POTOMAC GARAGE SOLUTIONS

Failed to deliver everything they charged for, lied repeatedly and dismantled a window without repairing it.

Terrible experience. I should have read the reviews here first, but I received a recommendation from a friend and didn't check - big mistake. With a "D" rating clearly customer service is not their focus and in my experience does not exist. The salesman/owner Jeff visited my 3 car garage and we discussed doing the floor and installed cabinets. Without measuring anything, he provided a proposal that included the floor and 13 cabinets. He tried to persuade me to start the next day (red flag #1) but I declined as I wanted to check out the cabinets and do some measuring to make sure everything would fit. He did not have a brochure and their website (which does not work well) did not have specifics on the cabinets that he proposed. He said that I could see the cabinets at their showroom in Gaithersburg. I visited the showroom the following day and the staff there met me with the "Deer in the headlights" look (Red flag #2). They were nice but could provide no information on the cabinets. At least I had the opportunity to see the cabinets. After measuring I determined that there was no way that 13 cabinets would fit in my garage and I called Jeff. I suggested deleting some of the larger cabinets and adding some smaller cabinets. He said the crew could bring the 13 and some of the smaller cabinets as well and on the installation day he would show up and help get things organized. I agreed so he came back to my house to get me sign his agreement. Again he wanted to start the next day (Hmm) but I declined due to my schedule. He asked for a 1/3 deposit at the time. I thought it was a bit strange and mentioned it given that nothing needed to be ordered but agreed and gave him my credit card which he charged immediately. The schedule called for a 3 day project as follows: Day 1 - They unload the garage contents into their trailer (I really liked this part of the service) and prep the floor. Day 2 - Apply the top-coat to the floor. Day 3 - Install the cabinets and move my belongings from their trailer to the cabinets. Day 1 - 4 guys show up. All Hispanic - very nice - only one speaks English. None can back up the trailer and they do damage to my lawn. Otherwise it goes smooth. Day 2 - As soon as they arrive to work on the floor, my credit card gets charged another 1/3. Nothing is complete at this time and now they have charged $12k (Red flag #3). I call Jeff and ask why my credit card was charged without my permission and he says - it's their policy. I have their agreement in front of me and let him know that he did not mention this and it does not say it in their agreement. I tell Jeff under no circumstances are they to charge anything additional without my permission. Keep in mind that this is a 3 day project and they apparently intend to charge my card all 3 days. Couple this with the high-pressure "let's get started tomorrow" tactic and I now have the impression that they must have financial issues and need cash-flow. Although I am very angry and apprehensive about what is going on, I am committed and keep going forward. At this point I would like to point out that other than their lack of driving skills, the installation crew is friendly, competent and eager to please the customer. Day 3 - The crew shows up with another trailer (with cabinets) and drives over the lawn some more. They unload the cabinets and still no sign of Jeff as promised to go over the installation with his crew. The cabinets are taller than he quoted and cover the garage windows and they cannot be placed as planned due to the garage door sensor-eyes. I call him and tell him what is going on he says he will come over. He arrives, clearly agrees that nothing fits as planned and tells me to pick what I want to use and he leaves. Great - now I am in charge of the project and I cancel going to work. I work all day with the guys and we get 9 of the cabinets to fit. By the time we get done, it's late on Friday night, it's dark and it's cold. They do not clean up, do not load the cabinets, and do not check the installation carefully. They also do not take the now empty trailer so I call Jeff. He says someone will be back the following morning. 2 guys show up on Saturday morning to get the trailer and I mention that I noticed that the holes that they cut in the slat-wall do not line up with the 2 electrical outlets. One of the guys offers to fix it. After they leave I notice that he removed all of the screws that hold the slat-wall to the wall and never screwed it back to the wall. I also notice that 2 of the doors on the cabinets are not aligned and will not close properly. Jeff called Monday morning bright and early and wants to charge my credit card. He did not ask if the project is complete (it's not) and he did not ask if I am happy with the project (I am not) he just wants money. I anticipated a problem and knew exactly what the amount should be. He asks for over $2k more than is owed and I ask him how many cabinets I am being charged for. Since he never came back to check on the project (as promised) he had no idea what was done. He says he is charging for 10 cabinets. I let him know that only 9 were installed. He recalculates and the total is still wrong. I tell him to send me a copy of the final bill and remind him not to charge my credit card without my approval. After two calls to their office I get a copy of the bill and he has the correct number of cabinets but he has raised the cost of the floor by $1000. In their proposal the floor cost was $6200 which is ridiculously high compared to normal and customary. I have another quote to confirm this. But they applied a discount of $2500 which brought the cost in-line. When he sent me the final bill, he altered the discount to $1500. At this point I know I am being scammed and I call my credit card company and tell them not to allow further charges from PGS. I also call PGS in an attempt to conclude things amicably. I spoke to the Office Manager and communicated with her via email and she not only agreed with my version of the final price (after a detailed explanation) but assured me that she wanted to work things out so I was satisfied with the project. I offered to send a check for the agreed-upon amount in good faith (my mistake) and that if the issues were resolved I was open to discussing the possibility of more small cabinets or slat-wall as long as I could deal with one of the other owners and Jeff was not involved. Payment in full was sent as promised and I waited several days for the Office Manager to contact me. She did not contact me, so I replied to her last email inquiring if she still intended to finish the project (secure the slat-wall and adjust the cabinet doors) but unfortunately to date I have heard nothing. One of the main reasons I chose PGS was that they offered, in writing, a lifetime warranty on the floor and the cabinets. Others should not be fooled by this inducement since as I have found that they will not honor their warranty. As mentioned, I chose PGS based on the Lifetime Warranty (not honored) the competitive pricing (prior to the attempted scam) and the use of their trailer to store garage contents (great idea). Again, I would complement the installation staff which did very well under difficult circumstances. But PGS does not offer service after the sale and does not appear to be customer-focused in any way. As such, I would recommend looking elsewhere.

The Good The crew that came out was wonderful. They were on time, professional and friendly. They were more than willing to provide their opinion as I had no clue what would be the best option. I'm very happy with the job they did. The Bad When considering an overhead storage, I called Safe Racks first. They are a nationally advertised company. They had their two 4x8 overhead storage with installation for about 650 dollars. With this in mind, I wanted to see if there were other local options. I found out that Potomac Garage Solutions provided similar product and installation. When I called, the man on the phone (Jeff) answered and quoted me 600 dollars for the job. So, I went ahead and booked an appointment because when compared to Safe Racks, it was almost 50 dollars cheaper. After the phone call, my credit card was immediately charged for 300 dollars. I didn't really see an issue with that, normal protocol. After the job was completed, my credit card was charged for additional 730 dollars to my shock. Total of 1030 dollars, that is almost 66% increase from my original estimate. I called the company for clarification and since I did not get a written estimate (my fault), it was a he said and she said situation. I told Jeff that I'm happy with the installed product but was disappointed at their business practices. This was an expensive lessons learned for me. Always get a written estimate with itemized material and work - no matter how simple the work is. If Jeff or anyone from Potomac Garage Solutions reads this review, please see my experience is not a unique one as others have expressed similar issues (bad business practice).

I called Potomac garage solutions to put down a Polyurethane Floor Coating in our 3 car garage. A sales person, named Jeff, came and presented a hard sell on how happy we would be with the workmanship and finished product. He didn't show us any brochures or give us any contract on paper, just a few pictures on his phone. He then said he would move the customer he had scheduled for the next day so that we could have ours done. We never asked for an expedited job nor did we really want it. I was wondering what honest contractor would do that? I have never had the wool pulled over my eyes so badly. Jeff had also convinced me and my wife to paint the walls and that his men were proficient in that area and again the finished product would be fantastic (see photos). Jeff, promisied that they would pull everything off the walls and replace them exactly where we had them. Never happened. He said they would start with the painting first so that the dust from the sanding of the floors would not adhere to the freshly painted walls. They were repairing drywall and painting over the repairs on the very first day. After three torturous days our finished product consisted of unfinished walls and a ceiling that were not spackled correctly, paint was not cut in, leaving paint splatter all over our new garage door frames, wood shelving and all our windows(see photos). The Polyurethane floor Coating is also splattered on our walls and covers our handrails. His men DID NOT put anything back to its original spot and left 75% of it on the ground for us to deal with. His workmen did, however, put back the pegboard I asked them NOT to put back but without the spacers that are necessary to use the board and again did NOT even put it back to where they took it from. When I called to complain to Jeff about the sub-standard results he told me I was a difficult customer (so much for "the customer is always right") and to basically take a hike. When I told Jeff I would not make final payment, his reply was that he would sue me, then he proceeded to put the charge through, without my authorization, on my credit card; sneaky and underhanded. After his sell I was under the impression that Jeff would come to the job to communicate my and his expectations of this job to his workers and to make sure it was being accomplished by his crew. I Never saw him once. My wife has already spent 4 hours and will likely need to spend another 8 hours to get our garage back to some semblance of what it was. Worst contractor I have worked with in all my 30 years in the Real Estate industry.

The transformation of my garage is truly remarkable. It was nothing short of a medieval dungeon last month but you should see it now! Jeff's team handled the carpentry, electrical and the storage solutions and I could not be happier. If you need a garage makeover, call Potomac Garage Solutions. I enthusiastically recommend this company.

unknown

Sent a request to Potomac Garage Solutions as other neighbors had used them previously.  Jeff followed up with a phone call indicating they could provide overhead storage  for 2 or 3 units that are electrical operated.  He indicated he knew the houses and the units would fit with no issues. The cost of two units would be in total 1500.00.  He asked for my CC # for half of the cost and the balance would be handled upon installation and adjusted if additional units could be installed.  A date was set and they arrived when scheduled. I was not really informed of what the actual units that were being installed were.  It turned out to be like the ones my neighbors had installed.  The guys delivered two unit and started taking them out of the box.  I inquired about the third unit and the guys were not aware of there being a third unit.  They said they had only brought two units.  When they were putting together the second unit, it was discovered that parts were missing from the box they brought.  I did see them bring in the new box and unpack it so it was not a previously opened box.  They indicated they would have to come back once they had the missing parts.  The guy said they would be back the next day.  So they installed the first unit and part of the second one.  The next day I waited and finally sent a text to Jeff asking where they were as the time and come and gone and still no installers. I also was waiting here just for this purpose and put my other errands on hold.   He indicated they would not be there the next day and they had to order the parts.  This should have been my que that something was not right.  I thought a company that sells and installs garage storage units would have an inventory of the units they could just pull another one off the shelf and install it right away.  When I informed him the guy told me he would be here the next day, he indicated that he should not have told me that.  He said they would call me when the unit was received by them.  It was another two weeks before I received a text indicating the parts had arrived and when would I be available to have them install it.  I also inquired about a smaller unit as the larger unit was not able to be installed due to its size. He said for the smaller unit it would be 350.00. I said 325.00 and he said the price was 350.00.  I said ok, but was not happy and to go ahead with that. The day came and the guys showed up to finish the second unit and install the third unit.  But they had to make adjustments on the third smaller unit for the cable.  The one guy left and went to Home Depot to get some parts/tools to shorten the cable as it was set for the larger units.  Again, a que that this was not the way it should be.  He was gone for over 1 1/2 hours and the other two guys waited in my garage for him to return and they had nothing to do.  When he finally came back, I asked about another unit and texted Jeff regarding it and he indicated the price for a fourth unit would be 500.00.  I said what about the 350.00.  He indicated that was only for that third unit and not for a fourth unit.   They finally got the units installed and my account was charged for the three units of 1500.00. plus 350.00. I inquired about getting the manuals for the unis and the invoice for the job performed.  Jeff never has produced either of those after my texting him twice.   I did find out the units if I were to purchase them from Home Depot would have cost me in total without the installation of 689.00. So either I could install it myself or get someone, but really don't think it would have cost me 1161.00 which is the difference just for the installation.  Lesson learned by me.  I also had in issue with the hooks that attach the cables to the platforms came open as I was raising the unit to the ceiling, it snapped and the platform almost fell.  I am glad I was there as it was happening and was able to keep things from falling and the unit was not high off the floor.  I had to go to my local hardware store and purchase additional hooks and I double hooked all of the cables on all three platforms so as to not worry if the platforms would fall onto the cars or the garage door if it were opened.  That cost me about 60.00 for steel hooks. I text Jeff about my having to do this and no response from Jeff.   These hooks were what came with unit I will say that.  The platforms indicate  they can hold up to 200lbs for the larger 6' x 3' units and 100lbs. for the 2' x 3' unit.  I did not have that much weight so the hooks should not have snapped open.  I do like the units and the fact that I can raise and lower them without getting upon the ladder, but if I had read the reviews of others before, I would never had used Potomac Garage Solutions.  I am afraid that if I need service in the future, they would not be able to provide the service nor am I able to register the units for warranty as I do not have an invoice to provide for verification.  Again lesson learned.  Read reviews of companies before have a job done.   I was asked by my neighbors who were interested in having their garage done, but I said to go with someone else. 

unknown

Garages… They are the one place in our homes that receive the least attention. The place we “toss” everything we don’t know what to do with, but don’t want to send to the landfill.  We promise ourselves that someday we will get around to going through everything, and organizing our necessary garage treasures in a neat and orderly fashion – but we never seem to get around to it.  It’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s too dirty of a job and we’re just too tired and overwhelmed to face it. In the meantime the mess continues to grow, the spiders and creepy crawlies make their homes in the dark dingy recesses of the messy garage and if you are really unlucky, a family of mice move in and leave droppings everywhere.  And now you don’t even know where to start or how to gain back the usefulness of your garage and all it’s contents.
ENOUGH... I SAID!  My garage was an eyesore for many years that made me cringe every time I opened the door to drive in – better hurry up and close that garage door before anyone sees the mess inside.  Worse yet, just as many people I know, the garage entrance to my home functioned as the primary entrance for myself and all who visit.  What an embarrassment!
So I went on a search to find someone who offered “full-service/turn key” garage clean-out, complete renovation (including painting the entire interior of the garage), and help with the organization process. During my search, I was lucky enough to meet Zev Pomerance, the owner of Potomac Garage Solutions.  I was taken by his exuberance for his “craft” and ability to see a final vision for my garage, accommodate my special needs for storage, and his confidence in his installation team as well as the product line he offers (Gladiator Storage Systems by Whirlpool). He provided an estimate on the spot, rather than the others who gathered information and then left to create and provide an estimate in the coming days.  Needless to say, I signed on with Zev on the spot.
Starting on the very first day of the project, the cleanup and installation team showed up on time with smiles on their faces and ready to work hard each day. Significant progress was made on a daily basis, and at the end of each workday the team took great care to tidy up the space before they left.  They paid attention to every level of detail required, from properly preparing for and painting the ceiling and walls, to electrical work (installing recessed lighting and owner provided ceiling fans), to application of the polyaspartic concrete floor coating, to installation of the Gladiator line of storage products, and finally brought all my garage necessities back into the garage and organized everything for me. Throughout the project, Zev stayed in constant contact with me and answered all my emails promptly, immediately addressing any and all questions or small concerns I expressed throughout the week.
I am delighted with the results of my garage makeover more than I can say.  It is perfectly designed and appointed, and infinitely flexible should the need arise to add new or specialized storage options for my individual needs.  I am already singing the praises of Potomac Garage Solutions to anyone who asks, and would not hesitate to recommend Zev Pomerance and his team to anyone willing to take the plunge and “Re-Think their Garage!”  It can be as beautiful as your inside living space and it is now a joy to watch the garage door open to reveal the “sexiest” garage space in the neighborhood!

Terrible office management and overt lies made this experience an "F" rating were it not for the two installers, who were completely polite and efficient and did a good job of a single power lift install. The office scheduler promised the appointment day would only take a couple of hours. Instead, the team arrived late and stated they were only doing a site survey to decide what size motor to bring back the next day(news to me!) I called the office and was promised they would return later that afternoon, until I was called at 3pm and told the truck broke down and they would have to reschedule. On the scheduled date, I called after waiting 25min,only to be lied to and told the crew was on the way. I called back several times and finally a crew showed up nearly two hours late, after questioning, it they stated they had been told to come over from another job. They only had one lift system in the truck, not two as I had ordered.

This was a 2 day job well planned out and skillfully executed. I now have a finished rock solid floor that makes the furnace room look like it belongs on the main floor. The technicians performed expertly taking care to make this job a show case and a must see addition to the basement.

Outstanding. They came on time and did everything requested.

I choose Potomac garage not because they were the cheapest but because they seemed to have the best organization option. The first issue i had was a promised install date but did not keep the appointment, which should have been a sign of things to come. The day they did do the install they didn't have all the material to complete the job so they had to come back another day. Unfortunately they said it would only take two days to accomplish the install it actually took 4 days. In addition guys who did the install were suppose to help me organize my garage, all they did was put up the wall system and storage bins and left the organization to me. The large bins had scratches and dints on the doors that they were suppose to replace the next day, unfortunately they didn't come back, so I had to call them three times before they brought out the replacements. Very disappointed with follow up as well as the install service. The more i think about my experience the more disappointed I am with the company.

If you want the gladiator system I suggest you buy it from Lowe's and install it for 1/4 the cost then hire an professional organizer.

Everything went great from the time Jeff came out to do his presentation to the time the installation was finished.  The team even repaired and painted ares in my garage that i didnt expect them to touch after the system was installed.  Great work, great product.  Looks amazing and works very well.  My neighbors are all jealous!

Well, except for the dust. There are 3 steps: sand floor smooth, apply first coat of floor material on the first day. Second day the floor was lightly sanded and another coat was applied to the floor. It took 24 hours to dry and then we could drive our car on the floor.

Met Morris at the home and garden show. He followed up professionally the following week. Came to the house looked over the project. He showed me work he had done on the computer, each job was well documented. I was able to find exactly what I wanted. Morris and his team were able to perform the work the very next week, not even a week from our meeting. They worked all day to get the door perfectly aligned. The floor took 2 days, but looks great. We get a lot of compliments on the garage, and I would recommend Potomac again to anyone.