Before you buy a new remote, it's worth knowing that most "the remote's broken" calls turn out to be the motor unit or a sensor, not the handset.
Humming motor, no movement. Usually a stripped gear inside the unit or a drive chain that's slipped off its sprocket, mechanical rather than electrical. It sounds worse than it is, this is a repair, not always a full unit replacement.
Door reverses immediately. Modern openers have a safety feature that reverses the door if it senses resistance, which is correct behaviour if something's actually in the way, but a fault if it happens on a clear path. Usually means the close-force sensitivity needs recalibrating, or the sensors are misaligned.
Intermittent remote response. Works sometimes, not others, from varying distances. Often a weak battery masquerading as a bigger problem, worth ruling out before assuming the receiver's failed. If a fresh battery doesn't fix it, the aerial or receiver board is the next suspect.
Door opens partway and stops. The travel limit settings have drifted, telling the motor to stop before the door's fully open. A five-minute adjustment once someone's got the unit open, not a sign anything's broken.
Nothing happens at all. Check the safety sensors near the floor before assuming the worst, a spider's web or a leaf blocking the beam is a more common cause than an actual electrical fault.
Openers generally last eight to twelve years. A unit past that age with a mechanical fault is often not worth repairing, parts get harder to source and a new opener isn't expensive relative to the labour of fitting it. Anything younger than that, we'll usually fix rather than replace.
Modern openers include force-limitation and auto-reverse safety features as standard, required under UK product safety regulations for exactly the reasons the DHF's consumer safety guidance covers. If your opener predates these features, that's worth factoring into a repair-or-replace decision alongside the mechanical condition.
One thing worth knowing if you're facing a replacement: newer openers are noticeably quieter than units from ten-plus years ago, belt-drive rather than chain-drive as standard now. If noise has been a complaint, a straight swap solves two problems at once.
If your door is currently manual and you're thinking about adding an opener rather than fixing an existing one, that's a different job, not a repair. Covered in full on our electric & automatic garage doors page, but the short version: most sectional and roller doors can be automated retrospectively, up-and-over doors sometimes need the mechanism checked first depending on age and type.
Usually not, it's often a weak remote battery or a receiver aerial issue, both cheap fixes.
On many units yes, it's usually a button-press sequence on the motor unit itself. We're happy to talk you through it on the phone if you're not sure.
If you regularly want to check the door's status remotely, genuinely useful. If not, it's an upgrade rather than a necessity, standard remotes do the core job fine.
Most calls booked before early afternoon get a same-day slot. No callout fee if we carry out the repair.