Gaps in tintjob...refund or redo? Help please

[Guest permanentjaun]

Hello,

I own a 1966 Checker marathon. It is my baby and only want the best for it. Today I found a shop that uses LLumar, quality, and has a nice guy for an owner. I was overwhelmed and extremely excited because I knew a tint job would completely clean up the look on my car.

Anyways, I take the car in at 2 and he tells me it will be ready by 5:30-6. I was in no hurry and when I later learned it wouldn't be ready till 6:30 because of shift rolldowns I said sure thats fine. I really didn't care.

I go to the shop and I love it. This is one of the coolest things I've done to the car thus far. Anyways, I take a quick look at it and he shows me some spots where I'll have to squeegee the tint because of the moisture in the air that is preventing the glue from holding strong.

Game 6 of the Stanley Cup playoffs was tonight at 8 so I needed to get out of there, go to the bank, and then over to a friends house. So I didn't make a close look at the job. It looked fine.

Later, however, I realized I would be less than satisifed with the job. On one of my rolldowns there was a gap on one side that is probably 1/8-3/16" wide. On my back quarters the tint isn't cut perfectly and there are gaps ranging from 1/16" to 1/8". There are obvious gaps when looking from the inside. I feel this totally ruins the look.

My questions are. Is it common for a shop to have gaps in their tintjobs? Am I being to @nal?

And secondly, the guy was real nice so I feel bad about telling him I'm not satisfied with the job, but I have to. I don't know if I can live with it because I know those gaps are going to bother me. On one of the quarters the cut isn't even very rounded. There is a small weird zig zag almost. So do I tell them to do it over free of charge? Do I tell them to take it off and get a refund and go elsewhere? How can I do this politely? I do not want to be an @$$%ole customer. What do I do? Matt

[Guest thetintshop]

first off, I'm suprised you got this tinted. most good tinters stay WAY away from old cars. no matter what you do, you just can't tint them where they look good. I explain this to all of my customers that have old ones, it's not going to be perfect and there's nothing I can do about it, and I charge a hell of alot, most of time hoping they take it somewhere else. as for a refund, you won't get it, so don't try. just take it back and ask if he could look at it. he should explain why it looks the way it does, or fix it.

[Guest permanentjaun]

I would figure they could have cut the quarters to a more precise size though. Would you mind explaining why old cars are harder to do than newer ones? The glass the screwed up on is completely flat. I shouldn't be talking since I have no experience with tinting but how hard can that be? I know flat glass is a lot easier than curved. Matt

[Guest thetintshop]

check back tomorrow when a few other members have had a chance to throw in thier 2 cents.

[Guest thetintshop]

being flat or curved has nothing to do with it. it's the 40 years of crap packed into the crevices and the glass is always gasket set, or set in with a tape kit, (referred to on here as ookiey pookey or some s**t like that) and not encapsulated. taking them out does a better job, that's why I charge more. the tinter can tell you why he did it the way he did it, each of us has different reasons for doing it our way.

[Guest SQUEEGEE]

I don't know about gaps but on older cars (any older car) however, contamination always seems to be the problem and the customer always seems to be adamandt about not having any. Catch 22 Situation.

Ask the tinter if he can redo only if he can redo it better otherwise I think you are SOL.

Squeej

[TintWizard]

I've tinted for many years and found that B4 taking on any job, you you have to have the right combination of customer to vevicle balance..meaning I have made the fusiest customer happy because he owns the "right kind of car " for his expectation level (eg most modern vehicles) and have done lots of old classics as well with the idea that they made cars different then with old rubber gaskets ...no (overcutting the film )like newer cars..most customers with older cars are ok with a few problems like that..slightlight gaps ...when these things are mentioned to the customer of an older vehicle ..it should be enough to determine if he's the right ..or the wrong customer for you ..and yes..I definatly charge a good dollar forthe time it takes for the older cars ..that way , I don't mind redoing a window if I have to ..and the odds are much greater that you'll be spending more time and aggravaion on a car like that than say a cavalier or something..what I would do if I were this customer is take the car to 2 or 3 other reputable tint shops to get an unbiased opinion of the tint job to see if his expectations for this particular car is too high, or if indeed , he just chose the wrong tint shop , then should take proper action..my 2 cents

[Mdog]

go to a hobby shop like michaels and get a black paint pen if all else fails

[Guest smokymtntint]

If the film drys nice and looks good over all..have the shop paint marker the inside gap. its your shifting glass not his cuts, a perfict oversize cut may grab dirt or sear off. let it dry and sleep on it.

[Guest permanentjaun]

Its not even shifting windows for 2 of them. The rear quarters don't move but, in my opinion, they did a terrible job cutting the tint to fit the window. I'll try and get pics on my website later for you guys to see. Matt