Unethical and fradulent business; terrible customer service - AVOID AT ALL COST

Shane Submitted this review about AmeriFreight Car Shipping
Review made Live: 6/24/2014 6:01:00 PM
They were attentive and prompt in answering calls and email up until they took my money. Once I've paid the deposit, they became almost impossible to get hold of.

I waited for about two weeks during which I received no updates from Amerifreight. When I called them, I was assured on several occasions that someone would call me back with updates on my order - no one did.

I was also transferred to a different agent multiple times. First from Dustin to Jorge, and then to Graham - all of whom were impossible to get hold of, and on those few occasions I got to speak to someone, I was told that I needed to wait and that they were working hard on finding me a carrier.

This dragged on for almost a month before I was told that a carrier would pick my car up, but for $950 more! This was almost TWICE the quote they initially gave me. At this point, I've already spent hundreds of dollars on car rental because of Amerifreight's incompetence and false promises.

I eventually cancelled my order and went with another company (who incidentally managed to find a carrier for me that same day). However, getting my deposit back proved to be another hellish experience. They insisted that I needed to wait 30-60 days for a refund and that it was "policy". There were two problems with that: 1) I don't see why it takes a month to refund me via PayPal, 2) I've already lost all trust in the company and waiting 30 days would've exceeded PayPal's 45-days claim period. I wouldn't be able to file a claim against Amerifreight if I needed to.

When I called Amerifreight to explain this situation, I was told that my deposit was never received in the first place! I was also promised that someone would call me back to address this issue, but guess what - no one did. This was when I suspected that Amerifreight was up to no good and probably never intended to give me back my money. I eventually filed a claim with PayPal and only then did I get my money back.

This is what I can conclude from the experience:
- Amerifreight relies on giving a low-ball quote to lure unsuspecting customers, only to fail to deliver and increase the quote later on - after they've secured your deposit.
They made me wait a month only to increase my quote by $950. This tells me that they were never confident of shipping my car at the initial quote of $1245 in the first place.

- The "deposit" of $250 is really a brokerage fee that goes to Amerifreight - that's all they care about. The remaining amount is what they post on the dispatch board. And of course, with an unrealistic offer like that, it's no wonder they weren't able to find a carrier!

- No reputable company would take your money BEFORE they find a carrier. You're essentially paying them for their brokerage service that they may or may not perform. Don't believe them when they say they're "working hard on finding a carrier for you" - they're not. Don't waste your time waiting on them like I did.

Please, learn from my mistakes and choose another company. Don't be misled by the numerous five-star reviews here - all their customers are being compensated for their reviews. Look instead at the numerous complaints and you'll see that this is not an isolated incident.

Company Response
AmeriFreight from AmeriFreight Car Shipping Submitted this response.
Response Date: 6/24/2014 10:35:00 PM
We would like to apologize for the bad experience our customer has had. Unfortunately as we explained with another unhappy customer review we had a major reorganization within our company. That has unfortunately caused some of our customers a great deal of inconvenience. We do blame ourselves for not being there for this customer as we would have liked to be. We are not unethical and fraudulent. Our excellent record of customer service over our entire history as a auto transporter speaks for itself. Reviews are compensated but its not dependent on only leaving 5 stars. It takes valuable time to do a proper review and we are willing to compensate customers for it, no matter what rating we get. Including the zero star from this customer. She still received the promised discount. AmeriFreight promises to exceed all our customers expectations and will go our of our way to ensure that we maintain our reputation as the most respectable, professional auto transport company in the industry.