(this is word-for-word quoted from a customer email other than one "*")
I bought a right-opening chicken door from you folks eleven years ago.
After an incident about five years ago where a bear tore into the actual coop and ate all of our little pals and left us only feathers (I have to add, the bear tried to claw at the door but found it easter to tear away heavy wood trim and siding- a testimonial in itself to the strength of the door), we retired from having more girls.
Well, Mrs. Egg Beater (the Boss around here) decided it was time to get back on the "chicken-horse". Weather and mud and tree and plant material had formed up over the coop and I had neglected every part of it...partly because I was lamenting over the loss of the flock. Partly because I was (am) lazy.
But, duty called.
With all the muck and the junk out there, I expected a whole lot of work. I used my limited carpenter skills to reinforce the coop and was about to order another door.... when I decided to sort out the wreckage.
I checked the power and sensor lines to the door. Looked okay... "Check". Rebuilt the part of the coop that needed to support the door's frame. "Check". "What the Heck?" Cleaned the mud and grime and unmentionable chicken residue off of the door, "Check". Cleaned up nicely. "What the Heck (again)?" Oiled the contact points of the door, grabbed a magnet for any potential that if the door would operate at all, I'd try programming, connected a 12v extra battery I keep charged up for our gate.
I'll be d*mned. The door works the same way it did as if it were brand new. As I use the sensor, I didn't even have to do ANY programming. It went right back to the operation it had in the "pre-bear" days.
I've ordered from you a battery and trickle charger and new sensor just in case anything needs to be freshened up. But I'm sure it won't.
The door's been operating now for three days while the little chicks are getting ready to go outside in a few weeks.
But, thanks to the quality of your door, they'll have their new home as sweet as their recent ancestors did (R.I.P.).
After eleven years.... and five of those in the pile of unattended coop-parts. And we'll have good eggs again.
Bill K