Flame Not High Enough, My Ass!

I'm pretty annoyed right now. We have two gas fireplaces. When we moved in and turned them on, they smelled terrible. At that time, we were told we had to run them for 8-12 hours to burn off the chemicals used to treat the "logs" in the fireplace. We did this. Upstairs, the fire place is fine. Downstairs it still stinks to high heaven. So I call the fireplace guys and the lady tells me, "You have to run it for 8-12 consecutive hours." Great. So we run it for 12 straight hours one night with the windows in the whole house open. Next day, I shut all the windows and let the house air out some more, then try it again. 5 minutes after running it, noxious smell again. I call them. They send this guy 2 weeks later (great service) and he's standing there telling me that there's no leak and that our flame wasn't all the way up - he says we have to run for 8-12 consecutive hours with the flame on high. I'm so pissed. I'm sure when it still stinks after we waste all this natural gas for a third time that they'll tell me I was supposed to be standing on my head while eating a bowl of pasta for the 8-12 consecutive hours with a flame on high. On top of all that, he was one of those guys who talked in a complete monotone. No inflection in his speech whatsoever.