Review from Dan C.
Published:over 6 years ago
Alright, quite a lengthy review here, so if you don't want to read the whole thing, here are the broad strokes:
-scheduled an appointment to have garage door replaced that they just didn't show up for. No apologies, not acknowledgment of their mistake.
-rescheduled appointment and technician showed up on time, but without all the parts needed for complete install.
-tech installed new door PLUS items that I had specifically asked not to have installed, then tried to charge me for them. After much arguing, situation was remedied.
Review in Long Form:
I contacted Madison Overhead Garage Door Services the week before Thanksgiving to have an estimate for a garage door repair. We had an old door that had a reputation of falling off the tracks and it had been repaired by the past by Madison Overhead Door Service.
After the tech came to give an estimate- it made more sense for the door to be replaced than repaired, so we went ahead and scheduled an appointment for the first available time slot which was about a week and a half later (Thursday 11/7, from Noon to 2pm).
The day of the appointment rolled around and I took off of work to be at home during the install. Noon rolled around and no tech. 1:00 pm rolled around, no tech. 2:00 pm, no tech. At 2:05 I called the offie and spoke with Mike - the person that I emailed and called to schedule the appointment - and asked if the installer was running late. He said to me "No, if he was running late we would have definitely called. You don't have an appointment for today". I reminded him of our conversation when I scheduled the appointment, and also of the email chain we had regarding the appointment, and he still stood by his statement that we did not have an appointment. No apology from him at all. No offer to make it right. He just said his next available was a week a later. In frustration I told him that we would be looking elsewhere for a new garage door.
A few minutes later Mike called back and said they had a cancellation for the next day, and if I wanted I could have the door installed then. I suppose I should have followed my instincts and said no thanks, but I agreed and we scheduled the appointment for 11/8.
On the day of the appointment the tech showed up around 1pm - a friendly guy who seemed to know what he was doing. He let me know that they were out of the proper trim pieces for the door, so he'd have to come back to install that, but he could get the whole door up today. I agreed (again, probably should have seen this as a sign to say no). He took the old door down, installed the new door over the course of the next few hours, and came in to let me know that it was all done. I went out to inspect the work and noticed that there was a new operator installed as well - I told him that we had specifically said no to the new operator, which was news to him. The old operator was dangling off the back of his truck with the rest of the old garage door that had hastily been ripped down. He called Mike in the office, who confirmed that we did not ask for the new operator, and once confirmed told me that he'll have to take the new one down and reinstall the new one. I agreed.
Before starting the work I went back into the house and he called Mike, then came back to the door and said he could offer the new operator for $250 - to me this meant that he either did not want to reinstall the old operator (which, I can't blame him for) or (in the most cynical of cases) this was a sales tactic to get me to buy the new operator. "Well, it's already up, we'll give you a good deal on this one". I told him that I did not want the new operator - it was unnecessary and I didn't want to spend any more money. I also asked him if he can guarantee that the old one would work the same way once he reinstalled it and he said no, he couldn't - he didn't test its functionality before he took it down. I told him that I knew that it worked before it was taken down, and that I would like some assurance that it would function as well as it did before. He said he couldn't do that, and if it doesn't work when he puts it back up it's not his fault. Things got more heated than I wanted - he was clearly frustrated because of the extra work.
I called the office, and of course Mike was out for the day. I spoke with a nice woman who listened calmly and was pretty helpful. She said she'd try and find Mike, and in the meantime she assured me that if I didn't want the new operator, they'd put up the old one. If the old one didn't work, they'd reinstall the new one (again). She must have found Mike really fast, because within minutes he called the technician, and then immediately called me to let me know that the tech would just leave the new operator in at no additional charge.
In the end, having to fight to not pay for something I specifically did not ask for earns you a one star review. Ugh, I'm exhausted just writing this.