Vendor Review -- Suncoast Designers

Many of our coaches have double pane windows that over time may lose their seal. Once this occurs the window will fog and eventually form white water stains between the panes. Many of these panes are available from Prevost. There is an alternative option for fixing these failed double pane windows.

Suncoast Designers in Hudson Florida can repair or replace these windows. I'm sure most have read reviews in the past that were not very positive. I too have a mixed review, but not the quality of their work.

The first thing to realize is that windows with any curvature of the panel, like the upper glass panels that follow the curve of the body, can not be repaired or replaced by Suncoast Designers. The one panel I was here for was the upper door panel.

Here's how my visit went.

I made a reservation for a Monday morning and was told I could arrive Sunday. They have 22 50A service with water sites. This is a big plus. I arrived to about a dozen RVs.

Bright and early Monday morning I was greeted by their service writer or senior technician as promised. All of the paperwork was done and I opted to be notified before they replaced the glass panes if they couldn't use the old ones. By 9:30am my window was out and plastic was taped over the opening.

Fully expecting the window to be reinstalled that afternoon, I received a call saying it would be the afternoon of the next day. Nothing else was communicated. So, my first disappointment, but no big deal. They were busy and the weather was not great.

Day two the tech installs the new glass at about 10:00am. While he's installing the glass the office person calls to say they couldn't save the glass and she forgot to call for my approval. Recall, I required notification. So, she forgot before the install and forgot when she called the day before saying the install would be a day later. I also asked her how long I had to stay after it was installed. She said I could leave later in the day as the glass only needed 24 hours after it was sealed in their facility. This was misinformation according to more than one tech that said 24 hours after installation. I bet you can see my biggest complaint so far is their failure to adequately communicate.

A common complaint from others is that of paint damage. The technician that removed my panel did not damage any paint. In fact, I thought he did a very good job. Unlike some other paint jobs, paint was not applied over the window sealant on my coach. I can certainly understand paint damage from coaches that have paint up to the glass. If your glass sealant is painted you might consider cutting the paint at the window opening.

The installation was a little disappointing. Although it appeared to be sealed well and the sealant finished well, the pane was inset in the opening just over .2" whereas the original glass was pretty much flush with the surface. If I was having the sealant painted to match the door this would not have looked correct. Given the sealant will remain natural, few will probably notice this.

Even when paying, the office person had little say about the unauthorized cost of the new glass panels. I really didn't mind new glass cost, but I didn't really want it. Replacement glass must be painted. They only paint the inner pane and don't use the vanishing circles only found on factory windows. It doesn't look bad, but clearly not the factory look. The replacement panels were etched indicating they were tempered glass, which is what they should be.

The lesson I learned is that all glass can't be polished to removed the water stains. I thought for sure it could, but I'm not a glass expert. I saw the glass after they said they polished it. It looked no better than when removed. I was disappointed that the senior tech that wrote up my work order was more forthcoming with the likelihood they couldn't save my glass.

So, I'd still recommend Suncoast Designers with the caution that you should expect your old glass to be replaced. If you're concerned with painted sealant, several Prevost shops in the state will remove the glass and have it send to Suncoast Designers for repair or replacement. This might be a better option in those cases.

I sent this to John Heyden, the owner of Suncoast Designers. He has already taken action to correct the communication problem he said was due to a new employee. He also explained why their process results in a slightly narrower finished product. He went on to offer to change my glass if I want. Make sure you let them know if a flush mount is important to you.