I hired AOD to replace the extension springs on my garage door. At my appt., I was told that my springs weren't standard. The tech didn?t have any and said he could order them and come back next week when they came in. But, I would be charged $86 today and $86 AGAIN next week for the service calls. Or he could place a clip on the old spring, behind where the break was, and call it good. The total price of keeping my 40-year-old springs? About $40 less than I had been quoted for NEW springs. I called Jill and explained to her that I felt uncomfortable keeping the old springs AND about having to take another afternoon off work and pay for another service call. I was told that it wasn?t unusual for there to be 2 service calls because a tech would have to evaluate what needed to be done. It would have been good to know these things WHEN I CALLED FOR THE QUOTE. I decided to bite the bullet and get the job done. The tech then informed me that my garage door wasn?t functioning. But wait? they can?t repair it, because they ?don?t work on doors with no photo eye.? Needless to say, my garage door didn?t get repaired. I got a comparable quote from a company who told me that my springs were ?Standard. Something we keep on the truck? and that they even have the replacement parts in stock to fix my old garage door opener. My bottom line message to Jill and AOD is this: 1. Disclose all fees up front. If you think you may have to make 2 trips because YOU don?t have something in stock and you?re going to charge a customer $86 for each trip, tell them BEFORE they make the appointment. 2. If you don?t repair a particular kind of opener or there?s a chance that the part you?re replacing is non-standard, ASK QUESTIONS, or go the extra mile and offer to have someone come take a quick look so that they know what they?re working with. It could have saved you some business and some negative word-of-mouth. A little customer service goes a long way.
more