DDM Garage Doors

We frequently get calls from people around the country who have been swindled by dishonest garage door companies. Richard Kinch has exposed the tactics unscrupulous door companies use to rip off customers.

If you have been a victim, or if you would like to check out one of these companies before doing business with them, I suggest you check out www.ripoffreport.com.

DASMA, the garage door industry trade organization, also exposes unscrupulous door companies at times. You can search door companies in their search engine.

Another way to check out a company is to check with the Better Business Bureau.

One final way to check out a company is to do a Google search, including the city or state. If a company has been charging exorbitant prices or performing shoddy work, comments about them will often show up on message boards.

This blog has been moved to the tutorial page.

This blog has been moved to the tutorial page.

This blog has been moved to the tutorial page.

Customers have asked if it is OK to use a 100 pound lift spring with an 80 pound lift springs to lift a 180 pound garage door.

The answer is yes. Probably more manufacturers than not have been doing this from the beginning. The priority in manufacturing is balancing the garage door with a minimum of inventory.

Service companies also do this to minimize inventory and to reduce errors made by service techs who don’t know how to convert unmatched springs.

If you are ordering replacement garage door springs, however, we recommend using springs that are matched.

The main reason is to maximize cycle life. Unmatched springs will usually have one with a shorter cycle life that will break first. If both springs are replaced at the same time, the remaining cycles in the unbroken spring will go unused.

A second reason not to use unmatched springs is that the larger wire will often cause the spring to pull the shaft to one side, causing cable drums to scrape and the cables to peel off the drums. It also causes the flag bracket to come loose at times.

Our customers have found it easy to use our Find My Spring Database Program to match their own springs.

You do not need to understand engineering jargon: inch pounds per turn (IPPT), moment arm, active coils, and constants just to replace your springs. We have already done that work for you.

Many professional garage door service companies, spring suppliers and manufacturers use this program as well, not only to match springs, but also to determine lifts and longer life torsion spring options for garage doors.

This blog entry has been moved to the tutorial page.

This blog entry has been moved to the tutorial page.

Other web sites have calculators for determining your door weight to help in selecting the correct garage door springs. The most important part of the program to remember is that the door weights given are only approximations. In other words, they are not reliable for ordering garage door springs.

Here are two examples.

First, how much does a 16 X 7 Wood Panel door with 3 struts weigh? Some of the newer doors with 1/8″ or 3/16″ panels, narrow rails and 22 ga. struts weigh 240-250 lbs. Some of the older doors with 1/4″ panels, wide rails, several paintings and 20 ga. struts weigh 350-360 lbs. I’ve replaced garage door springs on both.

Second, how much does a 16X7 steel insulated sandwich door with steel on both sides and one strut weigh? Clopay has a 2″ sandwich door that weighs 260 lbs. I’ve replaced garage door springs on several of them. Just recently I replaced springs on a newer Wayne Dalton garage door that weighed 126 lbs.

At DDM Garage Doors we go to great lengths helping customers find the right garage door springs that will balance their garage doors as nearly perfectly as possible. We don’t apologize for asking you to jump through hoops to order from us.

We have records of hundreds of garage doors with their weights gathered from 28 years of replacing garage door springs. Any information you can get from your garage door will be helpful.

If you can’t identify the make of your door, and if you are not sure your spring measurements are correct for the door, we recommend that you weigh your door, identify your cable drums, and measure your track radius. More information on how to do this is available at http://ddmgaragedoors.com/residential/torsion-springs.php.

As links to our door prices appear on the first page of a Google search of “garage door prices” we tend to catch the first assaults of scam artists. Last year it was phone calls for an order from someone who was hearing impaired and had to type messages through a special service provided by the phone company. This was reported in the DASMA trade journal Door & Access Systems in the Fall, 2006 issue at http://www.dasma.com/articles/feature/feature231.asp.

An earlier story by MSNBC detailing the schemes of these con artists can be viewed at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4781806.

It looks like they are at it again this year. Following is an e-mail exchange from the last few days. I may have called his bluff in the last transmission, but I’m not holding my breath.

If you have come to this site by googling phrases from his e-mails, beware!

The subject line read: “Order.” James Amoroso 8/20/2007 6:55 AM

Good day,

My name is James and I want to know if you carry or can order a Non-Insulated Garage Door with size 16′ x 7′ to be picked up from your store.

Please let me know the unit price plus the terms of payment you accept.

Hope to read from you son as it is possible.

James.

My Response: On 8/22/07, DDM Garage Doors wrote:

James,

A CHI 2250 25 ga. non-insulated garage door would be $450.00 plus tax.
This includes door, hardware, torsion springs and perimeter weather seal.

Dan

To which the scam artist replied: 8/23/07 12:33 AM Re: Order.

Please update total quantity to 20 units and let me know the total cost so I can email you with my credit card info for full payment processing prior to pick-up.

James.

At this point we smelled a rat. To which we replied on 8/23/07:

James,

Doors are not in stock. They would take about two weeks to get. Where are these doors going to be installed? Also please provide a phone number so we can discuss details.

Thanks.
Dan

To which “James” replied on 8/23/07:

Dan I am hearing impaired so everything will have to be done via email.
Also the doors are to be shipped outside the Country to a Church in West-Africa.

James.

To which I replied on 8/23/07:

James,

I have contacts with missionaries in West Africa. Which church needs the doors, and what will they do with all the doors?

Dan

(If you are a door dealer and you’re getting similar e-mails, send us your story of this scam and we may post or quote from it.)

I am not a lawyer, but I do share my opinion at times. This is a response to Karen’s question on a guestbook entry dated June 12, 2007.

Karen,

I am sorry you have had the problems with your door. Whenever I replace springs, I try to avoid some of the difficulties you have had, but it is not always easy.

First, I normally recommend replacing both springs. If the customer is not home, however, and no one is there to authorize replacing both springs, I only replace one. Otherwise, the customer is under no obligation to pay for the other spring. The company did the right thing.

Second, I always check to make sure the spring anchor bracket is secure. Yesterday, however, I replaced springs on a door where the base of the bracket had been covered with drywall and painted. What should I have done? I bet that it will last. If it doesn’t last beyond the warranty period, I would not charge to repair it. Otherwise, I would charge to repair it. Who would pay for the drywall repair if I had ripped it off to check the anchor bracket? I would be more likely to end up in court if I had checked the bracket.

Third, when the company gave you the wrong springs, it would have been better to have returned both sets of springs to the company and let them give you the correct springs. I would have appreciated the same courtesy. A judge might still ask the first company to give you the correct springs.

Fourth, you wrote that the second company said the spring that broke looked used. Did they put that in writing? Would the service man who was there be willing to state that in court? A judge needs hard evidence. To be perfectly frank with you, I’m not sure I can recognize a used spring, especially if it has been up over a year. I recently ran into a conflict with a customer because I recommended replacing only one spring because the other looked new. A few months later the “new” spring broke. I did the right thing for the right reason, but I was wrong.

Fifth, it is common for doors to have different size torsion springs. Many manufacturers, installing door companies and service companies do this for a variety of reasons. Whenever I do it, I wind the springs so they have the same cycle life. Having different springs would not cause the spring bracket to come loose and bend the shaft.

I wish you well in your efforts to resolve this.

Thank you for your kind comments about our instructions.

Dan