Cliff notes:

Did a ws repair late October. The customer had a $100 deductable, $0 if repaired. I told the customer that the ws was questionable to be repaired because of the damage and the illusion of the chip may not go away after the repair is complete. Also warned them of the possibility of the ws cracking during the repair process. The customer was adamant of trying the repair due to it not costing them anything.

Forward to today:

Short paid the repair cost on a payment from a separate invoice that was paid from Safelite. I called Safelite and asked them why the invoice was short paid for this repair done in late October. Their response was "the customer wasnt happy with the repair so ANOTHER repair shop replaced the windshield."

I asked the rep from Safelite when they tried to contact my shop to inform us of this and that the repair cost would be recovered from another payment. He checked the notes and told me that since they had not tried to contact me to let me know, they would go ahead and pay me (again) the repair cost.

I called the customer who told me that they were contacted by Safelite as a courtesy follow up call on the repair. The customer said the repair held and it hasnt gotten any worse, but she could still see some of the illusion from the damage after the repair was done. The rep was speaking to the wife at the time, but it was the husband that brought the vehicle to my shop when the repair was done....he was the one that I educated about the repair process at that time.

So Safelite tells the customer "No problem. We would be happy to replace the windshield and only charge you the $100 deductable".

At the time the customer assumed she was talking to someone from our shop. They had the ws replaced. She apologized during our conversation today, telling me that she thought everything was still going through us.

So that leads me to this:

1.) Safelite insinuated that the repair was not safe and the windshield must be replaced. In fact, it was not in the drivers line of sight, it held, and was safe to drive. Pushing the insured for a replacement.....insurance fraud?

2.) Safelite made no attempt to contact our shop to let us know the customer "wasnt happy" with the repair....yet took it upon themselves to ATTEMPT to deduct the repair cost from my shop by short paying another invoice payment.

3.) Is Safelite pushing for replacements when the windshields can be safely repaired? How many times are they "following up" with repair referrals, eliminating the indie repair shop and taking it upon themselves to make additional money from the replacement?

There are a lot of things wrong with this picture. This is in Ohio and I plan on contacting the state AG's office to file a claim on this.

Thoughts?

Easy fixes:

1. Don't do network jobs for Safelite

2. Submit your bills directly to the insurance company

You say this can't be done? Then you are a loser.

Hugo, calling a fellow shop owner a loser does not help.

Even if you submit your invoices directly to the insurance company, chances are that the information will get back to Safelite.

There is no excuse as to why non-Safelite shops should have to put up with it.

Get an assignment from each customer that wants to have their insurance company pay you. Have them assign their post loss duties, benefits and proceeds to you. Then you can "stand in their shoes" and not only argue in court but also file complaints with the Dept. of Insurance.