My elderly parents called Dodds when their garage door stopped working and was stuck in the open position. I suggested they call Dodds based on the Reviews on Homestars. ( I have used Homestars many times and generally have been happy with the recommendations) The service rep did arrive promptly . He was courteous and told them there was some electrical issue with wiring coming from the garage door motor to an outside light and he couldn't fix it. My mother asked him what he can do about it or is there someone else at Dodds who can suggest something. He suggested a new garage door and motor which he estimated would cost $1100 .My parents paid him $130 for the service call ( including HST) and he left without fixing the problem or follow-up. They then called another garage door repairman who diagnosed the problem immediately, and installed a new garage door motor for $380 three days later. Problem solved.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $132.00
- Company Response
Dodds does 12,000 service calls per annum and has been in business since 1958 so that at least 648,000 clients have used Dodds and as all these thousands of clients can attest to we always make full disclosure when a client books a service call by advising upfront that we have a minimum labour charge of $117 plus HST covering up to 1-1/2 hours of labour, travel time included (This charge applies irrespective of whether the call takes 2 minutes, or twenty minutes or 1-1/2 hours.). Anyone can call Dodds a thousand times in a row and that is exactly what any prospective client will be told so the bill that was presented to MH parents would be exactly in accordance with this original disclosure. i.e. $117+HST=$132.21. We question why MH does not mention this fact in her review?
Our technicians are all professionals who do not get paid any commission so there is absolutely no incentive for them to give a client anything but their best professional opinion every single time. Our technician simply advised them of what he believed to be the best recommended course of action i.e. replace both the door and opener. In the review MH states that another repairman “ installed a new garage door motor” and states “Problem solved” but the jury is still out as to whether this is in fact the best course of action and while this is partly in agreement with our technicians recommendation the client will still have an old garage door that could break down now or at any time in the future. The client had an old and obsolete one piece door with the springs in bad shape and since parts are no longer available for this type of door the Dodds technician recommended replacing both the door and the opener. The other door company simply replaced the opener and in our professional opinion the problem is not solved but is an accident just waiting to happen.