matt-c

I've never hidden the fact I work in this industry, and have made comment about it in several threads, including this one. I don't publicise the name of the company I work for, mind. You want to talk about paranoia (and nothing in that post could even slightly be linked to paranoia, not even with poetic license). The first was a question as to why you are dreading it. The second and third, were questions with brand names, in order to illustrate why you're picking on a specific industry (Lexus being a common brand in an industry we are all familiar with, and Profess being a brand name in an industry you have dealings with, personally). Maybe the question should be, why are you so defensive over Profess? As highlighted by the second mention of "especially Profess" in this post, and your specific mention of them, "Why would you bring Profess into it? too cause trouble?", after my initial post. I mean, how could mentioning Profess' name be construed as to "cause trouble"? Now that sounds pretty paranoid to me....

AA Autoscreens, who my insurance company use, are completely mobile, so they tell me, and only come to you. Glad yours went well. MikeCorrect

Can you not provide examples of my paranoia then? Or were you just making another unfounded statement, not based in fact with no presentable evidence? I go back to work Tuesday, and I'll go back regardless of the weather type. We are out all year round, regardless of rain, sun, sleet, or snow. Always here, ready to help :)

Agreed some of the recent goings on here are better than a Jerry Springer show . On the windscreen replacement front I have had a couple replaced and one repaired in the past and had no problems . The last one was about three years ago on my Mk2 ,they did it in the pouring rain by erecting a marquee around the car . They were nice guys who did a good job ,so if they can do it why would an appointment have to be cancelled because of rain Matt ? Many reasons. First and foremost, location. It's not always suitable to set up a canopy in the location the job is it. Many times I find myself unable to set up a canopy because of where the car is parked on the street, a particularly uneven surface, too small a driveway, and so on. The proper (and only "allowed" way to erect the canopy, is to do it on flat ground, ideally concrete but grass will do at a push, in a location where the car can fit under it, and the van can be parked along side). The reason for this is there is a kick plate that fits round one of the legs, on which you have to park one of the vans wheels. This is to secure it down against wind, and you have to park the van on the kick plate on the side the wind is coming from. This isn't always possible. It's great if someone has a nice large driveway with plenty of room, or you're in a carpark or the like, but many people have single driveways, or street only parking, where it's not suitable, or even possible to park two vehicles side by side. Not only that, but it still isn't advisable to do a windscreen in the rain. First off, the car is (most often) already wet. You'll never complete dry a car, and the amount of times I've erected a canopy, and dried as much of the car as possible, then had to continue battling running water that likes to collect and flow out from under roof rails/strips and down the aperture, which is exactly the part that needs to be kept dry in order for the primer and glue to stick properly. Secondly, depending on the weather type, even a canopy won't keep a car dry. Rain doesn't always come straight down, and especially the mist/drizzle rain (the type that doesn't even appear heavy, and customers always, ignorantly, say "oh it's not raining much") tends to blow in the breeze and wind, and float in the air - coating everything in water. Thirdly, there's rare anywhere to put the windscreen. Again, customers are generally ignorant to how we do our job, what's involved and what's needed, so never think about the new screen getting wet. A wet screen is as good as doing it in an open downpour. You can cover the car as much as you like, and dry it like a bone, but a wet screen makes all that redundant. Next, not every car is as simple as plonking a screen into a gap, on top of some glue. Of course, as I've said before, customers are generally ignorant to this, and I'd not expect anyone other than a windscreen fitter to know about trims that need to adhere to glass to be fitted, parts that need to be taped down or glued on, cars with scuttles that require double sided sticky tape to secure them, or (for example) the gen 1 Ford Focus, that needs the passenger side of the scuttle bonding to the screen edge - because the design, a poor one that was changed as soon as the gen 2 came out - meant that if it wasn't, water would run down the outside of the screen, under the scuttle, and directly into a pollen filter, leak into the car and create a swimming pool in the front and back footwells. If you're trying to clean, dry, and bond to both the scuttle and glass when it's raining, even under cover, it's just not going to happen. I know this from experience. Also, the type of car can restrict what is done and not under a canopy. Many vans for example cannot be done under it (heigh wise). Certain cars that need the screens lifted or "swung in" in a certain way can't be done under it. And I'd never advise a cabriolet that needs the roof down to do the job (such as an Audi A4 or A5 cabriolet, or the 307cc) to be done under it. Whilst the canopy does offer protection from direct rain, having the roof down on an Audi A4 cab, with it's nice leather interior and the entire screen surround stripped, exposing all the naked connectors and wiring, for an hour and a half, with so much moisture and blown in rain, really isn't a good idea. Wind is also a problem, and it's very common for it to be windy when it rains. The canopy's are made from very light aluminium, and have to be secured as I mentioned earlier with the van wheel. You're not allowed to use the wheel of a customers car, and the other three legs are only secured using fairly light weight weights. The reason for the light weight'ness is because it has to be portable, and manageable by just one person (rarely do we ever work in teams these days, it's nearly all solo), and of course to weight-save on fuel costs as it rides around in the van when not being used. Of course, this is detrimental to the stability of the canopy, and it doesn't have to be strong winds to make it into a kite. So if it's used without the van being parked on it, which is the only recommended way, and it's caught by the wind, lifted, and scrapes the paint on a customers car, who is to blame? No one, except the fitter. Fitters that care about the work they do, and fitters that have been doing it long enough, will know when it is and isn't applicable to use a canopy. I've used it many times, but equally as many times I haven't been able to use it. Of course not. What a silly thing to say; I'm advising you, not the rest of the world. I think you'll find, if you care to read back through this thread from the beginning, that I came on to offer advice and answer your questions. You've then decided, strangely and seemingly without reason, to take that advice and information as an attack, or argument, towards you. I can assure you I have no chip on my shoulder, and I'm certainly not paranoid (but please, highlight and elaborate on why you think I'm paranoid. Give some examples too, it's always useful to illustrate one's point, so as to refrain from making unfounded points that aren't back-able) You also don't have to agree with me at all. You're fully entitled to your own opinion. It's wrong, but you're fully entitled to it. I also don't think I'm the best fitter in town, no. I'm not a prideful person, and I personally know fitters that are better than me. With all that said, I do know my own abilities, and I take pride in my work, and do it to the best of my ability. I always work on the ethos of "if it was my car, this is how I'd like it to be treated" - no matter of it's a £50,000 Bentley or a £500 Fiesta. If you're not going to bother trying to do it right, correct, and well - then don't bother doing it at all. That's how I look at things. Sadly, I can't say the same for everyone, but it'd be nice if everyone applied that thinking to their work, and lives. I think the world would be a better place for it :)

Have you not figured out forums or something? Posting relevant, insightful, and useful information about a particular topic isn't trolling. However not having an answer or being able to compile a mature and useful answer or rebuttal is. Hmm.... Also, not really a nice thing to continually attack and chastise me after I post to help you, is it. How ungrateful...

That doesn't make any sense at all. You're complaining about people, in a company, trying to KEEP your appointment and NOT rebook you for a later date (which as I mentioned before, could result in your being rescheduled on a day it rains, meaning you could be rebooked again later on)? How is NOT wanting to rebook you for a later date, and trying the utmost to find a solution to keep your existing appointment, putting the customer last? Why exactly will I be put out in the cold? For trying to best serve a customer? I think not... And we aren't in the States. Why would being in the US mean I'm "put out in the cold" ? Again with the "going at it". Why are you so insistent this is an argument/attack/headbutt? I've stated many times it's not. At least, not on my part. If you are unable to rationalise having a conversation without convincing yourself it's an argument or "fight", I can't help that. I can only re-iterate (multiple times) that it's not. I'm sorry you feel that way. And advertising revenue for what exactly? I haven't mentioned any company names....

Thank you. I've written far longer though - I just like to get my points across in a clear, concise, and mature fashion, using examples and experiences where possible.

You haven't done anything to me. You write about it as if you've ticked me off, and I'm seeking some kind of retribution or retaliation? Not the case at all - as I've tried to explain several times. I'm only giving you an actual working insight into the industry you are damning and slagging off, with blanket and ignorant statements (I should clarify, as I don't want you to misinterpret that as an attack - I mean ignorant in terms of you don't know what you are talking about, because you aren't involved in this industry, and have no working knowledge of it)

I'm not busy at all currently - I'm on a much deserved week off :) PLease explain - how does your booking being 8 days before this one change anything, exactly? (I must add again, as you seem to not be able to comprehend it - I'm not arguing with you). Why do you think I'm frustrated? Frustrated at what exactly?

Sorry, you've misunderstood me. I did not say, nor infer, I would ring the customers first thing and rebook them. To state for the record, that's what I would NOT do. Why? Because I know that there is a waiting list for bookings, and what happens if I rebook a customer for a weeks time, then we turn up and it's raining and can't be done? They need to be rebooked again. Then the following week, it's raining again. Rebooked. The fourth week, I overrun on a problem job and run out of time to fulfil all my jobs that day. Yet again, rebook. Rebooking is the last option, and it's not good business practice to do so, so it's avoided wherever possible. What actually happens, is the controllers will call round the other fitters, move jobs about, and see if the fitter(s) are willing to run over and work late to facilitate getting all the jobs done. I get asked it quite a lot, and I do it when I can. But obviously, I have commitments myself, so I can't work every hour in the day, so sometimes customers do have to be rebooked. As you were. But if it's at all feasible, all windscreen companies (and non windscreen companies) will endeavour to keep the appointment and do the job. As for abusive customers, I agree with you. There is NEVER a cause to be rude or abusive to the fitter; mainly because it's rarely ever the fitters fault. Even if it's the company the fitter works for that's at fault, 99% of the time, that is out of the fitters control. Shouting and swearing at the fitter achieves nothing, other than it pisses me off, and as a result, I tend not to do everything I can to help them out. On the other hand, customers that are respectful. polite, and easy going, I tend to bend over backwards to help them out. For example, recently I arrived at my last customer to change the screen on his 307. This customer lived less than 2 miles from me, so had everything gone smoothly, I would have finished, completed, and been walking through my door 15 mins early. Sadly, when I got there, the screen I'd brought had cracked whilst on the van. The customer was naturally disappointed, but remained calm, polite and understanding; his worse "It's glass - it's fragile. These things happen". So I rang up to advise my ops, found the next appointment was a week away. The customer needed the screen replacing by the next day as he had an MoT booked (this is another sore point to me; if you need a windscreen doing before an MoT, don't leave it till 2 days before (or as many do, the very day before) because if anything goes wrong - weather, wrong glass, over-running, sick fitters, etc - you won't get it done. You know it needs doing, so book it a month in advance, if at all possible). Anyway, because my customer remained polite and understanding, and even admitted it was his fault for leaving it so long to get it booked before the MoT, I actually drove past my house, a further 25 miles down into London, picked up a new screen, 25 miles back again (which took over an hour in itself, thanks to rush hour) and then began fitting the screen about 5 mins before I was due to finish my shift. End result, I got home over an hour late (for no extra pay I might add, so there was no ulterior motive behind it) but the customer remained happy, got his screen done, and subsequently his MoT. Anyway, back to my previous question; the poor customer service you pointed out when you were called to be rebooked - what were those points? That you weren't called in the morning first thing and had your appointment cancelled? I'm sorry, I don't find that poor customer service. In fact, I find spending 3 or 4 hours trying to find a way to get your job done and your appointment kept, is actually very good customer service. And had it worked out, you'd have been none the wiser; you wouldn't have got a call from someone glory-hunting for praise at keeping your appointment in the face of adversity - everyone would have just got on and done it. Sadly it didn't work out - these things happen.

What exactly did you point out as being poor about the customer service? And how would you have handled it?

Most likely because they will have tried to shift jobs around to other fitters to take up the slack on the out-of-plan jobs, so as to minimise re-bookings. This is standard procedure, and it takes time to re-plan all the work across 3/4/5/6+ fitters in an area, set up logistics for collecting the glass, and advise customers. Sadly, that doesn't take 5 minutes, and depending on the workload/locations/glass delivery, it can take several hours. It would have been far quicker, and easier, to just ring the 5 or 6, or more, customers that fitter had booked that day, and rebook all of them. Even that would have taken best part of an hour, as customers love to argue and be difficult, thinking they will get what they want if they do so. Sadly, in reality, they don't - I've had customers scream and shout at me, often quite abusively, when I've arrived to them with the wrong screen (even when it's their fault, not ours/mine) thinking that if they swear at me enough, and shout louder, I'll suddenly be able to magically make the correct screen appear. Which is rather foolish, as I couldn't possibly do that.

Depends on the tester. Cars need an accumulation of "points" to fail an MOT, and failing headlights don't acrue all those points on their own. So if you have a nice tester, he can still pass it for having working headlights, even though technically, points aside, it should fail on beam pattern. No IS200 will pass a beam test correctly with HID's in - the reflectors just aren't the right ones for such high intensity bulbs. Look at an IS300 reflector - noticeably different than the one in an IS200

And again....

I'd suggest if you're going to try and fit options from a 300, you'd be better off just getting a 300. Lexus aren't known for making retrofits easy, as the wiring and control units aren't there for stuff that wasn't fitted on lower models.

Yes you do. And there it is again. That childish attempt to try and crawl under my skin and get an argumentative reaction... Why shouldn't I take offence at you calling me a cowboy? And I refer you to mine. Do your homework before making blanket statements.

The ball is in my court? Why are you trying to bait me into an argument? Are you incapable of having a mature, rational discussion, without trying to make it a "win" situation? I did read it correctly; I even quoted it. Because you have had a bad experience, you are painting the entire industry as incompetent. I take offence at that; at being called incompetent. Now, if what you are saying is you used x company before, and were dissatisfied, and you are using the same company again, then more fool you. Oh, here's your ball back. I don't need it - thanks! :)

I used the Lexus name, because it's widely regarded they are trusted as the best to work on you (our) car(s). I brought up the Profess name because it's something to link directly to you, and not a generalisation. Why bring them up? Because you clearly trust them, and have faith in them being professional and doing a good job. Just as I would expect you to trust a windscreen replacement, and have faith in them doing a good job. To tarnish the entire profession because you had one bad experience, is quite unfair. Should I take offence, as you're tarnishing me with that brush too? And no, it doesn't upset my plans for further argument. Mainly because I'm not having an argument. You might be, but I understand the difference between adult discussion, and arguing.

Why are you dreading it? Do you dread also taking to Lexus to have any work done on it? How about the faith you had in Profess Gas when they converted it?

Nope. Just insurance companies passing on price increases to us motorists. Your excess would have gone up regardless of you having a stone chip done (and for what it's worth, stone cost the insurance companies naff all, and it's much, much cheaper than having a windscreen replaced). You can blame fuel prices for the increase. Costs more in energy to make the glass, then costs more in fuel to ship it overseas, then costs more diesel to drive it from the boat to the distribution places, then costs more in diesel to drive it to the local business', then costs more in fuel for the windscreen replacement companies to pick it up and drive to the customer = cost of glass replacement goes up to the insurance companies. So they pass that increase onto you where they can. Economy 101 Where are these windscreen making companies geographically based? Mike What do you mean? Why are the companies that make windscreens not all based in the UK? Because, like everything else, it's cheaper to buy stuff in from outside the UK than it is to make it here. Why do you think we import coal rather than use the insane amounts of coal we have buried in our own country? And why nearly everything you buy is made in China or Taiwan? Also, windscreens are a global product; we aren't the only country that needs them - other countries do too. So they are made in one place, and shipped to other places. Just for info, most windscreens and car glass is made in South Africa, but there are a few plants in the UK, and Norway, the US, India, and I'm sure China and Japan too, along with other countries in Asia. I have noticed that these companies are not interested at all in repairing which is why they give you the third degree on the phone. I have had a tiny chip out of my screen for as long as I have owned my car, 3 1/2 years, no this is not where the windscreen has cracked that's the other side of the screen. This original chip is smaller than the one shown in their adverts and they just turned round on 4 occasions and say no its not repairable, con artists. The entire industry is nothing more than a bunch of thieves and con artists, I wont be drawn any further on the subject. Mike But you just have.....?

Nope. Just insurance companies passing on price increases to us motorists. Your excess would have gone up regardless of you having a stone chip done (and for what it's worth, stone cost the insurance companies naff all, and it's much, much cheaper than having a windscreen replaced). You can blame fuel prices for the increase. Costs more in energy to make the glass, then costs more in fuel to ship it overseas, then costs more diesel to drive it from the boat to the distribution places, then costs more in diesel to drive it to the local business', then costs more in fuel for the windscreen replacement companies to pick it up and drive to the customer = cost of glass replacement goes up to the insurance companies. So they pass that increase onto you where they can. Economy 101

No, you don't need a dealer part screen. Many people like to insist on having a dealer part because they believe their car make is better than another car make, but in reality there's just as much chance of a Ford Fiesta windscreen leaking as there is an Aston Martin - or Lexus for that matter. I get it all the time from Porsche, Merc, Bentley owners (among others, also including Lexus owners), although interestingly, I don't get it often, if at all, from Ford owners (except the RS owners/fanatics mind), Vauxhall, Nissan, Renault, etc owners... The truth of the matter is that bad fitting causes leaks, not the windscreen itself, in most cases. Sure, there are cases of faulty glass or components, but these are 1) few and far between and 2) there's just as much chance of the glass coming from a dealer having a defect, as there is the glass coming from a replacement company. Why? Well, for the most part, the glass is all made in the same place. It's then silk-printed differently depending where it's going to end up. Replacement companies, and the suppliers that supply them, cannot sell glass with dealer logo's on, unless that glass has been bought from a dealer. So only dealer allocated glass gets Ford, or Lexus, or BMW, logos printed on them.

Compared to others cars they aren't slow. But compared to most cars in their class, they are slow. But I fully agree - if you want a quick/fast car, buy a quick/fast car in the first place.

To be fair, the standard speakers are stupidly shallow, and there really isn't room inside for upgrades, so it's either door builds to extend them outward, or sacrifice the roll down and extend them inside. You'd be surprised how many cars I work on that have the latter!

Go with a 1JZ. It's a 2.5L, straight six, twin turbo (later ones were single turbo) that makes 280bhp out the box with no mods. From what I understand it's an easier fit than a 2JZ (as far as boxes and mounts go). There's little to no point replacing the standard 1G-FE engine you have with another 1G-FE - firstly, it's not a great engine to start turbocharging (the cost of the build for solid, reliable 240-250bhp is gonna run up to about £5k (if you want it done properly), and you'll spend half that doing a swap to something like a 1JZ-GTE. Get one with manifolds, turbo's, ECU and loom. And secondly, if you're turbocharging a 1G, you might aswell just rebuild your own 1G and turbo that, as you're gonna need to crack it open and most likely do the pistons, rods, valves etc anyway, and probably work the head for compression. If it was me, my money would be with a 1JZ-GTE swap. Have a fiddle with the cams, boost level, exhaust, better intercooler, and you might well get it to around 300bhp