JD
Jason Depum
Oct 16, 2025
We had universal come out to get another bid on a repair vs replacing our garage door. We had two other companies. One being the biggest one, was outrageous. The other who we went with, was by far not only the most reasonable, but the most informative about why said items needed to be addressed. Universal was more the "pushy salesmen" type. Recommending stuff, but not giving us much explanation of why.
We were also shocked that out of the three, they were the only one that tried to twist it in a way, that essentially said "If you don't do all the above, it's a huge liability, it will all fall apart, and it voids all of our warranties". The opossing companies say "The parts we replace are warrantied from normal wear n tear, just not if something else effects them". But again, universal said even "Normal wear n tear" warranty would be void if we opted out of doing all the above.
This entire estimate/conversation took maybe 5 minutes on site. Again they didn't really show us things, didn't explain why they were bad, or why they determine they were bad. It was just a brief "your cables, rollers, springs, hinges, bearings, and track all need to be replace. Here's my price, it will take me about 2 hours."
To top it off, when we politely said "Well thank you for your time you've given us a lot to think about, we are getting some other bids and will get back to you". The onsite technician flipped a switch. Quickly pushing for a service call. We sat their arguing in my garage. At one point he said "Okay well let me call my manager and see what i can do" I told them straight up "I don't care, i haven't signed anything, you haven't done any work, you advertise free estimates, we told your dispatcher we were looking for an estimate. We never said or indicated on the spot install".
He left very angry. Later the manager called me, reinforcing "well it's not a free estimate and we need to get that service call or we will send it to collections". I told them "i would be happy to take you to court so the judge and i can both laugh in your face" and hung up on her.
I'm really not an angry or rude person. But when someone advertises free estimates, gives me nothing but "greasy sales vibes" to the point i want to do anything BUT work with them, then they have the audacity to DEMAND a service call. Get bent!