn’t too thrilled with the scare tactic and up selling done while here.