Genie Garage Doors

Have a Genie garage door opener ISD1000 that supposedly has an unlimited warranty. Apparently, my idea of an unlimited warranty and theirs is quite different! The motor started making a lot of noise (failing). I went through the troubleshooting procedures they asked. According to them, my spring is out of adjustment and therefore my warranty is void. Mind you, this is a very light single aluminum door. You can tell by their process of you troubleshooting for them over the phone that they simply are looking for an excuse to void your warranty.

I apparently will have to buy a new garage door opener (Genie was $249 at Home Depot). While I had bought the same model for the other door last year, you can be assured that I will not be buying another Genie product (to match the other unit)! It appears that their unlimited warranty is actually limited to if they exhaust all excuses for not standing behind their product! Hopefully, you can help others from being misled by Genie advertising "Unlimited Warranty." Shame on Genie!

After a power outage during the first storm of the year, we noticed the light on our Genie Excelerator garage door unit wouldn't turn off. I went to the store where we bought it and they suggested calling 1-800-35-GENIE. I did. On the second call, I was led through a methodical series of tests that led the person on the other end to conclude that our main circuit board was causing the problem and that as the unit was under warranty, it would be replaced for free.

I was asked to fax in proof of purchase, to make sure I was the original owner. I was told I would hear back the next day (Dec 22). I did not hear back until Dec 27 and the call back did not come to the number I had requested (work) but my home number. The message asked for me to disassemble the unit and look to see if there was any discoloration on the circuit boards.

I took time off from work the next day to do this in the daylight and called back. After explaining what I had found to one person, we were cut off. I called back again, explained again and learned that because I had linked the initiation of the problem to a power surge (their interpretation of my description of a power outage), this damage was judged to be by an act of God and not a manufacturer's warranty, so not replaceable. I could purchase a new board from them for $60, if I wished.

My Genie Excelerator (not sure how old as it was installed by previous homeowner) would open the garage door, but not close it. This happened several times but then it reached the point where it wouldn't open either. I called Genie customer service. I didn't get the agent's name but she was very friendly and helpful to a point. She walked me through several tests all of which passed I guess. She asked about the lights on the sensors and I told her one of them was green and the other was red. Without her asking, I volunteered that some years ago I removed the sensors from their mounting brackets and taped them together because they were constantly going out of alignment and I was tired of spending the time to re-align them.

It's amazing to me. What difference does it make how I have my sensors hooked up? My opener doesn't work and they won't help me because my sensors are hooked up incorrectly? I wasn't going to try to get any kind of warranty service because I knew that the unit was old enough that it wouldn't have any type of warranty. I just wanted to have my problem diagnosed and see about buying the necessary replacement part. So much for that I guess.

I purchased a Genie IMS-1000/A garage door opener and extension kit for an 8 foot door on December 26, 1998. The screwdrive was noisy, made a knocking sound as it crossed over the joint on the extension kit but it worked. The Carriage Assembly finally broke in 2005 because of a manufacturing defect with the extension kit (it was 1/8 inch too short so the screw threads were slightly off). That was a painless and pleasant experience because Genie immediately replaced the defective parts.

However, today and for the past week I have been fighting with the Customer Service people over another failed Carriage Assembly. I provided proof of purchase and first level support required me to perform a balance test which was initially successful except that the door slipped from 4 feet back to 3 1/2 feet. Second level support required the balance test to be performed again and when I fumbled with the phone as I was attempting to lift the garage door, she said you have failed the balance test and your product failure is not covered by warranty. Despite repeated requests to perform the test over again, Andrea denied my request. I wrote a letter to Customer Service and Joe Kuntz, Manager of Customer Service, got involved.

After several email exchanges, Joe has now suspended my warranty pending a professional balance test because I dared to question him. This is unethical behavior, denial of due process and taking advantage of a person over the age of 65 (that is a felony in Florida). I am thoroughly disgusted with this department and the people who are staffing it. I talked to a local Garage Door Installer who does service work for Genie and he said they have gotten very nasty and tight in the last few years. He also said that Genie has been betting that customers will lose their receipts and or the home will be sold so that they will not be obligated to honor lifetime warranties. The Carriage Assembly that has failed has an engagement shoe made of "Pot Metal" which is obviously designed to fail sacrificially to protect the screwdrive. The Pro said that these fail all the time and he had a box full of them behind the counter because they are a frequently needed commodity.

I bought the Genie Excelerator Garage Door Opener. I put it up together and it did not work. I called the company and they said that I would have to find my receipt, send it to them and then they would see if they would replace the electrical board that is faulty. I explained that I just moved into my new house and installed it.

I could not find the receipt but I could send all the bar code off the box and anything else that they need to prove that it had been purchased within the warranty time frame. Their answer was no. No receipt, no new board. So I am stuck with a $325.00 garage door opener that does not work. This company is the worst I have had dealt with in years. I am out $325.00 plus provincial and federal sales taxes.

Model number is 3060L-07. It has a lifetime motor replacement and 3 years for parts. When I attempted to use the warranty, Genie Door Company required the consumer to troubleshoot the issue over the phone by having the entire unit disassembled to the point it can never be put back together. When I reached the point of difficulty, the representative explained to me that we did not complete the process; therefore, they are not liable to replace any defective parts.

I am forced to purchase another unit at full expense plus installation charges. I am left with a two-year-old unit fully disassembled, and my garage door now does not lock.

I purchased a model H4000-07 Genie Powerlift garage door opener. During assembly I found that one of the shoulder head screws that fasten the power head assembly to the rails was too short. I replaced it with a regular screw of longer length. After installation, the motor would not turn (bound up). When I contacted Genie, I related my experience to the customer support rep. He told me that the aluminum casting on the power unit was not properly machined such that the one inch shoulder head screw would go through all the way, and gave me the choice of exchanging the power head assembly at the local Home Depot, where I purchased the opener, or shipping me an exchange unit directly from Genie. I elected to exchange the unit locally to save time.

Home Depot graciously exchanged the unit for a model H6000-07 at the same price. When I got it home, I found that the new power head assembly had the same manufacturing defect. I again called Genie customer support, thoroughly explained the issue, and they over-nighted a replacement power head assembly. This assembly had the same manufacturing problem as the first two.

I again called Genie customer support and explained the issue, verified that they were shipping me a UPS postage voucher to return the unit, and told them I would purchase another brand. I returned the H6000-07 garage door opener to Home Depot and informed a store manager of my experiences with Genie in order to spare any other of their customers a similar experience. I wasted 16-plus hours installing a garage door opener that should only have occupied three or four hours of my time.

Genie again and was given several suggestions such as: assemble it only hand tight - see if that helps!

I called the home office in OH. They are sending me a new motor. so now they are stepping up. I thought it only fair to report when things are corrected as well. I am satisfied. It should arrive next week.

My garage door opener would stop mid stream once in a while, especially when it was hot outside. I called up becasue it has a lifetime guarantee. The Genie rep tried to trouble shoot the problem. We got to the point that the garage door was not fully balanced. She told me to balance the door and call back. I balanced the door and then the unit pretty much stopped working at all.

I got on the phone with a level 2 rep and went through 30 minutes of testing. She then proceeded to tell me that the unit would not be covered becasue the door was not properly balanced. Well the unit worked fine for the most part when the door was not properly balanced. Then they tell me to balance it and the opener pretty much breaks. They should have told me the first time that an out of balance door voids the warranty. Then I would not have touched the door balancing. Their advise caused my unit to break and now they are blaming it on the fact that it was out of balance.

The woman told me that Genie products either have a defect that will show up at first or else it will last forever. I am outraged at this lifetime warranty. I is a false claim. I still have not resolved this with Genie. I thought they were a reputable company.

My garage door opener broke and I called a local techinician. After looking at it, he determined the motor and clutch were bad and the unit needed to be replaced. He suggested I check my paperwork to see if it was covered by a warranty, but warned me thet Genie was very hard to deal with ... a statement that came to be true. I found all my original paperwork and called Genie the next day.

The first person I talked to was Jennifer and she asked for me to fax her the paperwork from the technician that showed his comments on the motor and clutch being bad. I faxed her the paperwork and she escalated it to Clay at Level Two. Clay said he needed the original receipt faxed to him and I did that. He said he needed me to go through a series of checks to make sure the problem was the motor.

I came home for lunch and called back asking to speak to Clay, but got Blaine instead. He had me go through a series of checks and then escalated me to Level Three where I talked to Nate. Nate proceeded to give me a run-around about how the reciept showed one date and that the Genie units only stayed on the shelf for 30 days and then proceeded to tell me that Home Depot had cheated me by selling me a returned unit or somehting of that nature.

I told him the warranty didn't say anything about shelf life or Home Depot cheating me and that I wanted Genie to honor the full warranty (including labor, which Clay (Level Two) confirmed was included as part of the full lifetime warranty). Nate continued to tell me that the warranty could not be covered. I asked to speak to his supervisor. She identified herself as Mary Oleta and was very rude and told me it was not Genie's fault that Home Depot cheated me and that they were not going to cover the warranty even though I had provided everything they asked for and that "I needed to do, whatever I needed to do, because Genie was done with me".

i purchased a genie garage door opener on 08-04-94, with a lifetime warranty. for this reason, i purchased the product. serial no. 1994 4 s medalion model. approximately 1 (one) month ago, i began to experience a problem with the unit. whereby, i contacted genie for service. the person that, i spoke with informed the undersigned that, i needed a receipt. i informed this person that, i could not locate the receipt. the individual stated, how do we know you are the original owener wherby, i stated the unit is attached to the garage. his reply, how do we know you are the original owner of the residence. i replied that, i am the only individual that, owned this residence, my proof title of house.

i then proceeded to contact the corporate office of home depot where, the unit was purchased. acquilla a representative 1-800-654-0688 ext. 76449 contacted the above mentioned company to no avail. i proceeded to call genie again, i requested to speak with a supervisor (nate). i told him that the language inserted in the manual does not state the word receipt. we went round robin and he assured me that, the original part of $97.00 was not needed that, i was originally informed however , he was assured it was a $13.00 part and he would forward immediately. also, nate stated that this 97% assurance part was not the solution to my unit, no further conversation, i informed him that, this was not acceptable to the undersigned.

also,how ironic, my name etc. was in their computer system because, the rep started to give me info prior to me ie name, address etc. i know nate plan, give the customer a cheap part whether, it is needed or not and the problem will go away for $13.00. in summation, their manual does not specifically state the word receipt and to this date nate did not forward the part. these two episodes in my opinion represents deceptive practices.

As Genie Accelerator company refuses to admit their product is a lemon, although their product has been discontinued and as proven here has been serviced and replaced on several occasions - still they refuse to admit the product is a lemon.

On October 18, 2000 I had purchased your 2H Genie Accelerator Garage Door with a lifetime warranty from a Home Depot store.

Five months following the initial purchase (March 2, 2001) the machine failed and Genie ordered a service. December 3, 2003 the same issue repeated and again you serviced it. On January 12, 2004 the same problem repeated again and this time you replaced the motor with the same type of problematic machine. Of course the problems and issues continued to repeat themselves and you had serviced it several more times in 2005 and again on January 17, 2006.

Now, the problem occurred once again on August 27, 2006 where the Genie Accelerator does not operate at all. On Monday, August 28, 2006 I had called your offices, and with a wait of 45 minutes and then transferred with a hold of an additional 25 minutes and once again a transfer for another 30 minutes I finally reached a few supervisors who agreed with my claim that the product is indeed a lemon. However, when I reached one of the managers: Denise, she said she has to transfer the issue to higher authority and someone will call me back on the same day. My phone call began at 8:10AM and continued until 11:02AM.. Needless to say, there was no response. The following day, August 29, 2006 I called once again, and was transferred to a different higher manager at 1-800-345-3643 at extension 718 and again I had to repeat the story again and then I was transferred to another manager named: Laurie who offered that again they will send a service technician. I replied that enough service has already been preformed and they need to recall their lemon product.

Laurie, the manager, also suggested that I do not have to be locked in my home, I can disconnect the motor and manually lift the door to open and close it. I had explained that I live alone and I have severe arthritis, however, she insisted that it is not a problem to manually operate the door.

Today, August 30, 2006 I attempted to follow Laurie instruction However, due to my arthritis I was not able to sustain the lift of the door which resulted in the door shutting on my finger. My finger is now completely blue and my finger nail has to be removed.

Laurie proceeded to explain that this type of machinery needs to be serviced on a monthly basis. I am enclosing a copy of the manual clearly stating the only service required is a yearly lubrication of the drive screw. Regardless, why would any company give a lifetime warranty on a product that needs to be serviced monthly?

I will also provide an affirmation letter from my Doctor with reference to the injury I have suffered.

I want you to pick up your faulty equipment which I rendered to the Home Depot store, refund me the $345.30 which I had paid you for a faulty product, and compensate me for the aggravation, time, injury and misled information that you continuously brushed me off with.

I do not intend to let this go. I expect a serious and responsible reply from you immediately.

I look forward to your prompt response.

(818) 717-8887

She sincew has called Genie filed a complaint. We also filed a complaint with the Beteer Buisness Bureau & finally consumer affairs. I still am trying to be civil to Dimetrious. He is not responding. It will cost me about $300.00 dollars to have the door fixed. I would like all the money back that I paid for the door. $1060.00 Since Genie said that it was not a genie door that he installed and that he never got the door from Genie. He lied and I no longer have a warranty to up hold this matter