Company Response Review Report Review
Watch out for the bait and switch!

BCMac Submitted this review about Corporate Auto Transport
Review made Live: 11/13/2013 2:29:00 PM
I set out to move one of my cars from western Colorado to western Washington. I didn't really need an enclosed transporter, so instead of calling my usual "big name" carrier, I put the job out for bid.

After dealing with a flurry of bids from aggressive brokers, I selected Corporate Auto Transport of Portland, OR for the job. Their bid of $850 was certainly not the lowest, but unlike the competition, their office contact person, Virginia, was pleasant, knowledgable, and prompt. During our initial conversation, Virginia made a point of stating that " $840 is a good, solid price, that will attract drivers, but you wouldn't want to go any lower." She then told me that they had drivers in Colorado and that it was likely that my car could be picked up within the week. She said she understood the relative remoteness of my pickup location in Steamboat Springs, CO.

So far so good.

The deal went south in a hurry though, as it became painfully evident that the quoted rate of $840 wasn't the "real price". No sooner than I had paid my deposit and signed their contract, Virginia called to say that they had a driver ready to go, but that driver wanted an additional $110 for the job. I declined, electing instead to wait for a driver that fit the bid price.

Pretty simple, right?

Wrong. 10 minutes later, the manager, Ryan, calls with the hard sell. He stated that "due to the remote location of the pickup, you'll have a tough time getting any driver to pick up the car for only $840, and that you'll need to sweeten the pot." He stated that I was "lucky this driver only wanted $110 more and not $200 or $300 more." Still, I resisted. "No way" I said. "Why should I have to pay more when you knew all along about my pickup location?

Its as if he didn't bother to look at a map before bidding.

At this point Ryan became irritated and rude. "Where you gonna get a better deal?" he demanded. "You want to move the car but you don't want to pay for it!" I informed him that $840 was the deal, $175 deposit / broker fee, and $665 for the transportation, as per the signed contract. More bad noise from Ryan about how "There aren't even any interstates near your pickup, how can you expect a truck to drive all that way off the interstate?"

This call was going nowhere fast. I wasn't about to be mugged like this. After all, there was no talk of a tough location BEFORE they had my deposit and signature.....

I suggested that sense this is apparently such a problem for him that he simply refund my deposit and I'd go elsewhere. At this point Ryan became flat out abusive: "We don't give refunds, didn't you read the contract? What kind of idiot signs a contract without reading it first?" And then he hung up on me.


Ryan called back an hour later to try again. When I informed him that I'd filed a dispute with Visa, he swore at me and hung up the phone, then cancelled my order without my specific permission, pretty much ensuring that I'll lose my deposit. A classy guy, that Ryan.

In retrospect, I spent two weeks dealing with aggressive, rude, and indifferent brokers, only to have what appeared to be a solid deal turn south.. literally on a dime. What a giant hassle!

Next time I will simply call my usual carrier. I could have had the car here a week ago had I done so. Yes it is more expensive but its so worth not having to deal with the smoke and mirrors put forth by brokers like Corporate Auto Transport.

Never again!!!!!!!!!!
Shipment Details
Origin State:
Colorado
Pickup:
Never
Destination State:
Washington
Delivery:
Never
Customer Service
Honesty:
Knowlegeable:
Promptness:
Customer Service:
Review Details
Quote or Order Id:
44576
Quote or Order Cost:
$850

Company Response
Corporate Auto Transport from Corporate Auto Transport Submitted this response.
Response Date: 11/13/2013 8:06:00 PM
First, this customer is not telling the whole truth unfortunately. He was definitely informed that his 1983 Volvo 240 was sitting in a rural location, in Steamboat Springs, CO. We explained when he placed his order that a limited amount of drivers are available for locations like this and we explained that our quotes are what is reasonable and should entice the independent drivers to take the load quickly. We always try to be accurate on quotes without over-pricing it because we want to get our customers the best price we can and that's why we explain this process so thoroughly. This customer actually confirmed we explained these variables in this review he wrote: During our initial conversation, Virginia made a point of stating that $840 is a good, solid price, that will attract drivers, but you wouldn't want to go any lower. She then told me that they had drivers in Colorado and that it was likely that my car could be picked up within the week. She said she understood the relative remoteness of my pickup location in Steamboat Springs, CO. <- That statement means he agrees we did mention these things to him. So the rest of his review stating we didn't tell him this contradicts his second paragraph that says Virginia did tell him. Also, Bait-And-Switch means: the action (generally illegal) of advertising goods that are an apparent bargain, with the intention of substituting inferior or more expensive goods. <- We did NO such thing. We advertised exactly what he got. We're a broker and we locate carriers for the purpose of contracting drivers for the consumer, meaning rates will fluctuate from one driver to the next and our quotes are our best estimates, as we state in all our emails and our contracts. Regardless, the fact is we located this customer a willing driver for his tough location on the 3rd business day and within $100 of our quote. The customer did not want the option so we did not book it and we said we would keep working on locating him a different, cheaper, driver then. He then stated he did not want to work with us so the order was cancelled out as he requested. None of our staff or Managers would ever be anything but professional to any customer and we truly hope the contradictions in this review show this customer's wretched character since he is only trying to slander us with false accusations and his defamation of our character is implausible when looking at our hundreds of excellent reviews prior to this comment.