Enclosed...... really ?
Scott Corboy
Submitted this review about
National Transport LLC
Review made Live: 3/8/2012 10:55:00 PM
Due to the fact that the car I was moving was 1 of only 145 in the US, and has a very special paint finish, I opted for "enclosed" transport, which was a $500 premium over open transport.
According to the website....
"For starters enclosed auto shipping means your vehicle will be transported in an enclosed trailer that allows it to get from pickup to drop-off free from, the dust, the grime and the elements of the road."
Really ??
The car arrived absolutely filthy. Not just dusty, but smeared with grime. According to the truck driver, the car had been "loaded when it was raining" so had gotten wet.
Really ??
Thats strange because I had a cell phone video of the car being loaded which was taken by the salesman I bought the car off and it was not raining.
Then the driver told me that his vehicle was curtain sided, and the condition of my car "was to be expected". If I really wanted the car to arrive clean, I needed to have a hard sided truck. Fabulous to find that out once the car has been shipped.
By the way, the drivers are not employed by National Transport.... apparently they don't actually own any trucks, they just own a website and some phones.
As soon as I got the car keys it went straight into a detailer where it needed $200 to get it looking something like it did before it was shipped.
About 2 days later, I got an email from National Transport, which was clearly a mass spam email "thanking me for my business", blah, blah, blah. I replied to that email with my complaint. I got no response after 1 week so I sent yet another email, remarking that I was going to the BBB. This time I got a response. Here is part of it....
"While we appreciate the feedback and do sincerely apologize for that you felt mislead by your vehicle being delivered to you in a soft side enclosed truck. Please understand, as a broker, we do offer various types of trucks both open and enclosed in an effort to get the vehicles picked up and delivered timely. In this industry vehicles are often delivered on various trucks both open and enclosed and do occasionally arrive dirty as they are traveling across country"
In other words, you paid for enclosed, but really it's a crap shoot, and unfortunately you lost.
However, all is not lost because.....
"Although we are unable to give you a refund on your shipment as we have already paid the carrier, we are willing to offer you a $200.00 credit towards a future shipment, if you would allow us another opportunity to work with you."
Seriously ? You expect me to use you again, even assuming I had another vehicle I needed shipped ?
What I learned, and what I would do differently in future :
1) Use a company that actually owns trucks, not just phones
2) Assuming you need enclosed transport, ask the following questions and get everything confirmed in writing before you pay a penny
- > What type of truck is it ? curtain sided or hard sided ?
- > Will the car be moved from one truck to an other mid route?
