Review from Frederick P.
Published:over 2 years ago
The Hometown Garage Door tech arrived June 30 about 6:15 pm; my wife showed him the problem, gave him access to the garage. He looked at the situation, tested it, and got a ladder from his truck. My wife came to get me.
When I got to the garage the part (Carriage Assembly) had been installed and the tech was writing up the bill; it took less than 20 min. He never stated a price before doing the job.
He gave the bill to my wife without comment. The price was very high; I had figured it would be up to $75.00. We told him MasterCard would be used, and we would call the office the next day. He said no, he would process the payment then. Since we are Senior Citizens (81 and 86) I felt we were being taken advantage of, but our home being in an isolated area, I felt it was no time to argue. I would call the office the next day to challenge the “padded charges” and if necessary dispute the charges with MasterCard. I called Hometown on July 1, at the Johnson City phone number on their web site and left a message with my callback info.
On July 5, I talked to Tina & Sam from Hometown who would not discuss a reduced, reasonable price. Sam told me I would not win but would face a $500.00 charge from MasterCard if I lost. I told them that Genie charges $20.99 for the part where they were charging me $96.00, a case of price gouging. I also said that a fuel and travel fee was price gouging. They offered to drop the $25.00 fuel charge, but that is almost insignificant for a charge that should be $75.00 or less. The total price was $246.00, which is more than Lowe’s price for the entire Genie door opener for my door. No resolution reached.
I called MasterCard (Bank of America) and the rep described to me the way these people skirt around the rules guiding disputes; he also told me how to avoid such a situation, and that Sam was attempting to bully me by the $500.00 statement. There is no such charge.
I can't recommend doing business with these people.