Bekaert/SolarGard Sets up my biggest Dealership

justn8 · May 13, 2011

Tim's a smart guy and obviously has great people skills... Why did you jump from dealer to rep? I'd honestly think you'd have the potential to earn more on your own, not to mention have perks after becoming well established.

Am I out of line or behind the times if I ask 'why'?

Fiveofeen · May 13, 2011

Tim's a smart guy and obviously has great people skills... Why did you jump from dealer to rep? I'd honestly think you'd have the potential to earn more on your own, not to mention have perks after becoming well established.
Am I out of line or behind the times if I ask 'why'?

I'll PM you.

justn8 · May 13, 2011

Tim's a smart guy and obviously has great people skills... Why did you jump from dealer to rep? I'd honestly think you'd have the potential to earn more on your own, not to mention have perks after becoming well established.
Am I out of line or behind the times if I ask 'why'?

I'll PM you.

Cool. None of my business really, just curious.

Carmeltinting.com · May 13, 2011

So long as you treat me with respect I'll always try to help

I've done my part and I leave it at that. I'll politely walk away from this one

Thanks for all you have done. :beer

Jayz81 · May 13, 2011

That sucks man . Now , toughen up , and hurt that dealership where it absolutely hurts the most , their wallets . Seriously , they are going to take the guy changing oil and train him to tint. This is what I did when a dealer burnt me . Make about 25 coroplast signs that say something like " Why pay dealership prices ? Window tint starting at $99. " Put them on every exit , off ramp , gas station and strip club near them . And always remeber, its not solargard's film that made you , its your quality of work and how you deal with your customers. Big business can not give the same service that all of us mom and pops stores can . Good Luck !! ( and something tells me you are going to be able to buy a plotter for cheap soon )

Carmeltinting.com · May 13, 2011

That sucks man . Now , toughen up , and hurt that dealership where it absolutely hurts the most , their wallets . Seriously , they are going to take the guy changing oil and train him to tint. This is what I did when a dealer burnt me . Make about 25 coroplast signs that say something like " Why pay dealership prices ? Window tint starting at $99. " Put them on every exit , off ramp , gas station and strip club near them . And always remeber, its not solargard's film that made you , its your quality of work and how you deal with your customers. Big business can not give the same service that all of us mom and pops stores can . Good Luck !! ( and something tells me you are going to be able to buy a plotter for cheap soon )

Thanks. I am doing a lot better now after 3 years. I have a small shop and still have some good dealerships too. This year we should come very close to where we were in sales when this all went down. Just call me the "Comeback Kid"

As for the dealership that went "in-house" on me...The sales staff will not sell tint or PPF to their customers because the quality is still not where it was when we were there. They are referring clients to us because the former lot boy turned window tint expert continues to screw things up. I constantly hear stories of how they wish we were back. They recently contacted us to do some Mini Stripes because the "in-house Expert" can't. I warned them this would happen.

As for Bekeart going after the big bucks and MY customer - The Store STOPPED buying Solargard in favor of Llumar, so Bekeart doesn't even have them as a customer anymore either.

I have moved on. If you look above, this was an UPDATE to the original post back in 2008. Things are waaaaay better than in 2008 since all this went down.

Thanks for your support, but it's all good 3 years later.

But I'd be lying if I said that what went down no longer "stuck in my craw" - 'cause as you can tell... IT STILL DOES!

May 23, 2011

Where's LimoTInt Larry?

Fiveofeen · May 23, 2011

Where's LimoTInt Larry?

I'm here.

I take it you work for ASWF, are you in purchasing?

Carmeltinting.com · May 26, 2011

Where's LimoTInt Larry?

In his defense -

LimoTInt Larry (Tim) has been a very supportive responder to all that has happened to me. :thumb He understands my frustration and has offered to do whatever he can to assist me in the future. My argument never was and never will be with him. I am confident that had he been my rep when all this first went down, my anger would be more directed at the actual dealership that went in house and not so much at Bekeart.

I am also aware that CP Films, 3M and others engage in these types of practices. So it could've easily been any of the majors that helped to ruin my business back then.

Their are really two lessons here:

1. Trust no one as a supplier of film and therefore DO NOT place all your eggs in one maker's basket. Be ready to jump ship. There ARE great film makers out there and even better (small time) distributors that will have your back. Keep your options open.

2. DO NOT - EVER - ONLY DEAL WITH DEALERSHIPS! I cannot stress this enough! As much as you may not enjoy dealing with the public, they are actually less demanding and easier to deal with than the EGO driven managers at the local BMW/Ford/Chrysler/Toyota/Honda/Nissan/ etc. etc. store. That was my mistake, letting the dealership be my customer and passing on all the :please I could have made dealing directly with the public. Dealerships get greedy when times get tough and you will always be the guy they try to cut loose because you make tinting look so easy a "Caveman could do it" (to quote GEICO).

LimoTint Larry = A Great Guy working for a bottom line driven multinational conglomerate that must answer to stockholders requests for financial results

tintman Pa · May 26, 2011

hey thaks for rehashing this ...i have been wondering what has been goin gon with all that happened....im glad your doing ok...and i agree dealership work sucks....i have a few who bring them to me....no mobile for this guy.....