Safelite Autoglass - Stay Away
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Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 31
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C230
Safelite Autoglass - Stay Away
OK, what is everyone's experience with Safelite Autoglass? Mine is not so good.
A few months ago I had a stone impact that resulted in an 8" crack in the windshiend running from the top of the windshield down right above the driver. I finally go around to getting the windshield replaced a couple of weeks ago.
The technician, Matt, came to my workplace and replaced the glass in the parking lot. I had a morning full of meetings that day and had left the keys to the car with the receptionist to give to Matt when he arrived. As expected, I was in the middle of a meeting when Matt arrived, the receptionist gave him the keys, and he moved the car to an open area in the parking lot and got to work.
When I was able to break away from my meeting I went out to check in. At this point, Matt had removed all of the molding from around the windshield and cut the urethane bead in preparation for removing the windshield. The new windshield was sitting on a stand next to the car. Matt filled me in on how things were going and also pointed out that the ash tray cover was cracked (this has since been replaced) and he just wanted to make sure I knew that he didn't cause the damage. I told him I was aware of the crack and knew it was not caused by him. At that point I went back in the building and left Matt to finish the job.
About 45 minutes later, I received a call from Matt to tell me he was finished. I was in the middle of another meeting with my boss and one of the managers of my workplace but was able to break away long enough to sign the paperwork and take a quick look at the windshield. Other than some urethane on the glass and the windshield being a bit dirty everything looked. The weather on that day was in the high 40's, overcast and a fairly brisk wind so I didn't really spend a lot of time looking things over. I told Matt everything looked good and went back to my meeting.
The windshield was replaced on a Thursday. The following Sunday was pretty nice so, as I do on most weekends, I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the benz. As I was drying the car I noticed something odd about 3 " in from the passenger side along the roof by the windshield. I can onlt describe it as an "outty" dent. The sheet metal was bulging up. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it but showed it to my wife, she drives the benz, and to say the least she was hot. I had washed the car the previous weekend and this damage was not there.
The next day I called Safelite and they said they would send someone out to look at the damage but they couldn't have someone there until Friday.
Firday morning arrived and Ryan showed up to inspect the damage. He looked at it and said he did see how Safelite could have caused the damage. He offered to take a few pictures and send them to his manager and the manager would get back with me. He gave me a phone number for the St. Louis office and said that I could call if I didn't hear back soon.
By mid morning the following Monday I had not yet received a call from the manager so I tried calling. I got a Customer Service Rep, Aubrey, that said the managres were in a meeting and that she would give them the message and one would me back. By late Monday afternoon I still hadn't received a call so I called back. This time I spoke with Laura. Laura said the managers had been in meetings all day and that's why I had not heard back. She also assured me she would pass the message along and that someone would give me a call. Tuesday was the same story. I called and was told the managers were in meetings.
Finally, Tuesday afternoon I got a call back from Nick, a manager. Nick said he had reviewed the images sent by Ryan and that he didn't see how they could cause that type of damage. After I told him that I was certain that the damage was not present prior to having the windshield replaced he said he would like one of their Warranty Technicians to take a look at it. I told him Ryan had been there and sent pictures. He said Ryan was an installation technician and he wanted a warranty tech to look at it. We set up an appointment for a warranty tech to look at it this morning.
Last night I looked at the area a little closer and pulled the black rubber molding back to get a better look at the damage. What happened was something impacted the vertical portion of the flange below the radius on the leading edge of the roof line. The resultant dent caused the visible portion of the roof to bulge up slightly. The area dented is only accessible if the rubber molding at the top of the winshield is not installed. the only time this molding has been removed is when Matt was replacing the windshield.
This morning, Dale, a warranty tech, shows up to look at the damage. I pulled back the molding and showed him the dent. After a couple of minutes he tells me there is no way any of there tools caused that damage. I suggested that maybe the tech hit that area with the corner of the new windshield during installation. Dale said that coudn't have happened. He said if the windshield had hit hard enough to cause that dent it most certainly would have chipped the corner of the windshield and since there was no record of Matt requesting a replacement windshield we know that didn't happen. Dale took some pictures as well both with the molding installed and without the molding and said he was sending them to the branch office that Matt was worked out of and that the manager of that office would call me back. However, all of the managers are at a big meeting in Las Vegas and I would probably not hear back until Monday, I'm not holding my breath.
Sorry for the long write up but this has been very frustrating. The moral of the story is Stay Away From Safelite Autoglass. Most likely your install would go fine, but if there is a problem they sure don't stand behind there work. If, when I finally talk to the manager, I am told again that they couldn't have caused the damage and will not pay to have it fixed my next call will be to the Better Business Bureau followed by a call to my lawyer. Maybe they would prefer to pay for the repair + court costs + my legal fees + there own lawyers.
A few months ago I had a stone impact that resulted in an 8" crack in the windshiend running from the top of the windshield down right above the driver. I finally go around to getting the windshield replaced a couple of weeks ago.
The technician, Matt, came to my workplace and replaced the glass in the parking lot. I had a morning full of meetings that day and had left the keys to the car with the receptionist to give to Matt when he arrived. As expected, I was in the middle of a meeting when Matt arrived, the receptionist gave him the keys, and he moved the car to an open area in the parking lot and got to work.
When I was able to break away from my meeting I went out to check in. At this point, Matt had removed all of the molding from around the windshield and cut the urethane bead in preparation for removing the windshield. The new windshield was sitting on a stand next to the car. Matt filled me in on how things were going and also pointed out that the ash tray cover was cracked (this has since been replaced) and he just wanted to make sure I knew that he didn't cause the damage. I told him I was aware of the crack and knew it was not caused by him. At that point I went back in the building and left Matt to finish the job.
About 45 minutes later, I received a call from Matt to tell me he was finished. I was in the middle of another meeting with my boss and one of the managers of my workplace but was able to break away long enough to sign the paperwork and take a quick look at the windshield. Other than some urethane on the glass and the windshield being a bit dirty everything looked. The weather on that day was in the high 40's, overcast and a fairly brisk wind so I didn't really spend a lot of time looking things over. I told Matt everything looked good and went back to my meeting.
The windshield was replaced on a Thursday. The following Sunday was pretty nice so, as I do on most weekends, I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the benz. As I was drying the car I noticed something odd about 3 " in from the passenger side along the roof by the windshield. I can onlt describe it as an "outty" dent. The sheet metal was bulging up. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it but showed it to my wife, she drives the benz, and to say the least she was hot. I had washed the car the previous weekend and this damage was not there.
The next day I called Safelite and they said they would send someone out to look at the damage but they couldn't have someone there until Friday.
Firday morning arrived and Ryan showed up to inspect the damage. He looked at it and said he did see how Safelite could have caused the damage. He offered to take a few pictures and send them to his manager and the manager would get back with me. He gave me a phone number for the St. Louis office and said that I could call if I didn't hear back soon.
By mid morning the following Monday I had not yet received a call from the manager so I tried calling. I got a Customer Service Rep, Aubrey, that said the managres were in a meeting and that she would give them the message and one would me back. By late Monday afternoon I still hadn't received a call so I called back. This time I spoke with Laura. Laura said the managers had been in meetings all day and that's why I had not heard back. She also assured me she would pass the message along and that someone would give me a call. Tuesday was the same story. I called and was told the managers were in meetings.
Finally, Tuesday afternoon I got a call back from Nick, a manager. Nick said he had reviewed the images sent by Ryan and that he didn't see how they could cause that type of damage. After I told him that I was certain that the damage was not present prior to having the windshield replaced he said he would like one of their Warranty Technicians to take a look at it. I told him Ryan had been there and sent pictures. He said Ryan was an installation technician and he wanted a warranty tech to look at it. We set up an appointment for a warranty tech to look at it this morning.
Last night I looked at the area a little closer and pulled the black rubber molding back to get a better look at the damage. What happened was something impacted the vertical portion of the flange below the radius on the leading edge of the roof line. The resultant dent caused the visible portion of the roof to bulge up slightly. The area dented is only accessible if the rubber molding at the top of the winshield is not installed. the only time this molding has been removed is when Matt was replacing the windshield.
This morning, Dale, a warranty tech, shows up to look at the damage. I pulled back the molding and showed him the dent. After a couple of minutes he tells me there is no way any of there tools caused that damage. I suggested that maybe the tech hit that area with the corner of the new windshield during installation. Dale said that coudn't have happened. He said if the windshield had hit hard enough to cause that dent it most certainly would have chipped the corner of the windshield and since there was no record of Matt requesting a replacement windshield we know that didn't happen. Dale took some pictures as well both with the molding installed and without the molding and said he was sending them to the branch office that Matt was worked out of and that the manager of that office would call me back. However, all of the managers are at a big meeting in Las Vegas and I would probably not hear back until Monday, I'm not holding my breath.
Sorry for the long write up but this has been very frustrating. The moral of the story is Stay Away From Safelite Autoglass. Most likely your install would go fine, but if there is a problem they sure don't stand behind there work. If, when I finally talk to the manager, I am told again that they couldn't have caused the damage and will not pay to have it fixed my next call will be to the Better Business Bureau followed by a call to my lawyer. Maybe they would prefer to pay for the repair + court costs + my legal fees + there own lawyers.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,434
Likes: 4
From: Raleigh, NC
2005 C230K, 2019 Honda CR-V, '74 Lotus Europa
Sorry to hear of you trouble. I've had to replace three windshields in my C230. Safelite did them all at work. One time, the molding on the top of the windshield came loose and made a horrendous noise while driving down the highway. A guy - I think the same guy who installed the windshield in the first place - fixed it. One time, they fixed a chip and the crack spread anyway so they replaced the windshield. Those are the only issues I've had with them and I don't consider the latter to be their problem.
Since it sounds like the damage couldn't happen unless the windshield was out maybe someone over there could tell you how it could have happened. It was certainly not apparent when he did the repair since he didn't mention it. If the area of the original damage is noted anywhere and was nowhere near this new damage, it sounds like it would be difficult to explain.
As you know, Safelite is a national chain so there could be some variability in the quality of service. Good luck and keep us up to date.
Since it sounds like the damage couldn't happen unless the windshield was out maybe someone over there could tell you how it could have happened. It was certainly not apparent when he did the repair since he didn't mention it. If the area of the original damage is noted anywhere and was nowhere near this new damage, it sounds like it would be difficult to explain.
As you know, Safelite is a national chain so there could be some variability in the quality of service. Good luck and keep us up to date.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 31
Likes: 1
C230
Thanks for the tips mudbug. I am not going to give up and will keep calling people going further up the ladder as necessary. When we bought the car it had a small amount of hail damage and then we got a huge door ding. We got those taken care of last summer with pointless dent repair. Then on a really cold day this winter the clear finish on the ash tray cover cracked. I just replaced that. I am s o close to having everything perfect I am not going to let some sloppy, and dishonest, installer screw it up.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 31
Likes: 1
C230
Good news, I received a call yesterday morning from a district manager to tell me that Safelite was going to take care of the damage. He said he still didn't understand how they could have caused the damage but also understood that the damage could only have happened while the weatherstrip was removed. I am glad they are going to take care of the problem but it is still frustrating that it took several phone calls and reviews by 2 additional technicians to get to this point.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,434
Likes: 4
From: Raleigh, NC
2005 C230K, 2019 Honda CR-V, '74 Lotus Europa
That is good news! It seemed uncharacteristic that they were being so hard to deal with but then I haven't been in your situation. I'm glad everything worked out! 
