Aaron Overhead Door

"A job not finished" or "Stay away monkey boy"

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Up until this page, I have not given the name of my garage door installation company. I do this to avoid any appearance of being affiliated or bias. That would be fine if everything was perfect, but it is not - far from it. And for this reason, I will explicitly recommend Against anyone inclined to hire Aaron Overhead Door of San Jose California, (a Diamond Certified member) to install a new garage door. And I'm going to tell you exactly why.

But first, let me state that mistakes happen. We're all only human after all. The important thing is how a company reacts to correct a mistake - the follow-up. My dissatisfaction with Aaron Overhead Door of San Jose California is not because a mistake was made, my dissatisfaction stems from what I witnessed when the installer came back out to address a problem.

Also, the policy of highlighting bad contractors is reverse to the philosophy of many who might says 'If you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all'.  Sorry, but that policy helps no one. It doesn't help other customers, and it doesn't help the contractor improve.

See for yourself - Is this guy (the author) a difficult, problem customer, or a reasonable person expecting to get what he paid for, from a competent craftsman. I will outline below what happened when the installer had to came back a second time to finish his work.

The problem - The mail-slot door wouldn't open. It wasn't positioned properly over the slot provided in the door by the manufacturer. Add to that the fact that he of drilled the screw holes, in effect, they were stripped out from the start. So the mail opening as hanging loose and wouldn't open. That's the problem. I had to remove the mail-slot door completly so I could get my daily mail delivery.

Update - I called the installer office the same Friday that the garage door was installed. I got the answering service who promised someone would call the next business day. Fair enough, it was about 6:30 p.m. They actually did call on the day promised, and scheduled someone to fix the problem for Thursday - almost a week later. I was told to be present - so even more time off work.

I arrived home at 2:00 p.m. just as I was told to. You wouldn't think it would be too much to ask that the installer call 10 minutes before he arrives. It only takes me 10 minutes to get home from work, and I wouldn't lose another half days pay if modern technology (cell phones) were used by the installers. Come to think of it, when the installer was late for his original install time on Friday, he actually called me to let me know he was on his way (i.e. late). Obviously he has a cell phone and knows how to nub a number, so why do I need to take lose another half a days pay?

Nobody's fooling me anyway. I know he's not going to show anytime near 2:00, but I mustn't give them any excuses either.

Well, he finally showed at almost 5:00 p.m. Quittin time. I didn't have to lose any pay at all. Absolutely infuriating.

I demonstrated the problem with the mail slot that would not open.

I was in shocked in disbelief as he stood there and tisk tisked the manufacturer for making the mail slot cutout wrong - I guess the slot didn't match the holes he 'drilled' - Look folks, the truth is, he never bothered to confirm his work. That is the exact problem here, and it cost me plenty. The fact of the matter is, that there was nothing wrong with the mail slot cut by the manufacturer. The problem was that he mounted the thing in the wrong place, so it couldn't open, didn't check his work, and makes me pay for his sloppy careless work - So am I the jerk or a problem customer?

Tolorate it if you will, I will not. I'm expected to walk on water at work.

Now - could I have fixed all these problems myself? Of course I could. But not everyone is handy with tools - and some well meaning folks should stay as far away from tools as practical. Whether you are handy with tools or not, you should never tolerate this kind of thing. In retrospect, with the amount of time waisted, I would have done it myself. At least then I know it would have been done right, because what you're about to read will amaze and astound even a union thug.

But first - so far as mechanical aptitude and credentials are concerned, let me state that I have no shortage - 10 years as a mechanical designer before moving into software engineering as a career. I have a thurough mechanical development background ranging from semi conductor manfucaturing equipment, to medical equipment manufcaturing, including angioplastic cathaters, endoscopic video processing - Stanford Linear Accelerator Centor (vaccuum department) to name a short few. As for personnel / non-professional credentials are concerned - It is off-topic, but I like to take note of people with the aptitude and skill level that can do things like, oh, say - build speed boats. Take for example this genuine vintage Crackerbox. If you play fast and loose building one of these then you better carve your 'good-bye cruel world' letter in the transome, because that's all that will be left of you.

What he did next absolutely amazed me. I have never ever seen anyone do anything like it. A new technique for installing sheet metal screws that explains a lot.

As I mentioned, the screw holes were stripped. Removing them was difficult because there was no bite on the thread. The hole was the same size as the screw - stripped. And now I know why...

After placing the mail-slot door in a location that would actually "work" he marked the holes and went about setting the screws in the new positions. Now, I have never set a sheet metal screw without drilling the right size hole first. In fact, I would not know how to set a sheet metal screw without a pilot hole. Here's the shocking laugh for you - my installer proceeded to chuck a screw bit in his drill, place the screw on point, and start drilling the screw into the sheet metal until it finally punctured the sheet metal door, and promptly plummeted in.

What a piece of work - literally puncturing a sheet metal screw through the sheet metal, and expecting there to be any thread to grip. What an absolute abortion! I have never in my life seen such absurd asinine execution - Like a monkey with a Whiffle bat. Who in the world trained this guy to do that? Who in the world hired this guy? Unfortunately, I know who - Aaron Overhead Door - San Jose California.

If I were not totally speechless, I would have told him to take a hike! - get lost! - I'll fix it myself! But I was literally speechless. He finished performing his "craftsmanship" on my garage door with the other three puncture holes (all oversized now), and promptly split - not a moment too soon for me.

He might have seen me in his rear view mirror, shaking my head as I set out to repair his abortion job. I would remove the mail-slot door again - caulk all the extra holes he left behind, and install the mail-slot door properly with the next size up screw. Unfortunately, I didn't have the right size & type of screw on hand, so it would have to wait for yet another day.

I purchased screws that would fit into the punctures created by the Aaron Overhead Door monkey, and caulked the extra holes he left punched - After all, where do you suppose all the rain water would have collected? The Aaron Overhead Door monkey said it wouldn't be a problem - So I ask you - where is all the rain water going to collect? And what do you suppose the Aaron monkeys will say when the thing is rotted out? Pfhht!

So exactly one week later, the Aaron Overhead Door is finally installed correctly thanks to me, the customer. And by no means was it finished by Aaron Overhead Door. Those stooges are no longer allowed near my home, and shouldn't be allowed any where near yours.

And - So much for Diamond Certified quality. Diamond Certified claims on its website "Only companies rated highest in quality earn the prestigious Diamond Certified award." And "You can feel confident in your selection knowing that each company listed is highly rated in ongoing customer satisfaction research, credentials and business practices". I'm not sure how much it costs to get included in the Diamond Certified directory, but many contractors use Diamond Certification as a reason to charge a lot more money than their competitors. If you ask me, Diamond Certified contractors aren't any less risky than any other Yellow Pages contractor.

To be quite accurate, Aaron Overhead knows nothing of my shock and awe because I really don't want their monkey coming around here any more. And there's nothing they can do to change what happened anyway - so they would believe they have a 'satisfied customer' - and as long the Aaron monkey stays away, I'm satisfied. But as for Diamond Certified claim "research" and "business practices" - that is a flat out lie. And until any monkey contractor can prove that drilling a sheet metal screw until it plunges through sheet metal is best "business practices", or the result of "research" then I stand by my statement - Diamond Certified aint worth a penny no matter how much a monkey contractor pays to be included.

Pictures:

Almost finished - wide
Almost finished - close

Summary - I've had some excellent contractors in my home. People who are proud of the work they perform. People to whom a work ethic is important. People who know their craft, and best practices. People who know what they are doing. The monkey I got from Aaron Overhead Door / Diamond Certified was no contractor - and certainly not a professional one anyway

Here's the problem in summary:

• He didn't check his work, he left that for me to do.
• He tried to cover his bad work by blaming the manufacturer.
• He demonstrated total lack of skill in working with sheet metal screws.

To see what excellent contractors have done in my home, you can view these sites - see what I say about a professional contractor:

http://kitchen-remodeling-pictures.com
http://vinyl-window.net