Misleading - Don't count on timeliness!

Dawn Submitted this review about State 2 State Auto Transport Inc.
Review made Live: 1/6/2011 8:55:00 AM
My elderly parents received a quote of $695 on Nov. 8 for transporting their vehicle from Indiana to Arizona with Dec. 14/15 pickup and Dec. 22 delivery date. Dates were important as they were leaving town Dec. 16. Gilles, the salesman, reassured them - no problem! Dec. 16 arrives...still no pickup. WE phoned State 2 State. Alina called back and gave the excuse of it being the holiday season and no drivers were available. What happened to our reassuring sales pitch from November? Twice we were condescendingly asked if this was our first time transporting. What does it matter how many vehicles I've transported! They had a month's lead time for setup. Apparently, the salesman's zeal to make the sale caused him to make empty promises. The car was left outside unattended for seven days. On Day 7, when I was initiating cancellation (they lose $150 deposit), lo and behold! a driver was found (not from their normal pool of drivers); however the cost to transport rose $130. I can say that in an effort not to lose the sale, State 2 State kicked in $50 to the new cost (appreciated, but little consolation). Fortunately, the driver was very nice and accommodating to my parents and drove through a snowstorm to make his delivery on Dec. 30. State 2 State caused a great deal of stress to my aged parents. Shame on you. Their guarantee states: Honest and upfront; Doing what we say; 1 on 1 communication; Always one call away; fair and all-inclusive pricing; top notch service. I cannot say they lived up to these statements.

Company Response
Yali from State 2 State Auto Transport Inc. Submitted this response.
Response Date: 1/6/2011 10:35:00 AM
The custonmer that set up the order was Richard Pearce. The dates were set up for Dec 14-15 for pick up. We did have a driver lined up and yes, he got delayed on the pick up dates because he could not complete his full load. Unfortunetly, during the month of December, becasue of the holidays, the drivers are limited and sometimes cant get a complete load due to customers not moving, they are out of town or not enough work. The month of december is slow for all types of industries, including transport of vehicles. AS you can see from most of our reviews, we always get the job done right and our customers are very happy with our services. Sometimes there are things we cant control, like the drivers not being able to make their complete loads and get the route done. Certain routes are slower than others and with the month of december, its very hard for these drivers to get routes complete to work. We did all we could, and even had several drivers trying to do this route. In this industry, dates are Always estimated and delivery dates are never guaranteed, since we know drivers are delayed for many reasons. We were able to find a driver finally to get a load complete and we gave you the option if you wanted to take this driver who was more expensive to pick up the car on Dec 22-23 for your parents. You took this option and we even paid a portion of it to help out, which we dont have to do. It even states on our contracts that dates are Estimated, due to any delays the driver might have, including if he can not get a full load. We can not control that, they depend on customers moving their cars to fill up their truck loads and if there is not enough cars moving, they dont make money for the route. We understand your frustration for your parents, and I assure you, if we cuold have done anything more to move it any faster, we would have, but we depend on these drivers who are the actual ones picking up the cars from the customers, to get their completes loads done and schedule the trnasports. Drivers make their own prices, so when this driver callde us and was more expensive, we called you to give you teh option if you wante to take it. The money goes directly to the driver, not us. If you were unhappy with this option or the delay, you cuold have let us know at that time or not taken that driver. We are not misleading nor do we lie to our customers. We are very honest and we do the best we can, even in situations we cant control. We appreciate your review and hoped you would have told us earlier instead of posting this. But we understand, that not everyone can be a satisfied customer.