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Safelite Auto Glass Cracked my Car's Winshield and refusing to pay for their damages
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Mar 22, 2008 Safelite Auto Glass complaint by Aya |
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On March 19, 2008 a small pebble hit my car's front windsheild and caused a small chip. I asked around and I was told that Safelite is the best. So I made an appointment online for Friday March 21, 2008 and everything seemed going smooth.
The service was assigned to:
Safelite AK230020
2303 S Tubeway
City of Commerce, CA 90040
(323) 724-0426
(323) 724-0038
Work order 01907-3930 - -
But to my shook, they were not professional and instead of fixing my windshield they cracked it and are refusing now to pay for the damages.
There was a small ding in the front winshield of about (One Tenth of an Inch) 0.10 of an inch and needed min work. When the worker Denis Galindo arrived at 4:50PM and inspected the car he told me "This is very simple and I should be done in less than 20 minutes. Probably I don't even need to warm up the glass".
Then he started to work and put the machine on the glass for few minutes and suddenly he screamed
"Wow, did you hear that"
and I said "hear what"
Denis replied "the windshield has cracked"
and he lifted his machine to show me what happened,
there it is, Safelite machine has created an "X" crack about 8 x 8 inches and now I have to replace the whole windshield.
When asked Denis what happens now Denis did not know what to do but to call his boss Richard Genera (323) 724-0038 or to have me dial the number on the service truck 1-800-800-ASAP (2727) to complain.
I asked the supervisor Richard Genera to remedy the situation and he told me that it has nothing to do with him or Safelite and he repeatedly refused to give me Safelite insurance company information stating it is your responsibility and when we work we assume no liability, go an make a claim to your insurance and he refused to cooperate, basically telling me tough bad luck.
Further, he refused to offer to replace the windsheild that Safelite has damaged and keep telling me it is your fault for accepting for us to work and it is your risk to start with.
Anyways, I called my insurance to see what can be done and now I have to wait till Monday for the adjuster to figure out what to do.
Also, I will try Monday again to call them and find out whom within Safelite headquarters can remedy this and pay the damages to my car.
It seems that Safelite is a scam or maybe they just have agents that does not know what is going on. Branch managers for sure are impolite and act like thugs.
Last, I found out at the Better Business Bureau the following D rating and if I knew this I would not have had them even come close to my car.
http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=100038791
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1. Written by Bababooey, on 26-07-2008 18:27
Joel,
Are you aware that dealerships do not install glass? They subcontract it out to professional auto glass technicians. Probably Safelite, who just happens to dominate most markets. So, by going to a dealer you....
1: Overpaid
2: Allowed the glass company (probably Safelite) to make more money than they were originally going to charge you.
Good job.
By the way, it isn't a scam. They were offering the windshield to you at a discounted rate allowing you to not have to file a claim with your insurance company. How this hurts you I fail to see. How they benefit by collecting $168 instead of $250 deductible, I also fail to see.
You really should become better informed before spouting off.
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2. Written by Bababooey, on 13-05-2008 19:43
The truth is that this can happen. The glass was already cracked when the stone hit the glass. The guy from Safelite was attempting to repair that damage so the crack did not spread any further. Sometimes during the repair process, the pressure applied from the machine will cause the cracks to extend beyond where they were originally. My experience has been that if you hadn't tried to repair the windshield, the crack would have spread the next time you turned on your defroster, or the next hot day.
The technician should have informed you of this risk before he started the job so that you knew the risks involved. That was Safelite's mistake and probably why they agreed to pay for half the windshield for you.
The thing you have to remember is that you are dealing with a piece of glass that is broken already. If it was a drinking glass, you would simply throw it away. Since it is a windshield and has that layer of plastic in it, you can attempt to repair it.
As for the quality of less expensive glass, it is a pretty generic product. Safelite has a huge cost advantage because they manufacture windshields, and they choose to pass these savings on to consumers whenever possible.
You had a bad experience, but I have found the company to be very quality focused, and will often go beyond reasonable measures to satisfy their customers.
Hope this helps explain things.
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3. Written by Joel, on 05-04-2008 06:55
Safelite did the exact same thing to me. Except the they offered to sell me one a replacement windshiled that they manufacture. for only $168.00... I asked the customer service person what the final cost would be with my insurance deductable and she said that the $168.00 is the total cost for the windshield and that they would cancell the insurance claim..
This set off the "SCAM" alarm in my head..! I think that Safelite intentionally broke my windshield so they could sell me the on they manufacture, which must be of very low quallity if it only cost $168.00.. I know for a fact that new windshields cost several hundred dollars... I'm just going to go to the dealer, get a factory windshiled and pay my $250.00 deductable. At least I know I will get the same quality Wwindshield that my car came with and not some cheap one that safelite scammed me into buying.. I will never use safelite again.
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4. Written by AYA, on 25-03-2008 15:55
After several calls on Monaday and today 3/25/2008, Richard Genera at 2:20PM offred to pay 50% of the cost to repair the damaged windshield and I agreed.
I accepted as I need my car badly.
Thank you safelite.
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