Scratched Windscreen

January 5, 2012

Rather wondering what to do.

I took my Prius to Toyota World Cardiff for a service and MOT. All went seemingly well. However, on the way home I noticed the windscreen was badly scratched.

I visited and they tried to polish ti out but deied that they did it. However, such a large number of resh (still glass dust in base of scratches) is easy to notice and nobody else touched the car between the service and the imediate drive home...

Any suggestions on what to do? I've sent them this message by email and post:

It is with regret that I write to inform that I am not satisfied with your attempts at polishing out the scratches on my window.

This follows from a telephone conversation last Friday (30th September) mentioning the discovery that the windscreen had been scratched when the car (WM07 ZCK) was washed after its service and MOT at Toyota World Cardiff (29th September). These scratches were new and of sufficient plurality and size to be permanently obvious and nuisance to the driver of the car. It was obvious that they were new as neither fiancée nor my I had seen them before and they were initially white. The whiteness lessened after using the wipers, showing that the freshly ground glass in the base of the scratches had been washed out. Apart from that, the quality of the wash was very low as many parts had been missed. Though the quality of the wash alone would have been forgivable and cause no complaint.

When I visited today (Monday the 3rd October) to have my Prius windscreen looked at I mentioned that if anything was to be done to the car it would be in 2 weeks when I had available time. After some prolonged wait I discovered that attempt had been made to polish out the scratches. If this had worked, then again this would have been forgivable and cause no complaint.

However, it did not work and the scratches remained. Upon asking a member of staff what the white marks all over the body work of the car was – I discovered that it was covered in specks of polish. So not only was time spent waiting directly against my request for something that should not have been done to the car, but the car was made dirty. There is now cause for complaint.

Additionally the polishing has left what I noticed as a very slight milkyness to the screen and a very worrying blurriness when it was wetted while driving in the rain. Cause for a second complaint.

So I put it to Toyota World Cardiff that they have scratched my screen during a service and MOT, and then against my wishes attempted a fix that failed. This fix has resulted in deterioration to the safety of the car while driving in the rain. A serious cause for complaint.

I request that this situation is remedied by replacing the windscreen. Furthermore, I request that no attempt is made to clean the car or polish any part of it in any future visit to Toyota World Cardiff.

I remain your loyal customer and trust a happy outcome and resolution of this situation.

January 5, 2012

Sorry about your windscreen and understand how annoyed you must be.Maybe whoever cleaned your car dropped the cloth / chamois leather on the ground and failed to clean properly and used it dirty,so scrathing the screen.

I know its a job to prove it was not there prior to you taking it it in.But i cant fault your letter to them.

I hope your e.mail and post was to someone senior at the dealers and not to the service dept itself.as any rectification costs will come out of that dept budget,so you may not have the sympathy you should be getting.

If you get a negative reply,then check who sent it and if its not from someone like general manager then bring it to him/hers attention.

Good luck.

January 6, 2012

In my experience, a "real" letter posted via snail mail will get much more attention, especially if sent to the general manager.

January 7, 2012

Send the letter to the general manager as James says.

Even send it by special delivery as that gains a bit of notice.

In the meantime you will be feeling very angry. I would be.

Do they hire out cars? If so, hire one of their cars and scratch the windscreen in the same fashion. Add sand to the petrol tank. Change the Battery for a dud one. Some glass dust into the engine oil would be helpful.

Run the car for less than 2 miles, then return it complaining that it is a shoicking condition and you want your rental fees back.

Then sit back and smile - it feels good doesn't it ? :thumbsup: