Non-performance
Coleman
Submitted this review about
Premier Auto Shippers
Review made Live: 3/13/2015 6:29:00 PM
I contracted with Premier Auto Shippers on March 4 to ship my motorcycle to Texas for Saturday March 14 delivery. The point of the shipment was to have the motorcycle arrive in Texas for vacation. On Thursday 3/12, they told me that it won't be picked up until Monday 3/16, and won’t be delivered until after I am already scheduled to be on my way back home. Anthony Chavez seemed to understand the purpose of the shipment, and the importance of meeting the dates, and gave me assurances that the motorcycle would be picked up and arrive in Texas on time. He gave me his cell phone number and indicated that he would answer any questions or concerns.
I became concerned when the shipper did not arrive on the agreed upon date. Then, when calling to discuss dates, Anthony Chavez told me it was scheduled for pickup and that he would need to call me back because he was on a "different screen" on his computer, and he would call back in 10 minutes (11:47AM on March 11). That call was never returned. I left a second voice message and asked to be called back, that call was not returned. I called Anthony's cell number and found that the voice-mailbox was full and not accepting messages. I talked to a live person (not sure of his name, I think it was Mike). He told me that Anthony was in sales and I should not have been trying to call him, I should have been trying to call “dispatch.” He told me to hold on while he checked on the status. He became irritated when I made a comment about no returned phone calls. Then we were disconnected (I hesitate to say he hung up on me, call-drops happen). Finally on Thursday at 5:00 PM, I called back once again and Premier Auto told me the motorcycle would not be delivered until after I was already scheduled to be traveling back to Maryland. I then cancelled the shipment.
Premier Auto Shippers indicated that they had assigned to S Line Transportation LLC. I am aware of the fine print disclosures on the Shipping Invoice. There is no question that my obligation was to pay Premier for posting the shipment, and I know that delays can occur. However, at some point delays become non-performance of a contract. This situation is exasperated when their management team is uncoordinated, when the assurances provided by one representative of the company are not binding on any others. This is convenient for the company when they are able to rebut any complaint about promises made and assurances with strict adherence to the written document, even when their incompetence is the primary reason for bad customer service.
Interestingly enough, the final excuse for the incompetence of Premier Auto Shippers was that this wasn't the taxi industry.
No, it isn't the taxi industry. Taxi drivers are professionals.
There is no doubt what the contract says. However, when Anthony, a company representative gave me assurances that the bike would be picked up within a certain few day period, with over a week's notice, it is not unreasonable to expect that will happen. Clearly the company has the ability, and now I guess reputation, to say whatever it wants truth or not, and the only thing that matters is the written contract.
Their word is meaningless when they misrepresent the facts to your customers.
Their comments to my review (yes, I gave them an opportunity to comment) was that they did nothing wrong. Technically, that is true, they did nothing illegal. But, if you are in need of the services that this organization provides, why chance replicating my experience?
