Bay Cities Automatic Gates

New Clients look out!
I am in charge of strategic planning for a private property in Northern California. We contracted Bay Cities automatic gates for a $ 30,000 job in which we needed to address massive security exposures on our land with respect to trespassers. We informed their Vice President Reza Kazemi it was time sensitive when he came out to do a site visit. He assured us the project would be no problem and eased our worries as he baited us to place a large order for a new entry system for our main gate and multiple other add-​ons to restrict access to other parts of our property. After we signed the order and shortly after the work had started, Reza called me and told me that 80% of our product order was no longer available for purchase. On top of that he tried to charge us thousands of dollars extra to order comparable products from overseas vendors! Eventually we came to terms on replacement products but by this time our project was 2 weeks past its scheduled completion date. After the main entry system was finally installed well past its scheduled activation date, we did not even receive the corresponding access keycards to utilize it as those were also not available. We were forced to endure while our gate was placed back on an automatic open timer meaning it opened for every car that approached creating massive exposure. At this point Reza started to ignore all of our calls and emails dishing us off to other departments within the company. A few weeks ago they sent a technician out to provide us with a few temporary badges until they resolved all of the issues. As of now our work has still not been completed and we never received any of our permanent access cards. Our project is now almost 2 months behind schedule and we have started to take legal action. I would never recommend this company to any body with time sensitive jobs. We should have went with a more reputable company but their Vice President did a good job promising us on deliverables he could not meet. He took advantage of our sense of urgency and showed no integrity when it came to fixing the issues his company created. VERY very unhappy with the level of service we have received.

I am the manager of a private property in Portola Valley, Ca. We recently contracted Bay Cities Automatic Gates to install a gate access as well as 3 barrier arms and a toggle switch for one of them to address security concerns. Not only did we have to contract our own electricians and pour some of our own concrete for the various installs, our project is over a month past the scheduled completion date and is still not finished. We have not received any of our permanent badges for our Paxton entry system, our toggle switch was never installed, and one of our barrier arms was 6 feet too short, which does not provide the security we need. Not to mention the Vice President of the company and lead sales rep «Reza Kazemi» sold us on products that were not even in their available inventory. He tricked us into signing a contract and then abandoned his obligations after they started the scope of work. Only shortly thereafter did we discover none of the three barrier arms we signed for were available and then he tried to charge us more money to order special order them from Germany. Furthermore, there is a serious lack of internal communication within the company. I had to explain issues multiple times to multiple different people which was very frustrating. They also had various technical issues programming the gates they installed. As of today our scope of work is still not complete and we are currently pursuing legal action. I would not recommend this company to anybody with time sensitive projects or any potential clients who expect a full service install. They provide horrible customer service and their Vice President Reza is slimy salesman indeed. Potential clients beware!

I don’t particularly enjoy writing these kinds of reviews, but I read other Unilocal reviews and find them helpful, so I hope others find this review helpful.
I contacted them in May (I’m writing this in September) about getting an estimate for a gate in our driveway. I set up an appointment with L. On the day of the appointment, she was 30 minutes late, but hey, things come up sometimes.
When she arrived, we talked about what we wanted — a simple iron gate for our driveway. She told me about the work that would be needed, and all the different options — running electrical underground, solar, etc. When she left, she said that she would have an estimate for us by the end of the week, or the beginning of the next week at the latest. So we waited to hear back.
Four weeks went by. No estimate. I wrote her, asking for an update. She responded saying that she would get us the quote out «today or tomorrow.»
Another five days passed. I didn’t hear anything, so I wrote her again, asking if she had any updates. She replied, saying that an average cost was between $ 13K-​$ 20K range, which, with a range of $ 7,000, was not particularly exact or helpful, and more importantly, was not an estimate for our particular project. She said she was waiting for more info to get us «full options.»
That was two and a half months ago. We never got an estimate.

After I complained, Bay Cities offered to waive the fee altogether. I appreciate the gesture. The dispatchers all sounded exceedingly nice on the phone. I guess the quality of technicians can be uneven.

The technician they sent did not know his business and spent a great deal of time calling technical support to figure out how to program a basic DoorKing keypad. He said he had never had to set limits on one before (to enter a code to make it open and stay open). I was charged $ 467 in labor, and a lot of this was for the time Scott spent on the phone. I called Bay Cities as soon as the tech left, and the woman who answered said that Scott, the owner, would call me back but he never did. The labor rate for pulling the old keypad and programming the new one was $ 467. It would have been well over $ 500, but they gave me a «courtesy discount,» which I assumed was because I was a first-​time customer. I never got a callback. I knew how to program the thing much better than the tech did, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He said he couldn’t leave until he was sure it was right. It IS working right now, but it should not have taken him that long to do a very basic procedure, and I shouldn’t have had to pay for him to learn how.

Wonderful service from the moment I called in, to the follow up after the job was completed beyond my expectations. I am so happy I found them and will be a customer for life. Thank you to the whole staff.

This is how a company is suppose to be run.
Called for a gate repair as I could not get anyone to come out unless i promised to unload my bank account first. Not Bay Cities.
You see they were more interested in what was wrong with the gate and how could they help me out on this day.
That is all I had asked for was help to resolve a problem and Bay Cities was here as promised with excellent communication.
Best Gate repair company in the Bay Area

I have been working with this company for several years, I have always found them to be professional, courteous and exceptionally competent. If there is an issue that needs to be addressed, they are eager to so, and have proven to me time and time again they are committed to client/​customer satisfaction. I would highly recommend them to anyone in need of service or new installation.

Bay Cities is a great company to work for. They are promote quick and also very efficient.
We have been satisfied to the fullest with all their work. Their quick responses and friendly customer service make them a great company to service and have for property security and any other work needed.
Esprit

Update: The owner contacted me and offered me a partial refund which I thought was pretty decent. These guys do good work. There was just a misunderstanding on the pricing and they’ve now given me the benefit of the doubt. Five stars. Carry on gentlemen.

I got a recommendation from our electrician for Baycities. I was in urgent need of installing some video survellence cameras to monitor my stores. I called in a little bit of a desparate, time sensitive situation and was greeted by a nice woman name Mary. She led me to believe that someone could help me out and that they would get back to me. My first call was on Oct 15^th. I followed up 2 more times and was always promised that Jim would get back to me. A month and 3 phonecalls later, Mary apologized and still promised that Jim would call me back. It’s my bad for not going somewhere else after the 2^nd drop in communication. I would not recommend this company to anyone. Especially if you are in need of anything urgent or sensitive. You’d think that a company in the security business would have urgency as a core competency or be more sensitive to a customers security needs. When I find a great company to help me with my security needs, I’ll be sure to post it here so others don’t waste their time with Bay cities.

Still great! they even took the time to follow up and ask how we liked the gate — now that’s A+ old world service!!!

When my automatic gate started to malfunction, I called a number of companies. Unilocal did not have a lot of information, so I went on the system manufacturer’s website (elite/​liftmaster) and called up authorized dealers. Bay Cities was most responsive. The technician who came out was competent and made good suggestions regarding ancillary work. Final bill came in significantly higher than informal price forecast and itemization on bill was unclear (big number for «labor» without specifying number of hours or hourly rates — conflicting numbers provided on the phone and in person for labor cost).