Bekaert/SolarGard Sets up my biggest Dealership

November 22, 2008

I am glad to hear from others with these problems, these issues are not new and in many cases we are tricked into their thinking with exclusive territories and such. I do not keep all my eggs in one basket and can switch or drop any products at any time (or be droped) at any time. It is funny that the companies that require the most "loyalty" and the ones that do the most burning (even if yuou dont know it, They have been in it longer then you and know how to get away with it) most US Manufactures have quality films, but its only a matter of time before their foreign competitors catch up and when they do the nail will be in the coffin if they keep this up. When they talk about the window film industry they often talk about themselves or customers (your customers not you) we are only the medium of which they currently travel if they could mail order the window film in a box and have it pop on the window itself do you really think they would ever sell to you again?

have a laugh....

Alot of manufacturers sell DIY kits, selling direct! Quick fast cheap, extra tool sales ect. But the never sell there high end brand name in the DIY kit, because they know it will look like heck and nobody would want it by associating that brand with a bad job. But how I don't understand that they do not see this could only be bad for the industry as a whole having lousy installations everywhere?

Carmeltinting.com · May 11, 2011

Fast forward to 2011 -

UPDATE: (For those who care)

After almost 3 years of struggling to get my business back we have been doing a lot more retail work and trying to wean ourselves away from dealership work. I have had 5 dealerships go in-house on me now in the past 3 years and that has taught me 2 valuable lessons -

DO NOT TRUST DEALERSHIPS! and...

NEVER TRUST BIG MULTINATIONAL FILM COMPANIES TO HAVE YOUR BACK!

Retail pays waaaaaaay better and I don't have to work as hard to make the same or more :dunno

We now have a small shop on the :inot side of town and have been doing quite well with our website.

We carry a "private label" film from a quality, albeit small, distributor of film and are using ComputerCut less and less everyday.

All in all it has been an interesting few years.

Here are some observations I have made about BSF/SolarGard. In the past 3 years they...

1. Closed all Service Centers but the corporate location

2. Laid off or fired a lot of good sales people, then hire people who have NO CLUE about window film. Seriously! My daughter and wife know more than the sales staff they have now.

3. Streamlined and discontinued film they once offered

4. Ship everything out of San Diego

5. Offer less and charge more

6. Changed from nice white sturdy boxes to plain "brown wrapper" style boxes (with the bogus excuse they were trying to lessen their "carbon footprint") :gay

7. Changed warranties to make it virtually impossible to understand let alone make a claim with. (new warranty looks like a contact with all the loopholes to make it one sided) super :gay Whatever!

8. Film STILL won't stick to the dots! (after years of complaining)

9. Only thing that REALLY works well is ComputerCut but they are making it nearly impossible to keep using it. (NEWS FLASH - There ARE other options!)

Oh and lest we forget, they...

10. Set up dealerships to compete with you while they are your customers (Steppin' over dollars to pick up dimes)

I don't know, but I would guess they aren't exactly doin' so great.

How long do you think it will be before BSF will be sold off like SunGard was?

Time will tell, in this economy, time will tell. :gasp

After all they did to me, even now sometimes I wish BSF was still the company they once were. Back then it was GREAT being a Bekeart dealer!

Carmeltinting.com · May 11, 2011

If I didn't know better I would conclude someone in the company is deliberately trying to sabotage BSF

Fiveofeen · May 12, 2011

Fast forward to 2011 -
UPDATE: (For those who care)

Here are some observations I have made about BSF/SolarGard. In the past 3 years they...

Closed all Service Centers but the corporate location

We have four service centers located in Largo, Fl Houston, TX Tempe, AZ and Anaheim, CA. It did not make sense to have service centers throughout the entire US so we steamlined our program. We did not close all of our service centers. We did move low volume accounts to inside sales reps (like Johnson, Suntek, EWF, ValueTint) as their purchasing volume could not justify an outside sales representative.

Laid off or fired a lot of good sales people, then hire people who have NO CLUE about window film. Seriously! My daughter and wife know more than the sales staff they have now.

I don't think this is directed to me but as the only SolarGard sales rep on this forum its hard not to take this as a direct hit :gay

Streamlined and discontinued film they once offered

We have the largest automotive film product line from any major film manufacturer :gasp

Ship everything out of San Diego

Incorrect, we have four service centers throughout the US

Changed from nice white sturdy boxes to plain "brown wrapper" style boxes (with the bogus excuse they were trying to lessen their "carbon footprint") :gay

The material is the same thickness, and we don't use bleached cardboard which is more eco friendly. Call me crazy but I like that and I've had a great response from dealers.

Changed warranties to make it virtually impossible to understand let alone make a claim with. (new warranty looks like a contact with all the loopholes to make it one sided)
super :gay Whatever!

Warranty claims are a breeze, if you ever need any help call me personally. Takes five minutes tops to file one, I can email you the warranty claim guidelines if you would like. We have really straight forward sheet that covers it :dunno

Film STILL won't stick to the dots! (after years of complaining)

I can share some tips, dot matrix is a PITA regardless whose film you install.

Dan, I'm sorry you've had a bad run with us. I personally apologized to you in regards to the issues you have had with us but from what I can tell no matter what I attempt to do you will never forgive for the sins of a past sales rep and that is your decision and I respect that. As always you have my cell number, you are welcome to call me for assistance or to vent anytime. I just wanted to clear up some of your misconceptions about our company.

:inot

Tinitman · May 12, 2011

Tim, reps like you are becoming a dying breed.

Fiveofeen · May 12, 2011

Tim, reps like you are becoming a dying breed.

I appreciate the kind words. I don't want to seem like I can swoop in and play damage control and all is good the screw up occurred and I cannot change that but I am a BIG believer that is not the screw up but how you act after wards that shows someones true character. It might be three years later but I have faith that we can do our best to try and do right by Dan.

After working on both sides of the business I think I'm more forgiving of both parties when an issue occurs and give everyone the benefit of the doubt. We are a large company and our employees will represent us, sometimes poorly and sometimes well. That being said that was then and this is now, I wouldn't work for a company who I didn't believe in.

If anyone ever wants to talk film, B#$@! me out, prank call me or just seek advice or guidance with our products and services you can always reach out to me.

I'm not a big shot, I'm a rep I can't promise you much but you have my attention. I'm in it for the long haul and so long as you treat me with respect I'll always try to help :thumb

Carmeltinting.com · May 13, 2011

#1 We have four service centers located in Largo, Fl Houston, TX Tempe, AZ and Anaheim, CA. It did not make sense to have service centers throughout the entire US so we steamlined our program. We did not close all of our service centers. We did move low volume accounts to inside sales reps (like Johnson, Suntek, EWF, ValueTint) as their purchasing volume could not justify an outside sales representative.
#2 I don't think this is directed to me but as the only SolarGard sales rep on this forum its hard not to take this as a direct hit

#3 We have the largest automotive film product line from any major film manufacturer

#4 Incorrect, we have four service centers throughout the US

#5 The material is the same thickness, and we don't use bleached cardboard which is more eco friendly. Call me crazy but I like that and I've had a great response from dealers.

#6 Warranty claims are a breeze, if you ever need any help call me personally. Takes five minutes tops to file one, I can email you the warranty claim guidelines if you would like. We have really straight forward sheet that covers it

#7 I can share some tips, dot matrix is a PITA regardless whose film you install.

#8 Dan, I'm sorry you've had a bad run with us. I personally apologized to you in regards to the issues you have had with us but from what I can tell no matter what I attempt to do you will never forgive for the sins of a past sales rep and that is your decision and I respect that. As always you have my cell number, you are welcome to call me for assistance or to vent anytime. I just wanted to clear up some of your misconceptions about our company.

:wall (I knew this would happen and didn't want it to, but since it did...)

Okay, here we go. In the order they were received...

#1 - Then why does the film I order come from the furthest point... San Diego? Seems to me Largo is closer. That's efficient. And why do YOU think sells volume was down??? Makes you go hmmmmmm? Don't it?

#2 - Not Directed at You! Micheal is clueless (though nice). Sorry, but he is VERY inexperienced. I hear it in his voice! Not my first Rodeo my friend. I know when someone doesn't know their stuff. He doesn't - FACT. Call centers are no replacement for personal contact and genuine "face time". Next thing you know BSF will move the call center (oops, sorry) "service center" to India and everyone will be placing their orders with Rajneesh!

#3 - :spit Really??? C'mon. I'm pretty sure Llumar has you beat there my friend.

#4 - Ok. fine BSF has 4 service centers :lol Let's all celebrate! But they really should call them just "shipping centers" IMHO

#5 - Ok, you're Crazy. :thumb No, really, it looks cheap, feels cheap, screams "cutting cost" to me, but whatever. Let's all "SAVE THE PLANET" Once again, WHATEVER dude! Go hug your tree! :barf

#6 - Looks complicated, like a contract only an attorney can decipher. The others were better, looked better, looked professional. But since the warranty is only as good as the company backing it... well, enough said.

#7 - PITA is Right! Agreed! But SolarGard films have tons of static and are not as aggressive on the dots as others I have used - Plain simple Truth.

#8 - Apology has been accepted...twice now. I appreciate your help. But again, you are NOT my rep, and never have been my rep, and likely never will be my rep. My observations are NOT personally directed at you. I haven't seen a BSF rep in 3 years! So, what am I to conclude? Especially after what BSF has put me through! Too little too late is how I perceive it. And I'm not the only one that sees it this way or has been left alone by BSF for 3 years only to have somebody from the San Diego call center contact them and ask why they were not buying film. I just talked someone from NC where that happened.

Tim, I believe that when good companies get bought out by multinationals, EVERYTHING changes and they eventually get sold off. It's all about the shareholders turning a profit and if they don't people - often good people - get FIRED and some number crunching egghead comes in and tries to "cut the fat" to get the "bottom line" up in order to satisfy the shareholders. If that doesn't happen, and the numbers aren't up, the company is sold to the highest bidder. This is a problem for BSF because no one is bidding and BSF wants too much anyway. I have seen it repeatedly over the years and BSF is NO DIFFERENT. The template is being used again and I truly believe they will be sold as soon as Bekeart can find a buyer. It's going to happen... mark my words. History is repeating.

My beef is NOT WITH YOU. No one can change the past. If 3M, CP Films, or Johnson, or Madico or (fill in the manny name here) was operating this way, I would be on their backs too.

I'm pretty sure this forum is for tinters to share and network their ideas and I believe it is not the place for mannys to hang out (even though they do). If I were TD I would ban all mannys as soon as they were identified because it tends to taint the postings and makes them sound biased.

I fully expected you would post a reply, after all you are on the BSF payroll and probably felt compelled to defend "the company". Fine. As long as TD allows you guys here, you have the right. But don't you think that most tinters will see your replies as "damage control" you don't want it to be? Many here are a lot smarter and more distrusting than you (or anybody else for that matter) may think. And every time companies conduct themselves in a less than "stellar" way, we mistrust them just a little more. Maybe not the newbie, or the :thumb $99 hack that is tinting for beer and stripper money, but those of us around for 20+ yrs who pride ourselves on honesty and integrity do.

All I really wanted was fellow tinters to weigh in on how they perceive things in our industry.

But thanks anyway for your input. :thumb

I was wrong about the... uhemm, "service" centers... there ARE 4 not one. :beer

Carmeltinting.com · May 13, 2011

Tim, reps like you are becoming a dying breed.

That's because they end up spitting out the cool-aid they are forced to drink everyday by upper management! :spit

Tinitman · May 13, 2011

My beef is NOT WITH YOU. No one can change the past. If 3M, CP Films, or Johnson, or Madico or (fill in the manny name here) was operating this way, I would be on their backs too.

News flash, they have been doing it for some time. Years ago there were very few large independent dealers and they got away with it. Now there are many large ones and are dealing with it on a constant basis. In my opinion I believe most manufacturers prefer to have micro dealers instead of successful ones. This way they can step over their heads without interference