Well well well,

things have been going great with my car until came out from work on friday appears a bird had dropped a stone on the windscreen and cracked the screen, called the insurers preferred reparier Autowindscreens, paid my 65 pounds excess and that is where my nightmares have begun.

Bank holiday monday fitter turns up at 1.30pm despite supposed to have arrived before noon, with a bad attitude on him hand him car keys, do a full inspection of the outside of the car and its still mint, not a mark, its 4 months old! paperwork signed saying no marks on vehicle slip handed to me.

about an hour later engineer knocks on the door, almost thrusts the keys in my hand saying he's finished and he's off, asked him if there were any issues , he says non and hops in his van and dissapears. Later on after the warning to not drive the car due to sealing drying has passed i decide to pop to the shops:

WELL! lets take a look at his handywork and see what improvements he's made to my 4 month old VRS.

First off we can see the lovely enhancement to the bodywork he's made by putting a nice paint chip on the drivers side pillar

Secondly i was getting fed up of the car being water tight in the rain so helpfully he's put nice cuts and gouges into the rubber seal around the window

Third i really was wanting a windscreen with that distressed look, you know, crumbling glass at the edges well he hasnt dissapointed.

Fourth and finally, i have to admit my auto dimming mirror i thought was lacking a large quantity of black tape on it and the manafacturers plastic trim was too neat, well yet again my hero came up trumps and fixed this for me, by pulling hard on the wiring out the roof and fitting the mirror 2 inches further down the winscreen than before.

Thats right, all this great customer service at no extra charge!

ok seriously now the reason im trying to make light of all this is i'd be crying otherwise, contacted autowindscreens as soon as possible and they dont seem to care, the matter is with their customer service team at the moment, have shown car to supplying dealer who very kindly have helped draw up a list of remedial work to put everything back again, service manager informed me the second he saw the vehicle that this is the wrong windscreen they have fitted!

Spoke to the complaitns manager this morning telling him the only thing i will accept is the dealer carrying out all repairs to the damage, inspecting the wiring in the roof for damage as the cables are tight as bow strings at the moment to the mirror and the dealer to carry out all any repairs needed and supervise the correct windscreen being fitted to the car.

Am I asking too much here? he seems to think so, oh well i've got swiftcover on the case and they're putting pressure on them , will let you know how things progress

I've always sworn by Autoglass...

Does look like the screen was too small.

Since the screen plays such an important role in rigidity and driver safety I would question if you should be using the car with that screen fitted.

Hope you get it sorted, properly.

Edited 1 September, 201015 yr by foo

They (Autowindscreens) were subcontracted by a local repairer (Sewards) to replace my tailgate glass after my car was vandalised. Got it back with the interior trim hanging off as the internal door handle that doubled as a retainer had broken when they removed it to replace the glass. Also there had clearly been no effort to clear the inside of the tailgate of loads glass fragments which reminded me noisily of the repair every time I used the tailgate . Complained to Sewards who quickly passed the buck to Autowindscreens who were supposed to ring me and arrange rectification. Gave up waiting after a week bought the part and fixed it myself, but not very happy. :(

Edited 1 September, 201015 yr by juan27

That is shocking,they do seem to let anybody fit windscreens nowadays,2 weeks training & their fully qualified! :wonder: we had a windscreen replaced on one of our works cars & as the wheather was bad the fitter asked if he could use one of our bays,after about a hour the bloke comes over & asks if i can do him a favour.......as he has cut the old screen out he has sliced straight through a wiring loom!!! would i mind repairing it for him!!!!!! I did repair it,he told me later that ours was the 2nd car he done that to!.......... muppets!

I assume you mean the company 'Auto Windscreens'.

As some on this forum will know, I'm ex-trade. I never use or recommend Auto Windscreens. Aside from the fitting issues, AW actually manufacture a lot (most) of the screens they use. IME the quality is often not up to OEM standards, with errors in thickness, curvature etc.

Autoglass, on the other hand, source all their glass from OEM suppliers. Many insurers are increasingly specifying that you must use AW for replacement glass (because they are cheaper than Autoglass). My suggestion is to avoid these insurers.

Use Autoglass - and to be on the safe side I always insisted on manufacturer-supplied glass (i.e. glass sourced via the franchised dealer).

Also, when having glass fitted, its always best to take the car to the depot rather than having them come out and do it at your premises - the quality of the job is usually better.

Main dealers will very seldom fit windscreens, its nearly always subbed-out to a local windscreen fitter and a hefty mark-up applied by the dealer. You'd probably be best asking your insurers to let you use the local Autoglass depot for the corrective work with dealer-supplied glass.

Ouch

I had issues when my "chip" mysteriously turned into a crack while the windscreen company were trying to fill it, and then had to replace the complete screen

came out after all that to notice they had scrached the roof 5-6 times where he had swept the bits of glass off, but luckily the guys manager was easier to deal with than the fitter and they agreed to have it sorted ended up having the roof resprayed to sort it

wasnt a happy bunny at the time

Auto Windscreens news....

I wonder if Lau Wai Keong of Jalan Banting-Klang called on Auto Windscreens?

the thing im most annoyed about at the moment is that I seem to be a nusance to them they keep passing me from pillar to post between departments, not answering phones etc. I just plain and simple want my car put back to the way it was and any non visable damage to be checked and repaired as needed. Above all though no one has said sorry to me once and I find that to be shocking that they seem to regard what the caveman (will stop calling him an engineer or technician as its an insult to any decent ones out there) as not a big thing and it isnt inconveniencing me in the least.

I had to go back 5 times to get a certain company that may have been mentioned to get it right, and even after that when it broke and autoglass came out to fix it they found scratches that had been hidden under the screen from the previous installer.

I would never use the company in question again.

I had an issue with Auto Windscreen on my previous car. There was a gauge out the back bumper where it looked like a cutting tool for the seals had dropped onto it. They assured me they dont cut the glass out of the seals on a rear window so couldnt have been them. Lies.

I asked for the branch manager on getting the car back and he brought the technician out to look at the car while i was standing there. He said he never done it, so the manager backed him up and that was that. I phoned my insurance company but they couldnt do anything about it, so contacted Head Office. They were useless aswell and passed me from department to department. Eventually i dropped it as i couldnt be bothered anymore.

In future, im going to watch the glass getting repaired on my car if it happens again.

I have only ever used Autoglass since they tend to fit OEM screens, the other companies tend to fit there own branded glass from third party manufactures. There have been threads on here in the past regarding auto windscreens handywork, and if I recall none where particularly good. My insurance company also suggest using this company, but I have used Autoglass instead and had no problems with the excess and then them claiming the rest from my insurers.

That's appalling, I would be going nuts!

I've only ever used Autoglass as well, always been helpful & offer an excellent fast service. I wouldn't go anywhere else, even if it meant me paying the bill, because at least I know that I'll get an excellent result at the end of it.

now there is a suprise the Customer service manager was supposed to phone me tonight by 8pm.....................Any takers on if i got a phone call or not?

try [email protected]

I'd say the odds of Elvis Presley becoming the US President are better.

Im in pure shock here, from reading this if anyone says autowindscreen I know what to say .

Im really sorry to see the bad work on your car, I hope things get sorted for you.

you'd be right there no contact yet more lies and broken promises from Auto Windscreens, i have mailed a copy of everything to date to the MD's email address not that i hold out much hope but to rub salt in the wounds my auto dimming mirror is now malfunctioning, the power light stays on but it will half dim when someone is behind me then return to normal again and sometimes not be triggered at all when someone is behind me, before this assclown touched my car everything was great...........i cannot put my rage into words.

you'd be right there no contact yet more lies and broken promises from Auto Windscreens, i have mailed a copy of everything to date to the MD's email address not that i hold out much hope but to rub salt in the wounds my auto dimming mirror is now malfunctioning, the power light stays on but it will half dim when someone is behind me then return to normal again and sometimes not be triggered at all when someone is behind me, before this assclown touched my car everything was great...........i cannot put my rage into words.

Isn't there some more formal way of complaining? OFT, Watchdog, court, whatever?

Isn't there some more formal way of complaining? OFT, Watchdog, court, whatever?

there are those avenues to look at, currently talking to swiftcover who are being very helpful and getting annoyed at the lack of responce from Autowindscreens to themselves, sadly before i can really take any legal action and trust me i have a couple of real hum dingers to throw at them i really need to give them a crack of the whip to get it sorted, but if i've had no joy by monday next week then the gloves will be off, all i can say is watch the news and the papers.

Surely take up a small claims court? Anyone with some sense can see the mess they have made of that! make sure you threaten them with it...then follow through!

AW = Complete disaster!

They replaced the windscreen on my previous Golf GTi (owned from new) and broke the plastic tray that runs along the bottom of the windscreen. I noted this but mentioned nothing at the time. The fitter finished and said everything was OK, and was about to leave, when I mentioned the damage and that the ends of this particular trim were resting on top of the bonnet. Incredibly, he was quite willing to leave it in this condition! In the end they replaced it, but it never quite fitted as it should have done. I'd never use them again, they are easily recognised as they usually turn up wearing spurs.......... A thoroughly atrocious company, but the insurers love 'em cos they're both cheap and crap. Sorry to hear that they got the opportunity to contaminate your car with their incompetence.

Full report from the dealer was the right thing to do.

I assume Swiftcover are your insurance co so getting them in early was spot on

A letter by recorded delivery may be an idea, e-mails get lost & phone calls arent remembered in court, your word against theirs & having read this thread Im guessing they have had plenty of experience on getting out of things in court. If they have replied to any e-mails then this may be sufficent to proove they have recd it so no letter reqd but check that

A couple of things to check either with a Solicitor or Citizens Advice

I'm not sure you can insist that the dealer does it as I believe you have to give them the option to put it right, if you have to do that get a full inspection of the car by them with you present (including the inside) & ask them to list any defects, get 2 copies & you both sign them & keep one each, anything they dont list will be deemed perfect & back it up with photos, If possible make them digital & high res to blow up if theres any doubt later. Also say you will be getting the dealer to reinspect it afterwards & ask they pay for his time, I think you could reosnably insist on that

Your contract is with your insurance company, you paid them to provide windscreen replacement as part of your insurance & they in turn appointed "windscreen bodgers incorporated" to fix the screen so you may find if it goes legal you will be better advised to sue your insurance company who apointed them, they will in turn seek renumeration from the Windscreen copmpany. If this is the case let your insurance co know that you are aware of this, it will help focus them on your case

Best advice is check your facts which I get the feeling you are doing & then go in professionally & hard so they know you mean business but dont get emotional.

I would investigate the Insurance co angle, as they obviously pay "screen bodgers" a lot of money they may wish to see their customer happy & take any costs off their account, they may even be happy for you to take it to a main dealer, especially as theres more work to do than just refit a screen.

You need to try & get it resolved without going legal as whilst you should get the result in the end it may take months

As an aside as the windscreen is so badly fitted does this weaken the car in the event of an accident, I would think yes but your dealer or Skoda should be able to confirm this in writing. Once you have a letter or e-mail then you can reasonably expect them to provide an equivalent hire car from today, this again I think should be provided by your insurance co, its obvious but don't hire yourself & hope to get reimbursed, always better if they pay. Just something else you could use to add the pressure

Edited 2 September, 201015 yr by Stuart_J

I dont even trust Autoglass to do a job properly.

My Furby had a crack, & they didnt sort it properly, could still clearly see it, when i complained they just said to me that if it re appears they will replace the full screen FOC.

My 500 was only 3 month old, went into dealers to have seat cover replaced & the screen replacing at the same time( bad bullseye on drivers side) as autoglass were close by & it was convenient to do both @ the same time dealer agreed autoglass could work in shop, it was not unusual for this to happen , so off it went, seat cover done, screen replaced, car returned wit a dent in the bonnet size of a 1p, approx 2mm deep. Unfortunately I couldnt prove who it was, but as Fiat were not working outside car, It must have been Autoglass . ( it cost me £250 to get sorted ).

I now dont trust ANY 3rd party work done my my cars