Hello everyone!
The web hosting service through Homestead has gotten their problems fixed! You can go back to our site without problems! There were no real threats from our site or malware attached to our site, and we were not hacked!
Check out the latest updates, pictures, and general information regarding garage doors:
Grove City Garage Door Inc.
Thank you for your understanding!
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Hosting Problems Announcement
Grove City Garage Door Inc. on the computers is experiencing technical difficulties at this time, we are not infected with malware, and we have not been hacked. Our main hosting service provider has had some issues and they are working to resolve the issues:Homestead Hosting Problem
Monday, October 27, 2014
Garage Door Opener Safety Sensors
Happy Monday Grove City Garage Door Fans!
I received a phone call on Friday about garage door openers and safety sensors, the person who called could not believe that you could not install safety sensors on an old garage door opener. You cannot install safety sensors on any garage door opener made before 1992. Here's some history!
In 1992 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a rule that started January 1, 1993, all automatic garage door openers made after this date has to have safety sensors. This rule went into effect because children were being killed by a garage door that would not stop once it was activated to close. Read the rule for yourself:Rule on Garage Door Openers
At Grove City Garage Door Inc., we will NOT add safety sensors to old garage door openers even if they are in good operation. We will NOT recommend doing this either, we also do NOT recommend by-passing the garage door safety sensors. If we come to a home that has by passed the garage door safety sensors we will put the sensors back to the correct position on the garage door. The safety sensors are located on the garage door track and should be 6 inches from the floor.
See more about garage door safety: Garage Door Safety
We DO recommend updating your garage door opener if it was manufactured before 1992.
Do NOT by pass your safety sensors: This picture shows safety sensors hanging from the opener facing each other, this is UNSAFE! This garage door will come down without stopping because the safety sensors are by-passed. This garage door could kill an animal or small child! We DO NOT recommend by-passing your safety sensors!
I received a phone call on Friday about garage door openers and safety sensors, the person who called could not believe that you could not install safety sensors on an old garage door opener. You cannot install safety sensors on any garage door opener made before 1992. Here's some history!
In 1992 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a rule that started January 1, 1993, all automatic garage door openers made after this date has to have safety sensors. This rule went into effect because children were being killed by a garage door that would not stop once it was activated to close. Read the rule for yourself:Rule on Garage Door Openers
At Grove City Garage Door Inc., we will NOT add safety sensors to old garage door openers even if they are in good operation. We will NOT recommend doing this either, we also do NOT recommend by-passing the garage door safety sensors. If we come to a home that has by passed the garage door safety sensors we will put the sensors back to the correct position on the garage door. The safety sensors are located on the garage door track and should be 6 inches from the floor.
See more about garage door safety: Garage Door Safety
We DO recommend updating your garage door opener if it was manufactured before 1992.
Do NOT by pass your safety sensors: This picture shows safety sensors hanging from the opener facing each other, this is UNSAFE! This garage door will come down without stopping because the safety sensors are by-passed. This garage door could kill an animal or small child! We DO NOT recommend by-passing your safety sensors!
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Trademarking!
Hello All Grove City Garage Door Inc. Fans! I am Tracy Fairchild (Mark Rothwell's girlfriend) and the website/advertising administrator of Grove City Garage Door Inc.
Today I would like to cover a topic that no one seems to really understand: Trademarking!
What is a trademark? A trademark is a string of words, a logo, or both that a corporation is claiming as their claim to fame! For example: McDonalds, Wendys, White Castle, Gas Monkey Garage, etc., well you get the picture are all trademarks of corporations with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. These corporations have the legal right to sue if you try to use their trademark for any kind of advertising or use without authorization.
Grove City Garage Door is a trademarked string of words with the United States Patent and Trademark Office also. Grove City Garage Door Inc. owns this trademark and has the right to protect the trademark in a court of law.
Check for yourself: USTPO Trademark Search
Why Trademark? Grove City Garage Door Inc. decided to trademark the term Grove City Garage Door when we seen 5-6 other companies using that term to advertise for their own company. We tried to ask Google to remove the offenders from the Pay to Click advertising and got a big fat NO! Google will not remove the offending Pay to Click ad using the term Grove City Garage Door because it was not trademarked with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Google will not remove the offenders that have went out and created websites. So now we have to hire an IP Lawyer to start getting some of the websites removed from the indexes.
Trademark Process: The trademark process is not a short process, it could take 6 months to a year to get your trademark approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. First step is to search the USTPO website to see if anyone owns your trademark. If no one owns the trademark the next step is to decide if you have a logo to trademark or just words. We went with just words in 2011. We filed our claim, paid our fees, and waited for an answer. The USTPO office contacted us to ask questions about our trademark, how long we had been using the trademark, and proof of the length of time. You see there are two kinds of trademarks: Intent to use in commerce and use in commerce. Intent to use means that someday you intend to use the trademark in commerce, you have to start using the trademark within 3-5 years after approval. Use in commerce means that you have used the trademark for more than 5 years, since we have been using the trademark since 1999 this qualified for more than 5 years. The USTPO lawyer approved our application for trademark and sent it out for a 30 day period of petition. Petition time means that anyone has the right to file a petition as to why the trademark should not be given or approved. If no one submits a petition against your trademark application then your trademark will be approved and go live.
Trademark Protection: Absolutely no one will protect your trademark! Many companies will try to use your trademark while advertising! What can you do? You can contact a lawyer to have this lawyer send out cease and desist letters. Once a cease and desist letter goes out, then you can file a police report for cyber harassment. You CANNOT file a police report without first sending out the cease and desist letter, the offenders have to be warned to stop. Then the next step would be to spend tons of money with lawyers and courts proving that the offending company used your mark without authorization. I don't know about you, but we are NOT in the lawyer paying business, we are in the garage door business!
Creative Trademark Protection: Currently we are searching for other ways to protect our trademark online. We are investigating a few companies that say they have a solution to remove offending websites from Google indexes. But of course there are fees involved! We do contact offending companies ourselves first, and if they will not comply then we have to get our lawyer involved. We prefer that the offending companies comply willingly because as I have said, we are NOT in the lawyer business! We have found some argumentative website management companies in the process who either do not understand trademarks or just do not do their research about trademarks. Grove City Garage Door Inc. has the sole ownership of the term Grove City Garage Door and we do have the legal right to sue any unauthorized use of our trademark in a court of law!
Grove City Garage Door Inc. does NOT practice using any other companies' name or trademark in our advertising. I do research the trademark website frequently so that we can avoid being sued for using someone's trademark. I also do not want to confuse our customers in our advertising, I want to grow our customer base through advertising correctly and form a trusting relationship with our customer base. Be creative! Use your own company name, build your own customer base, quit trying to steal ours!
Today I would like to cover a topic that no one seems to really understand: Trademarking!
What is a trademark? A trademark is a string of words, a logo, or both that a corporation is claiming as their claim to fame! For example: McDonalds, Wendys, White Castle, Gas Monkey Garage, etc., well you get the picture are all trademarks of corporations with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. These corporations have the legal right to sue if you try to use their trademark for any kind of advertising or use without authorization.
Grove City Garage Door is a trademarked string of words with the United States Patent and Trademark Office also. Grove City Garage Door Inc. owns this trademark and has the right to protect the trademark in a court of law.
Check for yourself: USTPO Trademark Search
Why Trademark? Grove City Garage Door Inc. decided to trademark the term Grove City Garage Door when we seen 5-6 other companies using that term to advertise for their own company. We tried to ask Google to remove the offenders from the Pay to Click advertising and got a big fat NO! Google will not remove the offending Pay to Click ad using the term Grove City Garage Door because it was not trademarked with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Google will not remove the offenders that have went out and created websites. So now we have to hire an IP Lawyer to start getting some of the websites removed from the indexes.
Trademark Process: The trademark process is not a short process, it could take 6 months to a year to get your trademark approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. First step is to search the USTPO website to see if anyone owns your trademark. If no one owns the trademark the next step is to decide if you have a logo to trademark or just words. We went with just words in 2011. We filed our claim, paid our fees, and waited for an answer. The USTPO office contacted us to ask questions about our trademark, how long we had been using the trademark, and proof of the length of time. You see there are two kinds of trademarks: Intent to use in commerce and use in commerce. Intent to use means that someday you intend to use the trademark in commerce, you have to start using the trademark within 3-5 years after approval. Use in commerce means that you have used the trademark for more than 5 years, since we have been using the trademark since 1999 this qualified for more than 5 years. The USTPO lawyer approved our application for trademark and sent it out for a 30 day period of petition. Petition time means that anyone has the right to file a petition as to why the trademark should not be given or approved. If no one submits a petition against your trademark application then your trademark will be approved and go live.
Trademark Protection: Absolutely no one will protect your trademark! Many companies will try to use your trademark while advertising! What can you do? You can contact a lawyer to have this lawyer send out cease and desist letters. Once a cease and desist letter goes out, then you can file a police report for cyber harassment. You CANNOT file a police report without first sending out the cease and desist letter, the offenders have to be warned to stop. Then the next step would be to spend tons of money with lawyers and courts proving that the offending company used your mark without authorization. I don't know about you, but we are NOT in the lawyer paying business, we are in the garage door business!
Creative Trademark Protection: Currently we are searching for other ways to protect our trademark online. We are investigating a few companies that say they have a solution to remove offending websites from Google indexes. But of course there are fees involved! We do contact offending companies ourselves first, and if they will not comply then we have to get our lawyer involved. We prefer that the offending companies comply willingly because as I have said, we are NOT in the lawyer business! We have found some argumentative website management companies in the process who either do not understand trademarks or just do not do their research about trademarks. Grove City Garage Door Inc. has the sole ownership of the term Grove City Garage Door and we do have the legal right to sue any unauthorized use of our trademark in a court of law!
Grove City Garage Door Inc. does NOT practice using any other companies' name or trademark in our advertising. I do research the trademark website frequently so that we can avoid being sued for using someone's trademark. I also do not want to confuse our customers in our advertising, I want to grow our customer base through advertising correctly and form a trusting relationship with our customer base. Be creative! Use your own company name, build your own customer base, quit trying to steal ours!
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Garage Door Game Returning!
We play a Facebook game with our customers, its' called the Garage Door Game! We decided that with low participation that we didn't want to continue the game earlier this year, but after several emails from our customers we have decided to bring the game back! So join us on Facebook to learn more about garage doors, and win a gift certificate to Capital City Cakes in Grove City!
The Garage Door Game will occur once a month, the first question will be put up on November 1, 2014!
Join us on Facebook! Grove City Garage Door Inc on Facebook
Gift Certificates we will be giving away: $10 Capital City Cakes in Grove City
Visit Capital City Cakes:Capital City Cakes-Grove City
We will also be doing some local research in Grove City to find out who has gift certificates available, we will be supporting the Grove City area with our gift certificate giveaways!
The Garage Door Game will occur once a month, the first question will be put up on November 1, 2014!
Join us on Facebook! Grove City Garage Door Inc on Facebook
Gift Certificates we will be giving away: $10 Capital City Cakes in Grove City
Visit Capital City Cakes:Capital City Cakes-Grove City
We will also be doing some local research in Grove City to find out who has gift certificates available, we will be supporting the Grove City area with our gift certificate giveaways!
Monday, October 13, 2014
Importance of Data Entry
How important is data entry for advertising?
When we advertise with a website it is important to data entry the correct phone number, email address, and email address. How else would our customers know who to contact?
We have a couple of places that we advertise that we pay a membership fee to advertise with them. Last month we had a magazine that was published with our advertisement in this magazine, what did we find? We found that the person that input our contact information put in a phone number that did not exist. So when customers try to reach out to us the phone number is bogus! This is why it is extremely important that when a person data entries your information to make sure it is correct. This was a one time occurrence that we are not sure if this occurred on several other occasions! Common mistakes such as these can slowly deteriorate a customer base! Customers will call the bad numbers and instead of thinking that someone could have made a mistake, that customer is lost!
The company that we had a membership to does not seem to understand that we will not be joining their organization for another year after we had found mistakes like the wrong number two years in a row, last year it was our website address and this year it was our phone number. We do not want to affiliate ourselves with organizations that continually make these kinds of mistakes that could possibly cost us customers. It is extremely important that when you are entering a business advertisement to make sure it is correct! No business wants to lose a customer due to mistakes of others!
When we advertise with a website it is important to data entry the correct phone number, email address, and email address. How else would our customers know who to contact?
We have a couple of places that we advertise that we pay a membership fee to advertise with them. Last month we had a magazine that was published with our advertisement in this magazine, what did we find? We found that the person that input our contact information put in a phone number that did not exist. So when customers try to reach out to us the phone number is bogus! This is why it is extremely important that when a person data entries your information to make sure it is correct. This was a one time occurrence that we are not sure if this occurred on several other occasions! Common mistakes such as these can slowly deteriorate a customer base! Customers will call the bad numbers and instead of thinking that someone could have made a mistake, that customer is lost!
The company that we had a membership to does not seem to understand that we will not be joining their organization for another year after we had found mistakes like the wrong number two years in a row, last year it was our website address and this year it was our phone number. We do not want to affiliate ourselves with organizations that continually make these kinds of mistakes that could possibly cost us customers. It is extremely important that when you are entering a business advertisement to make sure it is correct! No business wants to lose a customer due to mistakes of others!
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Cool Garage Finds
Every day we get to go out to customer's homes and establishments to perform garage door services! Sometimes we find really interesting cars in their garages! This week we were at a commercial establishment that races cars. We are installing 7 new Clopay 3715 garage doors and openers for each door. We have the ability to install large commercial garage doors since we own our scissor lift.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Safety in Mind
At Grove City Garage Door Inc., we are always thinking of what we could possibly blog about on a daily basis. There are only so many components to a garage door! Today we will touch on some garage door safety!
When you are home don't leave your garage door open and unattended, why you ask?
-Criminals are always thinking of ways to get the next job, and an open garage door left unattended is inviting criminals in to inspect your garage.
What are they looking for?
-Easy access to you home! If you do not own a car that has a garage door opener in the overhead part of your vehicle then you probably own a remote you have attached to your sun visor. This remote is easily stolen when a garage door is left open and unattended!
How to avoid your remote being stolen:
-Close your garage door and do not leave it open or unattended!
-Get a key chain remote for your vehicle!
-Program you overhead remotes to your garage!
-Take your keys and remote inside with you!
We offer key chain remotes and can program them to up to 3 garage door openers!
Just give us a call, we can set this remote to just about any garage door opener or gate!
When you are home don't leave your garage door open and unattended, why you ask?
-Criminals are always thinking of ways to get the next job, and an open garage door left unattended is inviting criminals in to inspect your garage.
What are they looking for?
-Easy access to you home! If you do not own a car that has a garage door opener in the overhead part of your vehicle then you probably own a remote you have attached to your sun visor. This remote is easily stolen when a garage door is left open and unattended!
How to avoid your remote being stolen:
-Close your garage door and do not leave it open or unattended!
-Get a key chain remote for your vehicle!
-Program you overhead remotes to your garage!
-Take your keys and remote inside with you!
We offer key chain remotes and can program them to up to 3 garage door openers!
Just give us a call, we can set this remote to just about any garage door opener or gate!
Monday, October 6, 2014
Temperature Affect
As the month of October gets into full swing so do the temperatures! As temperatures swing from high to low, there are different effects the temperatures have on garage door parts.
The springs are most affected by the swinging temperatures! The metal can withstand only so much before it just gives out. The constant up and down from raising and lowering the garage door causes the metal in the springs to wear out over time and use, then temperatures cause the springs to expand and contract with temperature fluctuation. The expansion and contraction of the metal from swinging temperatures will cause the springs to just suddenly break, so on a particularly cold morning don't be surprised if you look up and your spring in broken in two pieces. We recommend not using your garage door with a broken spring since this can cause the door to be heavier and the opener will struggle opening the garage door. And if both springs have broken, this will most likely cause the opener to become damaged if you try to open the garage door. We always recommend changing both springs once one has broken. Why you ask? Well it is only a matter of time before the other spring will break. Could be a day, a week, a month, but it will be soon after the first one breaks. So get a preventative maintenance and replace both at the same time!
Our pricing is very competitive, just give us a call for pricing on spring repairs!
The springs are most affected by the swinging temperatures! The metal can withstand only so much before it just gives out. The constant up and down from raising and lowering the garage door causes the metal in the springs to wear out over time and use, then temperatures cause the springs to expand and contract with temperature fluctuation. The expansion and contraction of the metal from swinging temperatures will cause the springs to just suddenly break, so on a particularly cold morning don't be surprised if you look up and your spring in broken in two pieces. We recommend not using your garage door with a broken spring since this can cause the door to be heavier and the opener will struggle opening the garage door. And if both springs have broken, this will most likely cause the opener to become damaged if you try to open the garage door. We always recommend changing both springs once one has broken. Why you ask? Well it is only a matter of time before the other spring will break. Could be a day, a week, a month, but it will be soon after the first one breaks. So get a preventative maintenance and replace both at the same time!
Our pricing is very competitive, just give us a call for pricing on spring repairs!
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Multiple Domain Names
There are often times when people ask why we never bought the multiple domain names of our company?
Well for starters back in 1998 when the Internet was still in it's infancy stages, there was no need to buy all of the possible names of our company such as .net, .org, .us, .co, and plural spellings of the same. Back in 1998 the Internet was new, computers were not in every one's homes, and there were not smart phones! So we did not see the need to spend much money on Internet marketing.
Since those years have passed, we still never bought into all of those extra extensions because we have a great reputation and a word of mouth business from working hard, having low prices, and keeping our customers happy! Our word of mouth business is still to our advantage even to this day! There is not a single day that goes by that someone calls and says my dad, mom, aunt, uncle, cousin, friend, or co-worker referred your company to me. So THANK YOU to all of our wonderful customers that pass us on to others, we would not be here if it weren't for you!
As for still not buying all of those extensions? At this point why bother? Now the persons who do own those other extensions of my company name are in NO WAY affiliated with Grove City Garage Door Inc., those people are impersonating our company to steal our customers from us!
So please check out their credentials before letting them do any work. If it's not myself, my brother Pat, or my contract employee Mike Writsell at your door then send them away if they say they are Grove City Garage Door! Now you can find us both on Facebook: Mark Rothwell and Pat Rothwell, you can also find Grove City Garage Door Inc on Facebook! Find us, be our friends, leave reviews, tell us how we are doing! We love to hear from our customers!
Well for starters back in 1998 when the Internet was still in it's infancy stages, there was no need to buy all of the possible names of our company such as .net, .org, .us, .co, and plural spellings of the same. Back in 1998 the Internet was new, computers were not in every one's homes, and there were not smart phones! So we did not see the need to spend much money on Internet marketing.
Since those years have passed, we still never bought into all of those extra extensions because we have a great reputation and a word of mouth business from working hard, having low prices, and keeping our customers happy! Our word of mouth business is still to our advantage even to this day! There is not a single day that goes by that someone calls and says my dad, mom, aunt, uncle, cousin, friend, or co-worker referred your company to me. So THANK YOU to all of our wonderful customers that pass us on to others, we would not be here if it weren't for you!
As for still not buying all of those extensions? At this point why bother? Now the persons who do own those other extensions of my company name are in NO WAY affiliated with Grove City Garage Door Inc., those people are impersonating our company to steal our customers from us!
So please check out their credentials before letting them do any work. If it's not myself, my brother Pat, or my contract employee Mike Writsell at your door then send them away if they say they are Grove City Garage Door! Now you can find us both on Facebook: Mark Rothwell and Pat Rothwell, you can also find Grove City Garage Door Inc on Facebook! Find us, be our friends, leave reviews, tell us how we are doing! We love to hear from our customers!
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