We experienced dreadful communications, plus incompetent and unprofessional treatment from DEPENDABLE TOWING & RECOVERY, INC.. and their broker, CAPITOL AUTO TRANSPORT (CAT), and would NEVER use either of them again! To start with, you should know that you aren't starting with an actual carrier here; they (CAPITOL AUTO TRANSPORT) are simply a broker/intermediary who pockets a fee for finding and hiring an available trucker like DEPENDABLE TOWING & RECOVERY, INC. to haul your vehicle. In this instance, that arrangements with DEPENDABLE TOWING & RECOVERY, INC. seemed to the main source of the incompetent service and blame. First of all, even though CAPITOL AUTO TRANSPORT warned in their email that customers should beware of "other" transport companies that ask for money/credit card up front, I was required to do so with them(?). I was then notified that DEPENDABLE TOWING & RECOVERY, INC. would be handling the transport of our daughter's car from Buffalo to Florida. The dates and details were clearly spelled out on the documentation and everything seemed fine. When DEPENDABLE TOWING & RECOVERY, INC. didn't call as expected, I called them myself. That's when I learned that they were unaware/misinformed of the correct pick-up date, and were planning a date 5 days later - for some inexplicable reason. When they didn't call the next day, as I expected, I called them and they told me they planned to be there the following day, instead. The next day they called me and said they had to postpone the p/u one more day due to weather. Then their driver called me that same afternoon and said that he was nearby our home to pick up the car, apparently having no idea that the pick-up had been postponed by his own company(?). I immediately had to leave work and we had to go get the car at our home and drive it to his location. Okay, so after a few hiccups, at least the car was in their hands and on it's way, right?
When loading, the DEPENDABLE TOWING & RECOVERY, INC. driver had remarked to me about the car being delivered in Florida on "Tuesday", at which point I immediately brought his attention to the fact that our daughter wasn't flying into Florida until late Thursday and the actual delivery was scheduled for Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. He acted like he was probably mistaken, so I wasn't too alarmed. Well, following their tradition of not being able to follow the simplest of arrangements, we got a call on that Tuesday morning from DEPENDABLE TOWING & RECOVERY, INC. (three days BEFORE the car was supposed to be delivered), saying that their driver couldn't reach our daughter by phone. I told him that's because she was sleeping in her bed at home in Buffalo! Well, rather than make their driver sit there for three days, we managed to find someone there who would accept delivery of the car on our behalf. We also had to quickly arrange a credit card payment for the balance (they originally wanted to charge us a $25 fee for using a c/c, but wisely changed their mind). I then notified the broker, CAPITOL AUTO TRANSPORT, of these exceedingly sloppy arrangements. I also mentioned the fact that our daughter had packed clothing and other personal effects in the car and she was now worried that the car would be sitting unattended for three days in a strange neighborhood in another state. CAT was very quick to point out the fine-print stating that if transporting personal items in a vehicle - you do so at your own risk. In CAT's own words, "as you saw fit to use the car as your personal U-Haul". Nice comment to make to a customer, huh? I pointed out the fact that my daughter had an expectation that she would be standing in the driveway when the car was delivered on thre scheduled date(s). Anyway, the person who was asked to accept delivery of the car did so as a courtesy and had no prior knowledge of the car's actual condition. When some obvious damage was pointed out, the DEPENDABLE TOWING & RECOVERY, INC. driver said that WE were aware of it, which was absolutely untrue and a complete fabrication. When I mentioned this to CAT, their response was that they had a signed Bill of Lading which the carrier would back and they apparently felt absolved them of any further liability. I might add, this driver also told the person accepting the car that "we knew the car was being delivered that day". Just ridiculous! On top of everything else, this car must have been placed on the trailer right behind the truck's exhaust because it was coated in black soot.
Nothing about this transaction was to our satisfaction - NOTHING! In additon, we received several other quotes for this same transport and CAT's quote was actually priced a bit higher than average. However, their website appearance and claims led me to believe that this car would be moved professionally and without complications, so that's why I chose them. As it turned out, NOTHING could be further from the truth!
When our daughter completes her internship in three months, I will be having this car transported back to Buffalo. You can be sure that neither of the names CAPITOL AUTO TRANSPORT or DEPENDABLE TOWING & RECOVERY, INC. will be involved ... EVER!
