Woman orders windshield from Safelite. They can’t recalibrate it. Then she’s charged $400 for a third try—and that’s just the beginning

A woman is calling out Safelite. She claims a routine windshield repair by the company ended up costing her thousands.

In a video with over 9,000 views, TikTok user Jewels (@julkbell) warns viewers about choosing the chain for their windshield replacement.

“Don't ever use Safelite,” she declares.

According to Jewels, Safelite was not only unable to replace her windshield, but broke an essential component in the process. She says it then refused to refund her.

In Jewels' telling, she hired Safelite to replace her windshield. While they were able to fix the windshield, the company purportedly could not calibrate her front camera and lane assist. Consequently, she says Safelite told her that they would return in a week and replace it with a new one.

“So, they do that,” she recalls. “Once again, they can't calibrate it.”

Safelite then allegedly billed her $400 to attempt the job again. Frustrated, Jewels submitted a refund request and visited a dealership.

“They did end up refunding me,” Jewels states. “They were very nasty about it, very nasty, but…they refunded me the amount for the windshield and for the work that was done.”

But that wouldn't be the end of her car troubles.

More problems with the car

When Jewels got to the dealership, she learned her car now needed more than a simple windshield replacement.

“They are able to replace the windshield and everything. They gave me a decent price on it,” Jewels starts. “Come to find out they also can't calibrate it because Safelite actually broke the entire modem for my car.”

According to Jewels, this is a “little computer that's in the rear view mirror” of her 2020 Ford Fusion. Replacing it, she says, cost her $2,500.

“So I call Safelite today and I'm like, ‘Hey, you wanna make this right? What are we gonna do here? You guys broke this,'” she says. “They refuse to do anything because they say that they released all the liability to me when they ‘so graciously' did the right thing and refunded me for their botched work.”

Now, Jewels claims she's spent almost $4000 trying to fix the problem.

“Honestly, just pay more and go to the dealership — or, I don't know, somebody that actually gives a [expletive], because clearly they don't want to do anything about it,” she concludes. “And I would really hate to see somebody else get stuck paying $4,000 to fix what should have been an $800 job.”

Media coverage of Safelite

Jewels isn't the only Safelite customer to claim that the company broke a crucial component during their windshield replacement.

In a complaint made to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), one customer claimed that, after Safelite replaced their windshield, they had issues with their front camera, which a Safelite worker allegedly attributed to the car itself. Later, the customer visited a dealership and was told that Safelite had broken the camera during their repair.

The resulting repair allegedly cost the driver almost $4,000.

Other complaints to the BBB follow a similar pattern. Safelite breaks a component, then tells a customer that there is something else wrong with the car, only for the customer to determine that it may have been Safelite itself that caused the issue.

CBS Boston investigated a complaint against Safelite for this practice. In this instance, the company reportedly replaced a windshield, broke it, then replaced it with another one. However, the second windshield was not properly installed, and as a result, CBS Boston reports that several key safety features in the car did not work.

After two months of complaints and waiting, the customer eventually reached out to CBS Boston. Then the outlet says they were reimbursed.

Viewers share Safelite stories

It should be noted that Safelite has a nationwide lifetime warranty.

The company does have its detractors, however. Many shared their own alleged experiences with Safelite in comments on Jewels' post.

“They replaced my ex's windshield and didn't install the new properly. Could hear wind whistle when driving over 30mph. Completely incompetent,” wrote one user.

“Same thing happened to me!!! No one could calibrate my car. Ended up going through insurance after 5 weeks of appointments where none of them could figure it out. They put my old windshield back on each time they couldn't do it…. Terrible,” recalled another.

“I went in to have a small crack that a rock did on my windshield and they broke my windshield and I had to replace the whole windshield,” a third said.

Safelite responds

In comments on Jewels' post, Safelite responded from its verified account. “We'd like to look into it,” it wrote. “Send us a DM with your work order info?”

Jewels responded, “Send :)”

The company indicated that it has received the DM.

Jewels hasn't posted an update about what, if anything, Safelite is doing about her car repair bill.

We've reached out to Jewels via TikTok direct message and comment, and Safelite via email. This story will be updated if we hear back.

The post Woman orders windshield from Safelite. They can't recalibrate it. Then she's charged $400 for a third try—and that's just the beginning appeared first on Subplot News.