HORRIBLE SERVICE - DO NOT USE PYRAMID TRANSPORT CORPORATION OR YOU WILL REGRET IT!!!!!
Norann Y. Ellis
Submitted this review about
Pyramid Transport
Review made Live: 2/18/2008 8:36:00 PM
After accepting a new job in Bethesda, MD, I needed to relocate from San Diego, CA to North Bethesda, MD within a short time frame. In my previous relocations, I've always done a self move by renting a U-Haul truck and towing my car on their auto transports. In this instance, because of the time constraints involved, and not wanting to physically exert myself, I decided to hire a professional moving company and have my car shipped across the country. The moving company worked through a broker that uses Pyramid Transport Company, and the broker was very convincing in stating that they could get my car from the west coast to the east coast within 5-7 days, allowing an extra few days if there was bad weather. I decided to give them a try, and now realize that was a MAJOR MISTAKE!! I should have paid an extra $200 - $500 and used another auto transport company because Pyramid is the most UNETHICAL, UNPROFESSIONAL company I have ever dealt with; they LIE and have the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I've ever experienced.
On January 30, 2008, "Billy" from Pyramid rushed to my apartment complex to pick up my car at 9:00 a.m. because he said that the driver was leaving later that day and had more cars to pickup in route to the east coast. I showed Billy that I was turning off the kill-switch on the theft device and also went under the hood with him observing, and turned off the additional theft device by using a system key. I gave him an exact duplicate of that key, as well as the alarm remote and key to the car itself. I told him that I had towed the car from Tucson, AZ to Atlanta, GA and from Atlanta, GA to San Diego, CA with my car on a U-Haul auto transporter and the alarm never went off, so he should have no problems because it was disabled. He said that he understood, and proceeded to load my car on the flatbed truck to delivery to the larger open-bed trailer. He said that the car should be in Maryland within 5-7 days, maybe 10 at the latest and that the driver would call my home, cell and work numbers within a day or two of arrival in order to arrange delivery to my residence. So, off he went.
Fast forward to February 6, 2008. I have not heard anything from Pyramid about the status of my car, so I called the moving company. I was told that Pyramid said my car was in route and would be delivered within a couple of days. On February 8, 2008, I had not heard anything, so I called the moving company again. They contacted Pyramid again, and was told that they were delayed by the weather and my car would be delivered by the 12th or 13th. So, the 13th comes around, and no word from Pyramid. Again, I called the moving company mid-afternoon that day and was told that Pyramid was giving them the run around on the status of delivery and where the car was. The moving company said they would push for more information the next morning and call me. Well, I decided to call Billy, who had picked up my car in San Diego. He answered his cell phone and when I told him what was going on he said he would call the headquarters in New York and call me right back. He did call back about 10 minutes later and said that the "new" transport truck had broken down in El Paso, TX for the past 4-5 days, that the driver was waiting on warranty parts/service and it would not be until around the 19th or so before I would get my car. So, I asked him what had happened during the previous 7-8 missing days of travel time, and he could not give me an answer. Well, the next day, February 14, 2008, after attending a meeting at work, I retrieved a voice message around 11:00 a.m. from Pyramid's corporate office in New York informing me that "Paul" the driver was about an hour and a half outside of Washington, D.C. and he was being delayed because of traffic and the bad weather. (Mind you, it was cold outside, but the sun was shining brightly, no bad weather in sight) I called the corporate office and asked them how was it possible that the truck was broken down in El Paso, TX 12 hours earlier and all of a sudden it's within 2 hours of D.C. (I guess it's "magic"...) I told them that I have driven a U-Haul towing my car across the country twice, going through Texas each time and there is no way that you can drive an 18-wheeler from El Paso, TX to Washington, D.C. overnight XXXit takes 12 hours just to get out of Texas alone... I asked them to have Paul call me to arrange for delivery once he got to the area, and they said to call and speak with him directly. So, I called Paul's cell phone and got his voice mail. I left a message stating that I was at work waiting for him to call, and I provided all of my contact telephone numbers. This was about 11:30 a.m. Well, I never heard a word back from Paul or anyone at Pyramid. The next thing I knew, at around 1:00 p.m. I got a call from someone at G&G Towing Company in Rockville, MD informing me that they had my car and wanted to arrange delivery. I knew absolutely nothing about who these people were and asked them how it was that they were in possession of my car. They told me that Paul had dropped it off with them, saying that he could not reach me and for them to call me at work, as he had to keep going because he had other pick-ups and deliveries. The representative at G&G said it was weird to him because he called me and I answered the phone right away, so he thinks something strange was going on with Paul. So, I told G&G to meet me at my residence at 2:30 p.m. to deliver my car, which they did and that part went well. I'm ticked off because in additional to all of the lies and unethical behavior along the way, Paul never called and spoke with me directly, especially to inform me that he was LEAVING MY CAR WITH AN UNKNOWN THIRD-PARTY, nor did anyone from the New York office call. And there is absolutely NOTHING in their contract stating that they can leave the car with a third-party. What if this G&G had of been a shady operation? My car could have just disappeared and Pyramid would be claiming that they're not liable for anything, when they VIOLATED their own contract by leaving it with someone other than me.
So, about an hour after receiving my car, I prepared to go to the store and reached to turn on my sound system. I noticed that the alarm light was blinking "code" which indicated that the battery had been disconnected or someone had attempted to steal the sound system. This anti-theft feature locks up the system and it can't be used until the correct code is entered. So, by this time I'm really upset and fuming about the entire fiasco filled with lies, adversion and delays. I called the moving company and told them that the battery had been disconnected and there was absolutely no reason for that, as I know the car alarm didn't go off because I disengaged it in San Diego, and with knowing my car and the personal experiences of towing it across the country, I'm extremely aware of whether or not bumps in the road will trigger it. It was turned off completely, so no other action was necessary. Now, in addition to all of the headaches endured throughout the delayed delivery, I'll have to spend additional money to have the dealership remove the sound system from my car in order to retrieve the code to re-set the sound system. Also, the clock in the car, instead of being 3 hours behind EST, it showed being 1 hour ahead, so all of these things tell me that someone was messing with my car.
Now the moving company and I are preparing to file complaints with the DOT and BBB against Pyramid for misrepresentation, and especially because of their VIOLATION OF LIABILITY in releasing my car to a third-party. And the moving company is discontinuing using both Pyramid Transport Corporation and the broker that set-up the transport.
I could go on and on about all of the other sordid details involved, but I will just advise everyone AGAINST using Pyramid Transport Corporation. You will experience major delays, be constantly lied to and go through adversion beyond your wildest imagination. Plus, your car will probably NOT be delivered directly to you; be prepared for a third party to deliver it because Pyramid will just drop it off to some unknown entity, or maybe you'll have to go and pick it up from somewhere. It's not worth it. Use another auto transport company...
