Having a garage can be a huge selling point when you buy your home. Not only does it allow you to have a little extra space for storing things like lawn mowers and outdoor decor items, but it also helps protect your car from the elements. That can be a huge deal if you live somewhere that sees a lot of bad weather, like the hot and stormy conditions Florida is known for.
But having a garage door proved to be expensive for one Orlando, Florida man who told WFTV’s Action 9 how he received a $12,000 repair bill. The homeowner said he was willing to splurge on the expense so he could get his car out of the garage, but after he started thinking about just how much he was charged, he began having second thoughts.
According to Action 9, this isn’t the first time a homeowner has reported getting a higher-than-expected bill from this company, so reporters started digging into the company to see if they could figure out what was going on.
In the end, they discovered that something wasn’t quite right with the $12,000 bill, and they got to work trying to see if they couldn’t help the homeowner save some money on the fix.
Why the $12,000 Bill is Being Questioned
‘I gotta have this fixed’: Homeowner stunned by $12,000 garage door repair bill https://t.co/lfyj6cxZwk pic.twitter.com/HnK1A9Ntai
— WFTV Channel 9 (@WFTV) July 17, 2026
Scott Berry turned to Action 9 when a broken spring on his garage door resulted in a $12,000 bill from a company called Garage Door & Gates. “I’m shaking my head, I’m going, this doesn’t sound right, but I gotta have this fixed,” he recalled to the reporter.
However, Berry wasn’t the only one left holding an expensive bill from the company. That’s because Action 9 had already been alerted to Garage Door & Gates previously when a woman reached out to them about her experience, saying that she was asked to pay $2,000 to replace a broken spring on her garage door. The reason they were so expensive? The person who came out to fix them told the homeowner they were “hurricane proof” springs.
“And I thought, ‘Well, I live in hurricane country, I guess I’d probably better go the big route,'” she told the reporter. But when they asked for a second opinion from another garage repair company, they were given some shocking information.
“Those are pretty standard springs,” he said of the springs Peggy Brigham was sold as an upgrade, adding that the total cost from his company would’ve been somewhere around $309, including labor and parts.
How to Protect Yourself From Garage Door Scams
While Action 9 was eventually able to negotiate Berry’s $12,000 bill down to $3,000, reporters say it’s still around double what another repair company would’ve charged.
According to the International Door Association (IDA), garage door scams can happen, and it’s important to protect yourself before you agree to have any work done. To do this, the group suggests verifying that the company is legitimate by checking all of their info online, double-checking that the address, phone number, and name all match.
Next, IDA says it’s important to get more than one quote to make sure you’re getting the best price, which is something that would’ve helped Berry and Brigham.
Lastly, you should know exactly who is coming to your home to work on your garage door. That may mean verifying the installer or repair person’s name with the company before they come out, or asking for an ID when they arrive.
It’s hard to imagine that someone would intentionally take advantage of people by charging them a higher price to fix their doors, but it clearly happens. Hopefully, Berry and Brigham’s stories can serve as a warning for others before they get taken advantage of as well.