I purchased an Open Sesame door opener system from them after a previous door opener died. My dad…read moreis paralyzed from the chest down, and having a functional door opener is critical for him, so I wanted to get a reputable company to do the installation and hopefully provide future support.
All was well for 2-3 months, until last week, the "pusher" separated from the door jamb. Which makes the door opener not work at all. My parents called 101 Mobility, and tried to get in touch with someone, and it took a few days for them to hear back.
I had ended up going over to their place in the meantime, and I checked out the door. I was *shocked* by what I found.
I thought the force of the door pusher/closer would have ripped the screws from the wall with some kind of significant force. But that's not what I found. What I found was that the screws had simply pulled straight out with no effort. Look at the attached picture. What you can clearly see is that the holes are significantly larger than the outside diameter of the thread of the screw. It's not torn out, it's cleanly drilled to that size. I could slide the screws into the holes and wiggle them around with absolutely no resistance.
I went to the store & bought screws one and two sizes larger than the existing screws. NEITHER of them were big enough to catch in the hole. You may notice what looks like wood glue residue in the hole. Similar residue is on the side of the pusher.
I contacted Victoria Torres at 101 Mobility, and she claimed that there was *no way* that the installer installed it wrong. I told her exactly what I saw. I didn't draw any additional conclusions about it, and she kept saying I was wrong. I told her I had video and photos, and I sent her the video, which shows me gliding the screw in and out of an obviously too large hole. The photo of the backside of the pusher is a screen grab from that video as well.
The installer then called me on the phone. I described to him what I'd seen. He insisted that 1.) no glue was used, and 2.) that everything was installed according to the manufacturer's specs. I told him about my experience with the screws, and the appearance of the back of the door pusher. He insisted it was installed correctly to the manufacturer's specs.
Now, I cannot say definitively if this was just glued on, because the installer saw that the screws were obviously too small. Maybe that residue is from something that was there previously. I have no idea what that would be, and why the residue is there, but they insist no glue was used. There is a very small chance that it is from the previous door pusher device. However, that device was there for three years, and so if the glue residue is from that, I find it odd that it's stuck to the backside of the new pusher. Still, maybe that's it. Again, I can't say with 100% certainty. You will note here that I'm leaving this door open because I'm not 100% sure. I AM100% sure about the next bit.
I can say *definitively* that the drilled holes were significantly larger than the outside diameter of the screws, and inspection of the screws showed that the threads had some minimal drywall "caught" in the threads, but zero wood. Similarly, if you look at the hole interiors, they are entirely smooth, which is not how a hole looks after it's been screwed into by a properly sized wood screw.
I want to give 101 Mobility a chance to respond here, because so far every contact that they've had has insisted that this is installed to the manufacturer's specifications, that no glue was used, and that my observations are incorrect. (I was a Mechanical Engineer earlier in my career, in case you find that relevant.)
Here is the only conclusion that I will draw:
If 101 Mobility made errors in their installation, the result was an unreliable, improperly installed door opener that I paid thousands for, that my disabled father cannot rely on for something he needs to simply work on a daily basis.
If 101 Mobility did not make errors in their installation, they have sold me a product for thousands of dollars that is fundamentally unreliable, that my disabled father cannot rely on for something he needs to simply work on a daily basis.
I contacted 101 Mobility because I wanted a company who could support something that my father *relies* on. So far, they have repeatedly deflected responsibility for this thing that they installed. They had complete control over every aspect of this installation, and insist it was done correctly. In order to get the door to work again in a timely manner, I did a quick repair myself that I know will not last, but was good enough to get things working for the time being. This, again, after paying more than $3,000 for them to install this device, which failed in less than three months.
You can look at the photos yourself and draw whatever conclusion you feel makes the most sense.
I will update this if 101 Mobility chooses to resolve this in an acceptable manner.
