Ended up having to have the windscreen replaced on my 2013 Blackline and a bit disappointed all in all.

Originally looked to get the crack repaired 1st time round and fair shout to the guy who came out said that it wasnt worth risking 25 quid on and should just get a new screen. Also made a point of ordering a Skoda OEM part which was nice.

Then came the fitting, different guy and quite honestly couldnt fault him, very polite and friendly, just a nice lad and we talked about how difficult it is to fit the Skoda screens because of the ticket holder, too much glue renders them useless apparently.....he also said he'd only been fitting screens for a year or so which got me a bit aprehensive.

Anyway screen fitted and on initial inspection all looked well.....always the way isnt it. Before i left work tonight though noticed on the passenger side that too much glue has been used so it juts out of the pillar trim...annoying but not the end of the world.

I get home to inspect futher and have found where removing the screen and cutting back the crud hes actually managed to chip the paint in a couple of places, on around the top of the windscreen and one somehow on the edge of the bonnet. Too small to really warrant kicking up a massive fuss and nothing the chip stick hasnt patched up but again annoying. Also shaved a tiny nick out of the headlining where it butts up against the screen.

Just infuriates me nowadays that you can barely get anything done to a car by a third party nowadays without something happening to it.....just that lack of attention to detail I sware a few years ago was quite commonplace. Another example.....had my Fabia vRS valeted before I sold it and whilst it came back imaculate the valeter had kerbed one of my alloys quite badly......they paid for the repair fair enough but it just shouldnt of happened in the 1st place.

Thinking now i'll wash my own car and drive around with an obliterated screen until i have to change it (MOT).

......oh probably the main reason im a bit more peeved than id have otherwise been is that the cars 3 months old with just over 3k on the clock, was unmarked until today and was already pretty infuriated it needed a new screen rather than just a repair.....also said chip happened when barely doing 30mph :-)

we talked about how difficult it is to fit the Skoda screens because of the ticket holder, too much glue renders them useless apparently

It's a 2 minute job to remove the clip. Pull off the A pillar inner trim panel and remove the screw that holds the clip.

Which company fitted the screen?

This is why im loathe to have a new screen fitted to my gti. Just cant trust anyone to take a bit of care.

It's a 2 minute job to remove the clip. Pull off the A pillar inner trim panel and remove the screw that holds the clip.

Which company fitted the screen?

Rather not implicate them but they are one of the bigger national franchises.

I dont think its so much the lad wasnt taking care, more that he hasnt been doing it that long; could possibly use a bit of supervision or a bit more training.

The screens actually fitted well enough just the overgluing and unnecessary paintwork chips that are frustrating. Ill probably call them to get the overglue sorted out if possible, paintwork.....well i dont want the car painted and its going to get stonechipped anyway so dont see much of a point kicking up a fuss.

I think it is par for the course, I've had at least two screens fitted to the Octy, and each time the ticket clip was either broken or didn't go back properly and they have scratched the paintwork around the A pillars.

Guess it's one of those things where it is not an easy swap out job, and this really should be a two man job to ensure the old screen comes out and new one goes in perfectly level without touching the paintwork.

As you say, the attention to detail just isn't there any more.

Spoke to them this morning and they are sending out someone else to trim back the glue and inspect the job, very apologetic and did offer to do something about the paintwork but as were talking nothing worse than a couple of tiny chips (which I have touched up) didnt see the point.

Good customer servicw though cant fault it. The manager did say the Octavia screens are notoriously difficult to fit as the glueing channels are very thin and you do need a good amount of glue to bond it properly to the car, overglueing on them is very common but said the engineer should have noticed it when refitting the pillars and should have cleaned off the excess there then.

Funny when you have your own new car but guesw I am a bit OCD about it, didnt really give a toss when I had a company car!

I had mine done recently for MOT, and job was perfect, no issues with clip, paintwork, or overgluing.Only problem was 150 miles later. Wham! a brand new monster of a chip right in front of the drivers eyes.

i had a similar if somewhat worse outcome, the loon who replaced mine used a hand brush and left loads of scratches across the roof in the sweep of his arm, along with knife cuts in one or two places

ended up going to a bodyshop to be sorted by the windscreen company

the initial chip suddenly turned into a crack and would need replacement in the 5 mins after they arrived while i was in my office

2 years later i have 2 chips and im not in any hurry to go through all that again

I picked up a chip a few weeks ago and thought I would get it filled, but came out to the car a couple of weeks ago and a huge crack had appeared, not there the night before, but anyway, rang the insurance they arranged for AA Windscreens to come out, they ordered the new screen, bloke turned up o time, had a good chat with him and it was all done in 40 mins, I was surprised at how easy it looked to change the screen he just disconnected the rain sensor and wiper scuttle, broke the glue and pulled the screen out, ran round with a knife to remove the old glue, new glue, and popped the new screen on, cleaned it all up and poped everything back and the job is perfect, bang on even gaps around the screen, no glue excess, and most importantly no crack and no leaks!!!

I guess, as always with these things its down to the fitter themselves, but I couldnt complain at all!

On a slightly different note I was chatting with him and got talking about what windows were most annoying to replace, he said mainly side windows as the door card, wiring etc needs removing and can be a pain, he had recently moved to this area from London and down here he does maybe 1 or 2 a month, where as in London in some areas it was more like 1 or 2 a day!!!

Was gonna say, there's absolutely no reason why anything should happen to the ticket holder as it can be easily taken off before any work has taken place.

Sorry to hear about your experience pipsyp - but did think that your comments in this post about frustrating 'minor' issues are in contradiction to your excellent, well thought and considered post here.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/274222-why/page__st__60#entry3249691

Hope it gets sorted to your satisfaction.

Cheers.

Sorry to hear about your experience pipsyp - but did think that your comments in this post about frustrating 'minor' issues are in contradiction to your excellent, well thought and considered post here.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/274222-why/page__st__60#entry3249691

Hope it gets sorted to your satisfaction.

Cheers.

Yeah I know BA, I was a bit upset that the job wasnt perfect but I'm not annoyed about it really. Just think its a shame that something thats a fairly routine thing has turned out a little (but not too much) of a mare. Its also cost me 75 quid so wanted it to be right.

I cant very easily do anything about the overgluing myself as i dont have the tooling so I spoke to the windscreen company to ask if they could address it, said they would of course but best to let it go off for a few days first.

I did mention the paint damage to them too, not to get the guy in trouble but I thought it was useful feedback to prevent it happening to someone else, did also make the express point I didnt want the lad getting in any bother.....hoping perhaps they might give him some additional training or something.

I still feel the paint damage was unnecessary but seeing how these guys single handedly rip these big bits of glass out and fit another in about 20 mins I guess now and again these sorts of problems are just par for the course. It is a bit different to picking up a car park dink though; you should be able to leave your car in the carw of a professional and expect a top quality job, particularly on a 3 month old car. Sadly just a sign of the world we live in, rarely such thing as perfect :-)

Edited 4 May, 201313 yr by pipsyp

You can get a replacement ticket clip from Skoda if they have broken it, fairly easy to fit.

Unfortunately, certain skills jsut aren't being passed on for the sake of saving money nowadays. Example in case was when my 3 door Golf G60 got shunted in the os rear quarter while I was stationary. Took it to a few places, including VW, who all said they'd cut and weld a new panel in cos the swage line is too intricate to make perfect, but then took it to a bloke I knew through a trusted indy garage who said that's b0llocks but the reason they do this is because it's easy to train someone to chop a car up, weld a new bit in and repaint it. Only trouble was that because you've introduced new cut lines to the car, which would also have been exposed to air/atmosphere then welded over, there's a slim possibility that in time you could get rust on or around the join, and cos it's no longer one piece, it's unlikely to be as strong as it was, although that being a minor point as welds are pretty strong, just that it's no longer a single sheet of metal.

He got the work and did it the old fashioned way of panel beating, and you never knew it had even been scratched.

I have had a few screens over the past few years but mine are company cars and I do big miles.

The last one i had done at the dealers and it was a great job. It was also an Elegance so had all the sensors and self dipping mirror.

The company has a £500 excess due to the amount of cars so we just pay for it now and have an acccount with one of the bigger firms.

So when it went last time i called them up and they didnt have stock and it would be 3 days so I got a price and it was around £480 fitted which is under the excess so I said to order it.

Then i rang the dealers just to see if they could get 1 any sooner and they said next day from Skoda and it would be under £200 inc vat.

I asked how much for fitting and he said they use a local independant and would be under £100 so i got them to order it and then i cancelled the first company.

So just remember now some insurance companys ask about glass claims as well as others so it may pay to do it through a dealer and pay for it.

Edited 5 May, 201313 yr by ruffday

Had to get my Octavia windscreen replaced because of rain leaking in, the guy that did the replacement said it was an original window so it must have been like that since new.