EXPRESS OVERHEAD DOOR

Terrible experience. Contractor is UNLICENSED as of Oct 2009, according to California's website for contractor's licenses, and has been expired for almost 2 years, for failure to pay judgments against him. I say 'him' because the business appears to be a one-man show owned and operated by Joseph Columbia, according to California's records, although it seemed to me like he would farm some work out to other guys. The doors were built improperly the first time. The corrected doors were delivered over 2 months late, after many complaints and threats of legal action by my general contractor. Mr. Columbia repeatedly said they would deliver on a date, then not show up, without having called to cancel. He failed to properly anchor the ceiling track for the door openers, requiring several repair visits. The doors were first installed in about September of 2008. It is now a year later, and the tracks are still not properly anchored. The last repair visit was six (6) or more weeks ago. Repairman did not have necessary materials; and popped a door open suddenly, damaging the frame supporting the door operator, and possible the operator itself. He unplugged it, and said we should not use it until he comes back. For over 6 weeks, on more than 6 occasions, Mr. Columbia has said he was coming out (or sending someone) to fix the door, then nobody would show up. He has been incredibly inconsiderate to pretend he would come out, waste our time waiting around for them, and then not show up without so much as a cancellation call. He sent an incompetent, unprepared workman who made the situation worse, then he never comes back to fix the damage he did (at this point, I wouldn't let him back on the property, anyway). The door remains inoperable. At least he could have had the decency to tell us to get someone else because he was not going to return to fix the problem, instead of cowardly telling us he would come, and then just not showing - over 6 times (I stopped counting).

They were able to send a crew same-day when I called at around 3:30pm. When the crew arrived they said they didn't have the proper part and that since it was late in the day they wouldn't be able to come back that day, but would give me $30 off in consideration for coming back next day. I thought I was being jerked around. How could they tell they didn't have the proper spring after a mere few seconds watching the door open? I called their office. The office explained how they can tell the differences between doors so quickly, and the fact that at the end of the day the truck stock gets depleted. I talked to Joe at the office for several minutes and ended with a good feeling, i.e., I no longer thought I'd been jerked around. The crew arrived right on time the next day and did a "great" job. I'm pretty hand mechanically and I don't think it would be a better idea to do it myself than having EOD come out. Recommended, but you might compare pricing.

I spoke to Joe Columbia and explained that my parents were elderly. I told him I could not be present but wanted to pay for the job. His installer was prompt and completed the work quickly even though he had no billing information on me. Later that day I called the company and Joe asked me to send payment by mail. It was fast, easy and the work was well done.

THE CO. CAME RIGHT AWAY. THEY WERE IN CALABASAS AND TOOK THE FREEWAY QUICKLY AND WERE AT OUR HOUSE IMMEDIATELY. THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT THEY WERE GOING TO ORDER AN ADDITIONAL PART AND NEVER CAME BACK. I CALLED TWICE.