If you're having problems with your garage door, most of us would call a repair company to get it fixed as soon as possible. But act too quickly, and agree to a low- priced estimate, and you could end up the victim of a garage door ripoff.
Jamie Oneill encountered this problem when a spring snapped on her garage door.
"I got on my phone and did a search for garage door services near me," Oneill said.
She called the first company she found. The repairperson gave a $400 estimate for one spring and $500 estimate for a pair.
The price sounded reasonable. But she says the worker, who arrived in an unmarked van, slapped on additional fees for more parts.
"It was knock, knock, knock, we have another problem," she said. "By the time we got done, it was springs, drums, cords, braces."
Her total bill came to $1,258.
Worse, she said, "he gets the work done, and the garage door doesn't work," Oneill said.
Watch a woman describe how she was ripped off by a fake garage door company:
Common issue with garage door repairs
Bradford Rodgers is a manager at PDQ Doors, a top-rated door installer.
He says shady garage door repair companies have become a major problem, with some pretending to be with his company.
"Sometimes those competitors aren't necessarily legitimate competitors," Rodgers said. "They are illegal operations pretending to be a garage door company, and they are really not."
Spotting a garage door scheme
Rodgers says a repairperson should have an ID and a marked truck.
If you need garage door help, the Better Business Bureau has this advice:
- Don't simply call the first company that pops up in a search
- Make sure you are dealing with a local business with a local address
- Check for reviews and ratings
- Before work begins, have a written estimate
Oneill wishes she had done that.
"They are fast talkers... they make you feel like you are getting a deal when you are not," she said.
So know the warning signs of this costly scheme, so you don’t waste your money.
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