Garage Door Opener Repair--Should have checked first!
 

My garage door would not close with the remotes. It only closed if I held the down button from inside the garage. It would go up ok with the remotes. Nothing was blocking the sensors, so I needed someone to come and fix it. In checking the yellow pages I found a company called "Discount Garage Doors". I liked the DISCOUNT part I guess. At any rate I called to have a service person come. I was quoted a $35 service charge....not too bad! The service man came as scheduled. He immediately knew that the sensors were bad. Within 10 mins he had the new ones in and the door operating just fine. When he presented the bill, I nearly flipped...$206.51 total. Well I paid, but he understood my discontent. I went on-line to see what normal costs should be for the sensors...$43 for the set and that is retail. Their charge for the same exact sensors was $158. I have called the office twice to see about getting something back and each time I was told that the Manager will call me back. NOTHING YET! In so far as their service invoice is preprinted with cost of parts, I checked further online for costs of other parts. They are 3 to 5 times greater in cost than a common purchaser can buy the parts for. Not to mention they charge $85/hr minimum labor cost.
My intent here is to let all potential customers know what they are getting into if they use DGD (Discount Garage Doors, Inc.)
Also I should have checked with the Viginia Trace website as they have recommended repair specialists with an excellent following of satisfied customers.

foxmeadow, that's gotta hurt. Nothing like feeling you're being taken advantage of! Sounds like you're doing the right thing in pursuing it. It should be interesting to hear what they have to say about their pricing model! And the prices you're finding are retail prices - they'd still be making money selling at those prices as they're undoubtedly buying the sensors for a good bit less than retail.

Hope you can get a good resolution - - -

Bill :)

Thanks Bill. I called again today. Had to leave message. I will keep everyone posted on the outcome.

Try calling Crimes against Seniors, they may be able to help. Sorry do not have number....may be posted on another thread.

From a thread from last fall - post #2:

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...ad.php?t=31747

"The Villages, Seniors Vs Crime has two offices - one in the Sumter Sheriff's Office on 466 and one in the Marion Sheriff's Office on Mulberry Lane. You can go to either office to file complaints. They are only open certain days so call first to make sure they are open - 753-2799 for Sumter and 753-7775 for Marion."

Bill :)

foxmaeadow:

WOW! I would really be p***ed off at that charge. it is outrageous.

Discount was no discount.

Good luck in getting relief from this place of business.

Well, I finally heard from my friends at "DISCOUNT Garage Doors". The office manager I spoke with gave no indication the company feels unjust in charging such mark-ups. Just the opposite......."our costs of maintaing the office; the cost of fuel, the cost of insurance; etc., etc." I explained that their company will be discussed as to this experience and hopefully no one else will find out about them the hard way. I did speak to a lady from the Seniors vs crime. Being that I received a service, the door was fixed satisfactorily and I paid that day, nothing could be done. It was my mistake for not getting a few other quotes before hiring them. LIVE & LEARN!

Thanks for the heads up.....

Branch (Garage Door Service)
 

Thanks to this forum/thread, I was able to make an informed decision on who to pick for repairing my garage door opener. I went with Branch. They came out the same day, and Chuck the technician was both competent and friendly while he went about his business of repairing the opener. The price was reasonable for replacing the gears inside the opener and replacing a frayed cable. I was not even aware of the problem with the cable. He said it would have snapped in a month or two requiring another service call. He also balanced the door, sprayed the parts requiring lubrication and told me to do that twice a year to ensure proper lubrication on the moving parts. Total cost: $150.00 which includes a $80.00 service call.

I strongly recommend Branch and if you can, ask for Chuck to make the repairs. You will be glad you did. :thumbup:

I also recommend RoMac. Fast,friendly and fair.

:agree::agree::agree:


I believe RoMac sometimes has an ad for garage door tuneup for around $59.


.

I have used Romac several times plus I have taken advantage of the tuneup service.

I know that i can oil the wheels, etc. but they also check everything out and let me know if I have any problems.

I had a spring break one time and I was having intermittent problems. They fixed it and reset the tension and everything.

This is a very typical type of scam- I call it the "40 dollar an hour scam". If you go and call a bunch of places to have work done...on anything...you'll get one place that is 60 bucks an hour and another place that is 40 bucks an hour, so you think to yourself- 40 is less than 60, so thats the better deal. But ask yourself this: In todays world, do you know of any service business that can really survive on 40 dollars an hour? So what happens? you get suckered in by the low hourly rate ( which is what they want), then they have to kill you on parts and other stuff, or work and parts you dont need, to stay in business. Now I know some of you will beat me up on this, but it true in many forms of businesses and the phrase " you get what you pay for" should ring in your ears.

On a side note, I got an estimate for DGD for a new opener and it was in the 400 dollars range for just a regular opener, I passed and just installed it myself.

Agree! Buying from anyone whose name starts with "discount" speaks volumes about the purchaser!