GARAGE DOOR SERVICE COMPANY ripoff. dishonest service Florida
November 11th, 2004
To whom it may concern:
On 11/08/04, I called Garage Door Service Company in Denver because my automatic garage door opener was not working. I spoke with their office about the problem and they gave me a quote of $289.00 to install a new mechanical unit. I agreed to this price and they confirmed that their service person Mike would be at the house at 2pm.
Mike was working on installing the unit for about 15 minutes when he informed me that the right spring attached to the unit would also have to be replaced. I asked how much would be the replacement cost of the spring, and Mike informed me that it would be an additional $127 per spring plus another $70 installation fee plus balancing.
Since I am a businessman, I asked if I could speak to his boss thinking that perhaps I could get a better price. I went back into the house to get my phone, came back out and heard Mike talking on his cellular, he saw me, and hurried to end his conversation. He was acting a bit uneasy.
I decided to go back in the house and call other companies to compare the quote for replacing springs for this unit. Competitors gave me an average cost of a pair of springs is $179 plus installation. I went back out to the garage and told Mike that I had been on the phone shopping around for a better price and told him what I had learned. He was not receptive to negotiating and so we came to the agreement that he would simply finish the job that I was originally quoted and that I would have some other company replace the springs. He was visible upset and hastily finished up the job. Mike came to me and told me that everything was done on his part and the other service person could go ahead and replace the spring.
Two hours later, Modern Overhead Door Company, arrived. Their service person, promptly installed a pair of new springs within 45 minutes. After he was finished with the springs, the service person told me that he would be unable to get the whole unit to work because there were problems with the installation of the mechanical unit that the other service person hooked up.
1)No photo eye was installed
2)No photo beam (required by law)
3)No mount front of opener
4)J-Arm not connected
5)Back hang improperly done
Not prepared to troubleshoot and complete Mike's installation of the mechanical unit, the service person informed me that he would have to come back with the equipment he needed to get the whole job done and that there would be an added fee of $75 to complete the job.
I said that I would make a call to Garage Door Service Company and inform them of the list of incomplete items that needed to be done and see if they would send Mike back out to honor the completion of their contract.
On 11/9/04 I called four or five times to Garage Door Service Company and spoke to Monty who repeatedly assured me that they would send Mike back out to finish the original job of installing the mechanical unit that they replaced properly. At 5pm Monty confessed that the dispatcher had dropped the ball and he would talk to the owner/manager (Ken) the next day and the job would get done.
On 11/10/04, 9am, I made another call to Garage Door Service Company and asked for Ken. Ken told me that he had been briefed of the situation and that it would be handled promptly.
At 11am, I again called and got the same assurance. I waited till 3:20pm and called again and so discouraged I said that I figured that perhaps they should just come and pick up the unit and refund me my monies. I have not heard from anyone since.
I am so disappointed at the lack of commitment to good customer service and lack of pride of a job well done that I am at a loss of what I should do next. I am prepared to take my business elsewhere however, what am I to do? The weather is bad and I cannot access my garage, I have a partial unit installed, yet not to code, and now I must pay to have someone else rectify this situation.
The intent of this letter is to alert the community of this unreputable business practice. This is down right fraud.
Sam
thornton, Colorado
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on various garage door companies
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Christine
Auburn,Washington,
U.S.A.
GDS, PDS, et al are bad news; but don't blame the tech
#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, December 31, 2004
First, let me clarify a detail. I am not an ex-employee, but rather an ex-sub contractor. I worked on the programs that GDS & co's use to run their businesses. Unfortunately, ripoffreport.com does not have a check box for that, so I picked the one that was closest.
Sam, don't feel bad. Tommy and Pete (the owners of whatever controls these companies) took me for almost $5800. That may not seem like a lot of money, but to me, it's several weeks of my paycheck. I am now late with every one of my bills, and I have creditors hounding me, all because of GDS.
There are 4 separate garage door businesses, each using several aliases. This is why it is *so* difficult for comsumers to deal with them. And the mail drop you encountered is SOP (Standard Operating Proceedure) with these guys. They are in at least 12 states, and I've heard the number is closer to 30. If you want more, goto bad-justgaragedoors com, on the 'Web. All the info I've collected is there.
As for your door repair Sam, if you didn't put it on a credit card, you are out of luck. They will never send a tech out to fix it, unless you are ready to pay some more.
But, don't blame the techs, other than them staying with the company. Tommy rules the day-to-day operations of the company with an iron fist. He bullies and threatens the techs and the dispatchers, including physical violence. NO ONE in that company crosses Tommy. The tech's pay is *directly* related to how much money they bring in each week, as is the dispatchers' pay. I should know, I worked on the payroll computation program! Anyone who does not bring in enought revenue in a given week has their commission rate cut the following week. And yes, GDS et al technicians are paid *strictly* on commission, with a few flat-pay items. The formula is a bit complex, but it's commissions.
And, here's another little tidbit for all you GDS watchers out there. THe credit card companies will never go after these guys. Tommy reciently negotiated a deal with the bank handling GDS' credit card processing (which is done MANUALLY with a credit card terminal, I might add!) - GDS gets a *really* low rate structure, and the bank gets to keep the money for 30 days, before putting it into GDS' bank acounts. The banks must LOVE this guy!
April
Waldorf,Maryland,
U.S.A.
PDS stricks again
#3Consumer Suggestion
Wed, November 17, 2004
In case you're wondering, this is PDS, just like the other's who have posted about them. As they claimed a few months back to be going legit, etc.. we all knew better. Especially since they still owe my husband over $5000 plus business expenses, etc. and have not yet paid them.
Back to your sitaution, PDS's scam works exacly how it happened to you. You were one of the smart ones. You knew this wasn't right. You want your moeny back, don't bother going through them or calling them any longer. Go straight to your Attorney General's office and file a complaint (believe me, this will add fuel to the fire the government is already breathing down PDS's neck with). Give them copies of any and all paper's with the problems, etc. Don't bother with the BBB, PDS spreads lots of money their way to shut them up. You can also contact your local news stations and newpapers. Most news stations have a consumer help, they can also point you in the right direction, not to mention maybe doing an interview with you about this.
Good lucka nd let us all know how this goes.