Did i get scammed ?? Sold me Ceramic tint, but im suspecting it isnt ceramic

candymancan · July 29, 2017

I used a tint shop in my area called NC Tint in woodbridge Virginia. I had my suv tinted with ceramic. i was debating on the mid range or ceramic. I asked him what brand tint he uses and he said he is using Global. I decided on appointment day to use ceramic and paid $350 for my old SUV. Took about 3 hours to do and when i got it back one of the little windows on the passenger door was already peeling, he tried to fix it and said to come back in a day or two if im not happy hell fix anything for free per the lifetime warrenty.

Well the quarter panel window was pealing in a corner, that small window pealed, and one of my old vent windows "its an antique" was cut poorly and had a gap between it and the window frame frame so light was coming through. Also the rear window has hundreds of little bubbles and air gaps between the heating element bars. So i went back in per appointment and showed him what i was unhappy about and this time they took 4 hours, and replaced the rear window, the quarter panel, and two smaller windows with new film and took their time getting the air from the heating elements on the rear window. Looks 100x better and im happy

However.. I am suspecting he sold me Regular tint.. maybe mid grade tint and not ceramic. On doing more search of global films. Their website lists Ceramic QDP as 5% -20%-30-38-42 and so forth... But on his display it shows 5-15-30-35 and so forth. I even asked for 20% all around and he said he only has 15% for ceramic.

Ok how did i receive ceramic tint from global as he claimed, if he put on 15% tint when global doesnt make 15% ceramic. Im starting to wonder if this shop put on a basic film or globals NR quick dry film.. which isnt ceramic is it ? Or is the Quick DRY QDP a ceramic film ? Another thing i noticed is the heat blocking from the tint is good but not that good. I can roll my window down to feel the hot sun on my arm, then roll it back up and it gets cut in half it feels like but not down to 18% like the ceramic tint from global claims. Maybe thats a poor way to check.. but still.

Im one of those people who work on their own vehicle but i have never done tinting and i figured id let someone do it for me.. This shop has 5 star reviews on google and my brother went here for his windshield. I have seen police go here as well at least according to their pictures on their facebook page..

Im considering getting my friend to go in the place and asking to see the rolls of global ceramic tint to see if he actually even carries it. How do i find out if i have ceramic tint or not ? Is there a test or something i can do. Am i being paranoid or do i have valid reasons to question this.

no ma'am · July 29, 2017

@jh812

candymancan · July 29, 2017

i dont see a reply did you even say anything ?

DynamicATL · July 29, 2017

He tagged someone in that carries Global. I can say it is a bad sign when not only does their website not work, but it wants you to download something...not to mention is was a free Wix website. Looking at their photos they used to carry Llumar back in 2014, but no photos of film boxes after that. I would call Global and see if they are a dealer. http://www.globalwindowfilms.com/ As far as getting the wrong film, there is no way to know unless there is an unique coloring to the film that a dealer might recognize.

candymancan · July 29, 2017

He told me they did use to carry LLumar but he uses global now because its cheaper "for the customer" that might be true because the llumar installers wanted $380 for my SUV and he was $350 for global.

Honestly Im kinda pissed off, if this fracker scammed i will take his ass to court. They are super nice and so forth and fixed their sloppy job for free so at least they honor the warrenty with no issues or complaints.. But i doubt i got ceramic simply because he said his ceramic only comes in 15% not 20% like i wanted, yet global says 5-20% there is no 15% global ceramic on globals website.

I dont want to accuse them of anything in person, but id like to see proof that they used global ceramic. How would i go about doing that ? Should i personally walk in and ask. or should i get a friend to play dummy and say he wants this and that tinted but wants to personally see the film being used. I dont doubt they are using global film... But what i am doubting is if he used globals ceramic or there regular film. Because the tint numbers of 15% dont match

Ill call global tomorrow.

jh812 · July 29, 2017

No you're correct global does not carry a 15 nor a 20%. They carry 4 18 32 38 42 and so on. So for him to say he only carries 15% seems a little fishy. That number though is visible light transmitted (darkness) not the heat reduced. You mentioned it's supposed to reduce the heat to 18%? I'm not sure where that is coming from because on their site the total solar energy rejected is 62%. Depending on what he used to show you the difference a btu meter may have said 18, that's one way of showing it but not the actual number reduced. I did just look back at globals site and it says 5/20 but if you look at the actual vlt it says 4/18. They must have updated it recently, either way there's no 15% film. The best way imo to check to see what you have would be to check it with a btu meter.

Jake · July 29, 2017

I carry global QDP,HP, and QDP ceramic. Saying he has 15% only is kind of odd,but although the ceramic is 18% we refer to it as 20%. Just easier because the other film are 20% also. Less confusion when talking to customers. Did you get a warranty card? Should have the film type, percentage, and roll number in it. Global can check roll number and tell you what film it is. Yes they can write what ever they want but it's a start.

drtint · July 29, 2017

Go back to the shop and ask to see the box the film come out of. He should have no problem with that. The label on the end of the box will tell you what was in it.

If the label says 15% you know that is not correct for ceramic, if the label says any other percentage, you know that isn't correct either because they told you they installed 15%.

Good luck

DynamicATL · July 29, 2017

Only thing I could guess is since it is 18 out of the box, it would be around 15 on the vehicle. So maybe they are saying that number...doesn't make sense and too confusing to go that route, but a small possibility. Even if they show you the box, still doesn't mean that is the box they used to install on your vehicle.

@jh812 @Jake Does QDP Ceramic have a differently color hue to it than the rest? If so, OP can add some photos to maybe guess.

jh812 · July 29, 2017

Imo the qdp and ceramic both look almost identical in photos at least. The qdp in person may have a slight brown appearance to it over the other. You know you can't trust a place called nc tint based out of Virginia :lol @DynamicAppearance