Windscreen Leak- My Rights?

[ThreeOneEight 0]

I had the windscreen on my BMW replaced by Smith and Smith a few months ago, anyway it is now leaking through the seal and has soaked everything in my glovebox. I took it back into Smith and Smith Petone, and was served by a blunt, bordering on rude woman who told me it could not be fixed till next Thursday (when I am conveniently going to be under general anaesthetic!) The Smith and Smith TV advertising campaign shows an old man having his windscreen fixed by a Smith and Smith mobile van many years after it is fixed, free of charge, and straight away. I am happy to take my car into a depot to have it fixed, but over a week seems like a long wait, and still water seeps in, making my car damp, and risking rust.

I plan to complain to their head office, and insist that the problem is immediately fixed. But what are my rights if the car gets rust or other damage from having water stuck behind the seal?

[*sic 1]

as a rule of thumb if its not how you want it, moan.

moaning gets you practically anything you want, if you dont shut up they will give you more.

nz was made the way it is today by people who moan.

[ThreeOneEight 0]

as a rule of thumb if its not how you want it, moan.

moaning gets you practically anything you want, if you dont shut up they will give you more.

nz was made the way it is today by people who moan.

My British Ancestry will help no end then!

[Palazzo 439]

Strangely, I'm in 100% agreement with *sic, moan, moan, then moan some more. If this doesn't work, try repeated moaning, then mention Fair Go, Consumer Guarantees Act, their advertising and anything else even vaguely relevant. If they still haven't had enough, then try moaning.

It's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil.

[TronSpec 0]

I had the windscreen on my BMW replaced by Smith and Smith a few months ago, anyway it is now leaking through the seal and has soaked everything in my glovebox. I took it back into Smith and Smith Petone, and was served by a blunt, bordering on rude woman who told me it could not be fixed till next Thursday (when I am conveniently going to be under general anaesthetic!) The Smith and Smith TV advertising campaign shows an old man having his windscreen fixed by a Smith and Smith mobile van many years after it is fixed, free of charge, and straight away. I am happy to take my car into a depot to have it fixed, but over a week seems like a long wait, and still water seeps in, making my car damp, and risking rust.

I plan to complain to their head office, and insist that the problem is immediately fixed. But what are my rights if the car gets rust or other damage from having water stuck behind the seal?

Mate I used to work for novas windscreens.

You are right and they should fit you in as your "job" has not technically being finished. If we ever had a leak come back we would stop what we were doing and fix somthing that we obviously didn't fix properly the first time. Know what I mean?

Problem with smith and smith is that they do so many screen's a day the guys are usually under pressure and rushing what they are doing and not making sure that they are doing it right the first time.

So yeah my advice. Complain about the bitch that served you and demand that it be done straight away. Also smith and smith are responsible for anydamage caused by their f**kup. ie, rust, water damaged carpet etc.

[Neal 512]

I had the windscreen on my BMW replaced by Smith and Smith a few months ago, anyway it is now leaking through the seal and has soaked everything in my glovebox. I took it back into Smith and Smith Petone, and was served by a blunt, bordering on rude woman who told me it could not be fixed till next Thursday (when I am conveniently going to be under general anaesthetic!) The Smith and Smith TV advertising campaign shows an old man having his windscreen fixed by a Smith and Smith mobile van many years after it is fixed, free of charge, and straight away. I am happy to take my car into a depot to have it fixed, but over a week seems like a long wait, and still water seeps in, making my car damp, and risking rust.

I plan to complain to their head office, and insist that the problem is immediately fixed. But what are my rights if the car gets rust or other damage from having water stuck behind the seal?

I'm not suprised , Smith & Smith Wellington replace the wind screen on my 325 , The fit is very poor , the outer seal has a 3-4 mill gap on one side and the buggers put a couple of small dents in the bonnet where they rested the screen on it.

I complained to my insurance company about the quality of the work who weren't interested.

Let ask know how you get on.

[ThreeOneEight 0]

I agree with the statement that Smith and Smith staff seemed 'under pressure'. There was a lot of negative energy in the place at the time! I won't be using them again once this is fixed, and will be asking them to make sure the windscreen seal is completely free of moisture when it is refitted, and be asking for new carpets- I have been 'Febreze-ing' them daily but you can never get that beautiful BMW smell back!

The next best time they could give me is Tuesday. Fingers crossed!

[Huttey 0]

I had an issue with some window repair work that Smith and Smith in Adelaide St performed. I emailed the GM who phoned me immediately and replaced the not-so-well -repaired windscreen with a new one at my earliest convenience at no charge. I was quite impressed with his efforts to sort out an unhappy customer. Worth a try.

[ThreeOneEight 0]

I had an issue with some window repair work that Smith and Smith in Adelaide St performed. I emailed the GM who phoned me immediately and replaced the not-so-well -repaired windscreen with a new one at my earliest convenience at no charge. I was quite impressed with his efforts to sort out an unhappy customer. Worth a try.

Still got his Email Address mate? Was this the national GM? My carpet is a bit soaked so I'm expecting a free groom as compesation provided for under the consumer guarantees act. Seems like fair deal to me!

[Huttey 0]

I sent it through the Smith and Smith - Contact Us web page and addressed it to the GM with my email address and contact number for him to respond to.

[DCEIVN 0]

Contact a senior manager - like a regional manager. Mention your plight - if you are not satisified with their offer then mention the consumer guarentees act. I don't know it off the top of my head but there is a clause which completely covers you for any resulting damages from providing a faulty good/service - i.e. including the cost to clean your car or replace water damaged parts.

Anyway also mention that its not acceptable to have a leaking windscreen and they need to place it on the top of their list as you shouldn't have to deal with poor workmanship.

[Huttey 0]

How did you get on

[jimbo01 0]

We had a very poor experience with Smith & Smith Petone replacing the passenger front side window in the 740i.

The door trim was poorly fitted, and worse the glass was scratched. We took it back and they were very apploigetic, siad they wouldorder the glass and call back. We chased them up a few days later - they promised to check on it.

2 weeks later we went their - i demanded to see the manager, showed him the job, and we got it fixed the next day. They had no record of ordering the glass for the rework!

When I got home I had to remove all the left over broken glass from out of the door pockets, under the seats, and on the dash board.

I think their add is actually a Tui add, it's just missing the "yeah, right!"

[my_e36 43]

More on Smith & Smith (S&S) - Penrose Auckland.

My Honda Jazz got a chip on the screen couple of years back , didn't know much about them. So ring the insurance, got an appointment to bring the car in, etc... Couple of hours job done.

When I got the car back, the chip still just as visible as before and when I take the car in for WOF and failed because the chip is in front of the driver's face and the VTNZ said they (S&S) should have known, told me and replaced instead of repair.

Call back S&S and discuss about the situation, the guy on the phone was a bit rude and told me to make a new claim on my insurance instead of getting them to fix it. (I was thinking WTF at that stage) Then practically hang up on me.

I had to call my insurace company (AA) to sort them out and 15 minutes later someone from S&S much friendlier and claimed to be from head office gave me a call and offer to book my car in the next day.

All in all - cr*p service, poor worksmanship. Even though they did replaced the screen at the end but the new screen is not original (Honda/Pilkington)

----------------------------

Other story, BMW E36 Coupe

Had chip at very near of the bottom (close to the black part of the screen). Failed WOF for cracked screen, called AA and wanted to send me to S&S. I said no and ask for alternative repairer. They let me pick a place and I choose JC BMW on the shore. Got a original BMW screen replaced under insurance with no excess (as per my policy).

So I guess we had to push to get what we want and how anything is suppose to have done.

Edited November 2, 2009 by my_e36

[westy 614]

And again negative on Smith & Smith.

E46 windscreen replaced and it leaked like a sieve, badly fitted the trim and they left crap all through the car.

They fixed it but now I have to carve all the bloody sealant off that squeezed out the side of the glass on the inside.

Just crap.

[Wom 0]

What ever happened to good customer service?

I keep hearing more and more stories lately of people having issues with workmanship and when going back to the shop they get bad manners / poor customer service and also get put on the bottom of the pile in regards to the time to get the issue fixed.

It should be the complete opposite - they should be going out of their way to satisfy the customer.

Do these people not know the meaning of "word of mouth"?

This thread alone has probably caused Smith and Smith to lose a lot of business.

[DRTDVL 0]

How about Smith and Smith Northshore...

Was going to be showing up around closing time to pick the car up after a drivers window replacement, they where going to leave the key in the front coil of the car as there was no way i could make it from work to there before they closed on a friday.

Showed up and couldn't find the key.

Found a few of the guys in the workshop still having a few after work beers, and asked them. we couldn't find the key anywhere. Not only wasn't the car locked but the key was missing.

They ended up calling the guy that placed the key who had left for the day, and he had placed it on the wrong car...

He had placed the keys in the coil of an EX-EMPLOYEES car, who was there having a beer with the guys...

my car white 306 peugeot... his car black citroen... the guys excuss... well i knew it was a french car...

[antil33t 90]

At one stage I was going through 2 windscreens a year, which was replaced by smith and smith.

never had any issues. with an install.

[mtech1e30 0]

I work for a rental car company, we get a lot of windscreens replaced (average maybe 3 a week).

Always use Autoglass Stieger, phone 0800 784 3437.

Never had an issue with them. Always come when they say they will, do a fast, tidy job every time. Have used them for side windows too, which they always good an equally as good job on.

AAA+++ would trade again.

[Linden 0]

I had my drivers window smashed on my coupe and smith & smith hornby replaced it and f**ked my window rubbers so currently going without it on the inside, they also didnt see the huge stonechip on the windscreen which woulda been cool if they done at the same time (was an insurance jobby anyway)

[antil33t 90]

You guys are making me not want to claim insurance on my windscreen, even though it's mostly f**ked.

[Gunner 0]

You guys are making me not want to claim insurance on my windscreen, even though it's mostly f**ked.

Smith and Smith North Shore in wairau park did a good job on my primera. No leaks, very tidy. Guess it depends on what mood the person is in when doing it lol

[danthaman01 0]

early this year drivers side window smashed, smith and smith Hamilton had 3 goes at it breaking the window everytime 4th time we got there

this week passenger window smashed, smith and smith Hamilton again, they went through 2 windows this time picking it up tonight

smith and smith FTL

Edited November 9, 2009 by danthaman01

[e30plz 1]

Smith and Smith screwed the clutch in my E30, while still managing to mess up the windscreen also.

How do they manage to suck so bad from store to store..

[Cale 36]

Smith & Smith changed the windscreen on my e30 ~12 months ago. Good job, no issues whatsoever.

I gave the dude a beer.