Safelite - The perspective from a call center employee

[fmfan]

Safelite takes a pretty bad rap, we're always the bad guys?

Frankly, I've had enough glass shops complain to me about safelite's steering, etc. that I feel I need to post something to set the record straight from somebody who you may talk to on a daily basis.

First off, I'm not under the presumption that safelite employees are anywhere near perfect and I would not at all be suprised if some of safelite's steering actually does happen. I'm going to basically give me opinion on the illegal steering because frankly that's why they're constantly in court.

I'm sure there are many people on this board who have had it happen to them where they show up on a job and safelite has already done the work. The biggest thing I want you all to consider is that maybe (just maybe) the safelite employee your customer talked to didn't do anything wrong, let me give the top 5 most common scenarios why this happens (and it can happen very easily, and I've personally experienced this many times:

1: Windshield gets broken, wife talks to John's Glass Co. and gets an appointment set up. Husband takes the car to work, not knowing that there is an appointment with John's Glass Co. files the insurance claim and uses safelite. You would be amazed at how many people this happens to because they call me to change the work, and how many more probably just don't have time/forget to/etc. cancel one company

2: Customer calls in, never says they have already talked to a glass shop and the glass shop told them to call, so they call in, we set them up with safelite because they're fine with whatever their insurance company reccomends.

3: Customers call in on an account that only comes to us if they are using Safelite stores, there are some accounts that are set up this way, and our rules tell us to send them back to the insurance company to use somebody else. People figure it's easier just to get work done with the company they are on the line with now, and don't have to get caught holds again.

4: Customer makes an appointment with a shop *doesn't tell the safelite csr* and with the prompts that we are required to read when somebody has not indicated a shop of preference, are convinced to use safelite.

5: Customer has an appointment with Johns Glass Co. in 4 days for a side glass, safelite can do them in shop any time that day. They figure heck, I want my window fixed today, they go to safelite, with that out of the way, they forget about Johns Glass Co.

Now, I believe in fairness and I'll tell you what to do to make my life easier (I have to do LESS WORK if the customer has an appointment with a shop already! Bet you didn't know that....) Honestly, it saves me breath because there's no point in me trying to schedule somebody with safelite when I can look up appointments, etc, etc, etc, for them just to tell me they have another shop picked out already.

The best things you can do to make the call go quickly and to smooth out problems are this:

1: Call the safelite number yourself, tell them who you are, give them the phone number in the database and say you're working on the vehicle right now. Boom, all the safelite csr has to do is take the details on the incident and won't even mention that another glass shop exists (or shouldn't)

2: If the customer is calling in themselves on their own time and they talk to you in advance, tell them that as soon as they talk to a human just say who they are and that they have an appointment set up with Johns Glass Co. *In that language* because sometimes we have people who say, "I know there's a binswanger glass in my town" That doesn't tell me anything, from that I would guess that they probably don't have an appointment with them, they just saw an add on tv for them, so I would probably try to set them up with safelite. If they say "I have an appointment with Johns Glass Co" then there's no more discussion, it would now be illegal to suggest another glass shop.

Also, when they do this, make sure they have your shop phone number in their hand, because it takes me 2 seconds to look something up by phone number and a lot longer to look something up by name (John's Glass, Don's Glass, and Mom's Glass all sound so close that I might try looking for John's Glass when I really want Don's Glass and I'll be searching through my computer for an hour looking for a shop that doesn't exist)

3: Give away written copies of your warranty before/while they call, give them something to read while on hold, it'll clear up the confusion of some insurance companies' rebuttals if you're not a member of the network.

4: Be civil! I'm not one to hold grudges, but I know people who have gotten poor treatment from glass shops and keep a mental list and actually will purposely just skip right over a certain glass shop in an area because they had problems with whomever they talked to when they called to put money into their pocket!

5: Understand that each and every call is recorded and there are legal issues involved because we deal with insurance claims and that certain procedure has to be followed.

6: Consider that sometimes when coverage does not verify it probably is a problem out of my hands, if the connection between my computer and nationwide's computers are completely down there is nothing I can do. If I were you, I would just do the job anyway and then just have an understanding that if your customer doesn't have insurance you'll just bill them for the work. That way the customer doesn't feel like they have to wait till they get a call back in 48 hours and have a broken glass in their car.

Reading some of the posts on here kind of annoy me because of stories where people warn the customer they are going to try to steer them and they just laugh and like to play games with us when we try to do it, like we're trying to pull the wool over somebody's eyes. We have a way we do things and it's that we go with a safelite if they're available in a decient time frame, then a safelite network, then anybody else. So, if you don't tell us, we'll follow the process and then you've just made us look like con men for doing the procedure because your customer wants us to be the villians and for the thrill of knowing they outsmarted the big evil corporation.



Again, I'm not presuming that there have been some illegal things done by undertrained/overzealous/stupid employees, but honestly not all the blame can be put at the feet of the call center employees. If you have any questions about the way safelite works I'll be happy to answer them to the best of my abilities (take note, I don't know everything, so I may answer some questions "I don't know") because I'm more then happy to give the competition what they deserve.

One thing I really don't want to hear are safelite horror stories of how you got cheated out of work, because there are a lot more then the 5 common reasons I posted above that it happens that are legitmate and are not the fault of safelite. If you were able to pull the tapes of the calls that you've had problems with, on some you might be suprised with what you would hear.

[Delta Kits]

Excellent Post, and welcome to the forum fmfan!

I understand the resentment out there towards Safelite, and believe much of it is warranted, while some is not.

Here though, we have a Safelite employee willing to answer questions. We should use him as a resource for information and to answer questions you might not get answers to on the 1-800 line.

If anyone would like to respond, keep it not only civil, but courteous. Fmfan is a member of this forum, and forum members don't get flamed around here. If you just want to pile on with the "Safelite sux" banter, feel free to take it to another forum.

[AGSS]

Yep, I'm sure that 1 of the 5 scenarios could happen but every day? and how many times aday?

as far as the "no warranty if you dont use us" I personally have heard this from sgc employees along with "the quality of work" bs, come on you are still using sgc glass correct?

bottom line, go blow this smoke somewhere else, I know how you operate I deal with your sgc employees on a daily basis!!!

[Delta Kits]

fmfan,

Don't you think though, that the whole "bad apple" employee scenario has it's limits? At some point, with as many widespread cases of steering, with documentation even by some members here, that there becomes so many "bad apple" employees that it's less about them, and more about the training they receive from their employer, in this case Safelite?

[maxryde]

Welcome fmfan,

I for one am happy to have you on the forum. This opportunity for dialog on the subject here on the forum is very important for us all!!

After reviewing your post I feel vindicated for my disdain for the folks that employ you, the tactics are laid out in the script you described and are a measure of proof that safelite is in fact attempting to steer on every occasion. Before you get to excited let me explain why I feel this way.

You posted the top 5 most common scenarios in your opinion and I personally have experienced the majority of them with the exception of #1.

#2 I have had many, many, attempts at steering customers away while I stood there listening, this following the CSR and I talking just seconds earlier, while you may not be practicing this ploy to STEAL from me the company that you work for has many CSR's that do this on a regular basis! I don't believe that a person who has their faculties together would come on this forum and make a claim in the defense of safelite without truly believing that they (safelite) are getting a bad rap (to your credit) but I think that if you consider the opinion of the folks here that will respond to this post objectively than it will become apparent what the truth is. (my opinion) As far as "whatever their insurance company recommends" statement they are the Insurance company, Claims service, and glass company all rolled into one. I don't have any problem recommending myself either fact of the matter is, their is no better shop in the world than maxryde's abc plumbing ins and glass in my opinion, you see what I'm getting at here? If safelite is treating the world so nicely I wonder if you would elaborate how as an employee they are treating you, how is the pay scale? How often do you receive raises? What about service techs how are they treated and rewarded financially? While I believe that the previous post's you have seen and felt as though you were being attacked or slammed or what ever it was not aimed at the CSR's, they are just doing WHAT THEY WERE TOLD, THEY WERE TOLD TO READ THE SCRIPT, The SCRIPT IS AN ATTEMPT TO STEER CUSTOMERS!!

You posted some good advice on getting around the steering effort by CSR's and while you personally may not pursue a customer for safelite, I have on more than one occasion had to remind them that "STEERING was illegal" at which point they have denied attempting to steer "that is not a preferred shop,... we can have a tech out there soon,...etc, etc" While the folks who run the show there at safelite continue to make claims that steering does not occur, the reality is it happens more often than not. (At least to me) That is the purpose of the script their CSR's were given. When I am on the phone with them if I could have the extension of an honest CSR I would dial it every time!!

I know that the CSR's are not the problem it is the policy of safelite to continue to tip the scale in their favor, they can't be responsible business people and let the public have a fair shake in the repair/replacement arena. If the playing field were level nobody would be dogging safelite. I have a real problem with a company that employs those kinds of tactics and if they changed in five minutes I will still go to my grave with my money in my pocket rather than risk putting it in the hands of an outfit whose integrity is nil. I have a couple of friends who were employed by safelite as repair techs and they both told the same story, "they were given limited training, sent into the field to perform as best as they could and safelite was so grateful they (the tech) were given half of the money that was charged for their services". Sounds fair to me!!! Just my opinion, Scott

[bot]

i say safelite is number one .

[John62]

Wow, what a nice contribution, I could not have done that better here.
Dear repair fellows, your customers are stolen right under your noses!
That's a fact.
And it is a fact that it happens on a world wide scale at all Belron companies!

[sydfloyd44]

I will (try) keep it short and civil.

It happens on a regular basis!! Our company has a FAITHFUL customer base! After the claim is set up, scheduled, etc. We have customers calling us back stating some "weird" phone call they had regarding their claim and that another company will be coming to do the work or all of the sudden, another company just shows up. (wonder what company?) Didn't you clarify this BEFORE ending the claims call?

It has grown so bad that when a Nationwide insured calls us for an appointment, we won't even call in the claim until the customer is at our shop for the appointment. Yes, THAT BAD!!!

Why is it called the SGC Network? When we call in a claim we hear, "with services provided by Safelite Auto Glass". Pretty slick I would say... That is one of the many things the IGA Lawsuit will hopefully stop. Services ARE NOT provided by Safelite. The CLAIMS SERVICES are provided by SGC NETWORK. Auto Glass services are provided by the shop THAT THE CUSTOMER CHOOSES. You are SUPPOSED to give them CHOICES of shops. If a customer does not choose a shop, you DO NOT "just send them to Safelite. That my friend IS STEERING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, I tried to keep it short... Hope I kept it civil?

Last thing I will say.
Do you not realize that when you have COUNTLESS independent shops saying the SAME EXACT THING and now the IGA filing a lawsuit against you, SOMETHING MIGHT BE WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE????

Do you think that if the courts broke off SGC Network from Safelite Auto Glass that a large # of the claims would still be going to Safelite? Think about it!
Enough of the smoke screens. Time to pay the piper.
Sorry again, could go on and on and on. I have years of this pent up.

[mafsu]

fmfan,

I respect your loyalty to the company you work for. However in this fight you may find your allegiance misguided. Unless there is some monetary compensation (i.e. Bonus plan) based upon appointments set up with Safelite shops as opposed to others, I don

[fmfan]

There is one thing that has to be clarified. First off, there is absolutely no connection between the number of people I send to safelite and my check at the end of the week.

Second off: Thank you delta_kits for keeping things civil here, because I was fully expecting flames like I had never experienced before. Because I know Safelite isn't.....well liked.

In response to your post about the "bad apple" scenario, I can't speak to "documented cases of steering by members" because I would be a fool to think that I could say that any of the situations that members here experienced were not blatent illegal steering attempts. If you sent me a tape of the call, I could comment, but without actually hearing the situation I can't address past scenarios.

The training at safelite is: 2 weeks, the first week is a 40 hour week in the classroom, the second is on the phone in "the bullpen" where there are three supervisor/trainers to quickly answer questions and solve problems. Safelite's call centers (there are three and they just opened a new one) share a problem with other call centers, they are not the promised land of jobs. My job is great for my current situation (which I wouldn't feel comfortable elaborating on) but should better opportunities come my way, I wouldn't hesitate taking them. The turnover rate at safelite is very high, that's the nature of call centers. The second nature of call centers is they don't attract a large number of people with mba's, phd's, or even associate degrees. There is a constant turnover of employees (because it is also very easy to get fired...usually for being late or not following the script, I'll get to that in a moment) means that there are always new people who isn't the brightest bulb in the pack.

Third: There are two types of steering: Legal and illegal. There are illegal ways to steer and there are legal ways. I can tell you what I have been told through my research, training, etc. but logically it would be slanted in my current situation's favor.

-All calls are recorded, but then there is the unfortunate reality that there is the bane of each employee's existance, call monitors. There is an entire section of the building devoted to them and also our supervisors listen to a decient amount of every call we take. I believe from what I read Diamod/Triumph actually got a judge to force safelite to turn over thousands of hours of tape reproduced at their own expense (I've pretty throughly researched the safelite lawsuits when I first started working there to see who I was really working for.)

I also can't speak to the training that safelite employees recieved in past years as I was not an employee during those times. I have heard from employees who have been at safelite for years that behavior that could be illegal steering has been cracked down upon (probably because of the lawsuits.)


Maxryde:

First, #1 happens quite often.

My response to your response about prompt #2 involves a bit of complicated wording:
A: I am an employee of Safelite AutoGlass (Safelite Solutions on some of the memos, etc.) but I represent whatever insurance company I am currently taking claims for, not an employee but a representitive. Thus in the customer's mind there is no clear indicator that I am not an employee of their insurance company.

About the script: From what I've gathered/been told every script is written by safelite and their legal department in tandem with any insurance companies' legal departments and whomever else the insurance company wishes to have approve the script. To get a single word changed in a script, the lawyers of both companies have to approve it (thus why some insurance companies have a question the length of a small novel to simply get a work/cell phone number)

Yes, the script is an attempt to steer customers, but at this moment, it's legal. Fair to independants, no (and I know this.) But legal. If every employee stuck %100 to the script there would never be grounds for a lawsuit. (But I'm very aware some employees do not.) To answer your charge of Safelite not playing fair, it's true. I won't try to deny it, but it's an extremely smart business move. This of course brings into the legal debate of what steering is legal and which is illegal.

Life at safelite, the pay is smack in the middle of the road for call centers, in a city that has call centers for: Nationwide, Verizon Broadband, Alliance Data Systems (which handles %80 of store charge accounts, utility billing and god knows what else), Calltech (misc infomercials, etc.), Merck-Medco, Astute, Firstlink, Messageplex, (I forget what the last three companies take calls for) and probably more I don't know about.

Life at safeliteSafelite's dress code is very strict, Bonuses come if the company does extremely well at the end of the quarter, usually aren't very much (especially after taxes.) Raises come when an employee learns new insurance companies which can only happen a maximum of every 60 days IF they have dotted every i and crossed every T. If I have to be in my chair at 1:00, I am late at 1:00:01 and if I am late, I might as well be 2 hours late because the consequence is the same. The coffee is horrible, I would think a company that does $600 a million a year could afford drinkable coffee... The benefits package exists, which is more then some people can say, but nothing to write home about.

Responding to your allegation that I really believe that safelite is getting a bad rap when it deserves every bit of it, is simply that they don't play on a level playing field but unfortunantly life isn't fair. I know that almost sounds like a blatant insult to you and your lifestyle but that's not the attempt, in the business courses I've taken thus far (and I've had more then enough) the underlying theme is that the point of a business is to have a competitive edge whether it's better prices, better quality, or three call centers, that's business.

I don't believe that business is supposed to think with it's heart because lets suppose if the owners of safelite decided that they had indeed done improper things for the years their call centers have been open and to make up for it for 1 entire month they didn't send a single job to a safelite shop. Would you as a businessman (if you got a call from me, maybe your 3rd-5th call that day (100th if you're in north carolina) maybe decide that just to be fair, you would have me send some calls over to the safelite shop in the next town over? I highly doubt it, you as a business man would take any call I sent your way.

Myth #196829484 of safelite, we don't have extentions...the only way to get me at work is my cell phone, and I probably won't take a claim on it

-I won't even try to respond to the allegations of safelite tech's incompetance and lack of training, I couldn't replace/repair a windshield if my life depended on it. All I can say is that I had a backglass replaced in my truck and a 1 chip repair done and I'm very happy with the results. (Both by safelite, and yes, we get a great employee discount) I've had enough unhappy customers call me and give me an earful about how awful safelite's work is, and there are many failed repairs/replacements that I couldn't begin to try and place blame on.