Company Response Review Report Review
Good Start Bad Follow Through

Kenneth K Submitted this review about Ship a Car Direct
Review made Live: 5/22/2013 4:19:00 PM
First the good. I contacted them pretty last minute not realizing how long it was going to take to deliver the car from California to Massachusetts 7-10 days. I contacted Safe-Direct on May 9th needing the car to be delivered between May 18-20th. It ABSOLUTELY had to be on those days. No one at the pick up location before or after.

Brian was the person that took my call and he told me to meet my delivery needs, it would have to go out in 1-2 days. Which was fine, and he was able to find me a carrier the very next day which was the only good part of this transaction.

Now starts the bad.

Brian set me up with AMKO Automovers who quoted a pickup date of May 11th, Saturday and delivery date of May 18th Saturday which was perfect since May 18th would be the 8th day so the latest quoted of 7-10 days would be the 20th Monday the last day available for pick up.

I researched AMKO Automovers and they had such horrible reviews, concerns that I called Brian to discuss, but he assured me that Safe-Direct worked with them many times and had great reviews. Being that it was last minute and there was no guarantee of finding another carrier, I signed off based on Brian's assurances that he would stay on top of it and make sure that the transport was smooth and without problem.

As soon as I paid the brokerage fee, I basically could not get in touch with Brian. I had questions for him regarding the transport, because the car was picked up on Saturday but carrier told me it would not actually ship out of California for a few days. I called him over a period of several days, no one answered, I left several voice mails, and emails none of which were answered even till this day.

I contacted Safe-Direct main office, and they tell me that they get so many calls, its hard to return all messages promptly and that I should just call the carrier and deal with them directly.

Brian after assuring me that he would stay on top of my transport and that I can call him any time during the process with any questions I had, never picked up my calls, never returned my emails, never returned my voice mails.

The worst part of it all, the carrier was late in delivering the car. The last date quoted for delivery was supposed to be May 20th but he calls on the 20th and says that he cannot deliver the car on the 20th and that he will have to deliver on the 21st. WHICH IS UNACCEPTABLE considering there is nobody there to receive the car after 20th. The driver would not deliver the car on the 20th and basically was told that if I needed the car on the 20th, that I would need to go out to where the driver was and pick up from him. His location was 40 miles from where I am and having no transportation, I had to take a cab 40 miles which is an extra expense out of my pocket.

A bad experience overall.
Shipment Details
Origin State:
California
Pickup:
On Time
Destination State:
Massachusetts
Delivery:
Late
Customer Service
Honesty:
Knowlegeable:
Promptness:
Customer Service:
Review Details
Quote or Order Id:
304730-NJ
Quote or Order Cost:
$1075

Company Response
Michael Strickland from Ship a Car Direct Submitted this response.
Response Date: 5/24/2013 6:46:00 PM
Our apologies that Brian was hard to reach during his jury duty service. We are sorry that you were distressed by the timing of your transport and that it was a bad experience for you. Unfortunately, as much as we wish we could micro-manage the timing of your move, we can only provide estimates and not guarantees. It's a good lesson to future shippers: even if you request restrictive deadlines, there are issues outside of your drivers control that can cause delays and/or early arrivals. It's best to allow for flexibility rather than to expect precise, tailored timing.