That is a pretty good idea. But it probably would have worked better if they answered their phone right away. Or had a line especially for people calling in from that number.

That is a slimy tactic and would cause me to never use their business. I would probably share that negative news with a few people too.

Business cards under the wiper of cars with broken windshields wouldn't be slimy and might actually get them some business. Put a $10 off or something on the back.

I thought it sounded kind of clever at first, but then I thought about it. If I was the woman in this situation I would be so annoyed that they freaked me out for nothing that I would never take my car there.

Ok, I admit. I'm floored by this one. Isn't there some kind of advertising law in the state that prevents panic-induced advertising? Would filing a police report do anything? At the very least, I would warn the state attorney general about this company's deceptive advertising. Perhaps a complaint to the BBB? Are there any county resources available? I'm at a loss of words...

not bad. very cheap and effective.

yeah kinda sleazy

BTW if anyone uses that I want my normal rate of $150 an hour. It took me a minute to create that so that's $2.50 but I bill hourly. You can send my $150 to my paypal account.

I would be ripping mad if that was me. To leave an advertisement clearly indicating they are an auto glass company is marginally ok, but to be so deceptive is unacceptable. I would complain to the management of the parking garage, since these people are exploiting the garage's business. Really, I'd want to throw a brick through the auto glass company's window with their little note attached, but that's just fantasy.

@mistere: Panic-induced advertising. Is there any better kind?

@ClayS: Glass companies are onto the old, 'upset customer wants to throw brick' routine. If they have any money, they've already upgraded or replaced their glass with something more resistant.

I hate any unsolicited advertising like this. I get stuff hung on my door, items thrown onto my driveway from cars, etc etc. I save them in a list of businesses never to hire.
One of the ones thrown on my driveway was for a cleaning service. I came very close to calling them over for an "estimate", then making them pick up the advertisement, and telling them to go on their way.
But I figured I'd be treated to some vandalism later on, so decided not to.

Nothing would be ok, my car is not a vehicle (so to speak) for your advertising. That's in addition to it being a cheap and poorly implemented trick.

my friend has a saying - you don't screw with a guy's car, his food, or his chick. everything else if fair game.

i once chased a kid for 2 blocks with a tire iron b/c i caught him putting a flier on my windshield. i guess we're both lucky i didn't catch him. don't EVER touch my car without my permission. it makes me very angry.

I would never take my car into a shop that drums up business by littering fliers, whether they are sleazy post-it notes (copyright 3M) or whether they are normal glossy fliers.

Many moons ago I had an item bounce off a truck and hit my car taking paint off my hood in 2 places and knocking a good chunk out of my windshield...

I got the number and company info off the truck as the guy refused to pull his speeding vehicle over.

The company rep on the phone basically told me to get bent that it was their right to travel in the fast lane on the highway losing debris as they hit bumps and my insurance would cover the damage nicely.

Said item was returned to the company at very high velocity in the late afternoon. Whats good for me is good for them.

It got her to call, didn't it? If the person had left a note that said "We can repair your broken windshield" then she probably wouldn't have called. What was poor, I think, is how things were handled when she called in.
"Hi, this is Smart Glass, how can I help you?"
"Hey, are you the person who left a post-it note on my car?"
"Yes, we noticed you had some glass damage on your car and wanted to offer you a special if you brought your car to us"

Something like that... some people will love it, some people won't. But that's the nature of advertising. I bet you there are lots of people who would say "Oh, wow, thanks, what is the special?"

DNRTFA, but I think the woman's a little exciteable. I had someone come up to me in a parking lot and offer to knock a dent out of my car. It was friday afternoon and apparently they had just gotten off work at the body shop and had all their tools in the car and saw an opportunity to make a quick buck.

I didn't take them up on it, but I didn't mind being approached.

vdragonmpc: Maybe you shouldn't have been tailgating a dumptruck, then?

@vdragonmpc: I had the same thing happen only the big rock came right for my face as I drove. The windshield stopped it, but took a lot of damage.

I don't understand why it's legal for trucks, especially dumptrucks, to drive around with shit in the back uncovered. It's certainly illegal for me to drive around throwing rocks out my sunroof, and they end up doing the same thing.

Ignore any such advertisements. If you do need windshield repair or replacement, go through your insurance company and ask for a shop with technicians certified by the National Glass Association.

@unklegwar: Totally agree. I see these guys coming in little groups (frequently little inner-city kids with their scummy handler following close behind) down my street either putting shit under windshields or going into people's yard to drop them on the doorstep and it just gets me pissed. Especially because when they leave they always leave my gate open.

I hate to say though, if it's a delivery menu I sometimes try them. I'm weak, what can I say. If there was a better way to get delivery menus without having to personally go pick one up I'd do it. Say, isn't that what the internet was supposed to be for?

@Mr. Gunn: Are you a woman?? If a random guy approached me in a parking lot or parking garage, my general response is to get into my car as quickly as possible, lock the doors and drive the fuck away. Then again, I also live in Baltimore, so this probably the standard response for either gender.
If I were a guy, I probably wouldn't freak out so much about being approached or having a random note stuck on my car. But it's definitely different if you're a chick; you have to keep your guard up a lot more.

@Mr. Gunn: you dont have to be tailgating for this to happen. I know from personal experience. Also, a little basic physics will tell you that too.

It's just advertising. I fail to see the problem with a company using a creative method to offer their service... especially since her windshield was cracked.

It's not like they did this to every car. It sounds like they put the messages on cars with broken windows which need to go get them fixed anyway.

It's smart, focused, and I certainly would assume effective advertising. Definitely not the same as the people who blanket front doors or every car windshield.

@kantwait: Mr. Gunn appears to live in an alternate reality where you can intelligently comment on another person's state of mind without reading their first-hand words, where everyone you meet in the parking lot is your friend, and where objects moving at high speeds go straight down.

I had this exact same thing happen to me last year in downtown Denver, but it was a surface lot instead of parking garage. I checked my car for obvious damage, didn't see any and left. I tried the number later that night and the next day and never got an answer so I forgot about it. This might work better if they ever answered their phones. Of course if they answered the phone they could listen to me cuss them out for 10 minutes once I realized what it was.

@noquarter: Hahha...I wonder what the rent is like in this wondrous, magical land.

I take exception with the description of this bit of 'social engineering' as 'sweet'. Sorry for nit-picking, but 'social engineering', even when used for "good", necessarily involves deception. It might be clever, or inventive, but it always leave a mark.

Many years ago I has a minor car accident, my door was shmushed in.

A few days later I came to my car and there was a repair estimate under the windshield; full business information, phone number and everything, including the correct colour code for the paint (I verified the code later.

I called and asked if the estimate was valid, they said yes up till the date on the paper.

That was cool!

I didn't have the work done, but I was still impressed. some guy in a truck putting estimates on dented cars to get business.

A post-it would have freaked me out too.

I remember a glass company that hung out at a local gas station, and everyone that pulled in who had a cracked or chipped windshield would end up with one of these guys on their back about getting it fixed, including offers of taking care of the insurance paperwork for you.

I turned them down for my windshield because I carried a high deductable on the car at the time and the new windshield would fall far below the deductable, so why even bother telling my company so they can jack up my rates?

Besides, Safelite Auto Glass FTW!

That's a scummy sales technique, but not quite as scummy as this one:

[en.wikipedia.org]

Happened to me last spring. I wasn't aware of the scam but turned them down because I wasn't interested in receiving stolen property.

Hey consumerist.com!!! POST some info on what recourse we have when these stupid dump trucks go launching rocks out the back of their supposed "covered" beds. Also, how come they put those signs that say they are not responsible. If i drive down the highway launching rocks at them from my sunroof but first post a sign on my rear glass, does that make me not liable?

@Jackasimov: One of my favorite restaurants put a flyer on my door and I was soooo happy about it.

I live in Denver as well and have had the post-it note thing happen to me in the same parking lot twice. The first time I called, the woman on the other end was like, "Oh, one of our guys must have put that on your car because you have a cracked windshield, would you like to come in and have it repaired?" The second time I had the note it ended up being used as a convenient bookmark.
There really isn't a point in getting your windshield fixed here. The next time winter comes around and they've put out all the pea-sized and not-so-pea-sized gravel they can you'll just get another crack. It's a neverending cycle.

@mrbiggsndatx: It might relieve you from liability, but it could make the uninformed a lot less likely to pursue you for relief.

If the company is sleazy enough to use this advertising tactic, why would anyone trust them with an actual repair? Dollars to donuts they obfuscate the price.

Since when is it ok to put ANYTHING on my car? I find flyers and business cards on them and I HATE that. I usually call and yell at them for it. Don't put anything on my car!

would have been cool if they put I can fix your window for cheap on it.

I hate, hate, hate car spam but this is on a whole other level of sleaziness. I'd freak a little if I saw a post-it on my car like this...I don't think my first thought would be that someone hit my car, but I think I would be worried about whether someone put it there to make sure I stayed at my car, rather than get in a drive off. Parking garages are just not good places late at night because there aren't always security cameras, or security of any kind. It's why I usually get on my cell phone when I leave work, so there's someone on the other end who knows where I am. I get told that I'm less aware of my surroundings when I'm my phone, but my argument is that it doesn't matter whether I am aware of my surroundings if I get kidnapped and no one else has a clue where I am or whether I thought there was someone around me.

@UpsetPanda: "rather than get in *and drive off" oopsies.

I got one of these about a year ago in a SE Denver parking garage. I wouldn't use any company that advertised in that manner. It has a fly-by-night feel to it.

@UpsetPanda: The fact that they leave scrawled post-it notes rather than business cards (and even include an exclamation point for good measure) shows that they're trying to induce a sense of urgency or panic in the recipient. Given the setting of a parking lot, I think that's inexcusable.

Since there don't appear to be any laws against instigating panic, this sounds like a case best dealt with by some local Denver news station.

I fail to see how this marketing tactic is "sleezy" as so many people are saying. It's focused and directed in such a way to yield a response.

I don't really like stuff on my car, in my mail box, on my door, etc. But this isn't just random unsolicited advertising. It's not every car in the garage, only those who could benefit from their service.

Damn, people, it's a post-it. Deposit in the trash and get on with your life.

@UpsetPanda: That was my thought exactly. This would be a very scary moment to see one of these on my car - parking garages are scary enough as is.

@Mr. Gunn: My parents were borrowing my brother's car that had a dent in the front fender. Someone knocked on their door and he said lived down the street and was was on his way home and could fix that dent for cheap right then, while it was parked in the driveway.
They thought it would be nice to surprise my brother so they paid the guy. He a started slapping bondo on the car, and they went back in the house for a bit. When they came back out, the guy was nowhere to be found, the bondo (or plaster or whatever it was) was just slathered on, and the battery from the car was gone.

@SnickerDoodle: That's targeted advertising done well. If it hadn't obviously been a repair estimate, it would have been as sneaky as the OP's experience.

@RandoX: the van speaker guys have been around for years. often they would show the speakers and then give you a box with a concrete block or such, or deliver them inorder to case your home for later break-ins.

Now the funny thing about the Denver autoglass guys would be to call and ask them if they would fix your window where they scratched it putting the post it note on it...

@Landru:

They paid the guy up front?

Here's another one. A friend of mine came home one day and found a note on her front door. It looked like one of those missed-delivery stickers that UPS and FedEx uses. It said something like, "You have a package waiting for you at our facilities. Call this number to reschedule delivery. Please provide the claim number below". So my friend called the number, and it turned out to be some telemarketing firm selling time shares or something.