If you are thinking of using Transport Auto Services Read this first.
Benjamin Granlund
Submitted this review about
Transporter Auto Services Inc.
Review made Live: 10/4/2011 10:26:00 PM
They are a dishonest company that will give you continual false and inaccurate information regarding you shipment. When you try to reason with them they will insult your intelligence and try to transfer the blame to any other parties involved in an attempt to brush the matter off. Here is a list of issues that I found in dealing with this company:
1. I payed a third party company (Transporter Auto Services, Inc.) to ship my vehicle from Seattle WA, to Hilo HI and to be my representative to the carrier (Matson Navigation Company, Inc.) as well as manage the process and provide me accurate and timely information on the process and shipping of my vehicle. When I pay for a service I expect to receive what I payed for - Not half of what I payed for. When I spoke with them on the phone regarding my dissatisfaction they quoted to me that I payed them to be my representative and agent in this matter and make sure that I received the information on my vehicle, none of which was provided. Although I spoke with them multiple times over the phone throughout the shipping process, almost all of information I that I received was inaccurate, which is unacceptable.
2. From the minute my vehicle left the port of Seattle I have received inaccurate and false information regarding the location and status of my vehicle. When I entrust a valuable piece of my property to someone I expect them to be able to give me accurate information regarding said property. The following is a list of all of the inaccurate information that I have received throughout the process:
- My vehicle was set to ship on September 11th, 2011 from Seattle. I called on the 13th to verify that my vehicle had made it on the ship and was answered with an "I am sorry but we do not ship on Sundays." When I booked the shipping it was expressed to me that the company only ships on Sundays (every other Sunday to be exact). After a period of time the confusion was settled and it was verified that my car was on a ship to Hawaii - This conversation however set the tone for the rest of the service that I received throughout my shipping process. How can a company that deals with shipping on a daily basis not know there schedule?
- I was told on the 15th when I called that my vehicle had arrived in Honolulu, It did not in fact arrive until the 17th.
- I was told on the 23rd, 26th and 27th that my vehicle had left Honolulu on the 22nd and arrived on a barge in Hilo on the 23rd. It was expressed to me each of these times by multiple people in the office that the ship and the car were sitting in Hilo Harbor waiting to be unloaded. I was also informed that the barge was carrying 7000 pieces of equipment and was taking 3 days to be unloaded, but assured that the vehicle was in fact in Hilo. I spoke with the Matson shipping office in person and was informed by them that my vehicle was in fact still in Honolulu and the barge was set to leave Honolulu at 4:00 pm on the 27th, arriving in Hilo on the 28th. I received that information from Matson instantly but Transporter Auto Services, Inc. was not able to provide me that information at all, not even after the fact. Tell me again why I payed them $1069 to manage this shipment when I had to go around them to get the actual facts?
- I was also informed on the 27th that it would be worth my while to go to the shipping office in Hilo and ask for my vehicle to be prioritized and taken off the barge, further showing that I was being given inaccurate information regarding the location of my vehicle, as at this moment it was actually sitting in Honolulu. It was put on the wrong boat and shipped 2 days after it was supposed to from Honolulu
- Later on the 27th, Transporter Auto Services, Inc. informed me that the barge had been delayed and that my vehicle would be arriving in Hilo and that my vehicle would be available around the 3rd of October. This was hours after I had been told by Matson that my vehicle was already en-route to arrive the morning of the 28th. Had I not gone out of my way and contacted Matson I never would have received accurate information on my vehicle and in fact I ended up having to manage my own shipping information to get what I needed to know.
-Transporter Auto Services, Inc. insisted to me that it was taking 3 days to unload a barge in Hilo, when in fact it took the port 2 hours to do so (and takes similar time every time a barge comes in, the shipping office said it had never taken that long to unload a boat of that size so why was TAS telling me it took 3 days?). I would expect a company that deals with this type of business on a daily bases to provide accurate estimates and to know there business.
- I was informed today (the 3rd of October) that my vehicle arrived in Hilo on Friday September 30th, It was in fact in port on the 28th. Even 5 days after the car arrived and 6 days after I brought this issue to the attention of Transporter Auto Services, Inc. false information is still being given. I am still receiving information that does not correspond with what actually happened with my vehicle. For a company that is dealing with expensive property it is essential for them to be able to know the whereabouts of their clients property. I was sitting in my car and they still did not know it had even arrived in Hilo, that would have been pretty great to know had someone else decided to pick up my vehicle.
3. When we spoke over the phone one of their answers to me was that, and I quote, "the world is not a perfect place" - I understand that, I myself make mistakes we are all human - however I have always made it a staple in my life to fix the mistakes that I make and I expect the people I deal with, especially those that I have payed for a service on a professional level to be held to those same principles.
4. They also told me over the phone that the reason this issue has occurred is that "someone did not do there job" and then proceeded to tell me that that is not their issue. That is in fact the most prevalent issue at hand - I payed a large amount of money to this company for someone to do there job. If every company worked under the policy that they are not responsible for making sure the people that they manage do there job the world would be a pretty sad and inefficient place. Please enlighten me, why would I pay someone to not do there job?
5. When I spoke with them last week you told me that they were going to/had contacted their national office and deal with the matter, not Matson. They called me back and said that they had registered a complaint and that the "national office" was going to deal with it. When I spoke with them today they told me that you were the national office and that you were in charge. I do not appreciate being given the run around and I think that this is a testament to the continued inefficiency and miscommunication of Transporter Auto Services, Inc. if not down right fraud.
I stated many times over the phone with them that I am willing to meet half way and simply get a refund of the markup that I payed them that they make as profit from the shipping company, and the additional costs accrued from the false information I received, that way I am still paying for the half of the service that I did receive, but they insist that they did nothing wrong and that it is unfair to them for me to ask that. I am a reasonable and professional person but I did not receive all of the services that I payed for. If you want to save $10 on a $1070 shipping and deal with the hassles of a company that will not give you the services you paid for then by all means use Transport Auto Services, your car will eventually get to where its supposed to be but it will not be an easy process and you will not be treated like a client. My suggestion - ship directly through the transporter (in my case Matson) you will pay $10 extra but you will be given proper information and they will not lie to you. All you will get from the booking company is a headache. I will be shipping vehicles to and from Hawaii again in the future and had hoped I could establish a trusting relationship with the company I had chosen so that I could use them again, clearly that was not the case. If T.A.S. was willing to work with me on this matter and right their wrong I would not have posted this review, and will remove it if they redeem themselves, however as of right now I do not feel as thought they deserve the patronage of hard working honest customers.
