SCAM | LIFE LESSONS | SMOKE AND MIRRORS
I Was Scammed by a Garage Door Repair Dude Named Rob
Being high on ‘Christmas Crack’ made me an easy mark
Getting conned after I’d consumed enough Christmas Crack candy to put myself on a 2-day sugar high was nearly inevitable. Then, I was too sugared up to deal well with suddenly realizing we’d been scammed.
Things started going south last night, when my husband spent a few hours researching the ol’ garage door scam (after our experience). He learned a lot, and shared it with me.
The garage door scam goes like this: several garage door repair companies are listed online. Many are the same mobile repair company. A phone service takes calls and refers them to the boss, who contacts one of his crooked dudes.
The repairman overcharges the customer. He does the job, inflating the problem (and fees). At times, he claims the entire mechanism must be rebuilt or replaced. Labor and parts fees rack up. He will pay his “supervisor,” who has given him the job — a referral fee. Everyone’s getting a cut.
In our situation, Rob did the repair. The fee was double the amount it should have been, maybe more.
I called Rob and his boss to get paperwork that was promised — warranty and receipt — but no one was available to talk. The call center worker took the message, confirmed my phone number, confirmed dates of service, the service provider’s name, and reassured: We’ll take care of this!
But nope.
My husband began sorting through how we were scammed the evening after the repair. First, he interviewed me about my process in obtaining the repairman (aptly named “Rob”).
Jay: Is this the phone number of the company you contacted? (points to a phone number scribbled with blue pen, with stars and circles around it)
Me: Yes! See the stars? Can’t you tell that’s the one? You met the guy, right? Yes!
My notes and three names of garage door repair companies were on the back of a Salvation Army envelope. I’m a well-organized business woman doing things “right.”
Jay found the envelope on the dining room table, neatly organized under several cards, envelopes, and Christmas wrapping paper.
The holidays are a perfect time for this type of scam to take place. Be warned!
I’ve spent quite a lot of time considering scams. A friend of mine gave a bogus Microsoft employee her credit card details, so he could “fix” her computer. Then, she had him fix her husband’s computer too!
Imagine, all the way from Tonga, the nice Microsoft employee calling them to fix their computers!
(I avoided saying, “How could you be so naive?”)
My incarcerated cousin used to phone my grandmother and beg for bail money. She’s been in State Prison for years, and she didn’t need bail money. She wanted drug-and-cigarette money. A new orange jumpsuit? My aunt warned Grandma to stop taking the collect calls.
Scamming your grandmother, sheesh. The elderly are often scammed though. They don’t know about newfangled stuff (like the garage door scam, for example).
Mostly, I thought I was too smart to fall victim to a scam. That is not the case.
So, garage door scams are a thing
Who knew?
I manage two rental properties — one a home for a family in town, seven miles away. The lady that lives there with two kids texted me that the garage door had broken, so I called her to get details. Make and model (she checked), size, all that.
I told my husband I’d get ahold of a repair person, and I did what I typically do — I got three bids. Generally, I spend more time researching but I was rushing, as the lady was using the manual way of opening and closing the garage door, and she’s the head of household. She has pneumonia, and I wanted to take care of the problem fast.
The three quotes were in the same ballpark, so I talked with Rob, who was to meet me or my husband at the house the next day. Note: quotes were the same range because the companies I contacted were the same, operating under different websites and names. We figured this out later.
Two more tricks the garage door scammer company used: first, they used a local phone number and address. Right here nearby! However, the phone number goes to an out-of-state dispatch center. We figured that out later too.
The in-town address they used matches our local Thai Food Restaurant. Believe me, they aren’t operating under the same roof. Rob is not manning the giant Pad Thai wok.
“We’re a ‘mobile unit,’ “ explained the call-center worker. So, misleading local phone number and a made-up address. They also operate under many names. Anytime Garage Doors, US Garage Doors. A1 Garage Doors. Garage Doors of America! ABS Garage Doors. It goes on and on.
The day of the scam and how it went down
My husband’s got good instincts so I wasn’t worried. He went to meet Rob at our rental house.
Slippery Rob showed up and started repairs. Did I mention his velvety voice and courteous demeanor on the phone? Apparently he was a smooth operator in person too.
However, Jay noticed a red flag when he asked Rob to remove the housing and let him see the mechanism inside.
Rob said, “I can do that, but it will cost you $149!”
Jay wanted to see what was being replaced, so he pushed to see it. Anyway, the guy was being crooked, and Jay’s first clue was the ridiculous added-on fee for removing four screws and handing him the housing. Five minutes of work.
Rob was going to be up on a ladder and replacing all the parts anyway, and a diagnostic examination of broken parts is a normal procedure. It should be discussed with the homeowner without gouging the shit out of him!
Rob worked on the garage door and replaced some parts. Soon it was working like new. One remote opener was provided. To program the second one, he said, would be an extra hundred dollars. This is another red flag. To program the second remote, that much? No. Ridiculously inflated.
All told, it was about nine hundred dollars — a ridiculous sum for the work. Jay paid with a check, but no receipt or warranty was provided. It was going to be emailed. The email has never arrived, and our phone calls aren’t getting any satisfactory results.
Again, we figured out later this was a grossly inflated rate. We were duped, conned, and scammed. But the blame game with my husband and I was a bit trying. All in all, it wasn’t good and we’ve learned a lesson.
Sharing our experience is embarrassing, but our story may keep others safe. It’s easy to lose focus during holidays.
May you avoid the con artists. And may we! (next time).
Thank you for reading! Thanks to Darren Weir for sharing this delicious and easy candy recipe. Don’t eat this stuff before doing business activities that require a functioning adult brain!