They know reliable carriers, but don't use them for time-sensitive transport
Pradyut
Submitted this review about
RoadRunner Auto Transport
Review made Live: 2/23/2010 6:56:00 PM
I had a time-sensitive move from San Francisco to New York where I needed my car to be picked up in the few days before my family and I flew out of San Francisco. They gave me a 48-hour window in which they assured me that my car would be picked up. We were flying out early on a Saturday morning, and Phil from Road Runner assured me over the phone that my car would 100% be picked up that Thursday or Friday. After he arranged the transport and billed me for the deposit, he further indicated that the pick-up would 100% be on Thursday. On Wednesday, the truck driver called my wife to schedule a pick-up for Saturday afternoon - he said Thursday or Friday was out of question. When I called Road Runner to find out what had happened, I learned that Road Runner is a broker and not the actual transport company. When you place your order with them, they broker with their network of carriers to organize your transport, and have ZERO control over the carriers' schedules. The delay in the pick-up was blamed on the weather, but I thought that given that February is generally right in the middle of winter, that they would have accounted for that. I never spoke with Phil again, but had repeated calls with Sandy who assured me she was working to find a carrier that could pick my car up Thursday or Friday - it did appear to me that she was doing all that she could. They were not able to find anyone, and I ended up having to leave my car with our neighbor, who fortunately and thankfully agreed to stay home on Saturday to wait for the pick-up. As it turns out, the carrier never showed up on Saturday or Sunday as, according to Sandy, they did not get some paperwork or other information from Road Runner in time, but they finally showed up on Monday. The carrier was very professional, had a very safe and secure enclosed truck in which they were frankly transporting cars of much greater value than my Lexus, and brought the car across the country to NY in the stated 7-8 days. The car was delivered intact with no damage, and the driver of the truck was in constant phone dialog directly with me during the 24 hours before delivery to coordinate schedules and arrange a drop-off location.
In a nutshell, the physical transportation of the car once it was picked up was top-notch, but the timeliness of the pick-up left a lot to be desired (I am so thankful to my neighbor who stayed close to home for 3 days!). I am not sure whether the timeliness would have been better had I gone directly to the carrier rather than through a broker, but next time I would be inclined to contact carriers directly in addition to a broker. I do have to say though that Sandy was very courteous and appeared to be doing her best to remedy the situation, and that Road Runner ultimately had my car transported with a very reliable and professional carrier. My main gripe is that Phil was not upfront with me about the fact that his "100% assured" pick-up window was subject to change. The order confirmation he sent me after the deposit had been billed had a fineprint disclaimer that the 48-hour pick-up window was subject to change, but it would have been very helpful for me if he had mentioned this upfront, so that I would perhaps have organized for an earlier car pick-up than Thursday/Friday. I may consider using Road Runner in the future, but I would not use them exclusively, and would only consider them if they did not charge a deposit until the car is actually picked up, in order to give me the flexibility to go with another alternative if there was a repeat of the delays I went through this time.
I believe this is a fair and balanced review, and would hope that Road Runner changes the way they go about selling their services as a result of this review. I do believe they are a very knowledgeable organization who will get your car delivered in the best manner possible, but they do need to be more upfront and not make verbal assurances they can't live up to that end up disappointing and inconveniencing clients.
