Terrific Service & Good Comms with Driver
M Liberty
Submitted this review about
United Road Services, Inc
Review made Live: 11/30/2013 10:59:00 PM
Excellent service! Very pleased! Another happy customer! I will definitely use United Road Services in the future if I need to transport a car.
In January 2012, a college student friend of mine had her car shipped in an enclosed carrier by United Road Services from Los Angeles, CA to Needham, MA. I took her to collect her car and we were both pleased by its condition and the great service by the driver. I got to see the top tier service provided by United Road. *Excellent*, is what I have to say about that. (There was also some sort of spectacular, limited edition, several hundred thousand dollar Audi being transported in the same carrier.)
Fast-forward a year-ish later and suddenly I needed to transport my brand new 2014 Subaru Outback from Albuquerque, NM to a suburb of Boston, MA. A few things to know about getting to and from ABQ: 1) It always takes a while to get there, be that flying or driving, and 2) even though it's the largest city in the State with the I-40 and I-25 interchange smack dab in the middle of it, Abq. is still "off the beaten path." I did not urgently need to have my car and was prepared to wait a month or more for delivery.
When I called United Road, I spoke to Lou Pavledes who, as expected, said that it could take maybe 2 weeks before my car could be put on a carrier. I told him that I understood and had no problem with that. Lou provided me with an official quote - quite reasonable and pretty much equal to the amount I would've spent driving the car across the country myself - and sent me the order form via email . We confirmed the information provided on the form via phone and as soon as the charge went through on my credit card I was handed off to Valeri Vallade, my customer service agent.
2 days later, on 20 Nov, I got a call from United Road saying the car was going to be pick up on Saturday, 23 Nov. I was thrilled! The expected delivery date was 26 Nov., the day before Thanksgiving.
And then things got both funny and interesting. The funny part is that the driver, Adrian, and I had faster and more direct comms than United Road HQ and me. To be crystal clear, United Road *did* communicate with me about the status of the driver and my car, but it was always about 2 hours after I had spoken directly to Adrian. It was hilarious!
The interesting part was that there was a massive winter storm crossing the country at the same time my car was being transported. Due to the storm, I expected the delivery of my car to be delayed.
The storm caused a half-day delay in the pick-up of my car which was not a problem. Inspection and loading went a-ok. The only hiccup was on the Bill of Lading. It was marked delivery to PA instead of MA but that was cleared up immediately with Adrian.
Storm, storm, storm. I called Valeri at United Road on Tuesday, Nov. 25, to ask if delivery was really still expected on Nov. 26th. I wasn't so sure that was realistic given the weather but she said that that was still the target date.
On Wed morning, I got the call from Adrian I was expecting: Delivery would be on Thursday afternoon, Nov. 27th, Thanksgiving! Adrian said he would be making the delivery around 2 pm. He called at 2:05 pm to say he had arrived. I was very impressed!
Adrian went above and beyond. We agreed that he would unload the car and drive it to me (about 1 mile) since (1) it is impossible and illegal for a car transport truck to travel through the town (trees & power lines) and (2) my neighborhood was deserted since everyone had left to go celebrate Thanksgiving elsewhere and I couldn't get a ride to the rendezvous point.
When Adrian drove up, I could see that my car was in pristine condition and only covered with a little storm cruff which was totally expected. The mileage was exactly what it was supposed to be + 1 mile. I drove Adrian back to the car carrier and we parted ways.
Everyone was professional and the service was terrific. I highly recommend United Road Services.
