At first: I went online to get a quote, typed in my information, and within 10 minutes Crystal called with a quote. She was extremely prompt and kind, and the price she quoted was lower than any other we had found given the origin (Houghton, MI) and destination (Honolulu, HI). We are quite rural, so we expected to pay more...
So all over the website it says Pay Nothing Until Your Car is Delivered... But we paid immediately over the phone. It was April 9th when we called, and we needed the car picked up before May 7th (when we flew out), but we said May 2nd (we would have to leave our apartment before the big move). Sort of last minute but she was confident that she'd be able to take care of it quickly, within a few days. A week later, no contact, so we began calling to find out anything... I swear Crystal was avoiding us, because she was never there, but when she did answer, she told us she didn't have a driver yet because we were rural.
This went on for 3 more weeks, no driver, and they were giving us the run around. Someone told someone to leave a note on Crystal's desk that we called. This was the week before we needed the car shipped away. The week that we needed it shipped April 28-May 2, we were getting really frantic. We weren't selling it, or leaving it to rot (it was a gift). By now Crystal was being really rude, not responding to our calls and avoiding us (being there one minute then apparently leaving everytime we called). We were trying to make it clear that we weren't going to be there after May 7th, and if they could get something by then, it would be fine, but if not... We would be flown away.
Then she started telling us that she had spent all this money out of her pocket and this is the hardest shipment she ever had to do and this and that.. Trying to make me feel bad for living where I do, even though I paid a ton of cash. Then she asked me if I could drive the car to a bigger place first. Its my only car! And the biggest place (Green Bay) is 4 hours away, next biggest, Duluth MN, is 5. On May 7th, the day of our flight, she had us talk to her manager, who told us that they wouldn't be able to find a car. I asked for a refund, so I could work directly with a company and not a broker, but they said I wouldn't be able to get a refund for upwards of 30 days!
When it came to it, later that day, about 2 hours before we left, my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law agreed to drive to Green Bay to drop the car off. Within 5 minutes they had a driver. It was shipped Friday of that week. May 9th.
We got the car yesterday May 27th, sprayed with dirt and the tire in the trunk gone... But the car works, looks okay (apart from a few dents) , and is actually here. In the future I will definitely go with a direct company not a broker that calls around finding drivers.
