Dependable Auto Shippers = SCAM
Chris S.
Submitted this review about
Dependable Auto Shippers
Review made Live: 12/23/2008 2:09:00 PM
Read this and decide if you want to use DAS.
On July 15th 2007 , I looked online for auto transport companies to ship a car I had purchased on Ebay. I found Dependable Auto Shippers website. Here are some actual clips from their website:
DAS is a CARRIER not a BROKER! What does this mean to you?
Cancellation Fees
Brokers will charge a deposit and keep it if you cancel, even if they take too long to find a carrier!
DAS allows you to cancel 100% of your order at anytime prior to pick-up. No hidden fees or non-refundable deposits
Guaranteed Door Pick-up
Brokers can’t guarantee a pick-up day – as a matter of fact, your vehicle may sit for days, maybe weeks before it is picked up possibly delaying your move or the arrival of your new car.
DAS can guarantee the day we will come and pick up your vehicle, need it tomorrow? No problem. We also offer over 95 convenient service centers where you can drop off and/or pick-up your vehicle at ANYTIME.
Door-to-Door Service
Brokers will ask you to meet them at a nearby shopping center parking lot – sometimes in the middle of the night!
DAS will deliver your vehicle to your front door at a time convenient to you.
High Tech Auto Tracking System
Technology moves almost as fast as Dependable Auto Shippers does. Satellite tracking provided by Qualcomm allows all of DAS's customers to log on to the web site to get the exact location of their car transport vehicle en route.
They advertised that they were a real carrier rather than just a broker, they had 24 hour online tracking of my car, and would pick it up and deliver it to my door in a timely manner. Plus, I could back out before pick up if I wanted to for no cost. I called Dependable Auto Shippers to arrange the shipment from Los Angeles to my home in Mooresville, NC. I spoke to Basil Dubose at x5009, who gave me a quote for an enclosed trailer to deliver my car in approximately 14 days for $2,218. He said they would have to put 18 days as the delivery time on the quote, but it never took that long and I should expect the car in 14 days.
On Monday, July 16th, I got an e-mail quote stating that the car would be delivered by August 16th, 30 days away. I immediately called DAS and was told by a customer service agent that 30 days was just what had to be put on the quote and that I would certainly have the car in much less than 30 days, it never took that long. I asked why the “available date for pickup” was listed as the 18th, two days away, when I had told Basil the car was available right now, today. I was told this was just to allow them time to arrange for the pickup of the car.
One week later on July 24th, after talking with the car’s previous owner and having received no phone calls from DAS, I checked online to see the status of my shipment. The tracking system said “waiting to be picked up”. I had done some other research and got a quote from Exotic Car Transport for $1800 for the same service as DAS. I called DAS to cancel the shipment. The customer service agent confirmed that no one had been sent to pick up the car and that I would get a refund. I said thanks and began to make arrangements for pickup with Exotic Car Transport. Approximately 30 minutes later, another DAS agent called me back to inform me that someone HAD been dispatched to pick up the car and that I could not cancel now, or I would lose my money. I asked why I wasn’t told that before and was told that the other agent was wrong. I reminded the agent that their website says cancel 100% of your order at anytime prior to pick-up. not just before someone is dispatched to pick it up. The agent stated that the policy was actually only before DISPATCH, not pick up. I know the only reason they dispatched someone is because I wanted to cancel the order due to my car sitting for 9 days, despite their claim: “DAS can guarantee the day we will come and pick up your vehicle, need it tomorrow? No problem. Brokers can’t guarantee a pick-up day – as a matter of fact, your vehicle may sit for days, maybe weeks before it is picked up possibly delaying your move or the arrival of your new car.”
The agent said my car would be picked up by a special truck that was a custom enclosed flatbed driven by a team of two drivers, and that since it was a team they could make time much faster than average. I was told I would have my car in 3-5 days. This made me happy because that would mean I would get it in about 14 days total like I originally agreed to. Two days later on July 26th, the car was picked up in Los Angeles, but no one called me to inform me, I found out from the car’s previous owner. I checked the DAS website for an approximate travel time of the car and found this clip:
DAS is primarily a team operation.
DAS Drivers average 6000 + miles per full work week for a team and roughly 3500 miles a week for a solo driver.
It’s only 2400 miles from LA to Mooresville, so I thought their estimate may be a little long, but if they normally go 6000 miles in a week, they would certainly cover 2400 miles in 5 days.
I checked the website’s tracking tool every day for 6 days to see where my car was, but it always said “waiting to be picked up”. I was confused because their website states:
Technology moves almost as fast as Dependable Auto Shippers does. Satellite tracking provided by Qualcomm allows all of DAS's customers to log on to the web site to get the exact location of their car transport vehicle en route.
On Sunday, July 29th, I tried to call DAS to check on the status of the shipment. The website says they are open noon-5 Central.
Another place on the website says they are open noon-6, but neither is true. I called at 2:00 PM Central and the voice message said they were closed and to call back during regular hours.
On the 7th day, July 31 at 1:45 PM, I called DAS. The phone system said they were experiencing high volume and I might have to hold longer than 5 minutes. I waited 24 minutes. The agent I spoke to said she had no status update for me and that someone would call me back later that day. At 5:45, I called and waited 21 minutes on hold. I was expecting the car that day, but the agent I spoke to couldn’t tell me anything except that the driver would call me 12-24 hours in advance to arrange delivery at my house, something I paid extra for.
The next day, August 1st, I called DAS at 3:00. I got the same message that I MIGHT have to wait more than 5 minutes. I waited 22 minutes. I finally got through and told the CSA that the driver had not called me yet, even though I was told I would get the car today. After I explained the situation, I was told I was being passed to a manager, which made me think I was getting somewhere. I was on hold 25 more minutes, only to be picked up by another customer service agent. I never got to a manager. The CSA told me she would look into the matter and call me back within an hour. I had already been on the phone almost one hour.
After all this, I decided to just give them some time, and I tried to be patient. I waited 5 more days, but no one ever called to give me a status or to arrange delivery at my house.
On August 6th, at 4:55 PM, I called DAS and, despite the “5 minute wait” message, I waited 14 minutes on hold. The agent had no update info, but said I should get the car “any day now” and the driver will call me 12-24 hours in advance to arrange delivery.
I waited three more days and on August 9th at 11:20, I called DAS and waited 13 minutes on hold. I told the CSA my situation and asked to speak to a manager. I was told no managers were available, but I could leave a voice mail and someone would get back to me within 24 hours. The CSA gave me a new ETA of August 16th, one week away, which was unacceptable because I had cancelled a vacation to take delivery of this car “any day now”, like they had told me earlier, and I was told I would have the car by today for sure. I asked to be transferred to a manager and was put on hold for 6 minutes. The CSA did not transfer me, but said she called the carrier and the carrier told her the new ETA was tomorrow, August 10th. I told her no one had called me to let me know, but she stated the carrier would be calling me right away.
The next day, August 10th, I called DAS and entered Basil’s extension to talk directly to him. A man named Darrell answered and said Basil did not work there any more. I told him I needed to check the status of my shipment and before I could get any more words out he transferred me to the regular customer service line. I waited 5 minutes then called Darrell back. I told him my situation, and he said he would call the dispatcher. I was put on hold while he called. He came back and stated that she was out to lunch, but he would send her an e-mail and she would call me back today. No one called, so at 4:40, I called Darrell and before I could say anything I was put on hold. After waiting 15 minutes, I had to take another call and I hung up.
I called back and Darrell said he would transfer me to a manager. I waited 10 more minutes on the customer service line, then was told by another CSA that I would definitely be transferred to a manager. After 2 minutes, I reached Michelle, who said they will call me back ASAP with a definite ETA and that the carrier “is in the area”. I told Michelle I needed to speak to someone closer to the carrier, or a manager. Michelle said she was transferring me to a manager, but all I got was the voice mail of Ronnie. I left a message with Ronnie, and then I used the website and dug up the phone numbers of Bob Oakes, Senior Operations Manager, and Erin Almond, Director of Customer Service. I left them nice, polite voice mails explaining the situation and asked that they call me back to let me know when to expect my car. No one called me back.
On August 11th, the driver of the truck finally called and said he wanted to meet me in the parking lot of a grocery store near the interstate the next day, despite the fact that I paid extra for front door service, and that the DAS website says:
Brokers will ask you to meet them at a nearby shopping center parking lot. DAS will deliver your vehicle to your front door at a time convenient to you.
I just wanted to get the car, so I agreed to meet him at the parking lot on August 12th. The pickup went smoothly, no problems there, but when I was given my copy of the invoice, I noticed the carrier name was Gran Turismo Motorsports, not DAS, and that DAS had paid Gran Turismo $1700 to ship my car. DAS had marked up the cost of the shipment 30% ($512) for simply handling my phone calls and sub-contracting the delivery of the car.
After I called Darrell at DAS and left a message about how I felt I had not received the level of service I had agreed to pay for, I got a call back from a CSA who stated they would be willing to refund $150 for lateness, but they did not acknowledge any of the other issues I explained to them. I told the agent they will have to do way better than $150. An hour later they offered me $250, but I told them that they were late by a factor of 100% (promised me delivery in 14 days, but took 28 days), and it was crazy to offer me just a 12% discount considering all the other problems I had with them. I informed them I was going to dispute the credit card charge if they couldn’t offer me a more reasonable discount, but apparently they still want to make a profit off my order and they refused to refund anything more than $250.
This was the worst customer service experience I have ever had. I have shipped three other cars I bought from Ebay and nothing like this ever happened. Here are the main places DAS misled me or treated me extremely poorly:
1. DAS told me I would receive the car in 14 days, 18 days at the very most. It took 28 days.
2. DAS’s website states and they told me I could cancel before pickup for a 100% refund. Later, a CSA said that was only “before dispatch for pickup”.
3. DAS’s website states and they told me they were a real carrier, not a broker. They acted as a broker, they did not carry my car at all.
4. DAS’s website states and they told me they had “Real time 24 hour online satellite tracking” of my car. I never could track the car. Even their own CSA’s didn’t know where the car was for days on end.
5. DAS’s website states and they told me they would deliver to my door. I had to pick up the car at a grocery store parking lot.
6. DAS’s website states their drivers get 6000 miles a week, but it took them 18 days after they picked up my car to cover just 2400 miles to my city. They should have covered over 15,000 miles in those 18 days, why did it take so long?
7. DAS’s phone service is absolutely the worst I have ever experienced. I was on hold with them over 2.5 hours total, and that’s just the calls I documented after it started going badly. I called them over and over, at least 12 times that I have documented, and they always said they would call me back, but only did so once before the car was delivered.
8. I was given five different delivery dates, none of which were accurate. I never knew when the car was coming until the day before when the driver called me.
I have spoken to the owner of the actual carrier, Gran Turismo Motorsports, and he has told me that his relationship with DAS is more important than the cost of this delivery, so I know he is willing to refund much more than the $250 DAS offered me. I also feel that if DAS really cared about me and my experience, they would be willing to simply break even, or experience a loss for this one order, considering their website states they have “been in business for over 50 years and ship over 100,000 vehicles each year”.
Thanks for taking the time to hear my long story, hopefully I won’t have to tell it to anyone else.
