I was preparing for a move from the east coast to the midwest and didn't want to trailer my car behind my moving truck. I searched for a number of quotes for shipping my auto, and one of the quotes I received was from this company. I also received a phone call promptly after the estimate was sent to go over the options associated with each. While this certainly wasn't the lowest quote I received, I felt good about the customer service US Direct Auto Shipping would seemingly provide. I gave Adam a $150 retainer for my order, and that is where the pleasant experience ends.
Almost immediately following the receipt of my $150, Adam stopped responding to phone calls and emails. Two days BEFORE my auto was listed as being available, I was phoned out of the blue by a trucker who told me he was coming to get my cay the next day. This was the day before I had said it would be available. The truck driver tried to pressure me into giving him my car early (the problem was my lease hadn't started at the new apartment yet so there was nowhere to drop my car off in MO until two days after the date I had made it available for pickup). In addition, although the contract with US Direct clearly states that drivers will accept cash or money order for the remaining balance of the order, the driver demanded to be paid in cash only. In short, my interaction with the driver made me feel like he was shady and I wasn't excited to hand my car and a few hundred dollars in cash over to him.
While I realize that US Direct does not employ these drivers, when I called Adam to explain what had happened in the interaction with the driver (to be clear, this was almost the last time I was ever able to get him directly from my phone or email- he does respond to calls from other phone numbers if you don't leave too much info likely on the belief that he's going to pull the wool over some new customer's eyes). Instead of Adam honoring the terms of his contract, namely that the car would be made available on a specific date and that drivers contracting with him accept cash or money orders, Adam suggested I give him my car and cash the money order to myself so I could pay him in cash. I explained how this was unacceptable and I was not going to work with this driver. The driver called me the next day looking for my car, so it was clear to me he had never been contacted by anyone at US Direct to discuss his inappropriate behavior or the fact that he would not be transporting my car as a result of his unprofessional interaction with me.
All in all, I ended up towing my car out to MO myself because the only suggestion that was made to me when my timeline was up (I opted for the Standard Service, with an estimated average delivery in 1-10 business days from the first available date) that I could upgrade my service (i.e. pay them more money) but there was still no guarantee of receiving my car. Needless to say, I was not eager to pony up more cash given the terrible customer service I had already received. It was not made clear to me that MANY people, as evidenced by the reviews on this site, do not receive their cars in the quoted timeframe.
The problem now is that I am due a refund on my retainer given that the terms of my contract were not honored by the suggestions made by Adam regarding my transaction with the driver. In short, the terms of the contract were not honored by Adam, making the contract void and making me eligible for a refund. Still, I have yet to hear anything regarding my refund (I cancelled my order 5 weeks ago), and they do not respond to phone calls or emails so I'm not holding my breath that I'll hear anything.
Not sure I'll ever see my $150 retainer again, so I hope this review causes others to think twice before choosing a transport company. It seems that Adam is content to sign people up for his service, make $150 off of each customer with little effort or intention on delivering on his product. Buyer beware!!!
