HybridHatch

I decided to take the new 06 NBM down to get the windows tinted and I heard this place called Pats was the best on the island. When I went to pick up the vehicle after they tinted the windows, I noticed some scratches. The inside of the rear quarter window had about 10 scratches ranging from 1 to 2 inches in length. I also noticed that the passenger door had a scratch on it about an inch long. I notified one of the workers and he told me that there was no way the door could have gotten scratched while the vehicle was being serviced. Then he said that the window had been scratched prior to the application of the tint. They said you cant really see scratches in the glass until the tint goes on. This is when I started getting mad. I let them know that the car was litteraly brand new and I had just gone over it with a fine tooth comb with the salesman at the dealership. The only scratch the car had on it when I dropped it off was on the back of the trunk lid (and it is documented on the purchase paperwork at the dealer). They said they are not responsible for any damage that occurs while the car is in their possession. One of the other workers came outside and said he could take care of the scratch. He pulled the car back into the bay and tried his best to buff out the scratch on the door. He actually did a pretty good job, and I thank him for that. I had them put in writing that the scratches were on the window prior to the tinting. To make matters worse, they put one of those damn "Pats Tinting" stickers on the back of my car. I really wasnt too pleased with the service, why the hell would I want to be a moving billboard? Its one thing to ask or to give it to us with the sales receipt, but dont just put it on the car. Then to make matters worse they put a damn strawberry air freshener in my BRAND NEW CAR! Now our car smells like strawberry shortcakes a$$ and the wonderful new car smell is no where to be found. The air freshener was a nice gesture, but once again, just ask the customer and let them choose the scent! I ended up going back to the dealership and showing them the scratches. I had the tinting place put "window scratched prior to tinting" in writing and now the dealership is going to put in a new window for me.

Now its 3 days later (they told me not to roll the windows down for 3 days). This morning was nice and cool so I decided to open the roof and put the windows down. Nothing happened when I pushed the passenger window switch. I made sure the child lock thing wasnt on, still nothing. So I tried to use the passenger switch and it worked fine. Now I gotta go back to the dealer and see what the hell happened to my switch. Some people said that the water from the tinting may have shorted it out.

Fredy

damn dude that has to suck. I also have a NBM and i also got my windows tinted like 2 days after i got it. But i didn't have any problems that you had. I hope things get better after you get the switch working.

Harmonic_tC

did you at least tell THEM to take off thier stupid sticker?

maximus96

thats the reason i'm hesitant to get my car tinted, i hate the idea of anybody else driving or working in the car fearing they f0ck things up or put scratches everywhere.

HybridHatch

I figured out the thing with the window switches. Im sure some of you already know this, but when you disconnect the battery on the TC's, you have to reset the window switches. Do this by holding both switches on the driver side up for three seconds, then to the same to the passenger. It works fine now.

They did a good job with the tint and here in Guam it gets WAY too hot not to have it. I guess its just one of those things you gotta do. I know I cant tint worth a crap (tried it on an old car)!

teksno

thats why i want to wait to do any thing that i dont know how to do. i cant stand the idea of sombody other then me working on my car. at least in cali i have a number of friends that i trust, and if they find something wrong that they didnt do, they will let me know before moving on, and if they mess up my car, they will fix it...

SassyScion

I had horrible, horrible scratches all around my car when I had my first tC tinted. Since I ended up getting another tC, when I had the windows tinted, I warned the guy not to lean on the car as much as possible because it would be scratched. After his careful job, there were a few scratches but they all buffed out.

Good luck with yours!

sportmaned

^^^ so how difficult is it to tint windows without scratching the car? it's like a direct corrolation, if you get a tint you'll get scratches?

PoizentC

got my car tinted and going in for the 3rd time because the tint wasn't layed down properly..got a few scratches here and there but they buffed out..I try my best to prevent others from working on my car but sometimes you have to have work done elsewhere..

WeDriveScions

This shows that research and referrals are the best way to go, especially when it comes to Tinting.

I only trust one place around Portland to do my tinting, and I was referred from a friend to them because of their great work on his car.

Others, please learn from this... The above shops service is way unacceptable, especially in the land of tint shops. My shop actually lets me watch them work on my car, so I can ensure they don't mess my baby up.

Look first for community members in your area and see what experiences they have... it ups your odds signifigantly in getting a great job done.

HybridHatch

I too was reffered to this "great" tint shop. Like I said earlier, the tint turned out really good, its the other stuff that really chaps my a$$.

SassyScion

I'll put it this way. The guy that tinted my first tC tinted one car before mine and 2 after mine. None of the other cars had scratches. It is a well known fact that Scion paint sucks. Do a search & you'll see numerous posts & even a lawsuit about how bad Scion's paint is. 4 cars get tinted & only one came out scratched- mine.

The only reason my second tC didn't get scratched as badly as my first is because all 4 of the side windows were laser cut, so he didn't have to lean on my car to trace the window.

If any one has to lean on your car to work on it, be prepared to do some buffing. It will scratch.

CatalepsicFox

Wow didn't know the paint of my car can be sux that much. Nice tip... I'm doing my window next week so I better warn the guys.

HybridHatch

The wife just got done washing the TC, not only did they scratch it, but if you look closely you can also see a small dent where the scratch is. $%^$#*!!!

If possible, I suggest that everybody be present while any work is done on your car. I know that is usually impossible, but it may save your beutiful new car. Learn from others mistakes!

anthonie

damn i feel u..i had a few noticeable scratches on my tc also..and the tint isnt even perfect..sorry to hear..and i still gota get mine done redone, there are various particles in the tint and whatnot. hope it works out for u.

jay005

I had my wife's brand new tC tinted at a shop in Van Nuys, CA that we were referred to by the dealer we got the car at. I also did some research online on the shop on some other car forums and eveyone that had all types of cars from Corvette's to Acura's to Scion's absolutely said this shop was the best. So we went in and I had all my research and pulled out the issue about the weatherstripping discussed in another thread here and the owner said you have nothing to worry about. We will just take it out while applying the film then put it back in. This is a shop that you can watch them work and we watched for a few minutes and they did remove the weatherstripping and seemed like they were doing a decent job, so we went and had lunch. When we returned the car was done and looked good from the outside, but once we got in we noticed a lot of small bubbles on all of the windows and especially the back side windows. We didn't think that was acceptable so we backed it back in and the owner took a look and started just peeling the back right 1/4 window tint off and said they would redoe that one. So they guy who is going to do it comes around and to make a long story short he gashed the weatherstripping on the outside of the window with his razor blade. Then he said it was like that, so my wife talked to the owner and then he basically said he would have to replace the whole back 1/4 window... We said fine and left. Since then I have also noticed that the back hatch film was not cut quite large enough at the very top left corner, so they just filled in the area with what looks like a magic marker!!! I was very angry after seeing this and cannot believe that this shop that is suppose to be sooo good and has all kinds of pictures of all these famous actors that they do work for would have done such a sloppy job. They do tint a huge amount of cars so we must be the unlucky ones. The owner was not that cool about the whole thing after talking with him on the phone. He was basically saying that tinting will never be 110% perfect and if I want that I should go somewhere else! We are waiting for the new window to come in and he said he would install it. My wife doesn't want him touching the car. The passenger window and driver 1/4 window both came out fine but I will not be happy until the Driver window and hatch are both redone and we have a new 1/4 window without a slice in the weatherstripping... So eveyone just be carefull, I am not sure tinting the car was worth all of this $^%$%%!

HybridHatch

I wish we would have had the dealership tint the windows prior to purchasing it. They use the same place I took it to, but I would atleast be able to refuse the car if it was scratched and dented. The tint place charged me $112 to do the entire vehicle and it would have cost me $190 to have the dealer do it prior to purchase.

raWr215

that place should be flagged for scracthes and bad service