Surprisingly I get calls from potential customers asking if the damage on their windshield needs to be repaired or if it is repairable. Some have even looked at our website pictures and still couldn’t tell if the chip needed to be repaired. I can remember one guy calling to say he couldn’t tell if his windshield was chipped or had any cracks. He knew something had hit his windshield, but he couldn’t see what I later found was a star nearly the size of a quarter in diameter, with 9 cracks extending from a central point.
Then there was the guy who claimed that kids had thrown stones in his apartment complex parking lot at his windshield chipping it. Usually that scenario involves drawing attention to a chip that was already there, not something that was caused by kids throwing stones. Well when I got out there I was shown the stones which ranged in size from softball size to the size of a brick. And the chips that the customer claimed could be covered with a quarter? Two stars one about 8” and one that was 10” in diameter. Both had broken not only the outside layer of glass, but the inside as well; totally not repairable. This was one reason I instituted, a $20 service call fee when the service call results in a waste of time.
Add to this all the calls about windshield pits or impact points, damage that only scuffs the windshield’s surface.
Twitpic.com and Yfrog.com offer a means to help customers out and get others answers as well about what is repairable. Both of these websites provide a means to load photos on Twitter. So what’s the deal? Well when someone has a question about a windshield chip they can take a picture of it and post it on Twitpic or Yfrog. Then direct reply a link to the image to us @GlassAid on Twitter.
When you take the picture use a coin (dime, quarter, etc.) for a reference size of the chip.
Now I’ll admit I’m not familiar with Yfrog but here is how you would do this with Twitpic. Naturally go to Twitpic.com, log in with your Twitter log in user name and password. Then down load your photo, once you’ve done that click on the link “View Photo”. When your photo appears copy the url in the address in your browser window. You can then log out from Twitpic.
Next log into Twitter and send us a direct message starting the message or tweet with @GlassAid. Ask your question and paste the photo’s url in the message or Tweet. We’ll view it and send an answer back on Twitter.
Here’s an example using the above photo to show what I’m talking about and the direct reply format. @GlassAid Do I need to repair this chip on my windshield? Can it be repaired? http://twitpic.com/u1r24
By doing this you will save time and money if you have any questions. Likewise it saves us time so we can provide our service to those that need us while allowing us to keep prices low.
