Integrity Issues / Apathetic Customer Service / Communication Failure
Kyle L.
Submitted this review about
2 J's Auto Transport
Review made Live: 6/29/2017 8:47:00 PM
Where to begin? 2 Js is a failure on every level, from interpersonal communications, competence, customer satisfaction, professionalism, follow-through, integrity, and commitment.
Background: I am an Active Duty Service Member changing duty stations from west coast to east coast. Our household goods were picked up on June 19th. I required one of my vehicles to be picked up for shipment to the east coast on June 22nd, the day before I would depart alone in my own car, because my 36 week pregnant wife with our seven year old child and a four year old child were not traveling in my car across the nation with me, instead electing to fly later after I arrived on the east coast. I needed a very precise pickup date to handle the coordination so my wife could remain rested and stress free at a hotel, while I took care of our second vehicle being shipped. My family stayed in a hotel 35 miles south of my duty station to be close to the airport prior to their flight, again to make it easier on my wife.
Experience: I used uShip to locate someone to ship my vehicle. 2 Js offered the lowest bid and I accepted their bid on June 4th. I had to reach out to them first to coordinate the shipment, speaking first with Joyce. I explained my situation very clearly, however, it was very clear to me that her responses were very superficial and contrived. She seemingly feigned understanding, yet repeatedly assured me my vehicle would be picked up on the exact date requested…furthermore assuring me the vehicle would be dropped off no earlier than June 29th, because I would not be there to receive it if it arrived any sooner. She was friendly and knew everything to say to put me at ease. She told me closer to the pickup date, around the week of pickup, she would send me the point of contact (POC) information for the driver.
True Colors Come Out: I called on June 19th, not hearing anything from 2 Js yet. This is while my household goods are being loaded onto a truck for transport to the east coast. Speaking to Joyce again, she assures me everything is okay, however, she was having her household goods moved, as well, so she was unsure of what the status was as to who the driver was. She said she would check the following morning and give me a call first thing, then send an email with the POC information for the driver. On June 20th, after not hearing anything all day, I call 2 Js to find out the status. An indifferent and unidentified woman responds that Joyce is not in, but “they are waiting to hear from the driver”. I place quotes around it, because those exact words are repeated for the next couple days by numerous people. Those words are important, because to a customer, it implies they have secured a driver, but he is simply unavailable to return a call. This could not be further from the truth. I ask this woman what she knows about my situation and she recites correct information from what I assume to be well documented notes. I feel some degree of relief…at least they are communicating with each other and documenting our conversations. The woman says I will get a call/email the following morning, at the latest. If you guessed they didn’t deliver on that promise once again, you are correct. I had to call again on June 21st. To be precise, I called three times. Now it gets ridiculous. This is the day before my pickup. I speak to an unidentified gentlemen who all of a sudden doesn’t comprehend the situation and asks me who my shipping agent is. I ask him to define shipping agent, because his company was booked to find me a driver to pickup my vehicle and I still don’t have a driver identified…the day before pickup. He tells me he will look into it and call me back in an hour. I call him back an hour and half later, because he never called me back. He still doesn’t have an update and tells me he will call back in an hour. Meanwhile, I had contacted uShip to complain about 2 Js and they attempted to exert influence on them to execute their obligations in a timely and professional manner. So, uShip shares John’s response to uShip with me…and now all of a sudden John tells them that they are in communication with me and they have a three day pickup window. I immediately replied to uShip that 2 Js does not have a three day pickup window…we agreed to a specific date for pickup, which Joyce assured me was not a problem and easy to accomplish. I immediately called 2 Js. This time I am speaking with John. I begin by telling him that I am calling again, an hour and a half after my last call, which is also 30 minutes past when I was supposed to be called back by the gentlemen I spoke to earlier. John recognizes my irritation and feels compelled to tell me he is the owner…as if I am suddenly relieved now that my ordeal will be handled. I tell John I am getting nervous and I have never shipped a vehicle before, but he attempts to calm me down by assuring me everything is fine and my vehicle will be picked up on June 22nd, as agreed…GUARANTEED! Yes, he "guaranteed" me that the vehicle would be picked up on the 22nd. He threw in that I should “have a little faith in him”, because he has “been doing this for 10 years”. I was hoping more for somewhere in the 20-30 year bracket, because now he just implied he was not as old and experienced as I thought he was…which continued to show, through his apathetic indifference to my situation and concerns, inability of his staff to return a call and communicate updates to me, and need to establish his unimpressive credibility as if to calm me and put me at ease. John tells me the same story, that he will call me back this evening or in the morning, at the latest, because of time zone difference (2 Js is in New York). Needless to say, I have to call them myself, the morning of pickup day. Joyce is back on the phone now this time. Same story…waiting to “hear from the driver”, but she “guarantees” it will get picked up today! So, after having to call back again, she now explains they never had a driver and will now add $100 of their own money to entice a driver to accept the job. She says she will hear something in an hour for sure. I call back an hour and half later. Some other gentlemen answers the phone and has to find Joyce. She passes him a message to tell me they have to add another $50 to the bid…now $150 of their own money to entice a drive…now I have to give them another hour…all on pickup day (June 22nd). I should add that I was not sure if she expected me to feel bad. I don’t have a care in the world how much money they supplement to entice a driver. If they couldn’t fulfill the contractual obligation with their proposed bid, they shouldn’t have bid in the first place. I finally get a call from Joyce. She’s excited, she has news. She’s found a driver. Instead of telling me who it is and giving me a number, she asks when I am leaving for the east coast tomorrow (June 23rd). I tell her early, knowing where this is going. Awkward conversation ensues about her not understanding how I won’t have anyone to sign for the vehicle for pickup or why I can’t just leave it with the keys in it or with someone to sign for it. I can’t even form the words to tell her how annoying she is and how ignorant I would have to be to leave my vehicle unattended with keys in it for a pickup. I also can’t believe how she can’t recall I have a 36 week pregnant wife with two kids who I’m not trying to involve or inconvenience after I leave for the east coast on June 23rd, which is why I wanted the vehicle picked up on June 22nd. She says, “ Well, I have a driver and he can be there at 8 in the morning”. Okay, I think. That will not hurt my drive time too much, so long as it is really 8 in the morning. I still have administrative tasks to do before departure, though, so this could set me back if he doesn’t show up when Joyce says he will. I ask Joyce if 8 means 8 or more like an 8 hour window around 8. She says, “Well, nothing is guaranteed in transportation”. I smile…nothing is guaranteed now…but, you and who I believe to be your son (John) guaranteed me for days that my car would be picked up on June 22nd. Funny. I tell her “as long as he is here by 8 in the morning, I am fine with that”. She quickly wants to get off the phone now, I can tell. She says, “Okay, I’ll send you the driver point of contact information now”. We hang up. I get a generic email from a 2 Js organizational email account saying my vehicle has been dispatched, but I have no driver information. I call back at least 12 times (I’ve looked at my phone log). Rings off the hook and goes to a voicemail not setup. I circumvent their phone automated phone directory to find what appears to be Joyce’s direct office line. A woman answers. I ask for Joyce and she hangs up. I call again, now Joyce answers and we’re all friendly again. I ask for the driver point of contact information, because she never sent it. She apologizes and said she was just about to send it…as I’m sure she was (sarcasm). I call the driver, but instead it is the number for his dispatch. I speak to the woman who coordinated this pickup with Joyce. She has no idea where an 8 in the morning pickup came from, as she never discussed a time with Joyce, only a date and time being “as early as possible”. The dispatch said the vehicle couldn’t be picked up until 7 in the evening at the earliest, because she doesn’t even have a driver in the state as we were talking. He wouldn’t arrive in my origin area until at least noon on June 23rd, but had to make deliveries and get sleep before picking my car up. This is pretty much where it ends. I sent three texts to Joyce to get this resolved, but she never responded. She doesn’t reply to the organizational email account anymore. She has washed her hands of this.
Pickup: So, my car is picked up the day after I requested (June 23rd). My travels are delayed while I wait for the driver, because he told me he may make it by noon, only to call and say he can’t pickup until 7 at night. I now have to leave to begin my travels, because I can’t wait that long. The military does not respond well to tardiness. I call my 36 week pregnant wife and have her drive 35 miles north to where I stage the vehicle for pickup and wait for seven hours for the driver, with my two young children, with nothing to do but sit in a rental. They have no home, no personal effects…they are in a hotel for the time I am traveling to the east coast until they board a plane to meet me after I arrive.
Delivery: The driver delivers my vehicle on June 29th as requested. The only problem is he texts me before he arrives and asks me to have payment ready in the sum of $138. I tell him I am unsure what he is referring to, but we can discuss it when he arrives. He arrives, unloads the van. Driver was very competent, gregarious, a little tardy with shifting timelines throughout the day, but overall a consummate professional. The sum he asked for was a result of 2 Js not paying his company the "extra $150 of their own money" to entice a driver to pickup my vehicle. Not sure if they expected me to cover that, but I told the driver I wasn't paying him a penny in cash and showed him the uShip shipment details and accepted bid price that I was willing/obligated to payout. All I had to do was push "Delivered" and uShip would release the payment to 2 Js. I refused to do so until the driver's dispatch got a hold of 2 Js and worked out where this extra $138 was coming from, because it sure was not coming from me. After small talking with the driver for about 30 minutes, his dispatch finally called him and said 2 Js was paying the difference. I'm not happy about this either. Good for doing it, but you said you were doing it before the vehicle was even picked up. Why inconvenience me again and make me play middle man to decipher where this sum of money is coming from? Why didn't you just pay them when you told me you were adding "the extra $150 of your own money"? Not only will I never use 2 Js to ship a vehicle again...I will never ship a vehicle again, period! Their actions have tainted the entire industry in my eyes and I have zero ability to trust anything that anyone says regarding vehicle transportation.
Thanks for screwing over and inconveniencing a US Service Member and his family! I appreciate your support!
