Complaint Review: Glass Masters - Charlotte North Carolina

Glass Masters, also DBA: Glass Pro and Glass Emporium

Now, sit right back and and I'll tell a tale. A tale of horror and broken trust, and of broken glass.

I had an original windshield in my car that had been sandblasted by road debris over time. I had 500.00 comprehensive deductible at the time so I decided to get the best deal I could since I would be footing the bill.

I go into Glass Masters and received a quote for 142.00 for front windshield replacement for my 02 Beetle. I bring in my car and go get some lunch. I come back after an hour and a half, still not done and they have news for me, they mistakenly quoted me on a windshield for a 68 bug. The gentleman who quoted me, no longer employed there.

Bait & Switch. The price goes up 100.00 to 242.00.

I say forget it. They say how about 200.00, and since I waited 1.5 hours, 191.00. I say go ahead and they call to someone mobile to get a window over to the shop, rather than reschedule as they originally suggested.

I go noodle around for a bit and come back. The window is in. Experience over? Afraid not.

The installer calls me over and shows me a place where he scratched the car taking the window out. He asks if he can get the proper touch up paint and fix it himself. I agree with the stipulation that it get fixed by a body shop if it doesn't work. He goes and gets paint and touches it up. "Looks perty good", he says. The paint is not the right color and obviously has not been matched.

I talk to the Mgr and get him to put in writing that it will be fixed by the company. I go get him several estimates right then. He says he'll call the District Mgr and call me back.

While driving away I notice something else. The road is writhing in front of me. Knowing I had not taken any hallucinogenics that day, I figured the windshield was flawed. Went back again and showed it to the Mgr. He said they'd needed to wait 3 days to replace it because the Urethane need to dry. I said Ok.

The next day no one called me. I finally, after calling multiple times and numbers of other locations, get in touch with a manager of another location who by chance recently moved from the location I was dealing with. She was not surprised about my troubles, and told me of the removal of the previous Mgr.

She was able to put me in contact with the DM. She wanted to look at the car, but assured me they would take care of everything.

Over the weekend, I notice more scratches on the hood, where the glass was obviously dragged across when removing it. I call the DM and report it and ask that this be included in the repair. She agrees and I get one more estimate.

I go to get my second windshield installed. I meet a guy they know at the shop. He does body work, and has his own shop. I agree to let him bid on it. I do a little research and talk to him on the phone. Turns out that he had a shop, now he has a garage on his fathers property. He assures me the work will be professional, the DM assures me it will be taken care of if not right. I say ok, and arrangements are made to meet him next Friday and the DM will rent me a car from the rental agency with which they share the property. I agree.

The second windshield is installed. I drive around and notice another flaw, in a different place on the windshield. I bring it back. The installer says they must have polished it too hard in that spot. This strikes me as odd because it is supposed to be new, and polishing is something they do to refinish old windshields. I ask to make sure I am getting new, they assure me I am and that it is a factory flaw.

I research and find out that this is not generally the case. The DM assures me the third windshield will be a new piece of PPG glass. I find out on the internet that some place use refinished and cheap imported chinese glass and sell it as new. I wonder if that is happening to me.

I get the third windshield installed. I notice a small ripple that is barely distinguishable while driving, and accept it. I figure that this is the best I will get and vow to pay full price next time, and to get my comprehensive deductible lowered to 100.00. Most installers will waive that and install your window for the insurance payment alone.

Everything seems ok with the windshield. Friday I drop the car off and get my rental. Monday I pick up the bug and survey the work. Not bad. There are a few rough spots in unnoticeable places. I again figure it's the best I'll get out of these people, and got on my way. They've worn me down. I'm too tired to struggle any more.

Now, you're thinking this is the end of story, and it certainly should be. But no, there's more. It has been not quite a month since that day.

The other day, after nothing hitting my windshield during driving about town, I come out to go home and find my new window cracked. I see no evidence of impact. I call the Mgr. He says bring it by and they'll order another one after inspecting it themselves. Fair enough.

I wonder if I should just go elsewhere an use my recently adjusted(not two days before! a very close one!) comprehensive coverage to get it done right elsewhere. I decide to give them a shot since I have a warranty, but decide that I will insist on a new windshield from VW. I want to go on the ride to pick it up too.

I get there, the Mgr and installer look it over. They find the tiniest of chips along the line where the crack is. So tiny I could barely see it. They refuse replacement.

I ask why, when my original windshield has literally tens of thousands of chips much larger and had even been chipped and repaired in a couple of places but never cracked, how this microscopic blemish had cracked my window clean through rendering it unrepairable? "That's all it takes", they said. "Yes, when it's a cheap, refurbished, windshield that is improperly installed, that's all it takes.", Said I. They assured me the glass was new and refused to do anything.

The crack looked to me like a stress crack from uneven installation. something under the window caused it to bow and eventually crack. The crack came from the edge out, and happened to pass under a tiny little chip that was most likely already in the windshield. Add to that the fact that it occurred while the car was parked. Either that, or the window was so cheap, anything could crack it. I think it had to be one of the two.

But I can't prove either one, so I will treat it like a window cracked from road debris and report this to my insurance company.

At least now I'll get the new windshield I was promised and not a bargain basement whatever it was that I think Glass Masters put in.

Unsatisfied Customer

Charlotte, North Carolina

U.S.A.