BE CAREFUL!!!!!
I was gonna write a vague and relatively nice review because he's a nice guy and appears to mean well, but I've gotta lay out what happened, cuz he just might be getting over on people left and right.
Basically my garage broke (basically new house built 2022, I'm the 2nd owner), and I was referred to him by another company, he came out and looked at the door but couldn't immediately determine the problem. What he did immediately do is measure the springs telling me he needed to make sure they're the right size. He also told me to change out the board in the opener to see if that worked and if it did then I wouldn't need to order and install new springs. He came back and installed the new board, and it didn't work. So he says the springs are the wrong size (per the door company) and that caused my opener to fail. He says I need to change the springs, and may still have to get a new opener and rail if changing the springs doesn't work. He previously advised that it would be $500 to change the springs. I ask how much to install a new opener, and he says $800, on top of the $500 for the springs.
He really pounded away on the fact that the door company was telling him that the springs are the wrong size and now it's a safety hazard. We agreed that we'd change the springs and see if that worked, and if not then we'd deal with the opener. My dumb butt went ahead and believed him and not only had him order the springs, but paid him for that portion in full up front cuz my money is a little funny right now, and I had the $500 available right then. Not knowing how long this would take I wanted to make sure he would be paid.
While waiting for the springs to come, with great difficulty, I was able to find and contact the original installation company who did all the garages for the whole development, and they confirmed that the springs installed are the springs that were delivered with the doors from the same door company, and installed throughout the development. I decided to take the rest of the opener apart, starting with the motor, to see if I could find anything. Lo and behold, the gear-shaft in the motor was completely stripped. I ordered a new motor, installed it and the door immediately started working again.
Now, had I been the original owner the opener would still have been under warranty. So the problem really was the opener, and not the springs. I told PJ to never mind on the spring install, and that he could drop off my new springs because they had already came. He reiterated that my door is a safety hazard because the springs are wrong.
My thing is, you do garage doors for a living, but you didn't know a bad motor in an opener when you came across one?? And now you want me to let you take my whole door apart and install new springs?! You must be crazy. Since he came out a few times and spent some time with the door I didn't ask for any money back. Now I have a pair of brand new springs for whenever the springs go bad in 5-7 years.
It couldn't possibly be that pj makes house calls to pretty much determine that every garage problem must be solved with a new opener and springs. It's pretty strange that a garage door repair guy who repairs garage doors for a living doesn't know a bad motor when he comes across one though. Scamming? Idk... but like I said
BE CAREFUL. read more