The Emperor's New Tint!

 

Back story:

I scheduled to get some ceramic tint put on my car. I was quoted $300, a good price for all 7 windows w/ ceramic. I was to drop my car off on Friday night for my appointment Saturday morning.

 

I dropped it off Friday night, and the guy was just closing up, but let me in to drop my car off. He said the guy that took my appointment over the phone put me down for Friday not Saturday and they crossed me out as a no-show. Not a problem.

Then he said that the guy put me down for the best metallic tint and not ceramic. Glad they caught it, I would have been very upset otherwise.

Then he said that they didn't carry ceramic (I was originally told it was "Llumar brand" on the phone, did some asking around and Llumar doesn't make it, it ended up being F1 Pinnacle -- good stuff), but they could get it from a near by store (this is a chain store) and have it first thing tomorrow morning. Again, not a problem for me.

Then I clarified he quoted me $300 and he said yea, it'll be $325 out the door, he printed off a receipt/quote and I signed it. I wanted to pay for it then, but had already started closing the registers so I said I'd pay when I picked it up.

 

Flash forward to today. I had to go to a Memorial service today, shortly after that I check my messages and they said "call us, we have questions". I call, and he said they can't do it for $300, but for $400 they can. I said, no, I signed for $300, I told him the whole story, who I talked to etc., and he said I'll call him and call you back. Over an hour later, he calls me and says "What did you decide". I said, you were checking on stuff, and then he said that he can't come down from $399. I said I'll be in shortly to pick up my car... without tint.

 

The other shop I called has the local Benz dealership as a client, so deals with a lot of ceramic tint, and they quoted me $500. I'm willing to pay extra just so they don't see any of my money now. I am far less than happy today, and I know they won't be getting my business again. The other thing I'm uneasy about is I got my alarm installed there so if I have problems or when I want to upgrade some features (which I do), I have to go deal with them again or lose my warranty....

 

Did I over react? I'm not having a great day so far, but its Mardi Gras so I wanna go drink now....

 

Brandon

i dont think you over-reacted.

 

if they cant communicate as a team and sell things at the price that they quoted then thats on them.

 

also, if they are unwilling to take the financial hit and give it to you for the price that one of their "associates" said it would be done for, screw them!

I didn't tell them this, but I was going to pick up an Escort 8500 when I picked up the car too... They were selling them about $50 more than I saw them on ebay, so I figured it was a fair price. But I'll save my $50 now....

ha! ya i think thats a wise choice. if you go to buy it there they might charge you 100 more than you see it on ebay!

 

those are some shady business tactics.

i wouldnt have let them do it either

then again 500 is a bit steep- i dont really take into consideration the quality of the film though- to me as long as its black it looks good......

I agree...that's unacceptable...They should've done the tint for the price they quoted, as well as had the tint they told you they would install when you called...It sounds to me like they just tell you what you want to hear to get you in and then flip it...

measure twice cut once

I agree...that's unacceptable...They should've done the tint for the price they quoted, as well as had the tint they told you they would install when you called...It sounds to me like they just tell you what you want to hear to get you in and then flip it...

 

the ol' bait and switch. those underhanded bastards lol

 

 

i agree with the "as long as it is black" approach. i have 5% and have no idea what kind it is but damn it looks good

The ceramic I was looking at was originally "38% ceramic", but the Pinnacle was only "15% black". I was a little worried about that not being noticeable enough anyways, so I may drop this whole ceramic kick I'm on. I really want the heat benefits though.... We'll see, I'm back to shopping around

I'm thinking the 38% and 15% refer to the opacity (darkness) of the tint, right - not anything to do with the materials. The way I'd interpret that is the first is a ceramic film with 38% light transmittence (fairly light tint) and the Pinnacle is a non-ceramic film with 15% transmittance, which is a considerably darker tint. "Limo" tint is usually 5%, IIRC.

 

I've got non-ceramic tint on mine: 35% on the fronts and 20% on the back. I paid about $280, which is a lot for a regular film, but the guy has done 3 cars for me now and he's an artist with tint and I don't mind paying for a quality install. I think you are making a good call not going back to the original shop: if they can't even quote the job right, what are the chances the work itself is going to be top notch?

I may drop this whole ceramic kick I'm on.

snakeoil

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/images3/snake_oil.jpg

I hate it when people try to do 'business' like that. I'd find an independant tint installer & give the little guy the work.

I have the F1 Pinnacle, 50% front and 35% rear. Most of the time I like it, but there are occasions when I wish I went darker (i.e. 35% front, 15% rear). That's the only bad thing about the F1 ceramic, just the three % options.

 

BTW, you did the right thing walking away.

I'm thinking the 38% and 15% refer to the opacity (darkness) of the tint, right - not anything to do with the materials. The way I'd interpret that is the first is a ceramic film with 38% light transmittence (fairly light tint) and the Pinnacle is a non-ceramic film with 15% transmittance, which is a considerably darker tint. "Limo" tint is usually 5%, IIRC.

Yeah, I don't know why I said what I said ... was a rough day all in all.

 

My ideal would be 35% all around I think.

Good call on not using a metalic based tint. I have a client that used this on his brand new BMW 530i, and it f***ed up his navigation, his keyless entry, and his radio reception. If you have lots of electronics in your car don't use Llumar! As soon as we stripped it all of his key fobs started to work again, but we have to order a new control unit for the rest of the problems. Good thing we stripped it off too, BMW wouldn't cover it otherwise.

Penguin, which brands does your shop carry? Springfield isn't out of the question for me.

Good call on not using a metalic based tint. I have a client that used this on his brand new BMW 530i, and it f***ed up his navigation, his keyless entry, and his radio reception. If you have lots of electronics in your car don't use Llumar! As soon as we stripped it all of his key fobs started to work again, but we have to order a new control unit for the rest of the problems. Good thing we stripped it off too, BMW wouldn't cover it otherwise.

yeah, i heard llumar causes the engine to catch fire, the speakers to explode, and causes all four tires to go flat simultaneoulsy at 70mph. thank god somebody invented $500 tint to save us from all of this.

Penguin, which brands does your shop carry? Springfield isn't out of the question for me.

 

My "shop" does not tint windows, I work for a BMW dealership and we contract out the window tinting to a business called Car-Fi. They use Bekaert SolarGard, which has worked pretty well for us. The only issues I ever see with the tint is the normal small bubbles and inclusions in the film that have to bake out of the film under direct heat/sunlight. As far as I know the cost of the tint shouldn't be $400-$500, that is pretty outrageous. Try more like the original $300 you were quoted in the first place.