Another HORRIBLY unsatisfied customer....but they don't mind!
Jessica Pelletier
Submitted this review about
North American Auto Transport
Review made Live: 10/21/2006 2:59:00 PM
North American Auto Transport has given me the most terrible customer service I could ever imagine; in fact I wouldn't even call what they do service.
Ryan, the reservationist, easily convinced me to opt for enclosed transport (on a train) from Massachusetts to California for a cost of $1235, as opposed to $1072 for open transport (on a truck). Also told me I could use a credit card for part of balance, which I prefer to do for large purchases because of the added protection (in case of a bad deal like this one!)
Scheduled pickup of my vehicle for about a week from when I called. That day came and went with no one showing up to get the car, no call from them. Took me three days to reach someone at NAAT for them to say it's just the nature of the business, they can't give exact schedules. Truck should be there soon, though.
I found out from the driver who picked my car up seven days late that it was, in fact, not even going on a train. He was going to transport it the entire distance on his open truck. Calls about this to NAAT went unanswered for days, as Ryan had started his disappearing act by then. I finally got in contact with Stephanie in customer service. I demanded a refund for the extra money I was paying for train transport, but she refused. No matter what argument I made about the cost difference, she said I simply could not get my car back until I paid the full amount.
Then I mentioned the credit card payment, which she said was absolutely unacceptable--cash only. Stephanie said North American does not even have a credit card machine, so they don't EVER take credit card payments. I asked to speak to Ryan to confirm our original arrangement, but he was "on the phone" all day. I actually said I'd hold for him, and was immediately disconnected-- three times. Stephanie said there was no proof anyone ever approved a credit card payment, and they would not release MY car to me until I paid cash. In fact, she said if I refused to pay when the car arrived in my area, they would put it in storage and I'd have to pay for that as well, in order to get the car back!
At this point I called the police, who said they couldn't tell a company how to run a business, so I'd have to take it to court! So North American had changed our whole agreement after they had my car, and I was forced to accept it in order to get my own car back!
Finally my car made it to California, and the day before I was to meet up with the driver to get it, Ryan called me. He had mysteriously reappeared to tell me my original $300 deposit, which by that point it had been almost a month since they'd gotten it from me, had bounced. I knew that was impossible, so he clarified that he had used the wrong routing number for the electronic check so it didn't work, and I would now have to give the driver another $300 in cash to get my car. I verified that this was true with my bank, then ended up having to carry $1235 in CASH to work with me the day of the delivery. I am a young female, and riding public transportation in San Francisco at 5am with $1235 in my pocket was not a very comfortable experience.
Then I started calling NAAT demanding a refund of the approx. $200 difference between truck and train transport, but they ignored all my calls until I started dialing*67 to block my phone number from showing on their caller ID. I got nowhere with them and was yelled at by Ryan in a very offensive manner.
Then my mother/lawyer got in contact with them, caught several lies on tape recorder, and managed to get them to send a refund request form. I didn't expect much of it but I filled it all out anyway, and sent it back.
No response from them, of course.
Thanks for reading about my terrible experience with this dishonest company. If you are considering transporting your vehicle and would like to ask me any questions, feel free to email me. DONT consider North American, of course.
If you are a current customer of NAAT and are experiencing problems, email me to compare notes. I am working on my formal complaint to the Better Business Bureau and more input from other upset customers like me could be helpful.
If you are lucky enough to not have dealt with the liars at North American, you could call them at 866-760-7660 just to tell them the stories of their unhappy customers are spreading.
