Took my order and then went on vacation.

D. Huber Submitted this review about Red Carpet Auto Transport Inc.
Review made Live: 11/10/2007 2:09:00 AM
I contracted with Red Carpet on Friday, 09-14-07. They promised a "meet the competitor's price policy" and a "senior discount" and had good ratings on this web site. Dumb me, I believed that the broker had something to do with the cost of shipping. I was flexible on pickup and delivery dates and price was not my main criteria.

A couple of business days after I contracted with Red Carpet (Tuesday, 09-18-07), I emailed Sheila. "my personal transport consultant", that we should up the price because there didn't seem to be any bids by the truckers. On Thurdsay, 09-20-07, with no response from Sheila, I called Red Carpet to see what was going on. Sheila was not there and the person on the phone had no knowledge of me or my contract, and stated that she had only been with Red Carpet for about two weeks. I was told that Sheila was on vacation and would not be back until the following week.

At that point, I decided I needed to do something on my own and contacted A.J. Transport based in the Chicago area. I had noticed him mentioned in a review on this web site. A.J. transported my car for $1,000. He was late on pickup (truck problems) and late on delivery (snow and sand storms enroute). The car arrived filthy, but undamaged. A.J. had a nice looking rig and was competient and honest. I would ship with A.J. again, but not with Red Carpet.

Here's what I learned about shipping a vehicle:
The truckers set the price and the dates, the brokers just tell you what you want to hear.
Pickup and delivery dates are just guesstimates. The truckers need to fill their trucks and will do whatever it takes to do so. Trucks break down, weather happens and other things can delay pickup and delivery. If your vehicle is picked up and delivered in one piece near the dates you wanted, consider that you've been successful.

Company Response
Terry Williams from Red Carpet Auto Transport Inc. Submitted this response.
Response Date: 11/10/2007 1:55:00 PM
Customer service is our #1 goal, and if we ever fall short, we do our very best to fix it and apologize with heartfelt sincerity. That said, keeping accurate records is our #2 goal, and I am thankful we use a wonderful web based software program (JTracker) that lets us keep accurate records as to the time and date of all communication with each and every client. Mr. Huber called after we sent him a quote, and like I do with each and every potential client, I went over what our service entails (door-to-door, same truck same driver clear through to destination, no terminals, approximately 1-10 days for pick-up from date vehicle is available, no charges until vehicle is loaded onto carrier, how and when customer would receive communications from us, and what we require of each driver before we assign our customer’s vehicle to them for transport.). Mr. Huber wanted information on our VIP price matching program and we discussed that. He decided he would like us to price match another company which had very good ratings also, so we agreed. Our original quote was for $979.00. With the VIP Price Matching, we started his pricing at $900. With this program, if we do not get a response from a truck to take the load for 3 days after it has been available for pick-up, we begin raising the price by $20.00 a day, not to exceed the original quoted amount. Mr. Huber agreed to this on 9/14. Mr. Huber’s vehicle was not available for pick up until 9/27, so the price would not start increasing to the trucks until 9/30, as agreed upon between RCAT and Mr. Huber. On 9/20, Mr. Huber emailed me that he would like to go ahead and raise the price to the truck as he would like to get a commitment from one of them to pick his vehicle up. He also let me know that it would not be available on 9/30, as this was a Sunday. I received this email while I was in Chicago IL, attending my son’s graduation from Navy boot camp. I had my laptop with me so I could stay in contact with my clients, and when I read Mr. Huber’s email, I did as he requested. On 9/24, my dispatch supervisor called Mr. Huber to let him know we had a truck to transport his vehicle, and at that time he cancelled. We charge a fee if a client cancels after we assign a truck, but since we had not finished the contract paperwork with the truck, we were able to forgo this charge. He never told us why he wanted to cancel, and it was still 3 days before the vehicle was even available for pick up. Now it has been over 45 days since he cancelled, and all of a sudden we see this review for our company and industry. Mr. Huber obviously DID NOT listen. He had unfair expectations and did not give us the time or the courtesy to meet his dates. Shame on him! We are sorry Mr. Huber feels the way he does, but we feel there was no wrong done on our part, as we did exactly what we said we would do. He just wasn’t patient, and when he wasn’t getting what he wanted (in a time frame that wasn&am