Garage Door Drama

It's been quiet this past week. The US Thanksgiving holiday hit so we didn't get a whole lot of house stuff done.

One thing we did address was the jacked up garage door on the rental.

I'm not sure exactly what happened to it. It's warped in several areas, dinged up, marked up, and completely jammed. The rails inside the garage are warped to hell.

One of our neighbors, Ty, told us that when the previous owner moved out* that they left the house completely open. Like literally left the front door wide open and the garage door up as they drove away. What a bunch of  dicks.

Anyways, after it was apparent they weren't coming back, Ty and her husband went over and locked up the house and tried to close the garage door. Ty said her husband rigged the garage door enough to get it down but that it was tough. I thanked them for doing that. They probably prevented more damage from kids/squatters.

Well, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we had an estimator out to look at the door. We knew it would need heavy repair or possibly be replaced entirely. Sure enough the estimator said it would cost almost as much as a new door to fix the existing one. We decided it would not only look nicer but be better in the long run to replace the door, rails, etc entirely.

Jess and I had guessed the garage door ordeal would cost us about $1500. So when the estimator said we could get a good door completely installed for $750 our eyes grew as big as saucers. We asked how much it would be to also get an opener installed. $280. So after taxes and all our total would be about $1100 for a new door AND an opener. Score!

We were sooo excited to not only come in under our budget for the door but to also get an opener that we didn't think would make the budget. So excited!

We scheduled the install for the Saturday after T-day and happily went off to stuff ourselves with turkey.

Soooo here's where some drama starts. Maybe drama is too strong of a word but there were some issues getting this damn door installed.

Saturday arrives. The GDP (garage door people) told me they'd call about an hour before they headed to the rental so I could meet them out there. So I'm waiting and finally get a call around noon.

"Ma'am, we're here to install your garage door. Is anyone here?"

/facepalm

I specifically told them no one was living there and that's why they needed to call before they got to the house so I could meet them. Whatever. I tell the guy I'm on my way but it'll be about 20 minutes. He says no problem and will start setting up.

Well, about 10 minutes into my drive over there he calls again. This time he informs me that he noticed the new door is actually damaged. Since it's Saturday his distributor closed at noon so he can't get another door that day. We have to reschedule for Monday.

Ugh. Well, shit happens so no big deal. Jesse is going to be at the rental Monday morning anyways so it works out. The gas company was coming out to hook all that up so they could come do the garage door too.

I get to the rental and they're already gone which is fine. I do get some painting done.

So Monday comes. I'm at work and Jess is out at the rental. The gas guy shows up, hooks everything up, and we're rocking the furnace, hot water heater, and stove/oven now. Woo!

Garage door guys also show up. This is a good Monday so far! Jess is sending me texts updating me on everything and it seems things are going well.

Around noon he texts me that the door is all installed, he paid, and the guys are gone. Good deal. Glad that's over with. Or is it?

Jess texts me, "The door is a little darker than the old one was."

Weird, but no big deal. A couple shades darker isn't going to make that much of a difference. Then he sends me a picture.

What. The. Fuck?

That is A LOT darker! That is dark brown! Our old one was beige. What? I don't even...

So at first I'm thinking "well, ok. It's not that bad." But, it's not right. And it doesn't really look good.

Jess heads home to get some sleep and I'm sitting at my desk at work. All I can think about is that door. And I start to get pissed.

When the estimator was out there I made a point to ask about the color. Would it be the same or close to the same color? He assured me it would be. This was obviously not. Why did we just pay $1100 for a door that's not correct?

I finally decide that no, this is not acceptable. So I call the GDP and ask about it. The guy I speak with (at their office so not one of the installers) explains that the doors come in a few standard colors and might not match exactly to what the builder painted the door originally. I'm like, "yeah dude, I get that. But we had tan and now it's dark brown."

He's goes, "Oh. Let me check into this." lol

The guy drives by the house and calls me back. "Yeahhhhhh they shouldn't have put a dark brown one on. Not sure why they did that. We will send a new door out to be installed in the right color."

PHEW! Let me tell you I was getting to that super pissed off woman stage and that's never fun. I'm generally laid back and chill so I'm glad I didn't have to fight about this with them.

They said they'd be out to install on Wednesday, so I was pleasantly surprised when they called Tuesday afternoon and said they could head out there already! I meet them there and they had the new door on in about 30 minutes.

Almost done.

This dude was super nice and awesome. Kinda an eccentric old guy. XD

Mucho better!

It's not an exact match to the old color but it's WAY better than that dark brown and looks fine on the house. =D

I must say that every single person I spoke with at the garage door place was very friendly, nice, and helpful. Yes there were two big bumps in the road, but they were always great to talk to and they made things right in a quick manner.

Shit happens. It's just unfortunate we had two shitty happenings in the process of getting this door replaced. lol

But now we have a beautiful new door AND an awesome opener on it. This opener is way better than the one we have on our own house. Very quiet and with a lock switch and a light switch. Fancy.

Soooo success!

So now we basically need to paint the trim, replace the carpet, get an A/C guy out there to figure out the A/C issue and then it's just cleaning and small fixer upper things.

It's taking a bit longer to get this house in shape than we thought, but that's ok. Since we both work fulltime (and Jess gets drafted to OT a lot) we aren't stressing it. We hope to have it ready to go by the new year.


* i.e. kicked out due to foreclosure