My windshield had been chipped by a rock several years ago and it finally turned into a crack about a year ago so I decided to replace it. Classic Industries sells one for $184. I contacted Safelite knowing they are the biggest around and thought I would have a good chance of getting one as close as possible to factory without having to buy the Classic Industries reproduction. Fast forward to today. I inspect the windshield and approve. Takes them about 45-50mins, not bad. I was not allowed to watch which freaked me out but whatever. The tech them brings me the receipt and a damage survey to sign. He doesn't tell me about the damage survey and only peels the receipt up at the very bottom and said to sign these 2 places. I said not until I inspect the vehicle. He then said I wasn't allowed back there so I just took upon myself to walk back there anyway. The weatherstripping and overall install looked great. Upon closer inspections large chunks of old weatherstripping was all over the inside of my car along with pieces of broken glass. He had also left my keys in the door lock so they were allowed to swing around and scratch my paint!There was broken glass on my hood and all over the doors stuck in the side window weatherstripping. Then the kicker......a 2" diameter spiderweb crack on the top front of my dash with 4" cracks coming from the front and back of it!!!!! I pointed it out to the tech and he just shruged. I signed off and right away pulled my car out and went in to find a manager. He walked out to my car and offered $25 off. I said sure, took the discount and walked. I went straight to work and filled out an online complaint form with all the details and then called their customer service to file a complaint. Oh, and the guy called and asked me to drive to their location instead of doing it at my work, then he tried hiding from me the fact that I was entitled to $25 off for not doing an off-site install. I had to get 2 people involved just to drag that out of them. This happened when he was trying to make me sign the receipt before I walked into the shop. I also noticed that on the Pre-Work Inspection Form the little bastards put down that my carpet was damaged, that my pillars/posts were damaged, and that my car had rust/scratched/damaged paint around the work area. All of this total LIES! I hope these a$$ clowns end up buying me a new dash from Classic Industries for the $400 for whatever it is! Granted my current dash has a small crack on the passenger corner by the door which is why I'm replacing it but it's by no means a beater either! Heck most owners would love to have a dash as good as mine is, or was after this!

I have heard of similar story before. It can be hard to know where to take your car for work.

I am only using Classic car restoration type shops from now on. Maybe pay a bit more but they treat cars with respect.

this is why if a place will not allow me to watch (im fine standing outside the bay looking in) i will not let them touch my car!!!! if they want the job that bad they will bend the rules, plus i always ask for a pre work damage report that i can read before i hand them the keys

ohh yea BTW, safelite was replacing both windshields on my motorhome ($3,000 worth of glass got to love insurance) anyway somehow "a socket flew off the wrench and busted a side window" WTF you dont use a socket wrench to replace it anyway so they take and put in some non tinted glass to replace OEM tinted glass, and i threw the flag, they got it tinted, and then when i got it home i noticed they hardley cleand up the glass from the broken window ......the got another right and proper cussin and i never went back, i now use a "mom and pop" glass shop....10 times better

When I went to safelite he wouldn't let me watch him install my windshield, and when I got my car back it was scatched up around the windshield, and now there is surface rust. I asked if I could at least go in and clean up my VIN tag, he said he'd do it for me, and he apparently got out the drill and put a wire brush in it and 'cleaned' it so good that it popped one of the rivets out.
Now I have surface rust in scatces around my window, and a f***ed up VIN tag under a new windshield.

FWIW I used safelite to install a windshield in my 82 Corvette and he was very professional and did a great job....came to my home to do it.

Best $200 I ever spent, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you guys....I guess it depends on who you get.

ive had to replace 2 windshields in to of my 3rd gens. i used discount autoglass, on my 83 i took it to them, and it looked imaculate. on my 86 they cam to my house and did it while i was at work. looks good, but when i pulled the painters tape off the window molding the F'in corners where popped out of the seam cause the windshield was placed a smidge to high. i had to trim part of it and silicone it down, looks good now tho. and it only cost $170 installed.

Same here used them more times than I care to talk about. I have allways had them come out so I could watch seems that thats the way to go never hurt anything.

Just had them replace my Malibu windshield. Did great.

If you live in Bakersfield, don't use them!

They replaced the side window in my 2001 camaro (gangstas smashed it to steal a six year old walmart cd player). They replaced it at the house while I was at work. My mom signed for it.

Broke the clips that hold the power window switch plate to the armrest so it never stayed down, left glass rattling around inside the door, and put the door panel back in wrong so the weatherstripping was out of place and the lock no longer worked right.

They never answered the phone when I tried to bitch about it.

thats more of a shops line of work. these guys are trained more for cutting urethane out and fitting windshields. removing door panels and working on the regulator is prolly over there heads to start with, suprised they even did it.

It's the shop the insurance company chose.

safelite replaced the windshield in my friend's car twice, the first time the job was scheduled, but then had to be rescheduled, because of paint work. but the guy doing thw work didn't get the notice in time. he did an amazing job cleaning up the broken glass and installing the new glass. then the next day he had to come back and remove the new glass so we could paint. there were no arguments. when the paint was done he came back out and reinstalled the glass free of charge. the work was very satisfactory, but we were watching him.

if you go to them, it is an insurance liability for them to allow you in their work area, but if they come to you there is no insurance liability.

i say always try to schedule a time where you can watch them do the work. that way everything should be done to your approval.

ive never had a problem with them. they came out to the shop and do it for me. i know a lot of people who have used them to much luck also. sounds weird. how they can blatantly mess up that much.

my firend has a 98 vette and they had to install/reinstall 4-5 windshields because they kept messing it up. one times it was so off he said he could almost stick his finger out of the corner of the window. lol. at least they didnt damage his car though.

think my dad used a discount autoglass or something around here NNJ, brought it to them, 180$ installed and they did a great job on the 86 TA, but thanks for the info i wont be using safelite lol.