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Report: #4362

Complaint Review: Garage Door Services - San Jose California

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  • Reported By: San Jose CA
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  • Garage Door Services 769 E. Brokaw Road San Jose, California U.S.A.

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Today, February 3, 2001, an outfit by the name of Garage Door Services came to my home to repair a broken spring. I found this outfit in the yellow pages in San Jose, CA. The ad is spread over two complete pages and has multiple names - "Garage Door America," "Precision Doors," "Precision Door Services, Inc.," "California Overhead Garage Door Service," and "Master Craftsman Garage Door Repair." There are also multiple numbers, just like the report on file under "Garage Door Complaints." The number I initially called was (408) 445-9568. The other numbers are 408.369.1266; 408.969.0933; 408.451.9651; 408.792.1982; 408.244.4231 - there are more all on the same two pages and all "nationally known, locally owned, Division of Precision Doors."

When I called the number, I asked what the charges were. I was told $55 an hour. I then asked what a spring would cost. I was told it would be per inch. When an unmarked truck arrived, after a person named "Jon" looked at the moving parts, he said he advised replacing not only the springs but the arms as well. I agreed they needed to be replaced and asked him how much those pieces would cost. He again stated that it would be $55 per hour and never really answered my question about the parts. I wasn't too concerned because a friend recently had this type of hardware replaced at a total cost of $300.

After about an hour, I asked him how much the job came to and he went to his truck to figure it out. I was horried to see a total of $859.60. I expressed my concern and told him I never expected a repair job to be that expensive and told him I was floored by the price of the hardware. He itemized 2 "heavy duty high cycle springs" for a charge of $4 per inch (56 inches) at $224.00. He also itemized 2 "heavy duty one-piece arms" for a total of $489.00. There was an entry of $10.00 - no charge for lubrication. He also charged $32.00 for 2 sets of safety clip hardware. The service charge was $55.00. I have a 10 year warranty on "all new hardware." There are no manufacturer stickers on the arms to identify what they are and the grade of metal.

My bill came to $859.60 and I knew I was being TOTALLY ripped off. Rather than argue with this person, I gave him a credit card, which turned out to be really stupid on my part because I planned to stop the pending charges and was told that I could not do that legally.

I called the number on the invoice (408) 451-8840 and asked the person who answered who her boss was. She said Rhonda. I then asked her who the owner of "Garage Door Services" was. She said Ron and then put me on hold and said she wasn't allowed to give me that information. I said fine, but please give this message to Ron on Monday. Tell him to call me at work (408) 277-4454, (which happens to be the City of San Jose Attorney's Office). Also, tell him that if he doesn't refund at least half of my money for parts I will be doing a search with the Secretary of State - which I did by the way and turned up nothing as far a name to serve papers on if I need to go that route. Also tell him I will be filing a report with the Better Business Bureau (which I have already done) and I will be contacting Action Line of the San Jose Mercury News (which I also have already done). I'm not sure how fast or if these two complaints will pan out, so I was delighted to find your site along with the exact names of this rip off business in the Arizona area.

I also called two other local garage door stores and they have heard of the scams this company has been pulling and when I read my invoice to them they were horrified and appalled that I had been ripped off so badly. Both of the people I spoke to told me they would and could have done that particular job, even on a Saturday, for $300 or less.

I certainly don't have $500+ to waste and even if this large outfit can be stopped in their tracks from betraying and robbing other people I'll pay my dues for that. From what I could tell today, whoever is in charge of this outfit is shielded under layers of answering services, unmarked trucks, hidden corporate names and bogus store fronts. I feel so stupid and violated. I should have written a check so I could have put a stop pay on it. I pleaded with my credit card company to not pay these jerks but they said it was "pending" and that I would have to take it up with Merchant Resolutions on Monday.

Thank you for any help and time you can devote to this terrible scam.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on various garage door companies

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/03/2001 12:00 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/garage-door-services/san-jose-california-95112/garage-door-company-aka-precision-overhead-inflated-prices-4362. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
16Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#16 UPDATE Employee

The current goal of the company is to increase word of mouth business

AUTHOR: Mike - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, March 23, 2006

Ok so I work for this company. At one point I was even interested in buying a franchise. If you have ever tried to buy a franchise you will know that there is a disclosure statement that covers just about everything in the franchisor's history including legal actions.

First I can only speak for the San Jose franchise. But I do know that there are some franchise owners that are better than others when it comes to keeping their customers happy and well treated.

Unfortunately there does not seem to be a lot of franchise consistency. So when some ex-employee in Maryland or Florida says something it may not be true some place else.

From what I can tell about the San Jose franchise in 2001 is the owner was running both a PDS franchise and a door company called Garage Door Services. This is a violation of his franchise agreement not to mention the way business was conducted. Even I have come across their shotty workmanship He has since lost his franchise but Garage Door Services is still out there screwing things up (I have their contractors license number handy if you want to file a claim).

About 2 years ago the corporate office reopened a new San Jose franchise, now owned by a new owner. Here are the details as I know them.

A service call is $55. If we come to your house and knock on the door this is what you pay, it is also what you pay for MOST work. This a flat rate not an hourly rate. There are not many companies these days that will come to your house for free and then leave after not performing any work. There is the cost of answering phones, driving, etc. that are just part of running a business this is what your $55 covers. The exceptions are dangerous racked doors and VERY dirty/smelly make you want to vomit garages (just keep your garage clean to avoid this fee).

We sell springs by the peice not by the inch. Our most expensive spring is $148 ea. The springs you buy are based on the size and weight of your door. Big doors + big springs. Springs are tested by the manufacture and rated by cycle life. We carry their "high-cycle" springs, they are supposed to be better than the others. I have had them on my door at home for the last 3 years (not long enough) so far they are like new.

In response to someone posting that we buy springs for $11. On todays market it is more like $18. But here is the catch... you need to buy 1,000 pounds of springs at a time and pay the freight it cost to ship them from Ohio. Oh yeah we are a business and add our own mark-up, we all have to make a living. Selling goods at the price you purchased them is what communist do, in which case you should move to Russia or China.

Oh yeah if you have two springs on a door there is no reason why the one that is not broken isn't just as worn out as the one that is. Just think about it for a second, they are like tires on your car if you drive 99,000 miles it means all 4 tires went the distance. So unless you want to see a garage door repair guy again for the other spring deal with it now.

The current goal of the company is to increase word of mouth business. While I would love to sell everyone the full service the odds are is you only need a partial service of some sort. Our customers here are some of the most affluent and highly educated people in the world and are not stupid. So it is in my interest to sell you what you need to make your door run for a reasonable amount of time, so I do not have to perform warranty work. No one likes to have a repair man come back, so we check for potential problems. It doesn't mean you have to have them fixed now but we figure you want to be informed at the very least. I have walked out of a lot of garages without charging for people that wanted the job fixed half-way. They don't pay us for warranty work so it is in our interest to do the job right the first time so you are not unhappy the next time you see us.

Hopefully that offers some insight into the San Jose franchise currently.

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#15 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Former Employee of Precision - IT'S A RIP OFF COMPANY

AUTHOR: Carolyn - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Precision Garage Door Services is a SCAM and a rip off. I worked for the Akron, Ohio office which also services Cleveland, Ohio; Pittsburgh, PA; Louisville KY; and Virginia and Jacksonville, Florida and now Orlando, Florida. They claim they have the best products and offer better warranties but when they come out to your house they purposely make up things that are wrong with your door that don't need to be fixed. BEWARE of Precision Garage Door Services.

They claim they have extended research into their product and hardware and that's a bold faced lie. They only pay a MAXIMUM of $11.00 for a spring and then turn around and have their office staff quote the springs at a range from $58.00 to $148.00. When the technician gets out there he's going to average the cost of 1 spring at a minimum price of $128.00 up to $148.00.

When you call the office for a quote they are instructed not to give prices over the phone leaving the customer price shocked when they get a $65.00 service call fee, a $20.00 gas charge and then they are paying exhorbitant prices for hardware. And the technician will NOT just fix one spring they are told to tell all customers it's company policy to fix both springs. That's only the tip of the iceburg. Take it from a former employee, Precision Garage Door Services of Akron needs to change their name to Precision Rip-Off Services of Akron.

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#14 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Nationwide Ripoff

AUTHOR: Mark - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, March 12, 2006

I had the dubious "pleasure" of working for these guys (never really knew the name of the company or my boss's name, there were so many aliases.) I left after about 6 months because of being harrassed to perform needless repairs.

For example, we (the technicians) were instructed to sell a set of rollers on every door, regardless of the condition of the existing ones. We were also coached on how to turn a simple problem (i.e. safety sensors out of alignment) into selling a new opener, adjusting or replacing springs and selling new rollers. The company mandated a $300 minimum sale on every call,regardless of the problem.

I work for myself now. I treat people fairly, have a good reputation and make a decent living.

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#13 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Nationwide Ripoff

AUTHOR: Mark - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, March 12, 2006

I had the dubious "pleasure" of working for these guys (never really knew the name of the company or my boss's name, there were so many aliases.) I left after about 6 months because of being harrassed to perform needless repairs.

For example, we (the technicians) were instructed to sell a set of rollers on every door, regardless of the condition of the existing ones. We were also coached on how to turn a simple problem (i.e. safety sensors out of alignment) into selling a new opener, adjusting or replacing springs and selling new rollers. The company mandated a $300 minimum sale on every call,regardless of the problem.

I work for myself now. I treat people fairly, have a good reputation and make a decent living.

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#12 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Nationwide Ripoff

AUTHOR: Mark - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, March 12, 2006

I had the dubious "pleasure" of working for these guys (never really knew the name of the company or my boss's name, there were so many aliases.) I left after about 6 months because of being harrassed to perform needless repairs.

For example, we (the technicians) were instructed to sell a set of rollers on every door, regardless of the condition of the existing ones. We were also coached on how to turn a simple problem (i.e. safety sensors out of alignment) into selling a new opener, adjusting or replacing springs and selling new rollers. The company mandated a $300 minimum sale on every call,regardless of the problem.

I work for myself now. I treat people fairly, have a good reputation and make a decent living.

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#11 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Nationwide Ripoff

AUTHOR: Mark - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, March 12, 2006

I had the dubious "pleasure" of working for these guys (never really knew the name of the company or my boss's name, there were so many aliases.) I left after about 6 months because of being harrassed to perform needless repairs.

For example, we (the technicians) were instructed to sell a set of rollers on every door, regardless of the condition of the existing ones. We were also coached on how to turn a simple problem (i.e. safety sensors out of alignment) into selling a new opener, adjusting or replacing springs and selling new rollers. The company mandated a $300 minimum sale on every call,regardless of the problem.

I work for myself now. I treat people fairly, have a good reputation and make a decent living.

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#10 Consumer Comment

Consumer was ripped off

AUTHOR: Optimus - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, November 12, 2005

For 850.00, this person could have had a band-new rolling metal door installed, for another 300.00 - an electric opener. 850.00 for a repair is ridiculous, the repair persons should have suggested a complete new install.

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#9 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Rip off is the truth!!!

AUTHOR: Kyle - ()

POSTED: Friday, August 23, 2002

To whom it concerns. I am an ex-employee of the St. Louis based precision door service company and I am here to help provide information about precision door services. It is a fraud, ripoff, and plainly a con-artist company.

I devote about six months of my time for this empolyer only to be treated with disrespect while having to rip consumers off being the only way I could make a paycheck.

Warranties are a scam to get you to purchase the product while what does a lifetime warranty prove if the average a person lives in thier home is 6 months?

I am here to tell you I am here to put an end to precision door services and I believe they should payback customers and empolyees for thier misleading services.


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#8 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Your quite welcome!

AUTHOR: Dale & April - ()

POSTED: Wednesday, June 19, 2002

Your welcome. I also filed a very indetailed report. I may be only one person, but hopefully, my efforts will pay off in the long run and eventually put an end to their nationwide ongoing scam. I'm very happy that they credited you $500, you're lucky, in most cases, you would have gotten cursed at and given the run-a-round.

Maybe aftre more people read these reports, more people will step forward and tell their story about Precision and their aliases. And I really hope more employees or former employees take that step, it would help a great deal.

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#7 Consumer Comment

Thank you Dale for your inside comments.

AUTHOR: Beverly - ()

POSTED: Tuesday, June 18, 2002

Just to set the record straight, I had no idea how much I was going to be paying for the repair, i.e., I was not quoted a price (even though I asked several times) nor did I sign anything until the job was completed.

The comments by Dale - even though he lives in another state - are accurate and factual. As far as "buyer's remorse" it is better stated as "buyer beware." NEVER have work done without a written estimate. My error indeed and yes the company did finally refund $500 to my credit card.

Harassing phone calls? Not really, just persistent and trying to get to a person who had some kind of true affiliation with the company which I found was buried beneath many layers of names, phone numbers, and out of area phone numbers.

Unfortunately, the scam continues as evidenced by the latest entry in the San Jose area.

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#6 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Don't Be Fouled Precision's Employee Rebuttal is FALSE AND MISLEADING

AUTHOR: Dale - ()

POSTED: Sunday, May 26, 2002

Fow starts, whoever made this rebuttal needs to get facts straight and stop trying to make the consumer think you know what your doing (besides ripping people off) He/she should know that there is no such thing as a "One-Piece Arm".

The only thing that that person could be refering to is a track. That person also stated that the woman making this report signed a work agreement, no I don't think so, the customer only signs that recite after the work is DONE, and only for the warranty. I was instructed to tell the customer that if they didn't sign the recite, that their warranty would be void.

The person also stated that she had a problem only after she found lower prices with no warranty and lower quality, also I don't think so. For starts anyone selling parts for a garage door, opener, etc., has to give the warranty of the manufactoring company, there is also a federal law that the cunsumer must get a 30 day warranty on parts and labor.

As to the quality of the parts, they are all about equal, Precision sells quiter parts but these parts are of less quality. For example, Metal rollers are louder, yet the rollers sold by Precision wear very easily, yet are quite. Anyone paying $4 per inch or paying anything "Per inch" should be advised that only Precision and their alias sell that way to rip the customer off. All ligitamate companies sell parts at a flat rate.

Precision aka the other 40 plus names they go buy did not take any loss, they still made their money back. Why should they care about this one person when each house they visit they make over a 200% profit and if the employee refuses to "Screw" the customer over they get fired and they move on to the next person.

And by the way, this lady is not tring to "Damage" the reputation of this company, this company has already done that. They are a scam. They have many many different names and their job is to make money by lieing and decieving the cunsumer. Watch out, they will even tamper with your door when your not looking. And don't go to the BBB, they are of no help and will ignore any complaints to this company and its alias.

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#5 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Don't Be Fouled Precision's Employee Rebuttal is FALSE AND MISLEADING

AUTHOR: Dale - ()

POSTED: Sunday, May 26, 2002

Fow starts, whoever made this rebuttal needs to get facts straight and stop trying to make the consumer think you know what your doing (besides ripping people off) He/she should know that there is no such thing as a "One-Piece Arm".

The only thing that that person could be refering to is a track. That person also stated that the woman making this report signed a work agreement, no I don't think so, the customer only signs that recite after the work is DONE, and only for the warranty. I was instructed to tell the customer that if they didn't sign the recite, that their warranty would be void.

The person also stated that she had a problem only after she found lower prices with no warranty and lower quality, also I don't think so. For starts anyone selling parts for a garage door, opener, etc., has to give the warranty of the manufactoring company, there is also a federal law that the cunsumer must get a 30 day warranty on parts and labor.

As to the quality of the parts, they are all about equal, Precision sells quiter parts but these parts are of less quality. For example, Metal rollers are louder, yet the rollers sold by Precision wear very easily, yet are quite. Anyone paying $4 per inch or paying anything "Per inch" should be advised that only Precision and their alias sell that way to rip the customer off. All ligitamate companies sell parts at a flat rate.

Precision aka the other 40 plus names they go buy did not take any loss, they still made their money back. Why should they care about this one person when each house they visit they make over a 200% profit and if the employee refuses to "Screw" the customer over they get fired and they move on to the next person.

And by the way, this lady is not tring to "Damage" the reputation of this company, this company has already done that. They are a scam. They have many many different names and their job is to make money by lieing and decieving the cunsumer. Watch out, they will even tamper with your door when your not looking. And don't go to the BBB, they are of no help and will ignore any complaints to this company and its alias.

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#4 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Don't Be Fouled Precision's Employee Rebuttal is FALSE AND MISLEADING

AUTHOR: Dale - ()

POSTED: Sunday, May 26, 2002

Fow starts, whoever made this rebuttal needs to get facts straight and stop trying to make the consumer think you know what your doing (besides ripping people off) He/she should know that there is no such thing as a "One-Piece Arm".

The only thing that that person could be refering to is a track. That person also stated that the woman making this report signed a work agreement, no I don't think so, the customer only signs that recite after the work is DONE, and only for the warranty. I was instructed to tell the customer that if they didn't sign the recite, that their warranty would be void.

The person also stated that she had a problem only after she found lower prices with no warranty and lower quality, also I don't think so. For starts anyone selling parts for a garage door, opener, etc., has to give the warranty of the manufactoring company, there is also a federal law that the cunsumer must get a 30 day warranty on parts and labor.

As to the quality of the parts, they are all about equal, Precision sells quiter parts but these parts are of less quality. For example, Metal rollers are louder, yet the rollers sold by Precision wear very easily, yet are quite. Anyone paying $4 per inch or paying anything "Per inch" should be advised that only Precision and their alias sell that way to rip the customer off. All ligitamate companies sell parts at a flat rate.

Precision aka the other 40 plus names they go buy did not take any loss, they still made their money back. Why should they care about this one person when each house they visit they make over a 200% profit and if the employee refuses to "Screw" the customer over they get fired and they move on to the next person.

And by the way, this lady is not tring to "Damage" the reputation of this company, this company has already done that. They are a scam. They have many many different names and their job is to make money by lieing and decieving the cunsumer. Watch out, they will even tamper with your door when your not looking. And don't go to the BBB, they are of no help and will ignore any complaints to this company and its alias.

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#3 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Don't Be Fouled Precision's Employee Rebuttal is FALSE AND MISLEADING

AUTHOR: Dale - ()

POSTED: Sunday, May 26, 2002

Fow starts, whoever made this rebuttal needs to get facts straight and stop trying to make the consumer think you know what your doing (besides ripping people off) He/she should know that there is no such thing as a "One-Piece Arm".

The only thing that that person could be refering to is a track. That person also stated that the woman making this report signed a work agreement, no I don't think so, the customer only signs that recite after the work is DONE, and only for the warranty. I was instructed to tell the customer that if they didn't sign the recite, that their warranty would be void.

The person also stated that she had a problem only after she found lower prices with no warranty and lower quality, also I don't think so. For starts anyone selling parts for a garage door, opener, etc., has to give the warranty of the manufactoring company, there is also a federal law that the cunsumer must get a 30 day warranty on parts and labor.

As to the quality of the parts, they are all about equal, Precision sells quiter parts but these parts are of less quality. For example, Metal rollers are louder, yet the rollers sold by Precision wear very easily, yet are quite. Anyone paying $4 per inch or paying anything "Per inch" should be advised that only Precision and their alias sell that way to rip the customer off. All ligitamate companies sell parts at a flat rate.

Precision aka the other 40 plus names they go buy did not take any loss, they still made their money back. Why should they care about this one person when each house they visit they make over a 200% profit and if the employee refuses to "Screw" the customer over they get fired and they move on to the next person.

And by the way, this lady is not tring to "Damage" the reputation of this company, this company has already done that. They are a scam. They have many many different names and their job is to make money by lieing and decieving the cunsumer. Watch out, they will even tamper with your door when your not looking. And don't go to the BBB, they are of no help and will ignore any complaints to this company and its alias.

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#2 UPDATE Employee

Rebuttal to Beverly Troxell's Inaccurate Report

AUTHOR: JON - ()

POSTED: Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Beverly Troxell called our office on February 3, 2001 for service on her garage door which had broken springs. She was quoted the $55 service charge which included the first hour of labor plus $2-$7 per inch for the springs over the phone.



Upon arrival to the home we found that the one-piece arms were worn and being that arms are not repairable by any means, the only option was to have them replaced. This was brought to her attention and she agreed to do so given the price of $489 for the set with a 10 year warranty. She had already been informed of the springs being $4 per inch which she also agreed to have replaced shortly after our arrival. With a signed approval for the work to be done, we proceeded to do the repairs. After being made fully aware of all prices along with the 10 year warranty, Beverly paid the bill with no discrepancy.



After finding lower prices justified only by lesser quality and not to mention no warranty, Beverly decided to dispute the bill. This is simply a case of " buyers remorse." Nevertheless, a credit of $500 was granted to Beverly Troxell only to put the harassing phone calls from this customer to an end. Subsequently, our company suffered a loss.



This disgruntled customer has reported inaccurate information in attempt to damage the reputation of this company.



Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to respond to this report.

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#1 UPDATE Employee

Rebuttal to Beverly Troxell's Inaccurate Report

AUTHOR: JON - ()

POSTED: Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Beverly Troxell called our office on February 3, 2001 for service on her garage door which had broken springs. She was quoted the $55 service charge which included the first hour of labor plus $2-$7 per inch for the springs over the phone.



Upon arrival to the home we found that the one-piece arms were worn and being that arms are not repairable by any means, the only option was to have them replaced. This was brought to her attention and she agreed to do so given the price of $489 for the set with a 10 year warranty. She had already been informed of the springs being $4 per inch which she also agreed to have replaced shortly after our arrival. With a signed approval for the work to be done, we proceeded to do the repairs. After being made fully aware of all prices along with the 10 year warranty, Beverly paid the bill with no discrepancy.



After finding lower prices justified only by lesser quality and not to mention no warranty, Beverly decided to dispute the bill. This is simply a case of " buyers remorse." Nevertheless, a credit of $500 was granted to Beverly Troxell only to put the harassing phone calls from this customer to an end. Subsequently, our company suffered a loss.



This disgruntled customer has reported inaccurate information in attempt to damage the reputation of this company.



Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to respond to this report.

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