Delayed car shipment

Carey Submitted this review about Auto Rail Forwarders
Review made Live: 2/14/2012 1:47:00 PM

When I booked my car shipment, I was told that the "usual" shipment time is 8-10 days although the shipment might take 10-14 days with delays. Gerry was responsive to my emails until he confirmed receipt of payment on April 14th.

I dropped my car off at the depot in BC on April 16th and began to inquire about the status of the shipment on April 26th. Gerry did not respond to my numerous emails and calls until May 1st when I wrote him that I thought that I would have to contact the police. He responded defensively and referred me to a new manager Riley who was much more helpful and responsive.

I strongly recommend that you do NOT use this company to transport your car.

Company Response
Nick from Auto Rail Forwarders Submitted this response.
Response Date: 3/3/2012 8:27:00 AM
JUST A NOTE,, WE MOVE OVER 2000 VEHICLES PER YEAR AND HAVE LESS THEN .05 % THAT HAVE COMPLAINTS, WE STRIVE TO DO OUR BEST... WE AREN'T PERFECT.. BUT WE TRY OUR HARDEST TO HAVE REPEAT CLIENTS. THATS IMPORTANT TO OUR BUSINESS MODEL. IMPORTANT INFO TO OUR CLIENTS........ YOU SHOULD READ..... The Response to this Review may be found in greater detail at the bottom..... however, in the mean time, we provide the following..... HERE IS A GENERAL OVERVIEW Please be advised that Auto Rail has been in Business for over 25 yrs and ships over 1000 vehicles per year, we are in Partnership and Rely on our main Service Providers CN RAIL and ALLIED SYSTEMS who both have been in business for over 60 yrs. These service providers have been Delivering our Clients Vehicles to several Locations across Canada and the USA for many many years. It is important to Note that we do have Clients who complain from time to time..and we understand the frustration of waiting for delayed shipments. Auto Rail does it's very best to get back to clients as quickly as possible with answers to there questions. In the shipping business, Private clients need info, and we understand that... ... some clients want updates, some want in the AM, some want in the PM.. some want daily , some want weekly and others.. well they understand the delays and the time it can take. Auto Rail can only give approx times and can never guarantee an exact delivery time, as per the terms and conditions that we provide to each and every client. What clients don't understand is that the auto shipping industry in Canada is very small, compared to our neighbors in the USA. Service providers in Canada ship using Rail - Truck and in some cases a Drive Away Service. Take for example, Allied Systems our main service provider, who is the Largest Auto Shipping Company in North America. Recently Allied Systems ( which you can google) lost 2 major Contracts in 2011 that they held for over 50 yrs with GM and Chrysler Corporation, leaving almost 250 trucks now sitting idle in Canada . You ask ? How has this effected the market Place and why is my shipment so late.? What private shippers don't understand is how that has effected the market place for used vehicles being moved throughout the entire Country. Basically, those smaller carriers owning from 1 to 10 trucks in Canada.. have gone after those two contracts across the county and have little or no time to move used vehicles, So the industry has taken a major turn on the used car shipping business in Canada. Why ? is it , that Clients vehicles are being delayed and put on the back burner, as others scramble to find interline carriers to hopefully move there inventory for ie: moving companies, used car dealers Gov't , and Private shippers etc etc.. Shipping vehicle in a timely manner is and has been a major problem for awhile now. Think about it..... Who would you rather move vehicles for.... GM - Chrysler or any of the big manufactures or one zzeess or two zzeess from private shippers. The answer is quite clear... truckers big and small would rather ship for manufactures, who give them little to no headaches and don't have to answer to clients shipping one vehicle at a time, versus 1000. What must be understood is that it is not our intention to hold vehicles that are being shipped, we have never lost or have had a vehicle stolen. Vehicles for sure have been delayed with out question, SOME yes have been lost in our yard, as we sometimes have over 2000 vehicles in a yard waiting to be delivered.. But ...STOLEN.. .. NONE. What Clients don't understand is that from time to time we do have to rely on several other inter connect carriers who don't tell us the straight goods and give us false hopes of yes it was or wasn't picked up, or our truck broke down and couldn't pickup the vehicle. etc etc.... Lies Lies Lies.. and what we have to tell the client is what information is relayed to us..... Inter Line Carriers as well don't like to pay there claims when we have not physically handled the vehicle. Almost every time we take the blame and fingers are pointed at our Company , when in fact the carrier who we brokered to move the vehicle , takes there fees quoted and will not and doesn't take responsibility for damages or the time delays that they have caused. All the carrier cares about is getting paid for that shipment. It is our goal since our volume of business has increased over the years to up date Review sites, like this one , so that we are on top of each and every review and we give feed back. We as well are going to start collecting and have clients submit reviews that are positive and those of which may have had a claim and that they have been satisfied. We are yes sometimes at fault for perhaps not calling or emailing a client back, in the time frame that they wish us too.. however we are here and we are moving hundreds of vehicles. Sincerely, Management AutoRail Noted to this submission. As we have different departments in our company, this was passed on to a client services department. Gerry was not responsible for this move, and our procedures followed thru to a new department. We had the client refer to the terms and conditions of the shipment and although we like to give approx or estimate transit times we can not ever guarantee, as we are at the mercy of CN Rail. We continue to up date clients as best we can, when CN provides details. My understanding is that we compensated the client.. which I will look into. Please note that this client is in correct... we have different depts in our company and different individuals handle various duties.. Gerry just happened to be handling this and many other clients orders, as we had one staff member on maturity leave.. Again we give estimates of delivery times, and can not guarantee an exact time. WE DO OUR BEST... Sincerely Management AutoRail