The guy who came out to my house quoted me $800 for parts/labor/tax to replace 2 springs. From what I read on the internet, that quote seemed a bit high.
So I declined his service and told him that I would pay him the $29 in-home estimate fee. He then starts getting mad at me for having him called out to our house and wasting his time. How exactly am I wasting his time if I'm paying the $29 estimate fee?
He then goes on to tell me that no other garage door repair service can do it for less and that I'm a cheapskate for wanting to shop around. I found it odd and somewhat insulting that he's trying to stop me from getting another estimate. If he really had the best price, what does he have to be afraid of?
Right before he leaves, he tells me not to call his company again because I'll be blackmarked and they won't come out to my house. I thought that was an interesting sales tactic. Was he trying to use reverse psychology? LOL.
The next day I went to a local garage door manufacturing company to get some information on springs. While there I met a guy who owns his own licensed small business for installing garage doors. He followed me home, inspected the damage and quoted me $250 total for the job.
I told him about the previous $800 quote and he agreed it was a scam. He also told me that if you negotiate an unusually high quote down to price acceptable to you, they usually end up tacking on additional service charges after the job has started. So you end up paying the initial quoted estimate when the job is completed anyways.
So if the initial quote is too high, don't bother negotiating. Find someone else to do business with. If they're not honest from the beginning, they won't be honest at the end.
I should've known better not to trust a company with just a PO Box for a local address.
Jamie
Oceanside, California