Wedge windscreen repair.....NOT

[mrzigazaga]

Hi Peeps...

Well as you may know i had a stoned chip in my screen after going to Wroxall,

BEFORE:
Taken outside the screen


So i phoned my insurance company up to get a repair, They recommended one of their contractors who just so happened to be the same rude bastids from last year but i thought i would give them another chance....

The repairer tuned up this morning and was mumbling about it being too big a repair and would need a new screen...Its less than a 5p and how he can judge just by looking???..
He put on the invoice customer wanted it done as the screens are hard to get...Errr you said you could repair it WTF????...I wish he had said no as i had already spoken to Paul (Glassman) who was confident that it was repairable, When i showed Paul the before & After he said they have bodged it up and ruined the screen....And i make him right.

AFTER:
Taken inside the screen.


Just phoned the windscreen firm recommended by my insurance and after a brief conversation where he proceeded to say that I don't know what I'm talking about and neither does Paul???...He then offered to come and try to repair a repair....Seriously???....And when i said that i was not happy and i will be taking this up with the insurance company he put the phone down on me!.

Im not a happy

Jokers



Ziga

[ElvisWedgely]

I wouldn't trust most of these so called windscreen repairers. One well known mobile glass company, replaced a windscreen on my van and stole my credit card details. It took me months to sort it out. I don't believe in screen repairs anyway, as most of the time it doesn't work long term. Especially on the scale shown in your photo. I would insist on the insurance on paying Paul the glassman to do the job. I would tell them I don't trust anyone else to mess with my classic car. I would also tell the insursnce that if they refuse, you'll be taking the matter up with the Trading Standards. I don't know the details of your insursnce, but if your covered for glass replacement, then that is what they should do. You may have to pay the excess but at least the screen will be renewed properly. Some insurance companies try to fob you off with the cheapest option for them. Stand your ground and insist on what you want.

Tony. TCB.

[mrzigazaga]

Tony you are right in what you say, I have already paid the excess of £25...The repair admittedly looks bigger as its a close up...The actual size is about a 5p..Which in the great scheme of things is a repair and not replace issue, The chip is just inside the bottom sweep of the wiper and cannot be seen whilst driving...Im more peeved of that it doesn't look any different...He did not warm the glass to remove any moisture nor did he warm it afterwards...He also spat on the suckers to stick them to the screen...Nearly wrenched the door off to have a look inside.

He took 20 minutes to do it and was talking for ten of those.

Paul is fuming as he knows his stuff and would not of let this go like this or at worst case would not of charged...This particular company is rude and inapt at repairing windscreens and should NOT be touching Classic cars
None of the gel went into the cracks and there is moisture in the form of two bubbles in the so called repair...Horrendous...My insurance company will now have to sort this, They need to refund the £25 and I'm not paying the excess for a new screen which now may be needed.

This will be an expensive lesson to them as i complained about this company last year when i needed a new screen.

I gave them Pauls details and advised them to offer his services to owners of prestige and classic cars...Obviously they didn't listen.

I now will request a new screen at their expense ..Again and without logging a claim against my insurance...Im not paying for incompetence .....

Its a real shame that we cannot name and shame because it would stop this rubbish happening to others..


Cheers


Ziga

[Campbell]

Shocking Zig and your right its a shame you can not name and shame on hear but you can on Blatters.
Companies like this should be pointed out as problem companies and to be avoided.
Hope you get it sorted and soon.

[mrzigazaga]

For defo mate...

To add insult to injury he has put TVR Tazmin down on the paperwork......Jees.....Thanks...Ziga

[Grady]

Having had a fair number chips repaired, I would have guessed that one was already too big to fix . Sorry for your aggravation. Grady

[mrzigazaga]

Grady said:

Having had a fair number chips repaired, I would have guessed that one was already too big to fix . Sorry for your aggravation. Grady

Its deceiving due to how close i took the pic, Here is one a bit further away.....

This was a before picture.


It was bordering 5 pence in size...

[RCK974X]

I got a chip in my new Toyota, and talking to the repair guy was interesting - I asked about my wedge....He said they use different techniques on classics - he said the windscreens have changed over the years (not surprised). He did say older screens can be a real bugger to do, and they can just break right across when using the pressure pump to force the repair gel in. He also talked about rain and how bad it is to get moisture in the crack. (I did know about moisture - I kept the car inside to try to keep screen dry)

He also said the gel should at least seal the outside so no water gets in...even if repair is still visible it must be sealed.

He also said if you get a big star with cracks more then a few mm, it will probably spread anyway, especially on an older screen, so they would recommend a new screen. From what I can see on your photo, a new screen is probably the way to go anyway.

Thought that might be of interest... and sympathy. This kind of thing is a real bugger.

[Glassman]

RCK974X said:

He said they can just break right across when using the pressure pump to force the repair gel in.

The clue to why they are breaking is in the 'pressure pump' bit.

RCK974X said:

He also said the gel should at least seal the outside so no water gets in...even if repair is still visible it must be sealed.

Sealed? So any moisture and contamination is better off staying within the break? And what exactly is point of "sealing" the damage? So that water doesn't get in? The emphasis should be on first removing moisture (even in a dry garage there will be moisture within the break) and sealing it once it's out (after completing a full and thorough repair, that is).

RCK974X said:

He also said if you get a big star with cracks more then a few mm, it will probably spread anyway, especially on an older screen

Rubbish. A starbreak - using appropriate, and correct techniques - is perfectly repairable. The only disadvantage comes when there are more than five or six cracks, or 'legs', emanating from the impact point.

RCK974X said:

Thought that might be of interest

I don't mean to give you a hard time over what you've been told. The trouble with misinformation is that it spreads faster than a crack across the screen when a pressure pump is put on it.

As with Ziga's episode with A Repairer today, even a lot of the 'professionals' have no grasp of what they are trying to achieve, never mind how to achieve it.

[RCK974X]

Hey, that's all fair enough, no offence taken, I'm just repeating what I was told from what I thought was a proper repairer....

I will say that in the context of 'sealed' in our conversation, it DID mean to keep the moisture OUT, which I didn't make very clear...
(and yes he DID warm up my screen first....)

I'm glad to get the story from a professional - you are dead right about the misinformation, plus what we might then misinterpret !

I have actually had a wedge windscreen with a big chip spread into a crack after its repair......and ended up getting a new screen.

(does that mean it was a dodgy repair ?)

[Glassman]

RCK974X said:

I have actually had a wedge windscreen with a big chip spread into a crack after its repair......and ended up getting a new screen.

(does that mean it was a dodgy repair ?)

Possibly. There are a few factors to consider; ambient temperature; temperature of the glass (and how this was regulated and controlled) contamination, type of equipment; experience of the repairer; technique, consumables...

Many repairers treat glass repair as an unskilled art when in fact, like most things, there is much more to mastering it if you are to be even considered an expert.

[mrzigazaga]

RCK974X said:

(does that mean it was a dodgy repair ?)

Going by what could of been done and what has been id say yes...There was no extraction of any water in fact i had put some clear tape over it as recommended by Paul who advises to do that immediately to avoid any moisture ingress....This tw@ then sprays window cleaner on the tape and then scrapes the tape off with a Stanley blade...Then puts the gizmo on the effected area but spits on the suckers to get them to stick...Thanks for that you dirty tw@....And then proceeded to put a tiny amount of gel in...He then said..."Er..look the black bits are going"??? WTF...Am i blonde ..Have big knockers and goofy teeth?...(Wasn't that a film...Shallow Al)....WTF are "Black bits".....
In the beginning he was saying..."its a big chip and you need a new screen"...He didn't measure it but i have and it is five pence in size with a tiny top part of the crack showing...

I advised him they would have a job finding the right screen...Especially going by their previous shenanigans with the last screen that did crack.

He said its repairable and if he had not then i would of had the work carried out by a professional glass fitter/Repairer like our friend the Glassman...Who despite being accused of talking out of his backside by the manager of this said windscreen company knows exactly what he is doing...Explains every part of the fitting as he is doing it...Is clean has all the correct apparatus and tools needed....And well here is the screen that Paul fitted for me last year...
It was no rush job and everything was done correctly...He even painted a seal along the inner part of trim where the glass rests as not to have it come un glued and leak!



The trim that Paul used was the same as what was there originally and you would not believe the conversation from these very same jokers that my insurance company are still using...According to them there was no trim on these cars and they were bonded in...When i asked how many TVR's they have done in their so called 25 year history he mumbled a bit and then said "None"... Tw@

Some more pictures of Paul the Gassman's work





Superb


I would hate to of thought what i would of got using these bloody jokers!....

I did say i was going to remove my dash at some point...His reply was..."Oh i wouldn't do that...You may crack the screen"...Really???...Obviously has never worked on a TVR either!

[RCK974X]

.....Clear tape over the chip......

I wondered about that - if it's raining though, won't the wiper scrub the tape off ?

I can see how sticky tape WOULD help keep moisture out, so is possibly a good idea ?.

[Wedg1e]

Paul (Glassman)... the screen in my car has a small chip low down but mostly suffers from fifty trillion impacts from road crud (it's been on the car for 16 years that I know of)... clearly I can't just call my insurers and demand a new screen so what's the typical cost of replacing one as a non-insurance job?

[Grady]

I thought the pump was a vacuum pump that sucked the air/moisture out and then the repair 'epoxy' was injected into the hole/vacuum.

[Glassman]

Grady said:

I thought the pump was a vacuum pump that sucked the air/moisture out and then the repair 'epoxy' was injected into the hole/vacuum.

The mechanical pump is merely part of making the process idiot proof, making it so simple, anyone can use it. Part of its name might even suggest that: 'RAS123'.

[Glassman]

Wedg1e said:

Paul (Glassman)... the screen in my car has a small chip low down but mostly suffers from fifty trillion impacts from road crud (it's been on the car for 16 years that I know of)... clearly I can't just call my insurers and demand a new screen so what's the typical cost of replacing one as a non-insurance job?

I think it depends on who's doing it.

Typically, a job like this can take between two and five hours.

[adam quantrill]

If that is in your field of vision then that is unacceptable and I would be asking for my money back pronto. Don't accept a re-try (you don't have to) and if they don't pay up then threaten small claims court.

[mrzigazaga]

Well i have spoken with the insurance company and have put in a formal complaint and showed them the pictures regarding the before and after and the scale..

A representative from the windscreen company is supposed to be calling me as regards to repairing the repair...Again I'm not confident this is:

1. Possible
2. To be carried out competently by this particular company

If they send a joker round then it will escalate into an argument and i will be left in the same scenario that I'm in now...Just a bit more stressed about it all.

The insurance company have assured me that this will be dealt with accordingly...The ball is in their court.

Here is a pic of the damage to scale...How was this Quoted by NW...a "Large chip...Possibly beyond repair"...???

(Couldn't get a clear image...Bloody phones)

You can see that it is around the same size as a 5p..If not smaller.

[Wedg1e]

Glassman said:

I think it depends on who's doing it.

Typically, a job like this can take between two and five hours.

Well OK, assume the old screen is out, old sealant removed... price of new glass?

PM me if you don't want to discuss openly.