Sooner or later, your automated gates will need service. Regular maintenance is the best way to avoid repairs as well as the inconvenience of your gate being stuck in a closed or open position. So how do you go about finding reputable repair service?
For starters, you want a company that can guarantee a rapid response to your emergency. Gate breakdowns can happen anytime, day or night, requiring a quick response time so you don’t want to have to post a security guard or pay an employee overtime to mind the gates.
Following are some suggestions for finding the best gate service.
Online Reviews
When you search online for automated gate maintenance or repair, you’re likely to come across ratings by such search services as Yelp, a crowd-sourced review forum. You’re probably aware that online reviews can be a mixed bag. Recent research has shown that readers tend to distrust too many positive reviews, and are more likely to believe negative reviews, whether they are accurate or not. According to a recent article in The New York Times, there are more positive reviews online than negative ones, and that may cause readers to devalue the positive ones.
References
You’re far better off asking a company for references and calling them to check them out, asking if the job was completed on time and satisfactorily. Or, you can call the local Better Business Bureau and see what, if any, kind of complaints have been lodged against the business you are interested in.
Ask the Right Questions
The best way to assess the reliability of a gate service provider is to interview the manager, asking about recommended gate maintenance, what the company’s general response time is in an emergency repair and how long they have been in business. By asking a few questions, you should be able to get a general idea of the company’s business ethics and philosophy, as well as licensures (you may want a licensed electrician to work on your gate), bonding and insurance. Other questions to ask:
- Can the company fabricate or custom-build a new gate?
- Are the technicians certified?
- Do they have experience repairing or maintaining the kind of gate on your property?
- Does the company keep the parts your gate will need for repair of openers, including remotes, sensors and receivers?
It’s always a good idea to research automated gate service businesses and try one out with a maintenance call. If you like the service, then you have already established a relationship and won’t have to panic about finding good repair service when an emergency arrives. Plus, scheduling occasional maintenance on your gate can catch minor problems before they morph into dire emergency repairs.