Winding tale of windshield woes
You may have read my last column in which I detailed the ridiculous challenge of replacing a burned-out brake light in my car. As if that didn’t waste enough of my time, I have also been dealing with a windshield problem since April. Yes, April.
It all started with a stone flying into my windshield, leaving a chip at the base of the passenger side. It didn’t worry me at first, but then it started getting bigger. I thought I’d better get it filled with that resin repair stuff. A call to my insurance company led me away from the company I wanted to have to do the repairs and toward one that I was told was a “preferred vendor.”
Yes, they were good, I was assured. Famous last words.
I scheduled the repair, and the mobile service guy came and proceeded to tell me he couldn’t fill the chip because of where it was located. Instead, he would have to replace the entire windshield. That took a week to get it ordered, then another week because they said the box was missing some of the molding. It was delayed a third week due to a death in the technician’s family. Finally, he came and replaced the windshield.
It seemed fine until I drove to work the next day and thought I heard more road noise than normal along with a faint whirring sound, as if one of the windows was open a smidge.
I tried to ignore it, but it didn’t go away. A couple of weeks later, I was shocked to see part of the rubber molding on the passenger side flapping in the wind and didn’t appear to be attached with glue or anything else.
A call to the company yielded another visit under warranty … by the same technician. Another week’s delay for yet another windshield. He blamed the molding or adhesive for being “faulty.”
This time, I looked it over and noted the molding still looked wavy and that the windshield was sitting a bit high – not meeting the molding perfectly. I was told it was fine.
The next day, I heard the same road noise and even more wind noise. I sent photos to my car dealership-owner buddy, and he said it was definitely not right.
Finally, I called my insurance company, begged for their help and asked if I could please go to the company I wanted in the first place. They apologized, said yes and set it up.
Two days later, they installed the third windshield in under 90 minutes and it’s perfect – no extra noise and correct molding. That technician confirmed that the previous job was, indeed, done incorrectly.
Moral of the story: Go with your gut and speak up for what you really want the first time.
Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.