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Phone quotes

Posted: February 15th, 2014, 3:25 pm
by pa glass
So, you have a customer on the phone checking prices and wanting to schedule. They have no idea if they have a rain sensor much less a laser deletion area...
Do you insist they come to your shop for you to inspect? Do you take the time to drive to them not knowing if you will even have the job?

These things take time and you can often loose a job that way. How do you find your self handling this situation?

Are you confident that you even know what to look for when new items come out? Are you all certain how to spot a condensation sensor for instance?

Do you think there should be some kind of law that would force a code to be placed on each windshield that anyone could interpret without a fee or access to an expensive data base. A nags part number would do nicely. Is it not just for us but perhaps in the customer's interest as well that they can easily shop for price?

I have spoken with Mitchel. They say that they can only narrow the search down and that a data base which would use the vin to exactly identify the correct part is of a proprietary nature to the dealers.

That being the case, do you think the dealers should be obligated to take our calls by the thousands each time we need that info?

I think it is time for a change in the current system. What do you think?

Re: Phone quotes

Posted: February 16th, 2014, 3:43 am
by Glasseye
Forget making it a law to mark id numbers on glass, that will never happen. The I.D. problem is something that the AGR market has to deal with. Most cars built today are "world" cars,i.e. they will be supplied to all the various markets around the world with slight variations but the world AGR market doesn't have a common coding system e.g. US uses the "Nags" coding, Europe uses the "Argic" coding. Create a common world code then you can begin to create a world database for each and every vehicle that is manufactured. We can't rely on manufacturers to give accurate information, so that has to be created from the people it most affects, us. Having a world database which allows input from glass replacement people around the world, providing technical information to help other glass people would be a major step forward, something akin to a wikipedia of the glass replacement world but to do that we have all got to be singing from the same hymn book, a universal worldwide ID code system.

Re: Phone quotes

Posted: February 16th, 2014, 7:07 am
by pa glass
All good thoughts, thanks.
I will comment that I do often see nags numbers on some shields and I have to wonder why not all. As far as the other countries, that's there problem. There certainly could be a US mandate for parts supplied here. There are already many different applicable safety standards in autos which the manufacturer must meet depending on where the auto will be sold.

As far as a new data base created by "us", we actually don't need to. We have a perfect system now to identify the parts and it's called NAGS. The problem is in knowing which nags part is in a particular auto which you can't learn from anything besides that vehicles vin number or if the actual part installed from the factory had a part number on it and it should be a nags number.

Our part in this would be to exert the necessary pressure on the manufacturers to institute such a practice. You are correct that there will be no law ever. Laws mostly come in to play for safety reasons and never to just make our lives easier. There is a small aspect of truth to what I said about the consumer's best interest, but not enough to matter.

There are a couple of ways that we might facilitate a change. Letter campaigns,actual paper that shows effort and willingness to pay for a stamp, to barrage the ceo of each auto manufacturer with our concern, on line petitions to get mass signatures to show solidarity as in the " deport Justin Beiber" example, and simply calling a dealer parts guy each and every time you get a call. I would suggest you simply call dealers that are out of your area so that you are still friendly with those you need to do business with. My local dealers would get calls from you and yours would get calls from me. This preserves our individual relationships with our local dealers, but hundreds of calls a year like this would get the parts guys on board with us, don't you think? By chance if anyone says to them selves that the parts guys are not going to help you, understand that it is the idae to just keep asking them. Even the same ones over and over and always in the most polite fashion. It isn't their fault but they work there and simply have to deal with it. That is what would motivate them to write a couple of letter of their own. When they say they can't help you you respond that you understand and thanks and all give you a shout on the next one,a s if you don't know they will say the same thing each time call after call after call.

Re: Phone quotes

Posted: February 19th, 2014, 5:10 am
by pa glass
Okay, how do I go about lighting a fire under all your butts? I see that over 50 guys and gals have read my post and one person took the time to answer so far. Is that the bulk of you are installers only and don't have to deal with the issue? There must be some of you that are owners or managers and such who do understand and it would be very nice to hear back from anyone.
I have written to Ford corporate about this and I will write to others as I have the time. I will post about any response that I receive. At this point the question is, will anyone in here care to see the response?