We are the Real Cedar Park Overhead Doors.

WWW.cedarparkgaragedoors.com

We are “the REAL Cedar Park Overhead Doors”. I should not even have to say those words, but for the last three years we have been under attack by another company which wants you to think they are “Cedar Park Overhead Doors”. They are advertising on the web as “Cedar Parks Choice Overhead Doors”. Sometimes a choice is not such a good thing. Read on, to learn about this NATIONAL company that is using our name in their advertising and misleading people in the Austin area. In the last year we have had many calls from customers who thought they were calling “Cedar Park Overhead Doors” only to find out later that they had been tricked into calling another company. Most were not very happy and many were very unhappy.

Updated: 01/19/2018 – Just got off the phone with a customer who believes she has been ripped off by this company and  thought it was us. Of course the invoice was emailed to her and it was not our company. A set of rollers and some spray on the door and she got a $700.00 bill and the door still failed the next morning.  She thought she was calling us (Cedar Park Overhead Doors) and they showed up. As usual, they told her they were contractors for us and that they were part of us. They wanted to charge her another 3.5% if she paid with a credit card so they talked her into a check. One question she asked that hurt was, why do we allow this to happen? I have tried to stop this in the following ways.

1. I have trademarked my company name with the state to prevent them from using it They initially came here advertising as Cedar Parks Choice Overhead Door Company”. That did make a little difference.
2. I Have done TV and Radio commercials to let people know what is happening with that company.
3. I spend double what I used to spend on Advertising trying to get on top of the Google list so people do not get tricked. I spend $7,000 per month just on making sure we are at the top of a search that includes the terms “Cedar Park Overhead Doors”.
4. I submit copies of abused customers outrageous bills to the Garage Door Association so that they can track and identify the problem.
5. I have added pages to the website to explain what is happening and why customers get tricked.

This “System” is nation wide. Currently the same company is using multiple advertising avenues.

1. Google –  They advertise on Google and spend more money then any small company can even consider. Google did shut them off in October under their old name, but they are now back as “AustinFiveStardoors.com”. Same photos, same ads, and offers, just a different web address. In other cities, they change the name.
2. Phone Book – The new phone book is out. If you  are one of the few people that use the phone book you are likely to meet them again. The first and largest ad is them. This year they are using the names, “Discount and Neighborhood”. The ad even says at the bottom they are the same company.
3. ValPak and direct advertising, They are in there and their ads can range from “Jimmy’s, to “Discount”, to “Neighborhood Garage door Services”. All the same company. All of the ads do not show prices, just discounts off of some other price.

So, if you end up getting this company or mistakenly clicking on them when you were looking for us then it;s not exactly your fault. You were deceived into believing that they were us. We are working hard to fix this problem but I can only do so much and I only have so much money.

Here is an actual letter from a customer that had the customer believing they were us.

I sincerely wish I had received this email yesterday. Your company has an excellent reputation in the area. I had a problem. Thinking I was contacting you, I called the flimflam company. They informed me that there would be a 89.98 service charge. I stated that your website says all service calls are free and the man immediately and smoothly changed his script. The repairman wore a shirt with Overhead Garage Door embroidered on one side and his name on the other, although his truck had no ID. He told me I needed new equipment. Fortunately for me, he didn’t have a mounting piece and we arranged for him to return. In the meantime, I discovered that my equipment was under warranty. I called you to cancel my morning appointment, only to be told that there was no Steve working as a tech.
I could so easily be out $1000 for equipment I didn’t need.
Please continue to spread this word.

Yours,
Mary Ellen SXXX

In the last Six months we have had many calls from customers who thought they were calling “Cedar Park Overhead Doors” only to find out later that they had been tricked into calling another company. Most were not very happy and many were very unhappy. e understand how this can happen. As a matter of fact this page is used to help the customers who call us regarding their misdirection, understand what happened.

Here is more news regarding the same company form The Door and Access Manufacturers Magazine. http://www.dasma.com/articles/clips/Clippings_Sum2015.pdf
Here is another just this month. A rather detailed investigation by DASMA (Door & Access Systems Manufacturers Association) into the same company, GDS, appropriately titled: “The Worst Garage Door company in the Nation“.

How about Felony charges for your Best Technician GDS?

GDS- How about a felony conviction for your “Top Gun” awarded technician. See here for Details.

GDS has been prosecuted and found guilty of Elder Abuse in the state of California. For overcharging and unneeded repairs. According to a former GDS employee, Patterson made more than $300,000 for himself in 2015 and was rewarded with a trip to the GDS Christmas
party at the company’s Dallas headquarters. Several internal GDS records praise Patterson as a “top gun” for high invoices.

Currently these are the names that are being used in Austin by GDS.

Neighborhood Garage Doors – Found in Print advertising and mailers.
Discount Garage Door – Full page found in the phone book.
Austin’s Overhead Door Service – Full page found on the side of the page.
Austin Five Star Garage Doors – this is on google and they do not seem to able to catch on.
Ninja Garage Door Services – Used in the phone book and in some older print magazines.

Google finally had enough and said, having all these unhappy customers is not worth the money. Click here for more.

Do not get tricked. Go with someone who really is local and someone who really is Cedar Park Overhead Doors.

In the Screen print below you can see where the search term “Cedar Park Overhead Doors”, our company name, brings up two companies. One is the Real Cedar Park Overhead Doors (us) and the other is not. This screen shot is dated 04/12/2015 about 11:00 PM. The second company is GDS. Is it wrong to spend a lot of money using our company name as a search term? It is wrong to put our company’s actual company name on the first line of the results for another company? Do not be deceived. The second ad in the screen shot below, is not the Real Cedar Park Overhead Doors. They are better identified in the text and links at the bottom of this page.

Another example is when the other company bids heavily on Google with the keywords Cedar Park Garage Doors” which is our website address and has been for the last 10 years. And then their website address is “Cedar Park.AustinOverheadDoors.com‎”. Here is an example from a recent google search. The top red arrow shows the search terms which are our website address and the bottom arrow is our website address a Service Mark for the real Cedar Park Overhead Doors. Clicking on this takes you to another Company. Not the REAL Cedar Park Overhead Doors.

If you made this mistake don’t be embarrassed, when you get to their webpage it gets even worse. Depending on how you got there, it will say “Cedar Park – Overhead Garage Door Service”. Like this;

The company is actually “XXX”, “Global Distribution Services” or Austin’s Choice, Austin Five Star Garage Doors, etc. For an actual list you can see the many names on the San Diego BBB Web Site. Go to the bottom and see the many aliases used by this organisation. See this link: GDS in SanDiego. They are also in Dallas. See this link: GDS in Dallas. You might also consider looking in North Carolina. See This Link: GDS of NC. How about Washington state? See this link. Right now, only the Houston BBB seems to be OK with them Currently running at only 10 complaints as of 03/01/2015.

It looks like a local phone number but it isn’t. You are forwarded to a “call center” somewhere else where they handle all of the incoming calls. Customers tell us they set the appointment so that they can have an “expert” stop on over to look at your door. But it’s not free, you have to give them your credit card. There is then a charge for the agreed amount ($49.00?) which may be refunded or not charged if you decide to do the work they suggest. If you are astounded at the pricing from the technician who shows up, or don’t believe what they tell you, then they might charge your card and leave after doing no work. This is the first way for you to know for sure that you are not talking to The Real Cedar Park Overhead Doors. We never charge for estimates.

National Company or “System”

This operation is run in many different states and if you are interested in understanding how this operation works there is a lot of information on the web regarding the operators, owners and developers of this “system”. The state of Georgia has taken an interest in the company and the system as well as others. Here is an interesting article regarding the process being used only, now it’s by a new company that does get mentioned in this article. Click here.

Here is another article form DASMA (Door and Access Systems) regarding the company we who is doing this in Austin right now.

Stealing the Phone book

The International Door Association has also taken a look at how this works too, regarding the advertising techniques employed to ensure that this same company has the first and most pages of advertising. This is going on in Austin right now and started last year. If you still get the phone book, open it up to “garage doors” Notice there are four full pages at the beginning. They all look local and they all have some different angle, but they are all answered by the same phone center in “Wherever”. All this is not so obvious until you look closer at the ads and see the words “GDS”. All different names for the same company. Now think about who uses the Yellow Pages. It’s probably your mother or father, or your grandparents who don’t use the internet. They may not be able determine if this really is a local company or not. See this link for more information about how to “Own” the yellow pages. Here is an article relating to how the phone book situation in Arizona was run.

This article “Trouble in Denver” talks about ‘s XXXXXXXX’s (insert your City name here) “Choice” garage doors and how they work. http://www.dasma.com/articles/feature/feature220.asp.

By the way, We have been here 10 years and our facilities are real. Come visit us and see our showroom.

For some more reading on this “system” you might try the “RipOff Report”.

You might ask why I am interested in this information. The answer is that we get 2 or 3 calls per week from customers that thought they were calling us, the real “Cedar Park Overhead Doors” and ended up going through the “system”. They might have spent too much, paid hidden charges, got bad warranties, and were mad. At first they thought they were mad at us. But then their invoice told the truth. “XXX” is not Cedar Park Overhead Doors, but they bid highly on the keywords “Cedar Park Overhead Doors” and their link takes you to “Cedar Park’s Choice Overhead Garage Door Company” like this link shows. That is misleading and it’s causing customers to make a Bad CHOICE.

An example of this advertising activity is represented in this Georgia court action viewed here at this link.

Summary; When they stop misleading customers and making them believe they are the Real Cedar Park Overhead Doors, I will change delete this page.

To protect yourself, do this. “If they ask for money or a Credit card for an estimate, Hang Up, that’s not the Real Cedar Park Overhead Doors. Call us at 512-335-7441 or go to https://cedarparkgaragedoors.com.

Finally, If you get a crazy estimate from these guys but you don’t want to lose the $49 you let them charge, then send them away and call the Real Cedar Park Overhead Doors at 512-335-7441. We will do the job for less than their estimate and we will give you a much better warranty, and then give you your $49.00 back as a discount on the service.

Questions? Call us at 512-335-7441