Two years ago, I had trouble with my garage door and needed some work, so I called up Precision Door service of Houston and had them come take a look. The guy was very professional and got the door fixed up really quickly. It cost a bit but it came with a lifetime warranty and was working smoothly when he left, so I was happy enough.

That was then. This is now. Something happened last week with the door’s spring (or wind) and basically put a strain on the door opener, which caused the metal gear shaft to shear in half! Needless to say I needed someone to come out and service the door since it wouldn’t open/close smoothly on its own before I fixed the opener. So I called and got a lady answering the phones. She sounded a bit upset with me for bothering her it seemed, and she tried to argue with me that the plastic gears break all the time and there is nothing wrong with it. I’ve changed my plastic gear by myself before and I assured her this was the metal gear shaft. She then let me know that I probably needed someone to come take a look at the door. Really? That’s why I called.

Anyway, the guy came out the next day and Lisa was at home (I was at work). He fixed up the door part under warranty and told her he could replace the opener part for $75 or $80 if she wanted him to. I told her just let him do it, since that would put the total around $150 after the service call + labor and we would have it fixed.

He works for about 45 or 50 minutes then knocks on the door to tell her it’s all done and we owe $225 dollars. What? “Yeah, the part was more expensive”. The part that was 75 or 80 became $128 over the course of 45 minutes. The labor charge was separate, and we expected that, but the part price shouldn’t change. His explanation was “I’m new here and that was just an estimate”. So when did he find out the part cost more? Couldn’t he have let her know that before doing the work? He then even argued that she made up a coupon from their website for $25 off, saying that their coupons are never over $10, but finally relented when she told him to look at it on her computer screen in the next room.

So there you go. Fair warning. I obviously can’t recommend Precision Door anymore.