DAS deserves better than they get
Ray Funk
Submitted this review about
Dependable Auto Shippers
Review made Live: 10/10/2006 12:36:00 AM
If you, like me, are reading these reviews to better aquaint yourself with a shipper, please take the unusually high number of negative reviews for DAS with a grain of salt. There may be some truth in the accounts, but often the problem would be with the agents DAS has employed to handle their business. That is not to say they are flawless, but my experience with them was positive.
I decided to use DAS due to their competitive rate for depot to depot shipping. Adam took my order and the process was handled over the phone in a smooth manner. My only concern was Adam's enthusiasm for upselling the move. This probably is a necessary step on their part in that I needed to be informed as to the options that were available to me. Still, I chose a basic move on the lower deck of one of their open carriers. Please note, if you expect an enclosed transport and indoor storage for your vehicle, make sure your carrier offers such service and expect to pay for it. I had no qualms about outdoor storage and an open transport and frankly, my vehicle was none the worse for the wear when it arrived.
I had purchased my vehicle on eBay sight unseen with just the eBay listing and correspondance with the vendor as my guide. This was known to be a vehicle with it's share of flaws and I fully expected to undertake restoration when it arrived. Still, it was reportedly in running condition and the move should have been simple. Not so in the real world!
Shortly after the vehicle was delivered to the Amarillo depot, I got a call from Delinda from DAS asking what I intended to do about the non-running vehicle that had been delivered. This, of course was contrary to the claim from the seller and I had to investigate. Turns out there was an electrical drain and the battery had been disconnected to ensure it was charged enough to start the car when needed and the cable was to be disconnected when the vehicle was not running. The seller claimed to have informed the DAS depot of this condition. Delinda had no evidence of these special instructions, yet she kindly added them to the order at no extra cost. Still, the depot now claimed that the vehicle had no fuel. I advised Delinda to add fuel to the vehicle and charge it to my credit card.
Let's just rewind to the part where Adam took my order over the phone, including my credit card info and I checked my credit card statement on line and found this transaction had, indeed taken place. Fast forward to the present and Delinda required that I produce written authorization for the charges to my card. This was to be accomplished with an email to Delinda with the proper instructions.
Strangely, at this point, my order disappeared from the DAS tracking system for several hours. A phone call to Adam to request clarification was never answered. All this happened on a Friday and since DAS closes their office for the weekend, no confirmation could be made till the next Monday. By then, all appeared normal and a call to DAS the next working day confirmed that all was now in order. I had authorized $20 of fuel to be charged to my card and added to the tank. Later that week, I received a voicemail message from Delinda asking me to refax the form for credit card authorization with the $20 amount indicated in the appropriate space. This baffled me in that all credit card information had been submitted verbally and I had no knowledge of this form. To make matters worse, I was on the road for several days and had no access to a fax machine. Clearly, this was not going to work and apparantly, my Canadian issued credit card was being treated as an "international card", thus needing all this special attention. Since the card had worked just fine for the initial order, I questioned this policy with Delinda and she managed to get all issues cleared up without me faxing in any sort of special forms. Seems like their accounting procedures could be handled more smoothly, but still, this was not an insurmountable problem.
My vehicle sat in Amarillo for several days. The initial delivery date was to be Sept 25 and was bumped to Sept 28, then the 29th. Of course my vehicle would disappear from the tracking system for several hours every time updates were made. At one point, my vehicle was moved to Dallas which I thought was rather strange seeing that Dallas is farther away from Minneapolis than is Amarillo. I suppose transportation logistics might make sense of all this. Still, when the vehicle started to move, it quickly came up thru Illinois to Minnesota, arriving late on the 29th. I received a call on the morning of the 30th advising me to pick up the car. The ultimate destination was Canada and I was picking up at the nearest US depot so I could clear the car thru customs myself. Still, I had a 500 mile trip to make and I could only plan to pick up the next weekend. This would put me over the 5 day grace period DAS allows at the depot. I agreed to pay a few days storage if needed. Turns out I picked up the car on Oct 6, 1 day over the deadline.
Now things start to get interesting. Schmitt Towing in Minneapolis is the DAS depot. This is a clean, well run organization and Carl was my contact. Schmitt Towing deals exculsively with DAS and they have a secure asphalt surfaced compound. When I arrived to pick up my car, Carl advised me that they would have to boost the car for me. Sure enough, the battery cables had not been disconnected as instructed. Carl was prepared to boost the battery at no extra charge to me, but it was easier to just winch the car onto the trailer, so that is what I did. When I offered to settle up for the extra day of storage, Carl simply said it was no trouble and no extra payment was needed. I cannot say enough good things about this type of service!
I was moving the vehicle with my own truck and a UHaul trailer. I'll set up another review with my UHaul experience. Ultimately, I made it home to Manitoba. After unloading the car, I charged the dead battery and attempted to start the car. No go! Also, no evidence of the $20 gas which was supposedly put in the tank in Amarillo. I should explain that the car had some race car treatment which included a trunk mounted fuel cell. After some investigation, I found that the fuel cell, lines and even the carburator bowls were bone dry. Clearly this vehicle had not been running in quite some time contrary to the seller's claims! He had it delivered to the Amarillo depot by tow truck, probably to hide the fact that it was not running. Such are the dangers of eBay. Still, this validates the earlier claim from DAS that the car was not running. By rights, they could have charged a few hundred dollars extra to handle the non running car. They stuck to their initial quote. Clearly, this is excellent customer service. I won't even miss the extra $20. It clearly is miniscule compensation for the extra trouble DAS went to to ship my car.
Bottom line, DAS could stand improvement in their tracking and in their accounting procedures. Customer service is excellent, but be advised that if you want to be treated with respect, you must do the same with the customer service reps. Pricing is excellent on depot to depot service. To the door service is considerably more expensive. I don't know if the upselling on the quote is necessary, it certainly was not on my move.
