I Hate Safelite

[Toastedlightly]

Arg! I hate Safelite. I also probably hate most other auto glass installers. Heres what happened.

I had a windshield on my Volvo S60 replaced. I made sure the glass company was aware that the car had an installed rain sensor.

On the day of the install, I left the office and went to open the car for the tech replacing the windshield. He seemed nice and looked like he knew what he was doing. I come back a couple hours later to check up, but it was already done. The car was unlocked and one of the doors was slightly ajar. This was a bit annoying, but since the slip in the car said he'd only been gone for about 10 minutes, I wasn't too concerned.

A few days later it started to rain a bit and I decided to use the automatic wipers. When I clicked the button, the wipers would go one sweep and then stop. I called up Safelite and they scheduled another tech to come out and fix the problem the next week.

The tech gets out there and he cleans up the glass and the gel pad for the sensor. I should have known something was up when the gel pad for the rain sensor was not attached to the sensor, but knowing nothing about the rain sensor at that point I didn't think anything of it (further research leads me to believe that this is the case for all of these... hmm).

After a few minutes, the tech has me try out the automatic wipers. They seem to work fine so I thank him and he goes on his way. Later that day it begins to rain and I turn on the rain sensing wipers. They worked.. but only after the water had begun to run off the windshield by itself due to so much being on it. I decided I was going to take care of this myself as I was sick of wasting time with their techs. Soon I will get a bottle of IPA and try to get a good, clean connection.

Fast forward another week and I decide to take care of a few irksome problems that have developed with my car. First, the truck caught the rear window trim on both sides of the car. After tinkering for a bit, I find out that the trim was installed wrong around the windshield (it was placed too far back). This was evident from the openings in the rubber strip that runs within the trim interfering with the roof rack mounts.

Now I decided that I was going to just detach the trim, slide it forward a little bit and then reinstall it to cure the trunk issue. Well, looks like Safelite screwed me again. The installer had broken most of the forward clips for the windshield trim and had used the windshield adhesive to hold the trim in place.... great.

So I remove the trim, carefully pull off the shitty adhesive and decide that I am going to go ahead and buy some new clips so I can attach my trim correctly. I'm still looking for these clips, so for the time being I am running my car w/o the trim (look strange).

Tomorrow, Safelite is going to be getting an angry phone call from me about this whole mess and I am hoping they will pay for parts to fix these issues they have caused.

Anyone else have issues like this with Safelite or another auto-glass replacement company?

For reference, the trim they glued down runs next to the windshield, over the top of the car and down the sides of the rear windshield (here s a pic of a similar car)

http://www.familycar.com/RoadTests/VolvoS60/Images2005/LeftRear.jpg

I've found the clips for 3 bucks each (need 8 of them). Now to find how much a rain sensor is...

Arg!

 

[master7045]

that sucks, hope it works out. I actually had 2 good experiences with safelite. I had a 2009 Nissan Altima & a 2001 Lexus GS 300 front windshield replaced by safelite and haven't had any issues with either. Although, I don't have automatic wipers on either of those cars. Will keep this in mind if I ever have to get the windshield fixed on my Jeep.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

That's why when I needed the windshield replaced on my old Jetta I fought with allstate to let me take it to the VW body shop in town and not let some idiot in a van do it.

Was in an out in an hour and they did it perfectly in one shot.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I've had nothing but good results with Safelite. But I don't have auto wipers either (and frankly I prefer setting the delay manually, less stuff to get screwed up).

 

[Insomniator]

Only used safelite once to fix a rock hit... no problems.

I'm surprised they replace windshields of cars that aren't the basic swap job.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Ok, I'm confused. What does your windshield have to do with your trunk?

 

[jlee]

The guys who installed the windshield on my MR2 screwed it up the first time...the VIN window didn't line up with the VIN plate and they used the wrong type of trim (small seal between the windshield border and the car's frame, instead of the seal that overlaps both). The trim was also installed improperly so it stuck out in one area. I made them reinstall it with the proper seal...it's fine now.

Safelite installed the rear glass on my Forester and they seem to have done a fine job.

 

[Railgun]

Had them replace the windshield on my 335i. All good the first go around and had no issues with the sensor.

 

[alkemyst]

A lot of body shops have that same van show up to do glass.

The key thing is is to get your insurance to approve a windshield with new rain sensor.

This is a common problem on BMW's too when they try to reuse the sensor.

 

[Raduque]

Safelite replaced the cracked windshield on my last truck. It was a flawless install, no issues. It was done in about 35 minutes.

 

[Toastedlightly]

Ok, I'm confused. What does your windshield have to do with your trunk?

I have a constant piece of trim that runs from the sides of the front windshield, runs along the top of the car and back to the rear window. The way they installed the trim caused the trunk to catch the trim, potentially leading to loose/broken trim. This would not have been an issue if they hadn't broken the clips and glued the trim on while they were replacing the windshield.

I've found the clips locally for about 40 dollars for the entire set. I'm going to call safelite and see if they will cover this repair and if not, I'll just leave a negative review on a rating site and be on with my life.

 

[Railgun]

A lot of body shops have that same van show up to do glass.

The key thing is is to get your insurance to approve a windshield with new rain sensor.

This is a common problem on BMW's too when they try to reuse the sensor.

The other thing that could be an issue (though perhaps not related to the sensor) is requesting OEM glass. They were going to use whatever else but I insisted on OEM.