Customer Reviews

GRGE DOOR OPENER TORSION DRIVE

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

After calling the Wayne Dalton help desk several times, they had me check every important part of my garage door for balance issues. The door was balanced perfectly, so the techs were clearly at a loss to figure out what was wrong. So, they sent me a new motherboard. It was easy to install and, as soon as I did so, the garage door opened/closed perfectly. I have not had a problem with it since (it has been perhaps 5 months since I replaced the mother board). Thus, I would have to say that all of my pain and suffering were simply the result of a defective piece of harware.

Wayne Dalton not only sent me the replacement motherboard, but also sent me a UPS slip to have the old motherboard sent back to them for analysis. None of this, of course, cost me a penny.

All in all, this garage door opener is great. I opens and closes faster and quieter than any other garage door opener that I know of. It's very small and there is no overhead unit in the middle of the garage (it simply sits on top of the torsion bar).

Furthermore, I think that the phone techs showed great patience with me and were very willing to work with me to resolve the problem.

Instead of deleting my original review, I thought it would be useful for those considering this machine to see what I went through. Most people that do installations of this kind know that defective hardware happens, and a good company will replace said hardware.

If you install this opener correctly, and it is not working, don't hesitate to call Wayne Dalton and have them work with you. It just might be a defective piece of hardware that is messing everything up.

After about 5 months of working properly, I think I can safely say that this machine is excellent.

I Drive Torsion Garage Dr Opener
Professionally installed on 2 doors summer 2004, one had circuit board replaced 3 times in first month. One door used average of 3x/day other 2x/week, by spring 2007 one door occasionally jammed, by fall one door jammed daily, other door occasionally. Plastic cable drums on end of torsion springs are destroyed by the cable over time, cable jumps onto bar or into plastic ratchet gears, jamming doors partly closed or open. Service availability is an issue here - 1-2 weeks to come see the problem, another several weeks for parts, still more weeks to come fix it. Took 3 months to have a repair made in 2006. Door works nicely when it works. Replacing drums is easy for handiman, but proper adjustment of counterbalancing system is tricky and can be impossible, permanently jamming door, leaving your vehicle stuck inside, or out. Get these only if you have responsive service agent available and plan to have them service the door periodically.

The Wayne Dalton i-drive is an appealing innovative looking product. It promises a high-tech modern way to open your garage door but does not deliver. This product when installed has a mind of its own. It will open when it feels like it and close when it feels like it. Of course the Wayne Dalton folks will tell you your door is not balanced and then next you need professional installation. After I installed the professionals also had their try to no avail. Besides not working properly, the components are not rugged (electronics). I bought this unit at Lowe's and fortunately they returned the product (no questions asked) with my list of complaints to the manufacturer. I never did hear from them after that letter. I bought a traditional old fashioned GENIE garage door opener with NO problems whatsoever! I noticed a year later that Lowe's no longer carries the Wayne Dalton i-drive. I have also had good experience with Chamberlain but STAY AWAY from the i-drive!

I bought this unit from Menards (home improvement store) because I liked the idea of having the extra space for storage. Installed it myself in our new construction home which was not difficult. Worked fine for the first 6-9 months but then started having problems with opening the door with the unit shutting down before the door would open completely. Door balance was fine and tracks were well lubricated. Could never get the thing to work quite right. Eventually, after a year of manually opening the door, I swallowed my pride and made a couple of calls to local professionals to get it serviced. A couple of places were hesitant to even come out because they weren't "familiar enough" with the units, one flat out refused saying they were "garbage." I finally found a company that actually sold them and they informed me that the manufacturer was replacing units for free because of a problem with circuitry. I gave her some information from my unit and she informed me that mine did not fall in the date of manufacture range for a free replacement. So rather than wasting money on service calls and replacement parts I have decided to just get rid of this unit and go with another brand/design.In summary:
-It's a cool design, if it would work, but pretty expensive. Your money might be spent better elsewhere.
-If you buy it and have problems with it, don't wait! The design has had known problems in the past, not sure if they have been completely corrected but talk to the manufacturer. For what it's worth, Menards doesn't carry them anymore.

My new home was finished one-year ago complete with a Wayne Dalton garage door and the iDrive Torquemaster motor. The iDrive is a nice idea but it is one big mistake. It worked intermittently for almost a year. Then it would not close properly at all. So, I called the guy who installed it and he blamed me for the problem and made adjustments to fix it. He said that I did not call him soon enough. I have had garage doors with openers for many years. None of them have failed on me even after 10-years of use. The Dalton opener began having issues within months and then failed totally in a year. The installer blamed me. Never again!!

These are absolute junk! DO NOT PURCHASE! They are not consistent and reliable and with a garage door opener consistency and reliability are most important. It gets really old crossing your fingers hoping this is not the time that it decides it won't shut. They open just fine. Perfectly. But when you are sitting in the driveway in the dead of winter trying to get it to shut and half the time have to get out and pull the release from inside, manually shut the door, undo the release and then go out your side door so that the garage door remains locked, you get feed-up! Not only that, Wayne Dalton won't stand by there junk products! There so-called customer service agent told me the parts are no longer covered! I have even paid Wayne Dalton certified techs, on more than one occasion, to come out and try to fix the problem. YES PAID! Wayne Dalton was initially willing to cover the parts but not labor and now they won't even cover the parts! I am having a company come and rip these two JUNK openers out and install standard chain openers. I bought the house in '06 and one of the doors had the idrive installed and the other didn't have anything. I paid to have a second idrive installed to match and neither have EVER worked consistently. The longest I have gone without MAJOR problems is one month. I have had to replace the motor on the new one and now I need to replace the motor on the other but Wayne Dalton will not warranty it! I have had techs out several times confirming proper installation (they were both installed by certified Wayne Dalton techs!) and they still will not work! All of these people who gave it fives will be back on here shortly with their own horror stories...just give it a few months!

After replacing the motor several times, I find out that the model is discontinued (for obvious reasons, I would argue). No satisfaction from company...
Warantee not applicable, even though motor is only 2 years old...
Rude service representative...
Take your business elsewhere...and tell your friends.

We have several iDrive openers in our complex. They seem to break a lot. Mine has failed three times in less than a year, and I don't use it very much. I have just replaced the iDrive with one of the more conventional older units.

Last time my iDrive failed, the manual override wouldn't work either. Fortunately my car was still outside at the time!

I put one of these in my garage myself about three years ago, and it's been going strong ever since.
I live in wisconsin, unheated and uninsulated garage, and it's given me never a single problem.
It's quiet (all my noise is from the garage door itself) and quick. I love the speed it raises the door, and how the ceiling is totally free of any obstructions.
I don't know anyone else who has one if the I drives like this, so I had no idea that there were so many people out there with bad experiences.

I guess i got lucky with the unit I picked up...

I bought and installed two iDrives when we moved into our home in Spring of 2006. I have 7 foot garage doors and 11 foot ceilings so I really like the low profile out of the way design of the iDrive. I also like the speed at which the iDrive raised and lowered the door.

My double door which is used daily was continually having issues with stopping and reversing mid-stream, remotes failing, and after about 3 years started popping GFI's. In the beginning, we would often have to get out of the car and help open or close the door. With the iDrive disengaged you could easily raise or lower the door with 2 fingers.

Like everyone else it seems, WD sent me new circuit boards which usually solved the problems for a while but new ones eventually crept up. Customer service was usually pretty helpful and they seem to have available hours for us that work. I did get a bit frustrated with the guy who told me that I should not have GFI's in my garage (it is code).

My secondary door which I rarely use worked great for about a year and then started reversing itself 3-4 seconds after it closed. I reprogrammed it and it would help for about a month and then it would start doing it again. The final straw was once after it reversed itself in mid-cycle, it started spinning the cables off my door.

I will admit the the customer service tried their very best to help me out with the iDrive but I just could not take it anymore and hired someone to come in, fix my now inoperable door and install the Chamberlain Elite Series 3800PLD which so far is considerably better than the iDrive. Quieter, smoother, MUCH better locking system, temperature on the key pad (don't know why but it is pretty cool), motion detector on the keypad for overhead light and if nothing else, confindence in it. After looking at the install of the Chamberlain, I am glad I did not do it myself whereas the iDrive was fairly easy.

My neighbor, where I first I first discovered the iDrive, has had zero problems in almost 5 years.