Car move turned nightmare

Vipin Submitted this review about AmeriFreight Car Shipping
Review made Live: 4/3/2013 4:26:00 PM
I cannot rate Amerifreight even average because of the experience I had with shipping my car. I had been advised that if I want small window for pickup, the charges will be higher and since the charges are high the vehicle will most probably be picked up with in first couple of days. Hence I opted for select express which was 400$ extra then the economy. I was really frustrated with the wait because my vehicle did not get picked up in the stipulated time of Select Express (i.e. 1-3 business days) and I was not even provided with other earlier options. I was being given the option of vehicle being picked up on the 8th day after first available date which was weird since I opted for select express and wanted my vehicle on time in Bellevue. After the SE time line got over it became more frustrating as all my plans were jeopardized because my vehicle was not picked up on time. I had to rent a car @ destination for a week because my car did not reach on time and had to shell out 200$ for the same, clubbed with the inconvenience of having to drop my car at a friend's place since I was leaving Columbus on 12th Feb 2013. The first available day for pickup was 6th Feb and the agent was very confident when I was booking the order that it will mostly be picked up on the first day itself. But, as time progressed I actually regretted my decision to go with AmeriFreight since my vehicle was not picked up in the stipulated time. It was picked up on the 8th business day and that too on a very high cost. The agent called me and said that there is a carrier with a closed truck and he will be charging 1145 and AmerFreight will take 150$ commission and that was the only option available else I may need to wait in-definitely! The cost of select express was 1300 and even after 9 days I had to shell out the same amount which really got me frustrated. I was really shocked to see that there was no plan or early booking done by the AmeriFreight agent since he knew the order has been booked. I went for that option since I was offered no other choice by AmeriFreight and what I absolutely did not like about the whole transaction was that the agent/AmerFreight still kept their share of 150$. This is absolutely un-ethical from AmeriFreight. First of all you are unable to deliver what you committed and you still want to take your commission from the already suffering consumer. Out of the 1300 I paid for my shipment, 1145 went to the actual carrier and which I understand that AmeriFreight has no control, but why did you charge me the commission since you already were over the board in terms of the pick up time you gave to me. I am absolutely unhappy with the way the whole transaction happened and the least I expected from AmeriFreight was to give me my car rental charges and the commission back which did not happen! Alas... this is what we call customer service!

Company Response
AmeriFreight from AmeriFreight Car Shipping Submitted this response.
Response Date: 4/7/2013 10:40:00 PM
We fully understand the customer's grievances. Car shipping is unfortunately not like using FedEx. We do our very best to accommodate our customers in every way. Often we spend much more time on a difficult shipment and lose most of our fee in order to make it happen for a customer. Some shipments just require more that we anticipate and sometimes our estimates are way off. Fortunately most of the time we get it right as is evidenced from 99% of our reviews. We always work hard for our customers and will always try to get the best rate we possibly can with the least risk of loss or damage. We learn from every shipment and hope to improve our services in order to try avoid this from happening again.