The tint guy gave me 20% and told me it was legal

I went to get my car tinted yesterday. The guy showed me a few cars that he had done work on and it looked really nice. I chose the level of the tint based on the other cars and how dark I wanted it. He told me that limo was !llegal which I already knew and didn't want anyway. He said the next level I could go would be 20% and that it was totally legal. I chose to do 20% all around. They were almost done with my car and another customer started talking to him about the tint laws and such and he said that he knew that the 20% was legal because a cop came in looking to get 20% as well and told him that it was legal so he assumed that since he heard it from a cop that it must be true. I know it's only !llegal by 5% but do you really think that I'll be messed with about it? I mean, I don't really want to be asking to be pulled over... ya know? Just in case it makes any difference, I live in Texas and I drive a light bluish colored 4 door honda civic.

Thanks,
Erika

not legal even if you do not get a ticket you will not be able to texas state inspection. Here are the texas laws http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/vi/Misc/faq/tint.htm

A couple things. I think i read that the Texas law is 25% on the sides? If so, what brand of film did they use? If they used Llumar ATR, there is a good chance that the 20% will actually comply with the law. It seems every time I measure an ATR 20 it reads about 23-25%. I don't know if they have a 3% variance in Texas like they do in Florida. So your tint guy might be right. I would take it back there first and get it measured. If he doesn't have a meter, call around to see if someone can measure it for you and go from there.

Thank you for the response, I appreciate it. You know, I wish that I had found this site before I had my windows tinted. I guess you live and learn huh lol. Anyway, I didn't ask what kind of tint the guy was using, he just said that it was really good quality and that it wouldn't fade or turn purple and gave me a warranty for the life of the car. On the other hand the guy that actually did the tint (not the one that sold it to me) told me not to use my rear defrost too much or it could turn purple.

Yeah Texas law is that you can have any kind of tint on the rear window and back 2 doors. The front 2 doors must be 25% or higher. I will call the guy tomorrow and ask exactly what kind he used and ask him if he can measure it for me. If he can't do it then there are several shops around here so I'm sure that I'll find one that will be able to measure it.

I'll also call an inspection place and see if we have any give in the exact measure, like if it comes out as 23 or so, if they will pass it on inspection.

If it won't pass inspection, should I ask for the guy to replace those front side windows with something legal for free since he sold me !llegal tint? I mean I don't know if I would be right as a customer to request that it be done for free since I thought it was legal and it wasn't.

Thank you,
Erika

If it does measure !llegal then I think you are totally entitled to having the fronts removed and replaced with something legal for free. He stood there and told you the film he was putting on your car was legal and it isn't. What if you get a ticket. Would he pay for it? There's even worse scenarios you could get into with !llegal tint. So if that is the case, it is an easy fix and he should be willing to do it at no charge.

Erika,

Texas law states that on the back 2 doors of a 4 door passenger vehicle they must also meter at or above 25% net. Trucks are different


23% or above will pass Texas inspection


Would you please tell us where this car was tinted and what town. If he knowingly sold you !llegal film then yes he should replace it for free

The shop is in Houston, Texas... South side of Houston. I will post his name and exact location as soon as I get the receipt from the car. I didn't get a chance to get it measured today but I will post the results as soon as I do. If it comes out !llegal then I'm going to have him replace it. This is all so stupid... and could have been avoided had he not lied to me in the first place. I'll know better next time I get my windows tinted.

I actually have another car that needs tint if anyone here is in Houston, Texas let me know and I'll come see you to have it done right.

Thanks again,
Erika

Paladins are there or close. Mr P and texastintchick here on this board.

www.humbletint.com

Or www.turbotinting.com (automotive website) or www.cypresswindowtinting.com (resi/comm site) Im NW Houston. Mr. P. is north Houston. He is off 45N near 1960....Correct?

i definitly dont think you will be messed with.i have 30 my whole windshield and 5 on the front and back and i mean cops are real a 0's out here and they dont mess with me unless im bumpin or speeding

lol...just come out to florida and ill take care of it....lol...

well it's been about 5 days since the tint was done and I'm still seeing a few bubbles. I will wait a little longer to see is those go away. I haven't called and had it measured yet, I've been sick but I'll get that done soon.

The place that did this tint is called Discount Car Stereo and it's located on I-45 on the north side of the freeway at the Almeda exit. The phone number is 713-943-7600 and the guy that sold me the tint, the one that actually runs the shop and told me it was legal is Ray. I paid 125.00

After 5 days it should have cured. $125 is pretty cheap. Do you know what film (brand) they put on your car? Since you are around I45, I would recommend going to Paladin (humbletint.com). He would be closer to you than I am. Ray is Raytarded.

I second having the Paladins look it over and see what they say.

I emailed Humble Tint today so hopefully I'll hear back pretty soon.

My question is, if I go back and tell this other place that did my tint...

1. you sold me !llegal tint, after telling me it was legal
2. you did a crap job and now there's bubbles and crinkles
3. there's no window sticker under the tint that texas law says you must have

Can I go in a say that, ask them to remove and then ask for my money back? I mean, I'm not trying to sound stupid here but you guys deal with this sort of thing or you at least know what is right and wrong. I just don't know what I am entitled to get back out of this. I hate to ask them to remove the tint and then go pay 200.00 somewhere else after I've already spent 125.00

I mean sure, 125.00 isn't that much but I don't want to just flush it down the drain either... I could put that money into the new tint job.

If you guys have any advice on how I should handle it, please let me know. I would really like to know how to approach the situation, what to say, what to ask for and what to demand.

Thank you all so much.

By the way... I'm going to post some photos in a new reply... I just have to get them off of my camera.

there is nothing wrong with you asking him to do what you want him to do. im sure you two will find a happy place in the middle? i know in my shop i get just as much $ to put tint on, than i do to take it off. there is more labor taking it off than putting it on. the just i would explain that you deffinately want the door legal, hopefully he did a good job on the rest of the car?

here in florida it is a requirment to also have a sticker to show its legal...here it doesnt have to be under the tint, but in the door jam at least. there is only a hand full of shops that even have statue stickers. i have them and only place them on the car if requested. cops here normally dont fret over the stickers and have meters to measure the shade. have seen people place stickers on !llegal tint before and get laughed at....

Thanks Jeff.

They didn't do a good job. Here are some photos of my car and my tint. You can see some water spots from my washing the car yesterday but you can clearly see the bubbles on the tint and how they differ from the water spots.

That tint job is totally un-acceptable... go back and tell them to remove the film and give you your money back..

Yeah I'm going to take my car to the paladins and have them do it... and my boyfriends car too.

We are looking forward to meeting you Erika

erika,
name the tint shop.
thats horrible.

that belongs in the "Hall of Shame" for tint shops.

I put all of the information about the shop in one of my posts in this thread. It's called Discount Car Stereo... crap come to think about it, the name says it all.

Anyway, I got to reading about removing the tint and I'm actually a little afraid to ask this shop to remove my tint AND give me my money back. I mean, if I go in there and tick them off then they might ruin my windows or my defrost lines on purpose. I really don't know what to do :(

Oh and just to add to the crap that they did, they didn't put my inside door panel all the way back on and they cut some of the rubber that rests up against the glass. I'm going to go raise hell tomorrow!!!
I know you guys don't like seeing ugly customers but I think by this point, I have the right lol.

I just don't know how I should go about getting them to give me my money back and take the tint off without F***ing up my car

They took your door panels off thats weird on a 99 Accord go figure.

The tint is still pretty fresh, the adhesive should not be to bad and it was not very hot here until today.... all that being said, it should come off pretty easy. But I have no idea what kind of film they use or how aggressive the adhesive might be. I am thinking probably not a real top brand so you should be OK there as well.

I think it's pretty simple...

' This tint job looks terrible... it's not legal, you didn't put my door panel on correctly, you cut the rubbers up on my windows... I expect you to install my door panel correctly, remove this terrible looking tint job, and refund my money complete... or my first call of many will be to the police department regarding you selling and installing !llegal window tinting'

That might be a direction I would go if they don't immediately agree to take care of you...

but I would imagine as soon as you start pointing out the bad spots in the film and the panel, etc they will be more than eager to give you what you want...

Thank you for the advice, I'm going to head up there tomorrow and I'll tell them just like you told me. I figured that I would say something along those lines lol.

And thank you Texastintchick, I look forward to meeting you too.

I'll post here tomorrow and let you all know what happens when I go up there.

Wow that is a horrendous job!!! I don't even know how you can crease something that badly lol. Yeah, Erika. You should raise hell. I don't blame you. So let's see they used a garbage film. Told you it was legal when in fact it wasn't. Messed up your door panel. And cut the rubber. Oh and did an install that my 7 year old could have done. I'd be furious. This is what makes me mad. Shops out there that can do this to customers. Brings down the industry. Unfortunately in this business the "You get what you pay for" theory is usually true. I see people advertise $80 any car. The results are what you have on your car. I hope you get it all worked out. And I can't wait to hear when you get it professionally done!

OMG...i would of never thought it would of been this bad! i feel for the troubles and wish you the best, tyhis has to be removed and as far as your money goes "FULL REFUND" here in jax they have a news reporter (ken omaro) that handle bad cases like this..he does all the leg work of getting things right...i would metion talking to the news and the cops for that matter.....

Holy chit I was thinking the first pic didn't look too bad other than an awful blue looking film, then i scrolled down how in the world did they crease the film that bad and why is it still on your window? Id definately want my money back, id be pissed if i paid $80 for that...Some of those bubbles could be fixed but at this point i would go to the paladins.

wow someone need to get out of the tinting buisness

The tinter that did that work needs to be fired or beat down.

"id be pissed if I paid $80 for that" ... I'd be pissed if that was free lol !

Ya'll have me laughing at least. It was actually 135.00 after tax, I feel so stupid.

I work nights so I'm usually asleep during the day and when I get up, they are closed. I had a chance to go up there today and I talked to one of the guys up there, he agreed that it needed to be redone and said that they would be glad to take it off. I told them that I don't want them to redo it because I don't trust their work and I wanted my money back. He said that I would have to come back tomorrow because the guy that has the authority to give me my money back "Ray" wasn't there today. I'll go back tomorrow.

I told the guy today that they knowingly put !llegal tint on my car as well because 20% is !llegal in Texas and he said that he read the book and it says that it is legal... I said "wait a freaking minute, I have the book and it DOES NOT SAY THAT, don't try to pull that BS with me because I know better" lol, I was almost having fun with frustrating this guy.

There was another guy in there getting a camera added to his truck when I was getting my tint done and I had talked to him... he was back in there today RAISING HELL. He said that they over charged him and didn't give him what he had asked for.

If they refuse to give me my money back, I'm going to offer to call the police and go to the news because we have a guy around here that handles bad businesses in Houston. I can't remember his name right now but I'll look and find it for sure.

I think that this guy shouldn't be in business because he's hurting the other businesses out there that do care about their customers. If they give me any problems when I go up there, I will not hesitate to call the cops PERIOD!

Please record the call when you call the P O L I C E......

Hey that's a good idea

I cant beleive that the tinter let the car leave his shop looking like that......thats a disgrace......

"id be pissed if I paid $80 for that" ... I'd be pissed if that was free lol !
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Yeah you're right, although this job is what i would expect from the $99 any car guys

I have to go to work today so I don't have time to stop by there but I did call and spoke to Ray. I told him that I want my money back and that I don't want them to redo my tint. He said that he will speak with his boss and find out if he can give me the money back. I remained somewhat nice to him over the phone but when I show up tomorrow, I'll be expecting to get my money back or I'm calling the cops. He has no idea what is in store for him lol

honestly its a civil manner so dont get your hope's up but calling the cops ! take your warranty card and call the dist. tell them watz goin on .
iv delt with this first hand when a speed shop in j ville got me on a block .
if they dident give you a warranty card demand one

Yeah they didn't give me a warranty card. I didn't think about it at the time. I do have my receipt though.

I think that the guy will give me my money back but I'll find out tomorrow.

sounds like fox engines of jax,lol.. got you to,,got me for a crank in 2000

I hate hearing about this kind of scenario, hope it works out.

I've been really sick for the past week so I didn't get anything done but now that I felt better today, I called Ray and spoke to him. He said that he spoke to his boss and they are willing to redo the tint but they won't give me my money back. I'm so pissed off. I'm still not feeling well enough to yell at the guy but I don't know what to do now. I don't want to just p1ss 135.00 out the window.

I wouldn't give them any more chances. If they don't tell you what you want to hear then just threaten going to the media. They know they did a terrible job. I see that they charged you tax. Here in Texas we pay tax on the material so there shouldn't be any tax added on the customer. If the job was 125 then that's what you pay.

Damn they really screwed me huh.

I called back and actually raised my voice with him. I said that I was trying my best to handle it calmly but quite frankly that I was pissed off. I told him that I was going to call the police and the local news and he said that if I was going to threaten him that he didn't want to talk to me. I should have recorded that conversation, I bitched him out really good. I still don't feel any better. I told him that I didn't trust his shop to redo my tint or to even take it off because they might ruin my rear defrost and he told me that any time you take tint off it ruins the rear defrost WTF.... he's so full of it.

I also told him that he lied to my face and put !llegal tint on my car and he said "well the cop told me that 20% was legal" and I told him that it was his responsibility to read the laws for himself and not rely on what others tell him... that is irresponsible of him.

I just want to punch him in the face... that would make me feel better.

spend a day off in front of his shop showing people his quality work on your car. He cost you $135 return the favor.

Hell yeah, that might work. I think I might do that tomorrow.

It really sux this happened to you, but this industry is jut like any other you really gotta research before you buy. Because so much of window film application is up to the skill of the installer, you gotta check out reputations.

looks like these guys are learning on peoples cars they dont happen to be middle eastern arent they?