Recently I had a water leak in the rear of my 2007 Hi Ace Van.   I discovered this during rain at the time, I had only owned the vehicle for a month, being commercial it was not covered by a Statutory Warranty (another story, I won't confuse the issue with that here).  Water was dripping off the inside plastic cowling on my lift up back. 

Thinking it was my back window that was leaking, I took it to a major National Windscreen Repair and Window Tinting Company and showed them where water was evident inside the vehicle.  To cut a very long story short and after my rear window had been removed, resealed and replaced, it turned out I still had the leak which was coming from around the centre high level stoplight.

This was removed and sealed and refitted on two occasions (the first it was sealed with mastic but still leaking), on the second occasion it was sealed with silicone, and after removing setting tape the following day, I found it was no longer leaking, but the lens on the light had been broken and glued together, not a word about this when I picked it up.

When I returned the vehicle (now my fourth visit) the damage was inspected and after some discussion and my customer service person talking to the manager, I was told that the company had a "no responsibility for breakages on R & R (Remove and Refit) policy on window glass or fittings.   I later had a phone call from the State Manager who reiterated they had a National policy on this and despite being sympathetic said there was nothing he could do. 

I may add that the website for this company states "We fix it right the first time" and mentions nothing about this R & R policy, nor was I told this when I booked the vehicle in or at their reception later when I took the vehicle in.  It was typed on my receipt/invoice when I picked the vehicle up, this is the first I had heard of it when I read it when I got home.

Anyway, I took the matter to Consumer Affairs and they took it up with this company.  However, they refused to budge on their policy on breakages, but Consumer Affairs did manage to secure payment of half the cost of a new replacement light for me as the company admitted I was not told of their policy.  They also offered to fit the replacement free of charge, however I refused this offer due to their previous record, and will have this done elswhere, albeit at my own expense.  Although this light lense looked new and was not faded, the company claimed it could have been brittle due to the age of the vehicle (4 years old) so would not pay for the full amount.

I am posting this not as a whinge, but to warn members about this policy in case they are not aware of it.  If anyone wants to know the name of this company feel free to pm me.  

Exactly Chris, there are good traders out there, but also the rogues unfortunatley...I would never deal with this mob again.

So anyone who is having R & R done, make sure you ask what happens if they break the item when doing the job BEFORE they do it.  A bit late for me, as Chris says, a hard lesson but will do so in future.

I beleive that for many years the removal of glass is done at the owners risk. This is how it was when I was in the game, due to the high risk of breakage as rubbers harden etc.

That's the first I knew of it Chris as I've never had to have it done before, as I said they have nothing on their website to the effect and no signs up in their reception area. Nothing was said to me at anytime about this until I reported the broken lens and after I picked the vehicle up and saw it was written on the invoice/receipt.

I have never heard of it before, so it was a first for me. Live and learn as they say.

I would like to say though in my case the lens of the light did not have a rubber around it.  Talking to Toyota about it, they said that if the holding bolts that screw into the fitting are done up too tight this can break the lens, so maybe this was the case.