Is Vitro an acceptance OEM glass for repair?

[Motovita]

In the grand scheme of life seems to me Safelite is taking the brunt of hate for a nasty theft smash and grab situation. With Ford's GREAT record of taking weeks, even months to fix minor items, imagine no Safelite, and having to rely on a Ford dealer, his individual supply chain, and dealer tire changers (I mean technicians) installing glass. Talk about a nightmare...

Tom

No you would go to your local glass shop.

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[TPadden72]

No you would go to your local glass shop.

You can even do that now. Most just prefer to take the quick, easy, known, and not really crappy route.

Tom

 

[Smocaine]

With regard to your alarm question, you can get Perimeter Plus as an addon from Ford. This is the kind of alarm that would go off for impacts like broken windows.
Horse is already out of the barn but it might help your peace of mind in the future.

 

[23OBX2.7]

demand Ford and if push back tell them you will report for insurance fraud because thats what it is.

 

[rb.]

Here's the end of the story:

Safelite was supposed to come out Friday morning. My son (remember, the car's in Houston with him. I'm not there) called me after noon and said they never showed up for the 8-12 window. We debated for a while which one of us would start phoning. We eventually decided on me.

I called the Safelite local number. It rang through to their call center. After being on hold for a while, I eventually got through. The agent tried to call the shop, but they didn't pick up the phone for her, either. She said she'd keep trying and call me back. I asked to escalate and she insisted that calling the shop manager was the next step in escalation. It seemed clear that nothing was to be gained by pushing further, so I gave up.

I asked her why the shop wouldn't pick up the phone, and she said they let the phones roll over so their techs don't spend the day on the phone and can focus on providing service for the customers. It was funny. She sounded like she was having a hard time delivering that line sincerely.

After that, I called Amica and spoke to the agent in charge of my claim. I told him about what was going on and complained politely but bitterly about the crap I had been going through. I suggested that Amica isn't doing themselves any favors by partnering with Safelite, but he assured me that most of the claims go through just fine. That may be true, since most people probably don't realize there's even a difference between one windshield and another. However, I don't really care and wasn't impressed to get that answer.

Regardless, he said he'd get right on it. Then, not too long after that, Omar the Safelite tech called me. I think it was about 1:40pm Texas time. He said he was running late, had the new glass and could he come around 5? I asked him to call my son and he agreed easily. It was a surprise that he had the glass, since Safelite had insisted earlier that they couldn't even order the glass until the tech had verified that the installed glass wasn't OEM. This visit was supposed to be the check.

A while later my Amica agent called back and said "I guess it's all set". He never seemed very sympathetic but did his job well.

Omar came to install the glass. He told my son that the previous piece of glass had come in a Ford box, which is why he had been so sure it was OEM. Someone on this board mentioned earlier that the tint was the wrong code. My son (who's pretty good at spotting things) couldn't tell the difference, but Omar agreed it was way off once he looked. The new glass is Ford glass and we will hopefully live happily ever after.

It feels like this was a pretty normal experience for "this day and age". Nobody seemed to be doing anything egregious, but the system just didn't work. It seems like this kind of service was much better when I was young, back in the Stone Ages. But perhaps I'm having delusional recall.

 

[Motovita]

Here's the end of the story:

Safelite was supposed to come out Friday morning. My son (remember, the car's in Houston with him. I'm not there) called me after noon and said they never showed up for the 8-12 window. We debated for a while which one of us would start phoning. We eventually decided on me.

I called the Safelite local number. It rang through to their call center. After being on hold for a while, I eventually got through. The agent tried to call the shop, but they didn't pick up the phone for her, either. She said she'd keep trying and call me back. I asked to escalate and she insisted that calling the shop manager was the next step in escalation. It seemed clear that nothing was to be gained by pushing further, so I gave up.

I asked her why the shop wouldn't pick up the phone, and she said they let the phones roll over so their techs don't spend the day on the phone and can focus on providing service for the customers. It was funny. She sounded like she was having a hard time delivering that line sincerely.

After that, I called Amica and spoke to the agent in charge of my claim. I told him about what was going on and complained politely but bitterly about the crap I had been going through. I suggested that Amica isn't doing themselves any favors by partnering with Safelite, but he assured me that most of the claims go through just fine. That may be true, since most people probably don't realize there's even a difference between one windshield and another. However, I don't really care and wasn't impressed to get that answer.

Regardless, he said he'd get right on it. Then, not too long after that, Omar the Safelite tech called me. I think it was about 1:40pm Texas time. He said he was running late, had the new glass and could he come around 5? I asked him to call my son and he agreed easily. It was a surprise that he had the glass, since Safelite had insisted earlier that they couldn't even order the glass until the tech had verified that the installed glass wasn't OEM. This visit was supposed to be the check.

A while later my Amica agent called back and said "I guess it's all set". He never seemed very sympathetic but did his job well.

Omar came to install the glass. He told my son that the previous piece of glass had come in a Ford box, which is why he had been so sure it was OEM. Someone on this board mentioned earlier that the tint was the wrong code. My son (who's pretty good at spotting things) couldn't tell the difference, but Omar agreed it was way off once he looked. The new glass is Ford glass and we will hopefully live happily ever after.

It feels like this was a pretty normal experience for "this day and age". Nobody seemed to be doing anything egregious, but the system just didn't work. It seems like this kind of service was much better when I was young, back in the Stone Ages. But perhaps I'm having delusional recall.

I say this frequently, find a local glass shop that's worthy of your support and give it to them. If you think Safelite is hard to deal with now wait until they've driven all the independents out and have a monopoly.

 

[rb.]

I say this frequently, find a local glass shop that's worthy of your support and give it to them. If you think Safelite is hard to deal with now wait until they've driven all the independents out and have a monopoly.

I didn't know there was such a thing as a local glass shop. I thought it was Safelite or Ford, and I didn't want to deal with a repair at a dealership which would be 2700 miles away by September. I was guesstimating that Safelite would be more likely to support any future issues at a local shop.

However, I agree with you and if I ever have a local problem, I will look for a good glass shop. Thanks for the information from all of you!

 

[T800]

Sure, I'd want OEM glass if someone else is paying.

Jeeps have the same problem. So I think I'm up to 4 windshield replacements in the last 14 years. So I have a mobile windshield guy I use. I like him because he's inexpensive for non-OEM glass. He'll do an 06 Jeep for about $160. I think OEM is more than twice that.

Definitely dreading the day I get to find out how much he charges for a Bronco. I also looked at Jeeps when I was looking at Broncos. They are available with Gorilla Glass. Something Ford should implement.

 

[TPadden72]

If you think Safelite is hard to deal with now wait until they've driven all the independents out and have a monopoly.

Just like other local glass shops there are good ones and bad ones. My local Safelite is a good one and there seems to be little danger of them driving the others out of business.

Tom

 

[userdude]

Here is the entire sordid story.

The Bronco is a 2-door Badlands SAS with the rear seats removed. It's spending the summer in a suburb north of Houston. I happened to be down visiting when the break-in occurred, but it's my son that's down there with it. It had a Instant-pot (external - brown cardboard) box in the back, from one we were going to return. It also had a very expensive new laptop in the back tucked behind the driver's seat. We were running late to meet someone for dinner and didn't have time to drop off the laptop. We didn't even consider the instant-pot as an issue, since it was broken and worthless.


We discussed whether or not to bring the laptop into the restaurant, but decided it was probably OK and I think both of us were also concerned we'd leave it in the restaurant by accident. It was not visible from the outside, since the Bronco was parked head-in and has dark tint on the hardtop. It was parked in a garage in a very shi-shi suburban shopping area. (The Woodlands) I do live in Boise, which is very low crime area. But - I've also lived in Boston area, DC area, and Silicon Valley. I know enough not to do what I did in a crappy neighborhood or an apartment building parking garage, but not enough to realize the risk in an upscale retail garage. I also didn't know at the time that having out of state license plates adds risk. The Bronco didn't stand out as an expensive car in that setting, so I didn't worry about that part. Houston has a relatively high rate of non-violent crime, but we were 30 miles from the city center and I wasn't as careful as I would have been if we were downtown.

Anyway, some a***e came along and broke both passenger side windows and didn't take anything. As my son and I were returning to the car, we saw a firetruck and a few ambulances on the street outside the garage. There was also somebody's backpack under the Bronco - that was not there when we parked. We can only guess that the sirens scared the a***e away.

Montgomery County Sheriff's Department - awesome
Amica - good except theu work with Safelite and aren't trying hard to back me up
Safelite - shocker, I know, but I hate them.

I checked Sunday with the Amica safelite coordinator. I don't know if that's Safelite or Amica, but they assured me I was getting OEM glass. Safelite came out the following Friday with aftermarket glass and my son refused. They came back again the next Wednesday with Ford glass for the hardtop and what they insisted to my son was OEM glass for the door. That's when I started this note.

Any thoughts on whether a car alarm (a real one, as opposed to whatever it is that's already in the Bronco but doesn't go off unless you try to open the door) would be a good call for my son? He's hoping to get a permanent job offer when he graduates next Spring, and move down there.
Not with my Bronco, though. He has a Chevy Spark. We just swapped for the summer, so he could bring more than a shoebox's worth of stuff down and also have a bigger car for his first time driving in a big city. I never had a car alarm in any of the big cities that I lived in. It seemed like they just go off randomly too often and don't deter thieves enough. But it's been a while and I'm not an expert in this area anyway.


Thanks so much for all of your help.

.

Ahh, The Woodlands. You said at first north of Houston, and I was like, big area! But was thinking Spring or The Woodlands. That just seems to be where most things are going on.

My sister lives in The Woodlands and while it is nice, parking lots and garages can be targets because it's a concentrated place with random people who might have nice stuff. The parking lot at the trendy NorthPark mall in Dallas here where I live is actively considered dangerous (robberies walking to cars, car jackings, some fatalaties) because people are walking potentially with very valuable stuff that makes them a target for thieves. I'm not aware of The Woodlands being nearly that bad, NorthPark is nearly downtown and there's just a lot more desperate people closer by. The Woodlands is more like Palo Alto/Woodside than Cupertino, if you're familiar.

Anyhow, car alarms are ridiculous. Have good insurance and don't be a hero. This was a crime of opportunity. It sucks but you weren't hurt and the lesson learned is don't leave things out where miscreants can see, because their just opportunists. One thing I do with my 2dr is keep a large black towel in the back and if I have something like that, I cover it with the towel. You'd be surprised how hard it is to see without direct sunlight.

Where were you in The Woodlands? Over by the mall?

 

[rb.]

Sure, I'd want OEM glass if someone else is paying.

Jeeps have the same problem. So I think I'm up to 4 windshield replacements in the last 14 years. So I have a mobile windshield guy I use. I like him because he's inexpensive for non-OEM glass. He'll do an 06 Jeep for about $160. I think OEM is more than twice that.

Definitely dreading the day I get to find out how much he charges for a Bronco. I also looked at Jeeps when I was looking at Broncos. They are available with Gorilla Glass. Something Ford should implement.

I used to have a Jeep with the gorilla glass, and it had a chip in it. It didn't spread, but I also didn't keep it long. I bought it used and then found out it had the corrosion issue. Hence the Bronco.

 

[rb.]

Ahh, The Woodlands. You said at first north of Houston, and I was like, big area! But was thinking Spring or The Woodlands. That just seems to be where most things are going on.

My sister lives in The Woodlands and while it is nice, parking lots and garages can be targets because it's a concentrated place with random people who might have nice stuff. The parking lot at the trendy NorthPark mall in Dallas here where I live is actively considered dangerous (robberies walking to cars, car jackings, some fatalaties) because people are walking potentially with very valuable stuff that makes them a target for thieves. I'm not aware of The Woodlands being nearly that bad, NorthPark is nearly downtown and there's just a lot more desperate people closer by. The Woodlands is more like Palo Alto/Woodside than Cupertino, if you're familiar.

Anyhow, car alarms are ridiculous. Have good insurance and don't be a hero. This was a crime of opportunity. It sucks but you weren't hurt and the lesson learned is don't leave things out where miscreants can see, because their just opportunists. One thing I do with my 2dr is keep a large black towel in the back and if I have something like that, I cover it with the towel. You'd be surprised how hard it is to see without direct sunlight.

Where were you in The Woodlands? Over by the mall?

I was here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news...d1c1d55841af1c0669ad99d787344a329b102f617e13b

The garage was mostly for the apartment building that it's under, but had "retail parking" on the lower level.

That mall in Dallas sounds scary. I'd be tempted to carry if I wasn't so likely to just shoot myself.

My son lives in Spring. He's working at HPE this summer and has an apartment right near their campus.

Thanks for the advice on the alarm. I think backing in might be good, too. The Bronco doesn't have a front plate, so it wouldn't be as glaringly obvious that it's from out of state. Unless Texas requires and enforces the front plate, I suppose.

I lived in Sunnyvale for over a decade. My doctor was in Palo Alto and my son's school was in Cupertino, so I know exactly what you mean!

 

[userdude]

I was here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news...d1c1d55841af1c0669ad99d787344a329b102f617e13b

The garage was mostly for the apartment building that it's under, but had "retail parking" on the lower level.

That mall in Dallas sounds scary. I'd be tempted to carry if I wasn't so likely to just shoot myself.

My son lives in Spring. He's working at HPE this summer and has an apartment right near their campus.

Thanks for the advice on the alarm. I think backing in might be good, too. The Bronco doesn't have a front plate, so it wouldn't be as glaringly obvious that it's from out of state. Unless Texas requires and enforces the front plate, I suppose.

I lived in Sunnyvale for over a decade. My doctor was in Palo Alto and my son's school was in Cupertino, so I know exactly what you mean!

I'm not sure what that article is about, it looks like it's talking about Boise. Backing in is probably not a bad idea.

My sister works above a McLaren dealership in Spring and they had three employees in two days have their catalytic converters stolen in the parking, one time within 30 minutes of the lady coming in from lunch. The flash and sizzle draws attention and crooks looking for alpha (lol) target who they think has it. NorthPark is an extreme example of that, but most wealthier areas suffer from it somewhat.

I've been to NorthPark maybe 10 times. I never felt threatened (it is a nice mall with some cool stores) but I tend to go early, e.g., not a lot of crooks around I guess. I think most of the issues happen later, when it's dusk/dark. I want to say a Dallas Cowboy was carjacked or robbed and was shot a few years ago.

I used to live in Mountain View on Middlefield Road and Rengstorff and Shoreline, and later right near Santa Clara University. Mountain View, I was witnessed a guy steal all the pomgranates off a tree in the front yard of a neighbor and they guy coming out with a bat and chasing him, but he got away. Then they called the cops and asked me, but I was like, I'm just walking by! lol

Santa Clara I had a roommate go to Australia for two weeks for work and he left his wallet in the console, top off, parked on the curb, people walking by all the time, and my other roommate didn't see it for like four days. No one stole it, there was $2k in it, all the cards. That was when it was the #1 place to live the US according to whoever.

That whole area has changed a lot in the 20 years since! If you recall Redwood City being Redwood Shitty, yah, well, it ain't no mo! lol IMO it's not as fun as it was then. It feels a lot more closed off, big imposing fancy apartments everywhere and private buses taking tech workers to work. My aunt lives in Woodside down off Canada so I still make it out there every few years.

 

[T800]

I used to have a Jeep with the gorilla glass, and it had a chip in it. It didn't spread, but I also didn't keep it long. I bought it used and then found out it had the corrosion issue. Hence the Bronco.

The cracks can stay the same for years, then spread on a hot day. That happened with two different Jeep cracks. One stayed the same for a few years, then spread on a hot day when it was around 105 degrees.

I used one of the epoxy 'repair' kits. Didn't help.

 

[rb.]

I'm not sure what that article is about, it looks like it's talking about Boise. Backing in is probably not a bad idea.

My sister works above a McLaren dealership in Spring and they had three employees in two days have their catalytic converters stolen in the parking, one time within 30 minutes of the lady coming in from lunch. The flash and sizzle draws attention and crooks looking for alpha (lol) target who they think has it. NorthPark is an extreme example of that, but most wealthier areas suffer from it somewhat.

I've been to NorthPark maybe 10 times. I never felt threatened (it is a nice mall with some cool stores) but I tend to go early, e.g., not a lot of crooks around I guess. I think most of the issues happen later, when it's dusk/dark. I want to say a Dallas Cowboy was carjacked or robbed and was shot a few years ago.

I used to live in Mountain View on Middlefield Road and Rengstorff and Shoreline, and later right near Santa Clara University. Mountain View, I was witnessed a guy steal all the pomgranates off a tree in the front yard of a neighbor and they guy coming out with a bat and chasing him, but he got away. Then they called the cops and asked me, but I was like, I'm just walking by! lol

Santa Clara I had a roommate go to Australia for two weeks for work and he left his wallet in the console, top off, parked on the curb, people walking by all the time, and my other roommate didn't see it for like four days. No one stole it, there was $2k in it, all the cards. That was when it was the #1 place to live the US according to whoever.

That whole area has changed a lot in the 20 years since! If you recall Redwood City being Redwood Shitty, yah, well, it ain't no mo! lol IMO it's not as fun as it was then. It feels a lot more closed off, big imposing fancy apartments everywhere and private buses taking tech workers to work. My aunt lives in Woodside down off Canada so I still make it out there every few years.

Sorry, cut and paste error. The garage was at 2000 Hughes Landing.

Where did you work in the Bay Area?

I had to Google "McLaren". That's terrible.

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