Last week got a stone chip on my windscreen. Wouldn't have failed the MOT but I thought might as well get it repaired for free by Autoglass. One of their guys came out last week to fill it but it cracked whilst he was repairing it. With the cracking spidering out from the original chip it now was an MOT failure so had to have the screen replaced. Annoying but fair enough.

Screen replaced this Monday. What a complete disaster...

I got my car back with shards of glass all over the dashboard and some on seats and foot wells, even in door pockets.

The new screen appears to be delaminating! White cloud spreading from the right hand edge.

Then just for good measure, he's ruined the paintwork around the windscreen appeture / A pillars. Scratched and covered in black primer, inches away from the windscreen! I've taken picutres of this as evidence.

Took it to show the manager of the branch yesterday who vacuumed up the glass and had an unsuccessful attempt at at getting the primer off. He conceded that it's going to have to go to a body shop to be repaired. He accepted that the whole situation was unacceptable, but what annoys me is he never once said sorry.

Am I right in thinking that it needs to be done by a Skoda approved repair shop so as not to lose the anti corrosion guarantee?

I think that as long as its an approved body shop you should be fine.

Its a sad state of affairs when you can't even get an apolgie for someone else's botched work.

At least that have said that they will rightly cover it with minimal fuss

To be honest, I have never been at all impressed with autoglass. I have had three windscreens replaced over my driving life, with the odd side window from opportunist break-ins and on each occasion something has been less than satisfactory. The most common faults being shoddy workmanship and the failure to order the right part, which has wasted a lot of my time. In short, I wouldn't recommend them based on my own experiences.

They are all as bad as each other. On my old Golf GTI when I took it in I said that I would take all the trim off for them just in case they screwed up but the person on reception assured me that the 'technician' would do it properly as they do loads of them! Oh how wrong I was...2 roof line strips plus other trim all screwed buy their so called 'technician'.

Just the thought of one of their 'technicians' having to work on my new vRS makes me sweat.:faint:

Its even worse than you all think, once the windscreen on any modern bonded in screen has been changed, even if the job done looks good, you better not want to keep the car long term, as I'll guarantee you it'll start rusting around the window aperture, where the blade used to cut through the old sealant has cut though the original paint and zinc protection under the glass line, and don't think that crappy primer they use will stop rust for long, even if its applied properly, it won't!!

I've had 2 windows replaced by them (both stone chips / cracks)

On the Mk1 about 4 years ago, came to work car park at specified time, did a very neat job, technician was from Doncaster branch

Then last month on the Mk2, came to a different address that I was staying at, again arrived at specfied time, again very thorough job, that tech was from Lincoln branch.

This guy noted that my mk2 had already had it's screen replaced, as he found marks where the original had been prised out & 2 sets of glue lines. He touched up the marks & cleaned all the old glue out to ensure a good clean bond. He checked the wipers afterwards. Top marks!

I've had 2 windows replaced by them (both stone chips / cracks)

On the Mk1 about 4 years ago, came to work car park at specified time, did a very neat job, technician was from Doncaster branch

Then last month on the Mk2, came to a different address that I was staying at, again arrived at specfied time, again very thorough job, that tech was from Lincoln branch.

This guy noted that my mk2 had already had it's screen replaced, as he found marks where the original had been prised out & 2 sets of glue lines. He touched up the marks & cleaned all the old glue out to ensure a good clean bond. He checked the wipers afterwards. Top marks!

See that's what you want. Incidentally mine was done by the Coventry branch.

I have to say that my experience with Autoglass in the past has been pretty good. Apart from having the wrong screen the first time they called (non-solar reflecting when the car had a solar-reflecting one) the job was done extremely well and very quickly. So as always I think it comes down to the ability and experience of the fitter (or "technician" - what an abuse of that title) concerned. The fitter is not responsible for ordering the screen though - it's the admin person - so make sure you doubly emphasise what type of screen is required!

BTW, is it possible to get solar-reflecting screens for Skodas? They really help a lot in keeping the car cooler in Summer.

In case anyone is interested in seeing some of the damage...

http://image.bayimg.com/bajpbaabi.jpg

Note the damage to the lacquer near the bottom left (looks kind of wavy / uneven) where the branch manager managed to remove some of the primer.

I don't get how in the hell the guy did the job thought he could get away with it!

That is a disgrace, I would be hopping mad with that shoddy workmanship, shortly followed with a claim against them in court.

Why would you claim in court if they are sending it to an approved bodyshop to have it fixed?

Completely shoddy workmanship - outrageous :(

Good luck getting it fixed!

Why would you claim in court if they are sending it to an approved bodyshop to have it fixed?

Just come off the phone with the manager. They have agreed to pay for a VAG approved body shop and will provide a decent courtesy car.

Happy enough with that.

I had one leave the primer on, but they have a solvent that they are supposed to use that cleans that black cr*p off after they are done. Wonder why he didn't just use it as it came off fine, even 1 week later on mine.

I am :eek: at that and i've seen a few bad ones on various cars.

Just come off the phone with the manager. They have agreed to pay for a VAG approved body shop and will provide a decent courtesy car.

Happy enough with that.

good result

I had one leave the primer on, but they have a solvent that they are supposed to use that cleans that black cr*p off after they are done. Wonder why he didn't just use it as it came off fine, even 1 week later on mine..

I suspect it was a really bodgey attempt to hide damage to the underlying paint. :confused:

last time i had one changed i told the guy i wanted to inspect the winow frame to make sure all the old sealant was off.

i also had pictures taken of all the trim and roof lining incase he left it dirty.

i also checkd the conditon of the paint to make sure he hadnt messed it up with the removal of the screen.

finally after it was all put back together i checked everything before i signed his sheet. was almost tempted to make him wait till it had set so i coudl check the water proofing!

that was a local firm, the name slips my mind, but the job he did was great! he didnt mind me hovering round him to check his work. but it was the second comapny i had rung. the first scarpered pretty quick when i started taking pics of the interior and exterior!!

Just come off the phone with the manager. They have agreed to pay for a VAG approved body shop and will provide a decent courtesy car.

Happy enough with that.

Excellent - make sure you inspect the repair thoroughly

Having had a windscreen crack on me a few months back, I got quotes for the replacement.

Autoglass are a joke and quoted the thick end of £500 for a vrs screen.

Ended up going with a local firm who did it for well under £200 and did a fine job.

Ultimately I will always seek out compaines for glass replacement etc by word of mouth as they rely heavily on reccomendations.

I've only ever had one windscreen repair, which was carried out by the RAC if I remember correctly. Very professional service so I suspect replacement windscreens from them would be equally good.