as an ex auto windscreens tech i'd like to point out a few things to you guys, first pic is clearly a stone chip missed in the pre check none of the tools used by any windscreen fitter would do that kind of damage.

second before you drop your car into the local skoda dealer i should let u know they mostly use auto windscreens to do the work on cost grounds. usually they get charged about 45 pound labour plus vat and the price of any bonding. so compare that with whatever they charge you lot (also most jobs take less than an hour so i'm sure they aren't charging you more than an hours labour) the trim pic in manufacturing fauly not aw fault, the rough edge the same. the tech should have shown you this first before fitting though. he did fit the wrong window but he probably got told to just fit it by management. while we're on the subject i in my 12 years of fitting was told countless times by dealers to fit faulty glass (including your precious skoda dealers) so they should judge so quickly.

p.s its a well known fact in the trade that skoda owners are the worst, we dont care what car you own you don't have to tell us all its made by vw (we know we just don't care) they are just cars to us.

p.p.s I'm not saying its the same in this case but i caught plenty people out trying to blame us for damage that was already there.

i doubt i'll be back online for a bit i was just nosing about. feel free to email me if you have any questions about auto glazing i'll willingly give free advice

Hmmmm....wonder why you're an "ex" AW tech....

Thank you for taking the time, at 5am, to join up & post this cr4p.

In your own words: 'we know, we just don't care'. I rest my case.

Now, off you p155.....

we just don't care

That bit sums up the attitude of 90% of fitters working for large companies.

Luckily in Blackpool we have a small independant; 2 lads working on their own who take a pride in the job and they charge a fraction of the price of the big name companies.

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!

Gold

p.s its a well known fact in the trade that skoda owners are the worst, we dont care what car you own you don't have to tell us all its made by vw (we know we just don't care) they are just cars to us.

That's funny and probably true in many cases !

I can imagine it now:

"Did you know Skoda are part of the VAG group, which includes VW and Audi ?

The Octavia is in fact based on the VW Golf Mk V, but is much cheaper than it or the equivalent Audi.

blah Blah BLAH !"

And the windscreen guy starts bleeding from his ears and his leg falls off.

Edited 16 December, 201015 yr by Spudhoolio

I would suggest to them that they either accept the quote or you will take them to a small claims court at which point they will be charged for the original quote plus your wasted time.

You have a new car with a paint warranty that is voided if anyone other than Skoda paints it, they don't have a leg to stand on.

Indeed. I've attended court for a claim and was asked why I drive the car 40 miles to a bodyshop. I said it was for warranty coverage, and that was accepted immediately.

Been through the windscreen drama myself, a few weeks ago.

After getting a stone chip which turned into a large crack, new windscreen was fitted. I then noticed that the wires to the rain sensor were exposed. I complained and, after much to-ing and fro-ing, AW discovered that the 2011 MY Octavias have a slightly different windscreen.

AutoWindscreens called me, very apologetic, with this verdict. They had not realised this, and were ordering a batch of the new style windscreens direct from Skoda. The new style has the mirror/sensor mount slightly higher than the old one, hence if you fit an older style windscreen, the mirror fairing will not reach the roof lining, and leave the wires exposed.

As soon as they received the windscreens from Skoda, they promptly and efficiently whipped the wrong one off and fitted the correct one. No exposed wires.

I personally have no complaints about AutoWindscreens.

I think it was brave of the ex AW tech S.Gordon to post. He obviously knows he would get a rough reception so my conclusion is he is probably right on all the things he says.

I'm inclined to agree that the stone chip was possibly there all along - maybe it happened at the same time at the damage to the windscreen and the OP didnt see because his eye was on the screen damage.

I 100% agree with his comments about "Skoda owners" and its definitely true that most dealers don't do bodywork or windscreens - its subbed out to the cheapest contractors they can find.

The OP's mistake was using Swiftcover who (from personal experience) are a poor insurer when it it comes to repairs - the story doesn't surprise me in the slightest. He may have got a result but somehow I think he will pay later either with inflated premiums or possibly a refusal to renew.

You've got plenty of evidence........give Trading Standards a call. They've been really helpful to me in the past.

Hmmmm....wonder why you're an "ex" AW tech....

Thank you for taking the time, at 5am, to join up & post this cr4p.

In your own words: 'we know, we just don't care'. I rest my case.

Now, off you p155.....

hi, the reason i posted at 5am is because i put myself through the edinburgh cabbie knowledge and i now work nightshift, i enjoy my new job very much meeting all kinds of people.

the reason i don't work with autowindscreens anymore is not because of my attitude of because i was sacked it's because of the recent uncertainty in the job. i'm a family man and like a secure income to keep my family happy and secure.

i regret the comment about skoda drivers i take it back "sorry" but please don't tar all auto windscreen fitter based on this example. If you want real helpful advice i'd say when you call to get the job done tell them you had a bad experience before and politely ask if you could have a more experienced fitter, they can do that if you ask.

skoda and mostly all vw make vehicles have whats known as encapsulated glass that means the trim come from the manufacturer with all the trims attatched thats why i said the trim wuld have been a manufacturing error.

that was meant to say OR because i was sacked lol

sorry

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12458091

some poetic justice, perhaps

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12458091

some poetic justice, perhaps

Just because one person who worked there made a mess of somebodys skoda doesnt make it right that the other 1099 people should all lose their jobs like this.

Just because one person who worked there made a mess of somebodys skoda doesnt make it right that the other 1099 people should all lose their jobs like this.

I doubt if a company would fold over one or two mistakes. The trick is to know how to put it right swiftly, maybe compensate the customer, get rid of poor workers and train up the good ones because the company reputation is in the hands of the bloke doing the work.

Just because one person who worked there made a mess of somebodys skoda doesnt make it right that the other 1099 people should all lose their jobs like this.

Actually i agree with you there it's hugely unfair and very sad that so many decent working people have lost their jobs, but unfortunately it looks to be a case of as many good fitters as they had, they also had a lot of bad fitters. With very poor money grabbing management that made all the decent staff leave.

As an update on this company, my car still hasn't been fixed by them, they had been leading me on ever since the work was "Authorised" by them by not returning calls, asking the dealer for more proforma invoices which AW claimed never arrived, very underhanded stuff, i'm sure all the staff had been taking the lead from management. So now its up to Swiftcover to foot the repair bill for my car, since they won't be able to claim the money back of AW now, im sorry to be contributing towards the rise of everyone elses insurance for something that should have been resolved if AW had been a decent and responsable company, as people have said about this matter "people make mistakes" while i would argue what the guy did to my car wasn't a mistake, its how a company deals with it's mistakes on how its measured.

According to today's Telegraph Business section, Auto Windscreens went into administration yesterday

thats correct i live in chesterfield where the head office is based and a lot of good friends work there, they had them in the office and said dont come back tomorrow but havent officially been made redundant yet