TintDude

Another also...
 
Just because it is a Bentley doesn't automatically make it a more difficult tint job, and that Kia may just be a pain in the butt to tint. 

Also, you used the example of a Kia and a Bentley, that it shouldn't matter...
 
You have to consider that mistakes happen and replacing a part on a Kia is a little less expensive that replacing a part on a Bentley.

We need to know what kind of car it is for several good reasons. Some cars are very easy, and take little time. Other cars require a high level of expertise and time. Both are priced accordingly.
 
Also some cars have issues that make them problematic to tint. We aren't trying to rip you off anymore than any other field.

Yeah, two weeks is BS, and the AC thing is also BS. Sounds like he was trying to be a dick honestly.

Run....
I've never seen any reputable shop using that film that stayed in buisness without switching off of it and doing a bunch of warranty work. Absolute bs about the a/c.
 
Dispute the charges and find someone using a name brand, ie: Xpel, Global, Llumar or 3M. 
 
Take it back there again at your own peril. Looks like you got lucky that there's no vehicle damage from those clowns. 
 
 

Full front w/fenders, headlights, cups and luggage strip on a new Tellurride this week. All bulk installed with wrapped edges where possible. Also ceramic front doors and windshield. Washed and waxed prior to pickup since the owner was nice enough to leave it with me long enough to get the best possible results. Always nice when that happens.
 

 
Went edge to edge on the HL with a steamer just to show it could be done and because I've never seen anyone else do it. Those things have quite a lumpy curve at the bottom which is probably why. 
 
Interiors are pretty lux. If it had a Benz badge it would no doubt be twice the price and last half as long.
 
 

First of all don't do that. I had ChatGPT help me with this and it is spot on:
 
While it may seem enticing to start a service business with prices significantly lower than the competition, there are several reasons why this approach may not be advisable in the long run. Here are some potential drawbacks:
 
1 Quality perception: Customers often associate higher prices with better quality. By significantly undercutting the competition, you risk creating a perception that your services are of lower quality or that you are cutting corners to offer such low prices. This can make it difficult to build trust and establish a strong reputation in the market.
 
2 Profitability challenges: Operating a business with very low prices can make it challenging to generate sufficient revenue and maintain profitability. If your prices are too low, you may struggle to cover your costs, invest in necessary resources, or sustain your business over time. This can lead to financial difficulties and potentially force you to increase prices later, which may alienate existing customers.
 
3 Value proposition: Competing solely on price often reduces your value proposition to being the cheapest option in the market. This can attract price-sensitive customers who may not be loyal and are more likely to switch to a cheaper alternative. Building a sustainable business requires offering unique value, exceptional customer service, or specialized expertise, rather than relying solely on low prices.
 
4 Undercutting your competition: By undercutting the competition significantly, you risk engaging in a price war that can be detrimental to all businesses involved. Competitors may respond by lowering their prices further, leading to diminishing profits for everyone. This scenario is not sustainable in the long term and can harm the entire industry.
 
5 Perceived lack of expertise: Setting prices significantly lower than your competitors may give the impression that you lack experience, expertise, or confidence in your services. Customers may question why your prices are so much lower and whether you can deliver the same level of quality and results as your competitors.
 
6 Difficulty raising prices: If you establish your business with significantly lower prices, it can be challenging to increase them in the future without facing resistance from existing customers. Once customers have become accustomed to your low prices, they may be reluctant to pay more, even if you have improved your service quality or expanded your offerings.
 
7 Long-term sustainability: Building a sustainable business requires a solid financial foundation. Operating with prices significantly lower than the competition can make it difficult to invest in growth, retain talented employees, or weather economic downturns. It's essential to consider the long-term viability of your business model and ensure that it can adapt to changing market conditions.
 
While pricing is an important factor in attracting customers, it is crucial to strike a balance between offering competitive prices and delivering value that justifies your rates. Competing solely on price may lead to short-term gains but can have negative consequences for the long-term success and sustainability of your business.
 
---
 
Now the next thing I would suggest is customer management.
 
90% of your problems are going to come from customers who weren't prepared ahead of time what to expect.
 
Print out a stack of these: https://www.tintdude.com/care.html/ and read it with and leave one with each customer before you begin the work, this will save you a lot of grief and you'll thank me later.

Removed a tint last year on a tesla 3 rear window and it didnt take off the wire but the wires colors were un  even .Luckly the customer could live with it . I have someone been begging me to redo one but dont need the headache if the wire get damaged . Has any one removes a model 3 rear window and and the wires look perfect as original . 

I've tried things like that. No one was interested in posting to areas that were roped off so I'm just going with the free model in hopes of generating more participation and paying the bill via sponsors.  

First of all don't do that. I had ChatGPT help me with this and it is spot on:
 
While it may seem enticing to start a service business with prices significantly lower than the competition, there are several reasons why this approach may not be advisable in the long run. Here are some potential drawbacks:
 
1 Quality perception: Customers often associate higher prices with better quality. By significantly undercutting the competition, you risk creating a perception that your services are of lower quality or that you are cutting corners to offer such low prices. This can make it difficult to build trust and establish a strong reputation in the market.
 
2 Profitability challenges: Operating a business with very low prices can make it challenging to generate sufficient revenue and maintain profitability. If your prices are too low, you may struggle to cover your costs, invest in necessary resources, or sustain your business over time. This can lead to financial difficulties and potentially force you to increase prices later, which may alienate existing customers.
 
3 Value proposition: Competing solely on price often reduces your value proposition to being the cheapest option in the market. This can attract price-sensitive customers who may not be loyal and are more likely to switch to a cheaper alternative. Building a sustainable business requires offering unique value, exceptional customer service, or specialized expertise, rather than relying solely on low prices.
 
4 Undercutting your competition: By undercutting the competition significantly, you risk engaging in a price war that can be detrimental to all businesses involved. Competitors may respond by lowering their prices further, leading to diminishing profits for everyone. This scenario is not sustainable in the long term and can harm the entire industry.
 
5 Perceived lack of expertise: Setting prices significantly lower than your competitors may give the impression that you lack experience, expertise, or confidence in your services. Customers may question why your prices are so much lower and whether you can deliver the same level of quality and results as your competitors.
 
6 Difficulty raising prices: If you establish your business with significantly lower prices, it can be challenging to increase them in the future without facing resistance from existing customers. Once customers have become accustomed to your low prices, they may be reluctant to pay more, even if you have improved your service quality or expanded your offerings.
 
7 Long-term sustainability: Building a sustainable business requires a solid financial foundation. Operating with prices significantly lower than the competition can make it difficult to invest in growth, retain talented employees, or weather economic downturns. It's essential to consider the long-term viability of your business model and ensure that it can adapt to changing market conditions.
 
While pricing is an important factor in attracting customers, it is crucial to strike a balance between offering competitive prices and delivering value that justifies your rates. Competing solely on price may lead to short-term gains but can have negative consequences for the long-term success and sustainability of your business.
 
---
 
Now the next thing I would suggest is customer management.
 
90% of your problems are going to come from customers who weren't prepared ahead of time what to expect.
 
Print out a stack of these: https://www.tintdude.com/care.html/ and read it with and leave one with each customer before you begin the work, this will save you a lot of grief and you'll thank me later.

It is. I sure appreciate the support from the premium members, but I feel bad that I don't have a lot to offer as a premium, other than trying to guilt people into it.  

Just for the record I used to read here all the time and decided I needed to publicly join and post if I wanted to see more quality, relative content and help the newbs to up their game to improve the industry. 
 
I got the posting portion figured out, quality might be subjective. 
 

Agree that it would be nice if more folks would add some updates. Particularly when new model years are released, even if it were to state that there are no changes. I'll make a personal effort to do a few myself when I see some roll in.
 
Is it possible to do an inline add every 4th or 5th post that says " Go premium to support the cause or your a just a drain on society" or something similar?

Also there are 64 sections in there, some of which never get posts. If they were all in one section it would look busier, so it's all how you look at it.
 

I've tried things like that. No one was interested in posting to areas that were roped off so I'm just going with the free model in hopes of generating more participation and paying the bill via sponsors.  

Premium paywall? Tshirts/swag or discounted membership for x number of useful submissions?

There are 4 new posts in it right now. A lot of people consult it, but not many are willing to share, only take. It's always been like this.
 
I haven't seen many posts from you there.

First of all don't do that. I had ChatGPT help me with this and it is spot on:
 
While it may seem enticing to start a service business with prices significantly lower than the competition, there are several reasons why this approach may not be advisable in the long run. Here are some potential drawbacks:
 
1 Quality perception: Customers often associate higher prices with better quality. By significantly undercutting the competition, you risk creating a perception that your services are of lower quality or that you are cutting corners to offer such low prices. This can make it difficult to build trust and establish a strong reputation in the market.
 
2 Profitability challenges: Operating a business with very low prices can make it challenging to generate sufficient revenue and maintain profitability. If your prices are too low, you may struggle to cover your costs, invest in necessary resources, or sustain your business over time. This can lead to financial difficulties and potentially force you to increase prices later, which may alienate existing customers.
 
3 Value proposition: Competing solely on price often reduces your value proposition to being the cheapest option in the market. This can attract price-sensitive customers who may not be loyal and are more likely to switch to a cheaper alternative. Building a sustainable business requires offering unique value, exceptional customer service, or specialized expertise, rather than relying solely on low prices.
 
4 Undercutting your competition: By undercutting the competition significantly, you risk engaging in a price war that can be detrimental to all businesses involved. Competitors may respond by lowering their prices further, leading to diminishing profits for everyone. This scenario is not sustainable in the long term and can harm the entire industry.
 
5 Perceived lack of expertise: Setting prices significantly lower than your competitors may give the impression that you lack experience, expertise, or confidence in your services. Customers may question why your prices are so much lower and whether you can deliver the same level of quality and results as your competitors.
 
6 Difficulty raising prices: If you establish your business with significantly lower prices, it can be challenging to increase them in the future without facing resistance from existing customers. Once customers have become accustomed to your low prices, they may be reluctant to pay more, even if you have improved your service quality or expanded your offerings.
 
7 Long-term sustainability: Building a sustainable business requires a solid financial foundation. Operating with prices significantly lower than the competition can make it difficult to invest in growth, retain talented employees, or weather economic downturns. It's essential to consider the long-term viability of your business model and ensure that it can adapt to changing market conditions.
 
While pricing is an important factor in attracting customers, it is crucial to strike a balance between offering competitive prices and delivering value that justifies your rates. Competing solely on price may lead to short-term gains but can have negative consequences for the long-term success and sustainability of your business.
 
---
 
Now the next thing I would suggest is customer management.
 
90% of your problems are going to come from customers who weren't prepared ahead of time what to expect.
 
Print out a stack of these: https://www.tintdude.com/care.html/ and read it with and leave one with each customer before you begin the work, this will save you a lot of grief and you'll thank me later.

A house of cards it is.

You forget the government subsidies, mandates and incentives.

If this is anything like smart tint that I installed on a commercial job, it is not an easy installation.
The smart tint I installed had to be ordered precut to the exact window size and electric wires are added to the film from the factory.  You do not cut it during install.  If you measure wrong you have to order a new piece.  This film is not  installed with water at all.  Imagine putting window film on dry and not getting any bubbles in it when installing.  When and if you get it on properly you have to wire it up to 12volts in order for it to change from clear to opaque.  There is also quite a bit of low angle has in the product.  The price for a typical commercial install is so expensive it is very hard to sell.  The project we did was roughly $160,000.00 for roughly 2000 square feet.  I have no idea how you would price a car.  

I guarantee that something stupid is going on at every shop depending on the day. Always someone getting in a hurry and cutting a corner. I've seen some of the biggest shops around here take in mediocre installers in hopes of retraining them and eating damage along the way.
 
There's and old saying...."never look inside the kitchen of your favorite restaurant, just wait for the plate".

The batteries are my number one complaint. Anyone who's ever seen a lithium or copper mine and thinks their saving the environment is out of their mind.
 
Nevermind the poor bastards that are charged with getting the rare earths out of the ground and the corrupt backwards govs that rule the area where they lay.
 
Then we get to the recycling issues and God forbid one of those turds catch fire....my thoughts on that goes for the entire ev scam. I'll take a '97 Accord over any of them everytime. 

Why would you build anything but the absolute lowest quality when you have a captive market and all this government support?
 
I can't wait to watch the fiasco that will unfold regarding the batteries.