Waterloo, Ont. garage door company calls imitation websites 'absolutely disgusting' for scamming clients

Scammers trick customers into excessive fees A Waterloo business says scammers have tricked their customers into thinking they were dealing wit the real deal. Spencer Turcotte reports.

A garage door business in Waterloo, Ont. says scammers tricked their customers into paying ridiculous fees for subpar services using imitation websites.

Over the last several weeks, Waterloo Garage Doors has received multiple calls from frustrated customers who said they discovered large credit card charges for repairs or maintenance.

Clients were shocked to learn they weren’t dealing with the real Waterloo Garage Doors in the first place.

“We started having some customers calling us, quite upset, about exorbitant bills they had received, and after doing some investigation, realized they hadn’t been dealing with us,” explained Angela Young, co-founder of Waterloo Garage Doors.

While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, in this case, imitation has caused nothing but headaches.

Websites that look like Waterloo Garage Doors have been popping up online, looking to lure unsuspecting customers into doing business with the wrong company.

“[Customers are] promised a very low introductory price, but they are required to give a credit card in advance,” Young explained. “Then the charges are just racked up and billed to them, taken off their card.”

The scam sites mimic the real company, offer similar services and even look like a legitimate business at first glance. A key difference is that the web address ends with “door.com” instead of a “doors.ca.”

The work of scammers has been enough, though, to dupe both past and present clients.

“They were getting charged $800 to $1,000 for something we would normally charge $200 or $300 for,” Young said. “It was just absolutely disgusting for people to get bills like that.”

How to spot garage door scams

Garage door scams are something the Better Business Bureau has been keeping a close eye on.

Here are some the warning signs to look out for:

The Better Business Bureau also offered tips for avoiding garage door repair scams in the first place:

Regional police respond

The Waterloo Regional Police Service is echoing much of the advice shared by the Better Business Bureau.

“Go to the actual URL and it could be a difference of one or two letters, or a couple of numbers in the actual URL that’s actually taking you to a fraudulent website,” said Const. Brad Hickey. “Our biggest advice we can provide is don’t feel rushed to make a decision. We strongly encourage you to just stop, pause and think. Disconnect. Research the company more.”

Hickey said, while a lot of victims do report these incidents to police, there are likely many more that aren’t.

“Some people may not even realize they have been scammed for several weeks, months or even years later,” he added.

As for Waterloo Garage Doors, they want customers to do their research too and ask questions to ensure they are dealing with a real business.

The company has worked hard to build their reputation and they certainly don’t want to lose it to scammers.