Company Owner curses at Customers
Martin Martens
Submitted this review about
Gator Auto Transport
Review made Live: 11/17/2008 3:45:00 PM
My experience is similar to some of what Chris R went through. Gator auto Transport was booked to move my MGB by a 3rd party, All American Transport. The car was originally scheduled to be picked up in Cheyenne WY on Thursday, Nov 6. A couple of days before, Gator Transport changed it to Friday, Nov 7th. They didn't show up on the 7th. On Monday, the 10th, they called to say they would pick it up at 5pm on Nov 11th. They then tried to change it to the morning of Nov 12th. My dad had to deliver the car to them from an hour away in Western Nebraska and was already waiting in Cheyenne when they tried to change the pick up. They finally picked up the car late in the evening on Nov 11th. When the driver picked up the car, he immediately started cursing and swearing at my 86 year old dad about taking the car on his truck. The driver was too big to fit into the car and couldn't drive it up on the truck. My dad had to drive the car on to the transport trailer. Having a customer drive a car onto the trailer is a violation of federal transport regulations. On Nov 12, the driver, David Perez, called me from Salt Lake City and immediately started to swear and curse at me about the car. When the car was loaded, Perez did not check to make sure the ignition switch was turned off. This meant that the car became non-operational but it was non-operational because he failed to properly secure the car. He had to call a tow truck to load the car back on the trailer. The car was supposed to be delivered to Seattle but I told him I could meet him at his next drop-off in Vancouver WA so that he wouldn't have to reload the car. We agreed to meet on Nov 14th at 5pm. Late on Nov 13th, he called and changed the time to 11am to 12 noon and demanded that I pay for the tow truck in Salt Lake City. I was driving down from Vancouver, British Columbia and had to change my schedule to try and get to Vancouver WA by 12 noon. At 10:30am, I called him to tell him I was just south of Olympia, WA and would get there just after 12noon and asked him to wait. He said he would wait for me as long as I had the cash to pay for the car but he wanted an additional $265 because he was dealing with a non-operational car, even though it was non-operational because of his failure to properly secure the car and even though part of the problem was that he was too big to fit into the car to get it going. I told him that I didn't have that much cash with me and he hung up on me. I arrived at the arranged meeting location in Vancouver, WA and he wasn't there. When I called I found out that he left 15 minutes before I arrived and that he left because he wouldn't meet me until I agreed to pay the additional amount he was now trying to extort from me. I called the State Police and had a nice chat with a patrol officer about the situation. The patrol officer told me to call him, tell him I had the cash, arrange a meeting location, and to call the police when I got to the location. I got in touch with Perez, I managed to arrange a meeting in Fife, Washington ( between Seattle and Tacoma). I got there before him, and had a nice chat with the police at that location. Perez showed up and the police stood by while I dealt with Perez. He first demanded that I pay the additional $265. I told him that I'd pay the original amount plus the tow truck in Salt Lake. He then told me that he'd take the car back to Texas with him if I didn't pay the full amount he was trying to extort from me. I told him that I wasn't going to offer any more than what I'd offered. He also told me that the police wouldn't do anything because it was a civil matter. Perez was correct that it was a civil matter but the police were watching the situation and told me that they would pull him over if he left without giving me my car. I didn't say anything more when he started taking off the chains and finally gave me my car. Every interaction I had with him involved him cursing and swearing at me in a very threatening matter as he tried to intimidate me. He told me that he had other customers call the police on him when he refused to release their cars because he was demanding more than the contract price. The experience of two other reviewers in this web site support that claim.
Chris R's assessment of this company is correct, in my opinion and experience. Perez appears to be ready to try and find ways to increase the price and then threaten to keep the car if the customer doesn't pay. I had to spend a day chasing him around Washington to get my car. He was consistently late on meetings but wouldn't wait 15 minutes for me at a location.
The customer service manager at All American Transport was useless. She wouldn't resolve the situation and eventually told me that the problem was between me and the driver.
I would never use this company. If a 3rd party gives you this firm, demand that they get a different transporter.
