Aaron's Auto Glass

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/04/27) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted], D.M.
Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: [redacted].com
Ms. [redacted] had her tempered back glass replaced on her 2004 Toyota Sienna on April 20, 2015 by Aaron Auto Glass. When our...

technician finished installing Ms. [redacted] back glass she paid him right in front of the newly installed back glass. There was nothing wrong with this back glass when our technician left her home and on April 21, 2015. We received a call from Ms. [redacted] and she said, that her new back glass was now broken. We told Ms. [redacted] that we were going to look into her case and give her a call back. Ms. [redacted] called us back 15 minutes later after the first call and we told her that we were calling our warehouse to see if they have had any problems with this back glass in the past. We called Ms. [redacted] back after speaking to our warehouse and explained to her that the warehouse stated that they have had no issues with this back glass. We offered Ms. [redacted] and Mr. [redacted] a discount for the purchase of another back glass. They accepted our offer to pay $200.00 for another back glass that would be installed the next day on April 22, 2015. On the morning of installation on April 22, 2015 Ms. [redacted] called to cancel her appointment. Then we started to receive calls from all her friends and family because she posted on her Facebook page that we taking advantage of tornado victims and that we are not standing behind our lifetime warranty. We would like to be clear on our warranty, all our customers receive a receipt upon payment and our warranty is clearly spelled out..."Aaron Auto Glass offers a lifetime on our workmanship. Aaron Auto Glass is not responsible for any outside damage that may occur to your glass after installation." Ms. [redacted] stated that she did nothing to make her back glass break and that she believed that the reason the glass broke is because it was installed improperly or that it was a defective glass. We would like to address Ms. [redacted] concerns. Her back glass is a tempered glass. A front windshield is laminated. Since a windshield is laminated you can see where the original point of impact to determine where a crack started from. A tempered glass does not work like a laminated windshield there is no way knowing where original impact started from. A tempered glass is good until it breaks. There is no in between, either it is one solid piece of glass or it's broke and it's in a million small pieces of glass. But, we both agree on this, when our installer left her house the glass was intact. And, the next day her back glass was broken. So, as far as the glass being defective this cannot be true because tempered glass is either intact in one solid piece or it's broken. And as far as the glass being installed improperly, we know that is not true because if the technician did install her back glass improperly the glass would have broken during installation and not the next day. We don't know how her back glass broke but we do know that the back glass did not break by itself. Here are a few common reasons why glass breaks...
1. Accident, neighborhood kids playing baseball and ball breaks glass
2. Vandalism, someone breaks into car to steal radio
3. Act of God, hail storm
4. Knowingly breaking themselves, left keys locked inside the car and broke glass out to get keys
Once again we are sorry that Ms. [redacted] back glass broke and we did try to resolve this matter by offering her a discount on the purchase of another glass. But, we will not be giving her a full refund because we did not break her glass. We would like to leave you with this analogy...
When you buy a new car and the next day an act of god happens like a tree falling on your new car. You don't call the dealer where you bought the car and say the car you sold me is defective.
Aaron Auto Glass has been in business for more than 30 years and we have not built this business on taking advantage of our customers. If there are any questions concerning this matter please feel free to contact me at your leisure.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Manager
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/04/29) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
[redacted]'s response is that since I paid the installer in front of the repaired window that it must have been installed correctly. I know nothing about window installation, but I will agree that when the installer left there was a rear window installed on my car. I was given instructions not to remove the tape for 24 hours, which I never did, which tells me that it must take that long for the window to properly finish adhering. I live in a rural area and there were no kids outside or vandals or balls or hailstorms or even locked car doors on the day my window exploded. There was, however, a lot of wind, which would have caused the window to explode if the replacement window was defective or if it had not been sealed correctly and the pressure was uneven. The installer put the new window in during strong winds and in a approximately 1/2 hour. I have no way of knowing if that is standard, or even acceptable as that was the 1st time I ever had a window replaced in a vehicle.
We did originally accept the offer of $200 for a new window because I needed a window and we were told that she would be talking to her manager to see if he could offer us a better price. Once we found out that they were not going to offer any less than more the cost of the window (the discount of 24.44 was less than the 35 we paid for the on-site installation, and more than I would have paid if I had gone to their shop) we cancelled the appointment. We did let them know that we would be posting their decision not to stand behind their implied warranty (advertised on their vans and facebook page as a lifetime warranty, and the only time it is spelled out that the glass is not warrantied is when you get your receipt after paying), and we were told that they didn't care because they have lots of customers, and since we can't prove the glass or installation was defective that they weren't going to replace the window. We were never informed that by paying we were accepting that their installation and perfect and therefore not going to be covered, nor did I know that as the customer it was up to me to inspect the glass prior to and after installation for and small imperfections or nicks. I was not asked to inspect the glass at any point. The glass was installed, and just over 24 hours later it was shattered. There is nothing but broken glass in my car, and there is broken glass all over the grass where I parked.
[redacted] states that glass does not break by itself, but it actually can and does, especially if it installed incorrectly of if there is a defect. Just because the warehouse said that they did not know of any defects does not mean that there aren't any.If the warehouse did know of any defects I would assume that they would not sell the ship the affected windows. I do know that I did nothing to cause the window to break, and that I paid $224.44 for a window that I now have to pay another company to replace again. [redacted] said that I can't prove it was not my fault that I am liable, and they also say that there is no way to know why it broke. I don't think that I should be responsible for what is either their error or their warehouse's error.
The installer did come to my house to look at the broken window, and stated that he had never seen that and also noted that there was nothing but glass in the trunk area. He also saw the glass that had blown all over the yard. [redacted] had told me that if the glass was defective that it would have blown out, not in. The fact that so much glass still made it out, despite facing winds pushing against it that were gusting up to 50 mph, indicates that the glass probably was defective. The installer also implied that he was told that if didn't make the situation right with me that the company would charge him for it and he would be in trouble.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/05/04) */
We are sorry, if Ms. [redacted] was not clear on our warranty. But, we do not wide the fact that the glass is not covered under our warranty. And, must customers understand that glass is not part of our warranty. And, we are sorry, that Ms. [redacted] back glass broke again the very next day but we do not agree with her that it was a defective glass or improperly installed because if either were true the glass would have broken during installation. Since, the glass was intact when we left her home the glass was not defective nor was it improperly installed. Ms. [redacted] also mentioned that there was a strong wind the day of original install and the day after, April 20th and April 21st. But, a strong wind by itself would not be able to break a tempered back glass. But, debris traveling along in high winds could have broken Ms. [redacted] back glass. We don't know how her back glass broke and we did make several attempts to resolve this matter with Ms. [redacted]. But, it was difficult to resolve this matter when Ms. [redacted] told her friends and family call our office and demand a free glass installation or a complete refund and when we said we could not agree to these terms, they said, we said, that we did not care. We don't think that is a fair statement. If we did not care we would not have made multiple attempts to resolve this matter. If we did not care we would have said to Ms. [redacted] buy a new back glass and pay full price. But, since we do care about our customer and we were not the reason why her back glass broke in the first place we first offered her another back glass for $200. Our second attempt made to resolve this matter was, after Ms. [redacted] cancel her appointment with us on April 22, 2015, we still sent our technician to Ms. [redacted]' home to try find a resolution to this matter. Our third effort made to resolve this matter, was after our technician spoke with Ms. [redacted] he called the office and said that she was not happy that we only gave her $24.44 off the original price. Our technician also said, that Ms. [redacted] said, if we would have given her half off the glass that would have been better. So, we authorized the technician to give Ms. [redacted] $122.22 for another back glass installation because we wanted to resolve this matter. $122.22 was half off the original price of $224.44 and when our technician spoke to Ms. [redacted] and made this new offer to her, and she declined. We know the Better Business Association is a neutral third party and it can see that we tried to resolve this matter in good faith. But, when Ms. [redacted] and her friends and family give us an ultimatum of, refund Ms. [redacted] money or give Ms. [redacted] free glass or else I will tell my friends and family to call your business to harass you and leave negative reviews saying that we are taking advantage of a tornado victim, it was clear to us that Ms. [redacted] was not interested in resolving this issue with us unless it involved us installing a free back glass or giving her a full refund. We would like to thank the Revdex.com for their consideration in this matter and if there are any further questions concerning this is please feel free to contact me at your leisure.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/05/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
[redacted] did not make multiple attempts to resolve the problem. The only attempt they made was to offer me a new window for $200. The technician did come out, but he told me that he was instructed to make it right or he would be held responsible. When he called, after he left my house, to offer to split the cost of the window he told me that he personally was going to split the cost, not the company, and that he was sorry for the way they were treating me and did not understand why. The company did not offer me a new window for $100 (the installer told me that he would split the $200 offered price with me, not that the company would split the entire regular price - there is a big difference). I did not tell my family and friends to call. I did, however, tell [redacted] that I was not happy with their offer and that I would be posting it to Facebook and they basically said to go ahead. What my family and friends, and even strangers did, with the true information that I posted cannot be held against me. The people that called and posted negative reviews did so because they agreed that [redacted] was wrong. More than one person did tell me, however, that their response from [redacted] was "so what" and someone even told me that they were told by [redacted] that we had worked out an agreement and that everything was fine. The warranty information is deceptive because the wording on their vans says "lifetime warranty" - if there are conditions, such as only the installation being guaranteed, then there should be an asterisk and some "fine print" visible, and not handed to the customer on a receipt after payment has been made. One of the times I called I was told that if it had been defective glass it would have shattered out, which it did. The employee who told me that did not say that it would shatter immediately. The fact that it shattered out, despite the strong winds, clearly shows that something was wrong, based on the employees own words. [redacted] should be thankful that the glass exploded while it was parked instead of when I was driving because one of my kids might have been injured, or the sound might have caused me to have an accident. So far, the only thing I see [redacted] saying is that I am a liar, and that I caused my window to be broken or know what did, or that debris from the wind might have caused it to break and since I've told them that there was no debris around that would have caused a window to break if it wasn't defective then I still don't accept their answer. At one point I was told by them that perhaps a rock flew into it and hit it because of the wind. Rocks don't lift off the ground and fly into back of vans during regular wind storms. There are strong winds out here all the time and I've lived with them for 13 years - it seems highly unlikely that the day after I have a new window installed that it would shatter on it's own because of them. I have since had a new window installed by a different company. The installer took close to 2 hours, and acknowledged that a half hour install is very quick and that it would be hard to do it properly and carefully. My new window has been in place for over a week now, during winds and storms, and has not shattered.