Sometimes reported warranty claims for “failed Insulated Glass Unit” and “failed sealed unit” we see on site are actually external condensation on the face of the glass, or lack of end-customer education but generally already replaced before its understood. When a sealed unit has failed its warranty the root cause of the issue can be a number of things (e.g. a manufacturing fault, a spacer bar issue causing fogging or even silicone or glue from edge tape). Those that are down to a technical or manufacturing issues we rarely get to see the root cause for correction, and those that are down to raw material failure equally we don’t get to take recourse in our own supply chain.
For all of these reasons it’s very clear we need to get returned, and to test every failed unit if we are to ultimately reduce their incidence and improve our product reliability.
From April 1st 2024 therefore, we’ll be introducing a returns system for all reported warranty failures of this kind. To do this we will process a chargeable order for the remake, but once the original is returned and inspected, assuming it’s a tested failed insulated glass unit we’ll credit in full within 30 days, which in most cases likely mean that the invoice will never actually need to be paid. A robust paperwork system will surround this, so as a customer all you need to do when changing any fail is to bring the original back to site, advise us it is available to collect, and we will collect on our next delivery.
We will also be adopting this process for multiple rejects of the same item. Very occasionally, we get ourselves as a supply chain into instances where product has been replaced, and because we don’t always get to see the reject before we replace the item this can sometimes multiply without ever anyone challenging, inspecting or educating the end user. The very fact that we’ve replaced the item can be misinterpreted as an acceptance of poor quality and so the cycle goes on costing us all time and money.
Undoubtedly there are instances where we just keep getting it wrong, but there are equally many others where we need to do something different. In such cases, we feel it also may be useful to replace on a credit on return basis, this would only be used selectively, and the process being the same as for failed insulated glass units.
We do appreciate that particularly in trade sales there may sometimes be a longer chain than this, the suggestion here being the chargeable/return of fails is just passed downstream accordingly, and naturally so is the credit if valid.
A step by step guide will shortly be published, before the process becomes live next month. Our aim is to keep the burden of returning the failed insulated glass unit as minimal as possible, once we’ve been advised the failed item is ready to inspect or collect from your premises, we will organise collection and complete all the steps thereafter.
We trust you’ll be able to work with us on these issues, to the ultimate benefit of all. We’re talking a very small fraction of a very small percentage so it’s likely the majority of customers will only very rarely affected, but equally it’s a policy change and a principle stance that we need to make.
Clayton Glass Ltd
