Don't use RAC Auto Windscreens

[unhappy fitter]

i have worked for rac auto windscreens for a very long time and they have many good employees..unfortunately for every good one they now have two rubbish ones which they inherited from the rac when they bought them..it has taken less than 5 years to totally demoralise all the auto windscreens staff and turn the company into a disaster..i am now hanging in hoping for my redundancy which i feel i deserve...i have seen some of my close friends in the place paid off to make way for free loaders who have no interest in the companies well being...the whole company is down the drain and although 5 years ago i would have done anything for them i now cannot wait to get out and get on with my life.the place is being run into the ground by idiots and is corrupt from top to bottom.

[It will get better .....]

After working in the Auto glazing industry for the last 25 years I can honestly tell you that there is not one glass company out there that does not have issues with vehicle technicalities, product problems , product supply problems, weather/customers working conditions not suitable, customers expectations too high etc etc etc ,

The way you were treated was not good, communication poor but please don't tar all technicians with the same brush , we have some absolute gem technicians out there , helping customers get back on the road 24/7,

As for the comment about Mercedes doing there own screen replacements , there having a laff at your expense, I do not know one dealer that does there own screens , they call one of the companys out , get charged £45 and then add on about £150 just for having it sat in the "official" mercedes car park, the reason ?? because as a mercedes driver you will pay whatever it cost's .....

One word of advice for anyone , have a word with the local manager at the company of your choice , tell them that you have had a bad experiance , be prepared to take it to the fitting centre and hopefully all will go well.... don't moan when it goes wrong if they have asked you to take it the fitting centre , after all you would not want the dealer servicing the car on the front drive so why would you want a sometimes complex windscreen replacement doing there ??

[Guest]

Hi all, iv been reading this post with great interest, I worked for Autowindscreens for over 15 years, before and after being purchased by Rac (Ariva Group). In the year before i left i became more and more sadened with the customer service, and quality of work.
In the end i decided to leave. As i say i was with the company 15 years, and in that time i never once had a day off sick, and recieved several letters from customers that were happy with the work i had provided to them, I ended up even visiting customers in the evening, in my own time to rectify other peoples mistakes, as i was unhappy that my employer was treating them so poorly (the customer).
When i left i was quite open with my employer that i intended to go free-lance and continue to fit glass to my standards, i was taken to one side by a manager and told that they would have me out of business in 6 months, im now on year five.

I stuck by them through all the mud slinging, corruption investigations for de-frauding the insurance companies out of hundreds of thousands of pounds, and thats how they treat there staff, they have hundreds of very good, skilled and hard working staff, sadly its was ruined by the managment.

[Guest]

www.windscreenleak.com

[Guest 170808]

This was once a great business, especially when the Ushers, Riggall & Stronge ran it, RAC made them scapegoats and over refunded the insuracne and fleet operators for fraud that was never committed to fleet customers.
RAC then brought in the muppetts, Duffy and his yes man Tutt, who brought in his own yes man a puppett called Stuart Little, between them they wrecked the business, Duffy and Tutt the Tosser have now gone (the business ruined and worth less than £35m now), Little is still there puckering up to the "fire side chat champion Zaal". What a shame that such a good business has been destroyed.

[Manager still here]

I still work here and am only waiting for the new owners, maybe Simon will buy it?
How can "big business" wreck such a fabulous company?

[Roadside]

Tutt was just as useless at roadside, we were so pleased when he left taking Littel and the rug munching Harris with him.
They couldnt organise a rescue outsside the M6 building, sorry you got screwed by them.

[guest 190808]

Found this site after googling autowindscreens, I worked there for years, the idiots from RAC really did screw this business. Word is Tutt the t*** has moved to Australia, maybe it was an AVIVA prison ship, what a waste of a skeleton!!!
Anyhow, RACAW is up for grabs anyone with £30Mil could buy it, I hear Gary and Mark have become the new Zaal kiss arses. Shame, they were once decent guys (guys, get it)
Not many good people left now.

[Guest]

only heard last week about Gary M, pitty i remember when he was a fitter, nice guy, when i left racaw, Zaal said to me "you are the longest serving fitter in the division, i wish i could have got to know you", i looked him straight in the eye and said," Im on your fitter research team, put together by you, we spoke together last week in Bristol, do you only remember the people that are stuck to your behind?", this is why they are in such a shambles

[1GUEST1]

I had heard that rac auto windscreens used to be very good when they were auto windscreens, it is like everything in big business these days they are only interested in money, and to hell with everyone else, i came across a little site on the web from a pissed of punter http://www.leakingwindscreen.com
It seems that rac auto windscreens pissed of the wrong bloke,
I doubt anyone would want to buy a company when a simple google search turns up crap workmanship like that

[Guest 230808]

The blokes website is a bit over the top and if you read it his claims are exagerated, however this doesnt detract from a crap job done on his car though.
RACAW is reaaly bad place to be at the mo, morale is VERY VERY low, even Aidan has gone now, cant beleive he went, clearly had enough of Little (he is genuine front bottom) Zaal butter with a W infront.

[Technician Chesterfield]

I still work here, the company is crap, they are so worried that the outside world would see how bad it is that they have TOLD people to remove conversations from facebook, how petty is that.
We try to do the best job possible, but we have no direction, the area manager (cant remeber his name it has been so long) is only interested in admin/paperwork.
The new Ops director thinks he rules the world with his intimidation of everyone. The good people that are left put up with so much crap now.

[Alf Huckham]

[Guest]

Hi all, i worked at the southamton branch for 4years and the only stand up bloke i met was the supervisor at poole branch, andy small, he was the only guy that ever seemed to stand up and be counted and put quality workmanship before selling wipers and brown nosing, i remember he once drove to southampton docks at 3am in the morning to help me do a ERF, he wasnt on call but the poole ooh fitter refused to help me, and the call centre called him at home after they couldnt contact the depot manager, he drove up in his own car because he was a base fitter and didnt have a van, i had been there struggling to fit the ERF for about a 2hours and couldnt get it in, he looked at what i had been doing wrong, smiled( as he always did, as i remember) and simply hoisted it above his head lifted it in, jumped inside with a hook tool, seconds later it was fitted,
Then started to clean it, i remember commenting that i wouldnt bother cleaning it, he said in reply, your only as good as your last job, and possibly this would be his last with Rac, it saddens me that i found out later the folowing day that he had handed in his notice after 13 years with the company, and talking to several fitters about this, several had told me that they had also recieved help from him while out on ooh calls, but he had never metioned it to other fitters or made them feel foolish from needing help.
So if anyone knows what happened to andy small from the poole depot, please let me know.

[another guest]

I used to work at RACAW, but just couldn't stick it in the end. The RAC imports just didn't get it and killed the business. No trust of genuine people and far too much time and power given to freeloaders with no clue of what the business needed. What goes around comes around for those idiots i reckon, but such a shame so many good people got caught in the crossfire. You never know, it may be bought by a company who think more of their customers than them selves. Fingers crossed!