Magic Carpet will definitely take you for a ride...
Jason
Submitted this review about
Magic Carpet Auto Transport
Review made Live: 12/4/2009 12:46:00 AM
We spent considerable time researching which company to use to ship our car from Arizona to Washington, DC. We received numerous quotes ranging from $775 to $925. When we found TransportReviews.com, we searched for the highest rated company and chose Magic Carpet because of the reviews, even though their quote was $150 higher than what we received from other companies.
We were initially happy with the response from the agents at Magic Carpet. They answered the phone promptly and were very friendly. They were able to find a carrier to transport our car within a few days.
It wasn't until after confirmation of the estimated pickup date that we ran into trouble due to communication issues that would undermine Magic Carpet's promises of superior customer service.
The driver never showed up on the pick up date, despite changes we made in work scheduling to be available. We never heard proactively from Magic Carpet or the driver. After contacting Magic Carpet, we were told the driver was held up and would arrive the next day. Ok - sometimes that happens...
The car was picked up on the morning of November 20th, with an estimated delivery date of November 29th. The driver called us on the 27th and said that he would arrive on the night of the 28th or the morning of the 29th. Again. we arranged our schedules to be available, but never heard from the driver on either of those days. We contacted Magic Carpet for an update, but no one answered the phone because it was the weekend.
The driver contacted us on the morning of the 30th and said that he was 200 miles away and had one more car to deliver before getting to us. He never arrived and again never contacted us. Crystal at Magic Carpet did not know where he was either.
On the morning of the 1st, we contacted Magic Carpet again for an update. This was when the real fun began.
As a broker, Magic Carpet subcontracts with drivers and their respective companies. When they couldn't reach the driver directly, they asked US to contact the actual company for which he worked. No, they couldn't reach him either.
We were surprised to discover that, after contracting with Magic Carpet for delivering and promising to pay them a higher cost than was quoted by other companies, it was our responsibility to call some other company we had never heard of before to try to find out what was going on.
Beyond delay in estimated delivery dates, the way we were talked to on the phone by Magic Carpet staff was most disappointing. Supervisor Kathy shared a long story about how car shipping is perhaps "the only industry" where full payment was expected regardless of whether pickup and delivery dates were met, I asked the supervisor what she would do if she were in our shoes. Would she expect to pay full price after rearranging her work schedule for several days, after a lack of proactive communication from Magic Carpet, and after NO follow-up communication from the driver?
Who is responsible for ethical business operations? Magic Carpet The subcontractor actually delivering the car? Why are we paying Magic Carpet if we were ultimately responsible for trying to find the driver and follow up with him when he failed to deliver as promised? According to Magic Carpet, that is just the way their business works and it is unreasonable for customers to expect any better or to request for any kind of refund...
On December 1st, the driver finally called us at 1pm and said he would arrive by 6 or 7pm. At 6pm he called and tried to arrange for us to meet him somewhere outside of Washington DC because he claimed he couldn't drive the truck into the NW quadrant, where we were staying. This was a problem since he had the car we would need to use to meet him anywhere. For those who know DC, 14th St NW is a major roadway with bus and truck traffic all the time.
Finally, at 8:30 PM, the driver called unable to locate our building, despite using his GPS. He was close enough for me to walk to. I retrieved the car, paid him in full, and drove around the corner to our parking garage.
This experience was like dealing with the airline industry. We committed to paying a fee in full with no guarantees. When service was consistently less than promised or expected, "the buck" was passed, excuses were made, and we were left sitting with no recourse. No proactive communication was made by Magic Carpet to let us know that they had the situation under control, and there was a complete lack of accepting responsibility when no once could reach or locate the driver and it suddenly became our responsibility to do so. No effort was made to make up for the experience through any kind of refund.
We wish we had gone with the company that only wanted to charge us $775. If we ended up having the same experience, at least we wold have $150 more left in our pockets.
