Would have appreciated better communication

Yen Pham Submitted this review about Direct Express Auto Transport
Review made Live: 7/29/2013 5:02:00 PM
June 5, 2013 – I called Direct Express (DE) to transport my car from Eugene, OR to Albuquerque, NM. They quoted $802 and charged $177 deposit that same day.

June 26 2013 – Day 1 my car was made available. I called DE to check on the status of the pick up. Was told that my car had not been assigned a driver. They will notify me asap when it has. Nothing else.

July 2, 2013 – Day 7. I called to check on the status of the pick up. Again, all I was told was that they still haven’t found a driver for my car. Nothing else, such as how many cars were currently scheduled on that route, how much longer I can expect to wait (another week? 1 month? 2 months? I know it was hard to tell, but some DE customers had waited as long as 2 months – and DE was well aware of this).

July 3, 2013 – Day 8: I emailed DE: “It looks like I'm in the 10% who do not have the car shipped within 7 days. I just want to check on the status of my shipment and see if there's anything wrong. I've already moved and would like to get my car soon.” DE didn’t respond.

July 6, 2013 – Day 11: I emailed DE again: “Please let me know how I can speed up the delivery of my car. I'm willing to pay the drivers more.” DE responded within 2 hours: “How much more? We will match you ... but it probably won't matter. Money isn't the issue ... opportunity is the issue. Very few drivers are making that run ... it happens ... but not often.” I called two other companies who quoted me $150 - $200 more than DE but was able to tell me how many cars were in the queue on that route (2), and wouldn’t take my deposit until they’ve found a driver. I emailed DE back (it was a Sat and DE don’t accept calls on weekends) to cancel my order and ask them to refund my deposit. To which DE responded right away: “Okay ... will do ... we understand. Best of luck.” Then another email to confirm the cancellation of my order. “Your deposit will be refunded back to your credit card. Please allow approximately one week for receipt.” I also filled a billing dispute with my bank in case DE failed to deliver.

July 21, 2013 – I emailed DE: “It's been over 2 weeks already and I still don't see my refund. I paid with credit card. Please advise.” DE then emailed me the refund information, processed on July 21 at 7:27pm.

July 27, 2013 – Still no refund from DE, but my bank said that the dispute went through and it got my refund back.

Company Response
Mike Rupers from Direct Express Auto Transport Submitted this response.
Response Date: 7/29/2013 7:21:00 PM
Our outstanding reputation and thousands of very satisfied customers speak for itself. We are sorry that customer Yen Pham is dissatisfied with the service. We informed Mr. Pham and say again here to all of you that shipments from New Mexico going any distance greater than one thousand miles, such as Eugene, Oregon, almost always takes longer. That is true for the entire industry. We refunded Yen Phams deposit over a week ago, which means his credit card company has not credited him, which is an issue he has with his bank. We wish Yen Pham lucks of luck in all his future endeavors.