Not overly impressed, sorry
Frank Luke
Submitted this review about
Dependable Auto Shippers
Review made Live: 4/18/2013 10:39:00 PM
I had initially signed up with a different company (Cascade Shipping) to transport my newly acquired classic car from Arkansas to California, but after two weeks they still had not found a driver. I therefore decided to give Dependable Auto Shippers (DAS) a try. I liked the fact that their price was competitive and firm: Unlike 90 % of all other trucking companies that take advantage of the inexperienced by quoting switch and bait prices, which will never get your car moved, this was a welcome change. What did not impress me too much was that after I had paid the full amount upfront my car still sat at some Arkansas location for another week before it was actually loaded. At that point, however, I was given a tentative delivery date, and over the next two or three days it actually seemed as though my vehicle would be arriving early. How great! But just as I was getting excited about that, I found out that their transporter had broken down along the way and that my car would “perhaps” be delivered on the date originally given. Mind you, no one reached out to me to advise me of that fact; I only found out by accident because I had requested a status update by phone. Not really professional or customer service oriented in my opinion. In the end, my car was not delivered on time, it was one day late. Not the end of the world, of course, but still… Additionally, it arrived without license plates. When I contacted DAS to inquire about the whereabouts, a customer service rep told me that the plates had probably fallen off during transport due to vibrations on the road. Really? Well, if you expose your cargo to vibrations that make a car’s license plates (front and back?) fall off, I am not so sure I want my vehicle on your big rig. In addition, I now had to file a stolen license plate report with the police, and needless to say: Not even a word of apology from the DAS customer service rep. (I am still wondering what this experience says about DAS’ safekeeping of their entrusted cargo.) Also, the hoopla over DAS’ online “tracking” system is rather misleading as there is no real “tracking” - all you will find online are some generic messages like “to be loaded” or “in transit”, The system will not tell you where the vehicle is right now and how close it is to be delivered. Can this really be so hard in times of GPS? The other guys do it all day long. Eventually the car did arrive in one piece, and I did appreciate the gesture of a car wash prior to delivery to my house. A nice touch, yes, but based on everything else I experienced with Dependable Auto Shippers not good enough that I would want to whole heartedly recommend this company.
