Safelite Autoglass and why you should go elseware

[A1rabbitracer]

Had my windshield replaced today as mine had a crack. Car is 1 month old.

Safelite was sent out by my insurance co. Guy was prompt.

Installed pilkington windshield. no biggie.

guy finished and I checked the work. scratches in dashboard, black smudges on pillars and headliner. He tried wipe off the smudges but still.

not happy. Looking to see what could be done about it. anybody else have any dealings with the negative side of their customer service?

[asusc]

Had my windshield replaced today as mine had a crack. Car is 1 month old.

Safelite was sent out by my insurance co. Guy was prompt.

Installed pilkington windshield. no biggie.

guy finished and I checked the work. scratches in dashboard, black smudges on pillars and headliner. He tried wipe off the smudges but still.

not happy. Looking to see what could be done about it. anybody else have any dealings with the negative side of their customer service?

Am currently going through the same issues with Safelite. Car is less than 6 months old when I got a huge crack across the windshield about 2 weeks ago.

Safelite was reco'd by my insurance company. Guy came to my office and worked quickly and everything seemed legit.

About an hour after he left I take a closer look and see that he ripped off paint along the roof line. I understand these things happen, but I'm really pissed he didn't mention anything to me. There is no way he didn't know he did this.

I called them up and they say they are going to take care of it, but I just know its going to be a huge pain in the ass.

Pics of said damage:

[clutchrider]

I guess it depends where you live and who is doing the work. Safelite repaired a chip in my wife's 05 Liberty windshield and all was professional. Talked to the guy while he worked, he explained the process as he did it, then vacuumed the car and cleaned all the windows.

A few months go by and she gets another knick from going through some construction area of torn up highway and it splits to a crack soon after. I made the call and they showed up at my office next day. I guess it depends on the car as well because her windshield was very easy to remove. It was two guys doing the whole windshield and they were fun and again very professional. The guy doing the work had been in the business for 20 years and again vacuumed and did the windows, all was well.

Again I think it has a lot to do with who is doing the work for them and what kind of car it is. I had one bad experience with Safelite years ago when they actually could not get the windshield off and had to cut the glass then pull off the edges. Ended up with a scratch in the paint because of the difficulty of the removal.

[pitmang1]

One of my old roomates has an autoglass company in Orange County. He works primarily on exotics (Fisker, Lamborghini, Porsche, etc. accounts). PM me if you want his number. I wouldn't have Safelite put the glass back in after they get your paint repaired. I'd have a real professional do it. Safelite and some of the other big companies have a lot of installers that are new to the business and as such, they are inexperienced.

Had my windshield replaced today as mine had a crack. Car is 1 month old.

Safelite was sent out by my insurance co. Guy was prompt.

Installed pilkington windshield. no biggie.

guy finished and I checked the work. scratches in dashboard, black smudges on pillars and headliner. He tried wipe off the smudges but still.

not happy. Looking to see what could be done about it. anybody else have any dealings with the negative side of their customer service?

[KC Jazz]

I have never had anything but a super pleasant experience with Safelite. I've had them get me out of some REALLY ****ty binds too, like a broken driver's window on vacation 1000 miles from home, or proving to my insurance company 3 months later that it caused my window motor to bind up.

Sucks that you guys had crappy INSTALLERS, but Safelite is backing you up, so stop making bull**** titles for threads.

[Clyde Smith]

Lowell.

People are always slow to praise, but quick to complain.

[asusc]

Sucks that you guys had crappy INSTALLERS, but Safelite is backing you up, so stop making bull**** titles for threads.

The INSTALLERS are a direct representation of the company. The title isn't "bull****," as the OP had a poor experience. It's great that you had a good experience with them, but others have not been so lucky.

[A1rabbitracer]

Sucks that you guys had crappy INSTALLERS, but Safelite is backing you up, so stop making bull**** titles for threads.

I started this thread. I had ****ty service, and not even a sorry to make me feel better.

I used to do interior reconditioning, and if I did a ****ty job I'd hear about it, and I would make it right for free. I never did a ****ty job so I wouldn't have to hear complaints from PAYING customers.

so take your bull and eat it.

[Peteo]

My suggestion is contact a body shop that does glass and have them do the repairs. A reputable shop will do it correctly and make sure the paint is not damaged during the replacement.

Remember, you insurance company is looking for the cheapest possible repair, not the best quality repair.

[jmchristian]

Had my windshield replaced today as mine had a crack. Car is 1 month old.

Safelite was sent out by my insurance co. Guy was prompt.

Installed pilkington windshield. no biggie.

guy finished and I checked the work. scratches in dashboard, black smudges on pillars and headliner. He tried wipe off the smudges but still.

not happy. Looking to see what could be done about it. anybody else have any dealings with the negative side of their customer service?

My wife's Golf had a cracked windshield last year, we talk the insurance into letting the dealer have it put in with factory glass, they used an outside company and they did a perfect job, looks like it never had the glass replaced. Midwestern Auto Group in Dublin, Ohio.

[tbone1989]

Safelite messed mine up 2 months ago, left black marks on pillars and didn't put any of the plastic back in place where it meets at the bottom of the windshield. I was pretty pissed. Had them come out a second time to fix it.

[A1rabbitracer]

Have an appointment with the regional manager tomorrow to inpect. Their customer service is good so far, and I will have a great review if all goes well.

[jmchristian]

Have an appointment with the regional manager tomorrow to inpect. Their customer service is good so far, and I will have a great review if all goes well.

Good luck, I won't use them again, my experience with the tech and the quality of the glass they use, was mixed, the first windshield was installed correctly, but the glass was bad, second tech said that happens and replaced with a better windshield, but installed the rubber piece on a 2007 Colorado incorrectly. I don't believe they have good products or techs. This is just my personal experience with Safelite.

[dzlnitro]

They also don't use OEM glass - When I had a windshield replaced on my BMW they came w/ some aftermarket crap and told them they're not touching the car unless it was OEM. I waited the 2 days...but they did a clean install.

[pinkertonfloyd]

My suggestion is contact a body shop that does glass and have them do the repairs. A reputable shop will do it correctly and make sure the paint is not damaged during the replacement.

Remember, you insurance company is looking for the cheapest possible repair, not the best quality repair.

Safelite ain't cheap, but they take over the glass paperwork/invoicing even the call centers for insurance... they save them on making it easier.

But here's an example. My local Safelite was a Diamond Triumph... which I used a lot... good job... they had great prices, and mostly used PPG glass (which is excellent)... When I had a windshield chip, they'd fix it for $18 if I dropped it off at their store... it was simple... I just handed them a $20, and they'd fix it... no bother with insurance. Anytime I priced glass they were half the price, and included everything (IE: Trim). safelight would be twice as much, and charge more for the trim/rubber... they'd have a "price matching" policy... but wouldn't match Diamond claiming that they were nationwide (B.S., Diamond at the time was the #2 glass company, just behind safelight).

Safelight started running the call centers for insurance and packaging the service... and Diamond (and others) sued claiming that basically anyone calling their insurance was basically being forced to go to Safelite... so what happened? The other companies won the lawsuit... but then Safelite started taking them over.

Now my local Diamond is Safelite... they closed the old store and basically put a sign telling you to go to the Safelite store... looks like all of the techs were let go too.

I needed a repair... and couldn't find anyone local I call them and a repair is now $120... so I decide to call my insurance since I have glass coverage. I of course get forwarded to Safelite... I found out they charge the insurance $85 (hmmm... was $18 out of pocket before). And the "Safelite exclusive" resin... is junk... it popped in a few days... I take it back and they basically tell me "we'll only fix if the crack gets bigger"). (coming back and looking worse than before they started doesn't count). They also tell me that the warranty is the cost of the repair towards the REPLACEMENT glass... and that they only reimburse the insurance company... as they were the customer... not me (So now it becomes a replacement claim, and my $500 deductible comes into play. Price on that glass... $800 (This was my Audi)... I called around... and found PPG glass as low as $450 out-the-door for a local shop with an excellent reputation.


The verdict from the other shop was that Safelite should have been able to make the repair correctly... but they were lazy... "it's cold (well... not that cold, I'm in California), so they took it inside their shop, did the repair, and then put the car outside... which stressed the repair and made it pop."

They should of either done it outside, and told me to leave the car outside for the rest of the day, or left it in the shop, and kept the car for a few more hours... if they'd done that... the repair would have probably been perfect.... as the guy who replaced the glass told me... "They probably did it to sell a $200-300 piece of glass for $800... (He told me the markup on glass is about 100% industry-wide... to cover breakage, etc).

Basically... never ever going back to safelite... no matter what the insurance tries to do. I have an excellent insurance company (USAA), but they basically sold their soul out to Safelite.

[luvsdub]

Basically... never ever going back to safelite... no matter what the insurance tries to do. I have an excellent insurance company (USAA), but they basically sold their soul out to Safelite.

When I was stationed in SD, USAA actually recommended me to a local body shop saying that the Safelite in the area had a good amount of complaints and did not do reputable work at all.

[A1rabbitracer]

met with the regional manager. He was prompt, curtious, and appreciated my input. He will be addressing my issue in a manner that is reasonable. I will report back with my experience when it's over, but I feel better now.

[vincenzo]

That's unfortunate. It really depends on who is doing the work a lot of times. I had my windshield replaced on the Beetle recently by Safelite and I was impressed with the guy's work. It was clean and he made it look easy. The only thing is the windshield was aftermarket and not OEM which I did not mind on that car. Back in 2003 though I had the windshield on my GTI replaced and they used an OEM (Sekurit) glass so I was a bit surprised to see an aftermarket one for the beetle. It seems like you have to specify that you indeed want an OEM glass and not aftermarket.

[A1rabbitracer]

my original windshield was a st. gobain. replacement was pilkington. I'm not sure if there are more than one oem manufacturer.