Terrible Customer Service, Dishonest, Unrealistic Quotes

Worst Customer Service Experince of my life Submitted this review about Express Auto Transport
Review made Live: 7/9/2008 8:52:00 PM
I never write complaints on websites or send an official complaints to the BBB. But after my experince with Express Auto Transport, I feel it is my duty to protect other people attempting to transport their vehicles.

I was intially quoted 1,395 with a pick up of time of 1-7 days and paid in full. This was the only positve customer service experince. Taking my payment, but that didn't even work smoothly their accounting system was down and they didnt process my order until Monday.

I spoke to my assigned customer serivce rep Valeri once, after I called her when I was told at the time of order she would contact me in 24 hours. After not hearing from Valeri for a week and her not returning my VM I finally reached a customer service rep who told me Valeri was no longer with the company and that they were working dillignetly as a team getting my order filled and my new service rep Lynette would call me in less than 48 hours. (I still havent spoken to Lynette)

I questioned if my order fell through the cracks during the shuffle but was insured that the entire team was trying to get my order filled and it would likly happen in a couple of days.

After not hearing from Lynette and 10 days since my order I finally called back custoemr serevice and spoke to a women named Marie who informed me that it was very difficult if not impossible to get a cross country pick up in Oregon. (Why wasn;t this detailed shared with me when I placed the order?)

After speaking to Marie, I asked for a supervisor and was transfered to keith where I left a VM asking him to call me. The following day I received a VM from a seperate custoemr service rep saying Keith had forwarded him my information and insuring me they were working on my order. I tried to call him back, but the caller id on my phone wouldn't go through to the number it displayed when he called. (Excellent customer service and integrity strategy calling peole from numbers that they cant call you back on)

After waiting another two days I called back again asking for a supervisor and was sent to Keith VM. I didn't leave a message because I knew he wouldn't call back. (Likly a VM dump)

After 16 days I decided to give Express Auto one last chance, to provide me an honest answer and potential solutions that would help get my car moved. I called and reached ashly asking to speak to a supervisor and was immediately sumped into Keiths VM, I zeroed back to the operator and told ashly I was hold for a supervisor that would speak to me live. I held for 17 minutes before hanging up. (There wasn't a supervisor to speak with in a 17 minute span.) I then called back and asked for a supervisor again that wasnt Keith and wouldn't put me on hold. I was sent to Brian, whose phone actually ringed e3 times before dumping into VM. I zeroed Back to Ashly and told her she was 0 for 2 in putting me in touch with a supevisor and asked her to find someone who could speak with me. I held for 25 minutes listening to their message about integrity, honesty, and customer service. At that time I hung up and begun to explore my other options.

I was able to track down to reptuable organizations from a Family Friend who is in the industry who were very upfront and honest with me. One told me that they could not transport my car for 4 weeks. The second worked with me to schedule a transport. Within One Hour of sending in a signed contract California Jaguar scheduled a pick up in Oregon for me. My car was picked up within 12 hours of the intial order.

Both of these companies quoted me the same price which was 1,595. They both told me that beginning june 1 the cross country rate was 1,595.

I question how express auto transport quoted me 1,395 on the 21st of the month. I guess they just wanted the business of an order they could not fill and create a dissatisfied customer. Excellent business model in my opinion.

If express auto transport would have been upfront and honest with me from the beginning I could have worked with them to get my car transported. If they actually had an assigned customer service rep to my account who contacted me and told me it would take an extra 300 dollars to get my car oicked up in 2 days I would have done it in a instant.

Sorry for the rant. I just want to be sure that no one else makes the mistake I made and use a dishonest and disreputable company.


Company Response
Mark Groteke from Express Auto Transport Submitted this response.
Response Date: 7/26/2008 10:30:00 AM
It is difficult to digest such an offensive negative review. If you have taken the time to read this entire negative post, we appreciate you taking a few more moments to please read our response as well. One of the biggest challenges for any business is unsatisfied customers that originate as a result of unrealistic expectations. From the details of this post, it sounds as if this individual expected the transport of a vehicle to be comparable to the experience of shipping a package – simple, easy, and fast. A cross-country transport, such as this, is much more complicated. A better comparison is the airline industry. When scheduling a potential flight, the more flexibility you have on travel dates, times, and number of stops gives you more options and the best value. The same basic principles apply with vehicle transports. Regrettably, when unrealistic expectations are mixed with unsatisfactory service, the result is sorely disappointing. The representative in question, Valeri, did leave Express Auto Transport in the midst of this transport. And unfortunately, the customer service team members had to somehow locate and determine the status of all of her orders and attempt to address and manage any unresolved issues. It did take time to sort out these complications and assign a new representative to fulfill the order. Honestly, our communication was probably not what it should have been as we attempted to deal with the implications of all the orders affected by Valeri’s departure. We do apologize for our deficiency in that area. However, we do not have Caller ID Block or Voice Mail dumps as this poster falsely claims. To publish such outlandish accusations bears witness to the careless criticism and malicious intent this poster has toward Express Auto Transport. In spite of the derogatory nature of these remarks, Express Auto Transport takes the comments seriously. And in just the past few weeks, our customer service team is already implementing improvements to our structure, roles, and responsibilities in order to better serve our customer’s needs. We are continually committed to invest in our customer’s satisfaction and deliver the highest quality of service possible.