Classic black

addicted to tint · January 11, 2014

Thanks for the effort. The film handles well and has nice appearance.

January 14, 2014

Is it me or does the classic black 20% look more grey from the outside than black on some cars? Nice film to work with though.

addicted to tint · January 25, 2014

In business it's tough keeping up with everything, following up etc., so this is not as critical as it may come out. There are many on this forum that boast about the customer service from Express. It's like a google review or ebay feedback, mostly positive with a quick response of thanks for the business from the owner and that they strive for customer satisfaction. All good stuff.

So if you read through this thread you'll see we asked what to use in conjunction with the Classic Black 35, and was guided to the Classic Charcoal 50. That's what we ordered, on Dec.26 via online and paying shipping as it was under $500. No sample request etc, just pay to play. Well it arrived January 2. Ironically we had sent an email requesting a tracking number as it's either not on their email confirmation correspondence or if it's there, it's hard to find. An email response did come on January 2 giving a tracking number and saying it should arrive that day. It was the holidays so all in all no big deal. Still, rather slow and poor update process on the order so can't really go crazy about the customer service on our end, pretty average.

Nonetheless the film was now in to play with. Just to rehash a little - the sample book sample of Classic Charcoal with our Pocket Detective read 1% off (47%) from their posted spec of 48%. The roll itself read off (6.2%)or 41.8 with our Pocket Detective. Made a post about it here on the January 4th. Thought maybe I'd get a response here but did not, so phoned in on the 9th. Posted about that conversation too on the 9th.

I was not going to say much about Pasquale, but he himself sounded defensive and stumbling (listen to the recording) trying to tell me you can't use a Pocket Detective to read film out of the box and that you must use a manufacturer designed meter (that no dealers have) to measure film only. I'm glad he's recorded, highly trained and IWFA certified, as I am too since 2000. But, it's a poor argument. Dealers use their meters, regardless of brand, to double check their film readings off glass all the time. The main point was the sample book read as it should and the supposed same film in the box did not (6% difference) with the same meter. On newer car glass the film/glass reading is darker. You know the formula. The police will use what we have, not your film only manufacturer meter.

So there was a bit of a difference of opinion, but we did get a call the following day (10th) and it was agreed a call tag would be issued, which came on the 13th. It was later posted by Express that the film is within spec at 46 with the magical factory meter and was within specification. Again, a post to the world that Express, though free from fault, was going above and beyond to rectify the situation. I commented on a post on January 10th - thanks for the effort and complimented the film.

So here it is 10 full business days later since call tag, 13 days since last correspondence, a month since film ordered and no email, call, update etc. It's January so I'm sure too much business can't be to blame. I've read a lot of compliments on Express's customer service. It's all been pretty C- to me.

Some of us have to use strict, lighter VLT films. We mainly use LLumar ATC 50, LLumar CTX 50 and Sun Tek HP 50 for the light VLT's. When there's an issue we get a replacement next day, and Sun Tek has allowed us to keep the film reading too dark at no charge. No meter conversations, no send in a piece, etc. Just good communication and concern.

Sorry - telling it like we see it.

addicted to tint · January 27, 2014

Amending the previous post.

Grade change from C- to B+/A-. Wish I had given it another day, as replacement film arrived today.

My apologies, but as the person pushing changing offerings, you know what was running downhill....

We'll give it another try, as this film was indeed within spec.

Again apologies and thanks for the effort.

I hope this supersedes any negativity from prior post.

EWF · January 27, 2014

Hi Addicted To Tint,

I am glad that it all worked out in the end. The people working here are all very careful and they really do try.

Just a few points here to clarify:

I know it seemed to take a long time to get to you, but the in-transit time was as published (2 days) for your address

If you look up the order history - it is timestamped as 11:45PM on Dec 26th (we close at 5PM)

It was packed and shipped at 09:01AM on the 27th, which was the next morning (also timestamped in the order history)

Dec 30 was a normal UPS ground transit day

Dec 31 UPS was only delivering air packages

Jan 01 UPS was completely closed

Jan 02 UPS delivered the package

UPS sent a tracking email (it's completely automated) to the email address given when the order was placed. The published delivery date is included. Sometimes our customers do not receive them (spam filters, etc) but they are sent automatically by the UPS Worldship System.

I believe that I wrote about this previously, but I stand by my statement that net meters should not be used as film-only meters. This is the advice we were given by the factory as well as the manufacturer of the net meter. If you know something that I do not, please share it. As it was explained to me - there is a large fixed gap in those net meters and a lot of light leaks into it unless you fill in that gap (with the glass). By contrast, film only meters have very tiny apertures to prevent any ambient light from effecting the reading.

I understand your anecdotal argument that the sample page was reading differently than the actual roll which is why we offered to pick it up, meter and swap it. As it turns out, the roll you received was within the +/- 3% tolerance.

Please do ask your coworkers there. I myself had called and left numerous messages before I got Paula. She is very nice and I enjoyed speaking with her, but I was not able to convince her either that net meters should not be used for film only measurements.

Pasquale did enter your pickup tag on Jan 09 and UPS Transmitted it the very next day Jan 10. It looks like you gave the driver the package on Jan 13 and we received it on Jan 15th. No delays there.

We did meter the film at 46% but for the sake of accuracy, we sent samples to the factory for confirmation. We also sent along samples of the roll we intended to send you as a replacement. A lot of effort went into this on our end over a very small difference in percentage - but we will always do what it takes to help a customer. As I mentioned before, I know your request was based on the legal requirements. I have other customers with the same requirements.

We sincerely appreciate the update and the upgrade - we really try hard to get it right.

-Howard

mikebrook_07 · January 28, 2014

Sounds like y'all went over the top to please a customer. Sounds like an A+ to me!

January 28, 2014

+1 for Howard's customer service ......Sent in a bunch of emails and got instant replies. A+

334trucker · February 17, 2014

Today was my 2nd call in order for the classic black. This film handles well and looks great. I'll definitely be using this more as I push the other stuff out of stock. I haven't had the pleasure to speak with Howard yet, but Andrew has offered me great customer service on both orders. ????

Rjsi · July 20, 2014

This film is great.... I am in the middle of trying out different films, I find myself grabbing the EWF rolls more often. Here is today's job. 20% Classic Black.

Here is a perfect match to factory privacy glass...

September 5, 2014

Been using CB for a few years this past month have 2 customers (so far) with back windows hazing up. If I get one more issue im dropping this film. And no I dont use too much soap otherwise the side glass tint would have issues also.