I had hoped they would earn a perfect score...
Scott
Submitted this review about
Mercury Auto Transport
Review made Live: 2/1/2010 9:34:00 AM
In the grand scheme of things, I felt Mercury was good - the sales representative, Lisa, was very reassuring and went out of her way to explain how things work; Jim, the dispatcher, was quick to make sure contact was made with the actual carrier; even Mitch, the customer service representative, was nice (though he inadvertently demonstrated in our second conversation that he didn't remember our first). Each of them spoke with me with great empathy and were responsive to my requests.
The stress really came from the carrier, Rollover Transport. My situation was complicated by the fact that I was not present for the pick-up of my car; it was left with my brother and sister-in-law, who agreed to act as my agents. I had made it very clear through Mercury that if the carrier loaded the car on a weekday, it had to be done after 5:00 PM when my family would be present. Alternatively, they could pick it up anytime on the weekend with adequate notice. We were assured we would receive a call an hour or two before the truck arrived.
Unfortunately, it didn't start out that way. Rollover's dispatch manager, Vitaliy, was nice enough, but he was completely unaware that the drivers, Boris and Alexei, had already called my brother to arrange the pick-up on Friday at 2:00 pm - right out of the gate, they were ignoring simple instructions, and the dispatch didn't even know. Then they didn't have the courtesy to call on Friday to let my family know they weren't coming after all. I called the drivers, who never explained why they decided not to show up as they themselves had arranged, and set a time for Saturday, which they also didn't keep - they were hours late. They had promised to call my brother at least an hour in advance of their arrival, which they failed to do. They did not pick the car up where it was parked (it could not have been for lack of accessibility, as I have seen trucks as large navigate the street easily). My family had to drive to where they waited.
Throughout the week they were on the road, these folks never initiated the phone calls they promised to make to me; communication with the drivers was made more difficult by the fact that their English skills were wanting. Both drivers and dispactch promised to call by a certain time, or show up at a certain time... not once did they come through on the expectations they themselves set. They said my car would arrive as early as Thursday, Saturday at the latest; I repeatedly told them Sunday would be too late, as I would be out of town. I fully understand that specific times for delivery cannot be promised - that there are many variables involved. However, nothing would keep them from placing a phone call when they promised to call, and not once did they follow through appropriately. And even at that, they delivered the cars hours later than they told me they would arrive. I was not a happy camper until my car arrived. The good news is the car arrived in good shape.
I realize that Mercury cannot control the behavior of the carrier with whom they contract. However, while they were quick to contact Rollover in an attempt to help me, the choice of a sub-par contractor makes it impossible to give them a perfect score. The customer has little to no control over who actually ships the vehicle; those of us with no experience have no way of knowing how well or poorly a carrier will do, and must rely on the broker to choose carefully. Unfortuately, extracting teeth would have been an easier task than this seemed to be, so while I would work with Mercury again, I would be wary of their first choice in contractors.
