Yesterday (Saturday 07/19/08) evening my garage door won't open for more than 6". I searched a service company online and found this nice guy who told me he cannot come until Monday. From my description of the problem he said it sounds like a broken spring. He gave me another number to call to see if I can get service sooner. But no-other company even pick up my calls. So I called one more company I found online: Precision Door Service (PDS). I picked them because their address is close to my house, to my relieve, they told me they can come Sunday.
They did come on time, and they told me that the spring was broken. They can replace the spring for $178 each, plus $39.99 for service call and $20 energy surcharge. Or, they can do an overhaul (replacing the spring, the rollers, the bearings, the cables and the drums) for $649 service call and enery surcharge, with a lifetime warranty. So in case anything goes wrong with the opener they will come and do service with no charge, I was told. I told them that the cables were replaced recently, and I don't think the rollers and everything else needs to be replaced. But considering replacing the springs will cost me $415.95, the overhaul option looks interesting. So I agreed to overhaul.
When I checked the internet for the price of torsion springs, I found that the most expensive one costs abot $45. So, I went to the garage and asked the two guys who are working there why they charged me alot for the springs. They said that their product is of better quality, that their spring has 25,000 cycle as compared to other products that only goes to 10,000 - 15,000. But still, I said, it should not cost 4 times as expensive as the other product. They also talk again about lifetime warranty. One of them said I shouldn't fell bad. A lot of people take the overhaul choice.
Because I have a child that I need to take care off, I didn't argue too much. I felt I was taken advantage of but I paid them with credit card anyway, which I regret so much. After they left I saw they wrote in the "technician's evaluation" in the form they gave me that I have broken spring, rollers bad, drums shot and cables fraying". I know the spring was broken, but the others I don't think so. And I know for sure that the cables were new, they can't be fraying already.
It's only after I read some of the complaints in this forum that I had some validation for my feeling of being ripped off. I called the company and told them they overcharged me. I was told that the billing person will call me back Monday.
Then one of the technicians came back to my house later that day, because he had left his battery charger. So, I told him how I feel about the whole thing. I also asked for my old parts, and asked him to show me where the fraying in the cables are. He was not able to show me. I know for sure that that was a lie, and I'm glad I have proof now. My cables look pretty new, no fraying whatsoever.
I planned to tell the billing person when they call on Monday about the lies, and the overcharge, and that they should refund some of my payment, otherwise I will call the local TV news about the ripoff. We'll see on Monday.
Other than that, can anyone suggest me of what else I can do to try to get some of my money back?
Can someone give me an idea of how much should they charge me for the works that they've done?
Thanks so much for your help. I hope someone will read my report and others' before they get service from PDS. I wish I did!
Lala
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