AAA Patriot Garage Doors

Replaced two garage door springs 3 years ago, the same one broke again. Those are suppose to last about 10 years. Bcse the springs were not under warranty anymore, we were told a replacement of the springs would be over $ 500. It turns out the wrong springs were installed for the type of door (classic metal one) we have, which made them fail quickly. Thanks to Angie’s List we found a garage door repairman that did the repair for ½ the cost and was available within the first 30min we called.

Agree with all comments. This seems to be a horrific contractor.
I called about a broken spring that was replaced four years ago by Patriot. I was told that their springs have a 3 – 5 year warranty, but that this part was only on a 3-​year warranty. Patriot said that this would cost $ 500 to replace. Patriot said I needed both new springs and a new motor (which would have well exceeded the $ 500). I was told that they had advised me to replace the motor last time they were there and that that was likely why their part failed so quickly.
Do not take their advice; strongly recommend going elsewhere.
Angie’s list had another company that offered replacement springs at literally half the cost (including labor) — the new ones were installed with a five year warranty. I was told the springs Patriot installed were overkill /​too strong for the weight of the door, they increased the power of the motor to it’s max to bear the load of those springs; this combination is why the springs broke (and other parts needed to be replaced as well). The new company said the motor did not need to replaced at all and works just fine.
If they had a zero star, I would have given this to Patriot.

Horrible. Bought the warranty but it’s only for parts. Replacing any part is a $ 95 minimum charge. Came our to replace one part then insisted that $ 500 worth of labor was needed to replace other parts that really needed to be replaced. Never calling them again.

These guys are terrible! I had them install a garage door about 2 years ago. I came home the day it was installed to find that it was quite loud. However, coming from a folding wooden door I though this was normal…
Well the noise got worse, so I eventually called them. They sent out a service technician to take a look. After the tech spent a little while looking at the door. He asked me who my installer was. After I told him the name, he told me, «He doesn’t work here anymore, he was fired a while back.»
That didn’t really instill any confidence in the door that had been installed. And sure enough we concluded that my garage door install was sub-​par. The tech did the best that he could to alleviate the problem, but it still wasn’t great.
A few months later the noise got loud again, so I called back. The guy on the phone, who I believe is the owner, was quite angry and a bit rude that I was calling again and was convinced that they hadn’t done anything wrong. Anyway, the tech came back out, looked at it and adjusted some things, but the problem is still there. It was a bad install.
Now I am calling new companies to see if they can come and fix this POS door that I had installed by a company run by monkeys.

I had the same scam happen to me as others have expressed and wished that I had read these reviews before being impulsive and calling this horrible company. A very simple fix was diagnosed by Patriot as needing an entire replacement for $ 800. My husband called the manufacturer who walked him through the process and we fixed it for FREE.

We had been having issues with our garage door not closing when the sun was in the way of the sensors and then it just became random. I had altered the settings on the motor which helped but then one day the door just wouldn’t shut (this is all from our car remotes — we had to get out of the car, go to the inside garage door button and hold it down until it closed all of the way). I took the garage door off track and manually closed it for the day, but finally decided to call in a «professional» to take care of things. We had AAA Patriot Garage Doors phone number from an ad in the Val-​U-​Pak that comes in the mail so that is who we called.
Initially, they were great. Someone showed within 30 minutes of me callings. He immediately looked at my shut garage door, without touching a thing, and diagnosed the «problem». He went into a long explanation of what other companies would tell me/​try to sell me but he was telling me what was really wrong (that my door was too heavy for the motor and that the torque system was cheap and would not support such a heavy door — something along those lines) and he would do to solve our issues for the long run. He then mentioned it would cost $ 850 + tax. I called my husband and had the service guy speak to him. The cost then came out to about $ 1100 (with installation costs added). Before we made our final decision I asked the guy to put the door back on the motor track for me so that I could see if it was acting up… it was fine and to this day — we haven’t once had any issue with it. The garage door is almost four years old which I don’t think is that old for a garage door/​motor.
If it had just been me, I probably would have been suckered into paying the money for the «fix». I am an honest person and I do not try to sell people on anything that isn’t necessary. I’m so grateful my husband is in sales and could hear this guys pitch a mile away! As soon as we decided to not have any services completed the technician went on about how he didn’t want me to be out the $ 30 for the service call and that he would take another $ 100 off of the total of the «repair» if we went ahead with it. REALLY? You are worried about me being out $ 30 but paying over $ 1000 is ok? He had me sign that he was out here and he was immediately on his way — with a big change of attitude. NO THANK YOU!

«Well, that was a waste of time.» Not exactly the words you’d expect to hear out of a business representative’s mouth, especially when people aren’t spending a lot of money due to the economy, eh?
Our bad experience with AAA Patriot Garage Doors started when my husband called them and asked them to give us an estimate on a new garage door. Now, I don’t know about you, but the way we do things at our house is to call several people to come out, look at whatever work we want done, get estimates, and then pick the business that seems the most knowledgeable and has a reasonable price.
A guy came out from AAA Patriot Garage Doors, and I believe his name was Tim. We told him what we wanted, and he started to look at our current garage door and see what we’d need. He asked if we’d been given an estimate when we called, and we said that we hadn’t. (How would someone give us an estimate without looking at the garage door?) «That’s strange,» he said. «Someone usually gives you an estimate over the phone, before they send someone out to the house.» Um, O… K…not in my experience, but whatever. He said that he could write up a proposal, and he did.
After he handed us the proposal, things changed drastically. He went all high-​pressure on us, like a used car salesman. When we told him that we’d gotten other estimates and would be thinking it over, he seemed surprised. «Oh, really?» he said. Yeah, really, dude. «Well, you won’t get a better deal than this,» he informed us. That’s funny. If I had walked into the house and retrieved one of the other estimates, I could have showed him that yes, I could indeed get a better deal than the one he offered. In fact, I’d already been offered a new garage door at a better price.
When we told him we’d take a look and think it over, he told us that the «low price» (smirk) was only for that day, if we signed on right away. He kept reiterating that we wouldn’t find a better price. He walked over to the garage door and looked at it, then kept looking back at us, much like a child looking between his parents and a cookie jar, or a wannabe-​bride looking between an expensive, diamond-​filled jewelry case and her reluctant boyfriend.
When my husband told him that we were indeed going to have to pass on the immediate offer and think it over, the guy actually stomped down the driveway, and he actually muttered, «Well, that was a waste of time.» We sat there in disbelief for a second, and then my husband called out, «Thanks for the estimate!» AAA Patriot Garage Doors’ ever-​so-​professional representative didn’t even turn around!
«I guess not,» said my husband. I think that particular sentiment pretty much sums up our experience with AAA Patriot Garage Doors.