With the consolidation of wholesalers we are now left with PPG and Pilkington in our market. We are buying from Pilkington and I must say, what has happend to this company? Are any of you seeing the same problems that I am: very limited stock of glass, csr's complaining about the co., long hold times, unwillingness to match prices for net parts, and an attitude that they really don't care. To be honest I am absolutely shocked by their disorganization and the mistakes from running a skeleton crew. I would rather use an independent wholesaler and have my glass shipped in daily.

Constantly on hold if you call (I usually use website), but they have so few parts and are far more expensive than Mygrant/PPG are I rarely bother anymore. You are right on. What state are ya in?

we are running into the same problem as far as not having the glass in stock.. as far as pricing we are getting a better price from pilkington which doesn't do much good if it's not in stock. we have no problem with them answering the phone.

have some promblem with plk-co. did lot of stock order. i only get half. sometime call for parts. went to pick it up,but they can't find the parts. sometime defect,scratch ect.. now buying my glass from mygrant...
mygrant most of the time can price match,service i am very happy with,the only thing is now they charge me fuel charge $2.50 everyrun to my shop. oh will you can't
have everything perfect...

I dont like buying from competitors but someone from ACI called yesterday wanting me to buy W/S from them . I checked out the ACI Distribution web page but don't give alot of info . I know they are part of the Harding/Binswanger & Vitro family of companies does anyone have any more info on the quality of the products ,pricing and delivery methods.

We are experiencing the problems in MN and AZ.

AH-A/G
we used to buy from ACI but all they stocked was crinamex, which is usually not bad but there were some parts like 1176's that wouldn't fit, they may have corrected that but i haven't bought from them in about 2 years

Pilkington, is a joke! there is one csr that is so bad if they answer I hang up! most common parts they dont have, or they tell you its at one spot and you get there, its like oh made a mistake it is down where you were the first time. like that is all I have to do is run around for a part and burn up 3.09 a gallon in gas. BRING BACK INDEPENDENT GLASS AND THE PEOPLE THAT WORKED THERE PLEASE!!!!

bqa- I talked to aci in north texas this after noon they don't even stock autoglass in the north texasbranch . The rep said that i have to set up w/ Oklahoma City branch and they would deliver it 3 hours to my door min. order 15 pc per call 2 deliveries a week but they will run 4 deleveries a week to me with a 3 pc min.if i set up a shop or a drop off point w/ a person to rec. orders near Denton ,Texas (1.5 hrs n.e of me) . ACI prices are $15-$20 higher than I pay now . It's just to much b.s. to deal with

ACI in So Cal has moved all of their auto glass to Oceanside(close to San Diego). The best deal around here is Mygrant, but sometimes PPG has better prices on certgain #'s. I just hate putting in FYG in everything.

I like Pilkington here in the Northeast, we use E-connect so we never have to call them. The parts are here on time five runs a day. They will meet or beat PPG prices and most importantly they don't own a network that constantly bullies you!

Talk to your sales people and get it straightened out. If Pilkington leaves the area PPG will be selling you the glass for $200. that LYNX will allow you to bill $100.

Stoped buying from Pilk in NY on L.I. for all the reasons stated.

Great bunch of folks up here in new england.Very little problems with them.Sometimes they have a run on cetain parts and do not have any left but i think that happens to alot of us also.

curious about the quality of glass you are getting from Pilk. Here in our area(IL)we get good quality parts and not a lot of hassel. It sounds as if it is the management and help at your local distributors that have problems. PPG however, seems to have more and more poor quality parts, the help and service they give is excellent, its just the quality of the part they sell that is junk.

No distributor is perfect. Lets face it they all make mistakes, buy from an indy like mygrant, odg, or kryger..

Well in Alaska Pilkington is our larget supplier... we have options, but Pilkington has been doing fair considering all that they have went through this past year. I know that when they bought out Autstock they acquired all of there cheap crappy inventory and they had to get rid of it. I know that they also brought in a lot of Autostock employees when they bought them out... the Autostock mentality is what everyone has described as far as service. I know that our local Pilkington has done a good job at turning that mentality around and we are starting to see the "old Pilkington" come back. Part of the difference might be the great Sales guy that we have, he cares and understands what the business is about- us the customers! I can call him on a Sunday and he'll personally get me a part if I need it. Anyways I think we are starting to see progress with Pilkington, I'm not ready to throw the towel in on them yet!

There invetory sucks!!! Recently out of DW999's, DW1256's, DW1293's just to name a few. I am done, given them too many chances. Has anyone else seen inventory problems?

it happen to me all the time. there about 1/4 mile from my shop.right next door to me. i still have to order parts from mygrant most of the time, mygrant takes longer to get the glass cause it about 15miles away.
last week i order online from pilkington on a lexus,went to pick it up,but they can't find the w/s.

We have old friends working @ Pilkington here..... Stopped ordering becuzzzzz... of the last 26 parts we tried to order they either didn't have them & never called to tell us... didn't have them at all.... or couldn't find the order............. we ended up with 6 parts total......... fo-ged-uh-bout-it!!!!

BQA Not to stand up for ACI & Crimanex or as i call them Criminal X, In case you did not know they were OEM for the DW1176. If you ever look on a safguard windshield on the 1176's a ton of them are Crim...

I haven't had much problem with the crinamex brand. Only problem that comes to mind is with the FW822 and FW2064's. The moldings either don't match up in the corners or just refuse to lay down worth a ****. My biggest problem is with the FYG brand. I hate the FYG's! Especially on the Fords. I did a ranger the other day and had to shove the glass almost two inces toward the passenger side after setting it because the glass was too short. Needless to say the VIN notch was off. Very frustrating.

Maybe a quick dry set before putting urethane on would prevent that problem. "Almost 2 inches" isn't that a little too much moving around after setting the glass?

wow 2 inches ,we had that problem on the DW1140 with the FYG and the moulding they would send was junk too,the top and bottom of the moulding was exactly the same size and would not even fit the glass.

PILKINGTON AND THE STAFF ARE THE WORSE!!!! LEFT I DONT KNOW HOW MANY MESSAGES WITH THE SALES REP, STILL HAS NOT RETURNED CALL. NEVER HAVE THE PARTS, THE GUY AT THE ONE SHOP IS ALWAYS ON THE PHONE YELLING AT SOMEONE. THE CSR'S ARE A JOKE, THEY DONT CARE, YOU NEVER KNOW IF THEY REALLY TOOK THE ORDER, TRIED TO ORDER ON LINE, BUT STILL DONT KNOW IF THEY GET THE ORDER OR TOSS IT, BECAUSE WHEN YOU GO TO GET IT, THEY DONT HAVE IT!
PLEASE WE NEED TO BRING BACK A BETTER GLASS DIS. IN MN.

pretty sure a w/s that's 2" too short would fall through the opening. Come on guys, get realistic, that's just a bunch of bullpoo. Not exactly to tolerance or off somewhat I agree, but inches???? Funny.

yesterday call pilkington to part check on a door glass to see if they have in stock.it took them over an hour to call me back on that door. by that time you already lose a customer.

The past year we have had nothing but headaches from Pilkington. They say they don't have the part in stock because they don't want to move a box to get to the part. Then they call after the run has left and you can't get it any quicker from anyone else due to run times. I use to love their staff but now I HATE to even call them. I also must hang up on one of the CSR's due to a very disrespectful attitude. They are over worked and understaffed in our area. This makes everyone miserable. Pitty party.....

The sad thing in Milwaukee is that they hired new staff and trained them for maybe two weeks...they are nice people but know very little if anything about auto glass.

Her in northeast Pa Pilkington is the the best distributor going. they are very easy to work with.

PLK used to get 65% of all my business... out of stock and poor customer service (on hold too long and not enough deliveries). PPG is making up the difference with excellent customer service- pricing is close enough on most... just give me the dang part I want to buy from you! why is that so hard? Dakotaland could get more if they ever get their on-line ordering up n running. There is deffinately room for someone to improve in this market/ MN WI

Got an OE Nissan w/s (pathfinder fw2012?) from them today. Regularly get OE Toyota glass also.
On the other hand, anyone else get the Chrysler parts with the Chrysler logo ground out and a Pilkington sticker stuck over the grind mark? Gotta love it.

we have a dakotaland here in wyoming, they run retail right out of their warehouse, under the name mobile auto glass of wyoming, they make safelite and dt's prices look great, at one time they were doing any w/s mobile installed for $125. about a year ago.

the two inches was a guestimate only. all i know for sure was that I had to push way more then I like too and that the molding barely covered. whether my measurement was accurate or not doesn't change the fact that FYG is crap!!!!!!!

Is it just me or does pilk not have the worst credit system?? there complete MORONS. THEY owed me $5 and cut my account off, its like WTF you owe me and your the one cutting me off? Anyone else dealt with this? Then they promised me race tickets to KC Race if this ever happend again and now they will not follow thru .. just a pack of liars if you ask me.

I can buy a pilkington w/s for $40.00 less at my local distributor then I could from LOF. This company needs to get thier act together. I have been waiting for them to give me better discounts but they tell me they need copy's of what I'm buying at now, Imagine having to prove your discounts before they will give you better pricing. WHAT A JOKE!

Hey john L; THis has been going on for years.They need some kind of proof that you really are buying at a lower discount.I can also get them cheaper,but i have to buy them out of canada.I would just as well keep my money in the states.
Anybody else getting alot of fyg from pilkington?

it happen to me again. order online for will-call. i was
at the warehouse/plk. for 30mint.guss what they can't find the door. man i was **** off. now i have to order from other supplyer and have to tell my customer come on a later time. now they make me look bad. they don't care
the company is a big joke.

So why don't you people just leave Pilkington?

there right next door to me. i get good deal on prices.
i just hope they better get new people to run that place
soon.

Good prices, but no glass isn't a great deal.

JOHN L

SAME THING DOWN HERE IN GOOD OLE DIXIE, I CAN BUY PILK OR LOF CHEAPER AT MYGRANT (SOME PARTS, NOT ALL) THAN AT PILKINGTON...............GO FIGURE

I WISH MYGRANT OR SOME OTHER BIG INDEPENDENT DISTRIBUTOR WOULD MOVE TO THE DALLAS AREA .

The only reason I still have to use them is because the urethane I use is only available at L.O.F. & MIGRANT can't sell in CT yet.

Why can't Mygrant sell in Ct.???

I would love to leave Pilkington and the crabby csr's and staff they have. however, PPg does not always have the part I need and sometimes they are way to over priced on some. And then we have been getting some really junk glass out of PPG. LOTS of distored glass. then have to go back and redo! Hate that, some of them you cant tell until you sit in and look out.