Smart? Hardly. I had a terrible experience with "'Smart(?) Glass" like many others have reported. I had mobile service come out to my house to replace the windshield in my wife's 2009 mini cooper. It had a few small dings so I thought why not just replace it for a few bucks more... Huge mistake that I went with this company.
The Installer shows up in a beat up van, with no identifying uniform etc, and speaks very broken English. I am pretty open minded so I let it go, but my wife would not have been comfortable. The windshield goes in but the interior trim is left hanging unseated. Irritating, but not a big deal, I can pop them back in place. The next day we wake up to find the floor boards soaked and water pooled up in front of the dash. Call them, the lady (reaching here) rudely says "you're gonna have to come to us". Ugh. Ok whatever.
I take the morning off work and drive to their shop. Their facility is unkempt, unorganized and not at all what I would call professional. Can you drive it in to the shop for us? Ok... They say "how long ago did we supposedly do this" excuse me? Supposedly? Look at the receipt. It was just a few days prior. I am glad I documented this visit (pictures of the car in their shop, etc) as they wouldn't provide any paperwork for this go around.
They fiddle around, pull the moldings and squeeze some compound into the corners and say "you're good to go, let us know if still leaks".
The next day... You guessed it... Water in the same places. The car now stinks like a wet dog.
I find out from a reputable glass shop that the proper procedure would be to remove the windshield and re bed the installation. They didn't do that. Luckily this real glass shop is more than willing to testify to Smart AutoGlass' incorrect procedures... Seems they don't care for 'hacks' cutting corners to underprice. Wish I knew what I know now.
I call them and ask how to resolve and they say. Wait for it... "Just bring it in and we'll take care of it".
So maybe after 3 tries they can get it right. As of now I'm out 4 hours, $250 and have a car that stinks, leaks like a sieve and I still have to go back and deal with their attitude. I'm willing to talk with others that have been burned by this shop to do a group effort to expose these bad practices... You could say its what I do (feel free to read into that).
Beware... Do your research and learn the safety implications of improper windshield installation. If they can't get it right this last go around, I'm more than willing to get it fixed at a real auto glass shop and take the next steps to rectify through the legal channels to recover my time, issues with cleaning the carpets, and proper installation.
What is your time worth? How about being left with stinky wet carpets that will likely stay that way? How about being left with your safety compromised due to incorrect installation? read more