Autoglass v. ML55

[Alex]

Hey guys,

Sorry for the long post.

Had windscreen in my ML replaced today by one of Autoglass franchisees. Booked in advance and drove in rather than going with their mobile fitter. Spent good 20 mins asking how the work is carried, whether or not any of Mercedes instructions are used/followed when disassembling and or installing parts of the car (plastic grille around wiper arms, mirror assembly, etc). Basically made myself look like a complete idiot who is obsessed with keeping restored 6 y.o. vehicle. Signed the form and left the car with them.

Got a call a few hours later confirming the car was ready. Asked the guy if everything went OK. Got a yes. Came to the branch, asked the techie who fitted the glass if no clips got broken/snapped/needed replacing. All good was the answer. Well great then! Here's the money and off I go.

HOWEVER when driving her home few mins later following things were noted:

• Rear view mirror is relatively loose. It rattles when driving which is very irritating, not to say UNSAFE. It is not completely loose, just a little but it is noticeable.

• Rain sensor cover is popped by a good 1/2 inch away from the glass. Supposed to be flush with the windscreen.

• Rain sensor cover, which turned out to be part of the mirror assembly and not separately orderable p/n, has been what can be best described as pried off with a screw driver in a few places and looks cosmetically bad.

• Windscreen sits a little uneven when looked from inside the car (judged by the space from the glass to A pillars).

• Grille that covers wiper arms motor mechanism is not fastened. At all. Locking clip was found in the engine bay.

Got Autoglass franchisee on the phone straight away and explained my concerns. Was advised the following:

• Since glass was not "original Mercedes", rain sensor could be of different type to what Mercedes is normally using. A new glass from Mercs will be ordered in two days and fitted to replace today's failed attempt.

• 
  As a result of above, rain sensor cover (which is part of the mirror assembly) could magically seat in place again.

• Damage to the rain sensor cover will be inspected at the branch and, if necessary, the whole mirror assembly will be replaced (cost £450+VAT from the dealers).

The entire conversation was held by them in rather amicable fashion, which is good.

HOWEVER,

• I am generally pi$$ed with how the job was handled, especially in light of me 'making sure' they take extra care when dealing with my motor.

• Basically, not only my concerns were ignored, I was lied that there was no problems with getting the car back to it's original state.

• Even if they manage to reseat the rain sensor cover on the new OEM windscreen and sort out mirror vibration, I am still unhappy about the damage done to the cover itself and it will bug me to bones every time I look at it (it is right behind the mirror).

Now, do I have a case here? Anyone else experienced anything similar with Autoglass? Are they sorting/replacing everything regardless of costs? They guy on the other end sounded slightly unsure when he heard of cost of the mirror and backed off by saying manager will have to decide.

Also I am not sure about this one, but can I insist on Mercedes fitting the new mirror, provided Autoglass agree to replace it? I can back up my argument by saying I don't trust them my vehicle anymore, but are there other persuading methods, like a letter and or a call to Autolass HQ, perhaps? Can't imagine that Autoglass, spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on TV and radio adverts, will be fighting for £400-500 worth of damages but then again as it is franchised scheme, I will be fighting some limited company, trading under their big name. So it is more 'What If?' kind of thread.

Your thoughts please, gentlemen.

 

[Alps]

Hi ALX, sry to hear abt your troubles mate, worth keeping a cool head on this one, at least they are moving towards sorting it out, thats the main thing... get it sorted first..... good luck.

 

[RobJohPlo]

Had auto glass replace a windscreen last year with similar poor results, had it replaced with original merc part at a merc dealer, ironically the dealership used autoglass to come and fit it (as they're more experienced at doing the job) job this time was perfect.

autoglass stood the cost of replacing the screen and the a-pillar trims that they damaged first time round..

Fitter was really nice as I stood and watched him the entire time, said he'd personally bought this fancy electric sealant gun which dispensed the mastic sealer at a set rate rather than relying on one that you had to squeeze yourself and as such you don't get it even (if you know what I mean..) when they fitted the first screen black mastic had squirted out all over the inner trims & you couldn't see the vin tag in the windscreen at all..

 

[davidjpowell]

We had a not working property light sensor and vastly greater wind noise after having our screen replaced by Autoglass.

They sent our a new fitter, who managed to remove and refit the glass properly this time.

Much better job, I think it is not about the company, more the experience and care level of the fitter.

 

[st4]

Always INSIST on a dealer windscreen.

I did and it was Autowindscreens and the job was fine.

 

[BaldGuy]

I'm very surprised you let those monkeys put a pattern part in your ML....

 

[Palfrem]

Always insist on OE glass

I used to work for Triplex back in the 1970's / 80s and they always used to do a lot of QA on shape. It was back in the days when folk cared.

Bending glass (and retaining optical quality) to a complex shape isn't easy. A lot of stuff fell by the wayside.

I recall the massive mark up the car manufacturers used to put on the glass even then.
I think it was many hundreds of percent. Some of them were made for £3 and sold by OEM for about £50.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Sorry to hear of the woes. Sounds like it will be sorted though. Good on AutoGlass for taking a sensible approach to resolving the problems.

• Rear view mirror is relatively loose. It rattles when driving which is very irritating, not to say UNSAFE. It is not completely loose, just a little but it is noticeable.

If this is irritating, try sliding the rear view mirror assembly upwards. If it's the same RVM as in our ML, then it's as if there's a verticle rail on the inside of the windscreen which the RVM slides up and locates into the roof lining.

A firm progressive push using your thumb and forefinger should seat it properly and stop the rattle.

 

[Alex]

Guys

Many thanks for your replies. To clear a few points:

1. About the glass - you live and learn. Next time I will be insisting on OEM glass ONLY. TBH, I did inspect the windscreen when in the shop. It is made by Pilkington, same make as on wife's W204. As it is quite expensive part (£745-ish), I somewhat thought it wouldn't be a cheapish pattern part. Plus, the guy reassured me that they order glass from factory the same way as Mercedes does. I know that Mercs outsource everything as any other major mfg today so I just let them carry on with the job.

Still, I don't think the glass is the problem. It is the workmanship that is let down. Pry the plastic cover off with metal object - Why? I mean these things are plain as the nose on your face. You simply don't go prying stuff off in a car with the screwdriver! And then there's the cover. First it was confirmed all was OK and it turned out over the phone sales assistant knew that non-OEM glass could be a problem (sensor is bonded to the windscreen).

2. Generally, glass seats OK. It is not immediately obvious it is a little uneven. Well, not from outside anyway but yeah, what the heck?

3. Lastly, I will try to shift mirror upwards, although TBH, I did try to fiddle with it - it was sturdy where it is fixed to the roof (roof?) but wobbly at the lowest point of the mirror (that is mirror itself is wobbly, not the arm holding it).

Will pop round to AG tomorrow to discuss the matter. Hope it will be resolved and I will make it to AMG meet later this week.

Thanks for the input guys. Please keep them thoughts coming!

 

[nick mercedes]

First it was confirmed all was OK and it turned out over the phone sales assistant knew that non-OEM glass could be a problem

Pilkington is OEM.

 

[Simon_M]

I had a similarly shyate experience with the CLS a year or so ago. They did offer OEM glass but the guys fitting it did a similar hash job on the rain sensor and rear view mirror. I suspect the 'OEM glass' will fix it is bull shyate, They also used a great big blade thingy to push through the old sealant and release the screen carving great big slices into the A pillar trim and more worryingly through the sealant and scratching the paint.

On my Passat they lost a few rubber boots around the windscreen that I later found in the engine bay.

Shower of shayte......

 

[Palfrem]

Ambient temperature at the time of fitting may have an impact

 

[ShinyF1]

I had the rear tailgate glass replaced [a break-in] on a brand new BMW 320d Touring by Autoglass at their workshop in Enfield in 2000. They made a complete hash of the job, with the tailgate popping open all the time when driving the car.

It ended up costing them the best part of £1000 to send it to BMW to get it fixed as they could not get their head around it at all. I was younger then but blimey it was frustrating, hence my eagerness to recount a 10 year old story!

Won't touch Autoglass now at all.

 

[Alex]

Pilkington is OEM.

True and that rules the glass out pretty much. I bet they want the car back so that they could fit a new glass (=cheaper option for them) and avoid footing the new mirror bill.

I had a similarly shyate experience with the CLS a year or so ago. They did offer OEM glass but the guys fitting it did a similar hash job on the rain sensor and rear view mirror. I suspect the 'OEM glass' will fix it is bull shyate, They also used a great big blade thingy to push through the old sealant and release the screen carving great big slices into the A pillar trim and more worryingly through the sealant and scratching the paint.

On my Passat they lost a few rubber boots around the windscreen that I later found in the engine bay.

Shower of shayte......

Simon

I too don't buy the whole 'OEM glass' excuse but oh, well. Did they replace eventually everything they touched?

Ambient temperature at the time of fitting may have an impact

The car was done at the branch not outside. Or do you mean on their heads?

Won't touch Autoglass now at all.

Well, it is good to know they cleared the air after themselves! I am ready to forgive and forget the whole thing if they fix their own mess at their own expense.

 

[BTB 500]

I did and it was Autowindscreens and the job was fine.

Auto Windscreens replaced the screen on our Vito, and the auto lights didn't work afterwards (permanently on). Had to get someone to come and inspect it, then had to take it to their Reading depot, where they said "no point bringing it here - we can't do anything"!

Had to book it in at a dealer in the end, they replaced the sensor module and all was OK again. Then took a further 6 weeks or so to get the money back from Auto Windscreens.

 

[st4]

Auto Windscreens replaced the screen on our Vito, and the auto lights didn't work afterwards (permanently on). Had to get someone to come and inspect it, then had to take it to their Reading depot, where they said "no point bringing it here - we can't do anything"!

Had to book it in at a dealer in the end, they replaced the sensor module and all was OK again. Then took a further 6 weeks or so to get the money back from Auto Windscreens.

Nah, all works as it should be, autodim, auto wipers, auto lights etc.

Only criticism is on a 211 there are two bits of trim that run the length of the roof and these IIRC are removed to take the screen off. They put them on, but one was slightly loose, but I pushed it down and it held ever since.

 

[survey]

Had Autoglass replace a screen on an XTrail a couple of years back. Autoglass were nominated by my insurance company. They left the glass filthy and with a dirt film on it that made me take t back to them for cleaning. Even after that the glass was never perfectly clean and in bright sunlight always looked bad. Never again!

 

[Alex]

Hey guys, thought I would give an update on my windscreen situation.

After I collected the car from Autoglass with wrong windscreen fitted, it became obvious that in addition of loose and scratched mirror, I lost automatic wipers mode. The wipers would go on every 5 seconds regardless of the weather. This was reported back to AG and promised to be fixed with the new glass in.

Two days later the car went for a planned respray, so it was agreed with AG that they will send a guy to the bodyshop to remove the wrong windscreen, after that the roof will be sprayed and baked and AG will be called in again to fit the new glass. This part took about a week to complete and after checking the work I was very pleased with the visual outcome. Glass and mirror - both sit perfectly. Windscreen has MB three pointed star logo as well as some hologram in the corner. Great!

Three weeks later I received a call that work has been completed and I can collect the car. I was over the moon as I haven't driven the car for over a month now. On the way back home checked the wipers and they were still in intermittent mode with 5 sec intervals. Damn!

Phoned AG the next day and was advised that the rain sensor may need reprogramming and that it was standard procedure with many Mercs. As the car was already booked in for service/tranny oil change (Olly, hello!) with the local dealer, I asked them to look into this as well.

Got a phone call from Mercs two days later advising that they hooked the computer and there was no signal so they removed the dome lights and found a piece of loom chopped around the mirror area! Cost of loom? £200 something + VAT. Fitting? 10 hours. Total £1,245 something!!

Got AG on the line, explained the situation. Was told that because of the amount, it could not be approved over the phone and investigation would have to be carried by AG. Fair enough. Few days later received a call from AG confirming they will cover all expenses. Woo hoo! That was last Friday.

Now the loom will take a few days to arrive so I hope to be able to put all this behind in a week time from now! Hats off to the manager of AG Milton Keynes for coming through on this.

On a positive note, got plenty of presents for my ML this Xmas:

13/12 I am booked with David @ D:Class for some interior work (headliner, pillars), so that is another two weeks until I see my ML again. A new OEM carpet will be fitted sometime next week too, so it all looks and feels new and fresh again.

Got ML55 performance exhaust coming from Supersprint in Italy mid-December. Will see how it rumbles @ the next AMG meet (bloody winter only started!!!). A set of 22" BRABUS wheels and illuminated AMG door kick plates are on the way too. Few more parts are gathering dust on the shelf waiting to be fitted.

That's about it I think. Will keep you guys posted.

 

[cazyp]

Perhaps this is what happens when you pi$$ the fitters off by asking 1001 questions before the job is carried out lol.
Or perhaps it's par for the course.
Glad it's getting sorted anyhow!

 

[Alex]

Hahaha!!

What's more chickensh*t than f**king with a man's automobile? I mean, don't f**k with another man's vehicle. It's just against the rules.