I have been helping a customer for the last 2 days with a car shipping problem.
Here it is:
Customer calls me on a Thursday for a price to ship a car from NY to GA. I gave him a price of $535.00. He agrees to the price, but before he would commit to this transaction, he wanted to know when I could get a truck out there to pick up the car. I explained I would do some checking and see what’s available and get back to him. I called him back Friday morning to let him know I had found a truck that would pick up his car Monday morning. He tells me he’ll get back to me. I never hear back from him.
It’s now Monday at about noon and this customer calls me up again. He reluctantly explains to me that he had committed himself to another auto transport company that “Guaranteed” him a pick up of Monday morning for $5 less than my price and he also gave them a $200.00 deposit on his credit card to secure the order.
To this point they have not been able to come up with a truck. He had been on the phone all morning, now with a different rep (makes it easier to deny what the original person might have said), and they are swearing they never “Guaranteed” a Monday morning pick up. They direct him to their contract that states they have 14 days to find a carrier.
I told him I would see what I could do about finding another truck as soon as possible.
I notice this other auto transport company had his vehicle listed on a national load board (where a large part of the carriers/truckers go for their transports) for $330. I called him back and told him that I thought they had his vehicle listed too low and that’s why they haven’t been able to find a carrier yet. As luck would have it, they called him on his other phone while I was talking with him. He asked if I could listen in as he put them on speaker phone.
The broker tells him they have found a carrier/trucker that can pick up his car tomorrow, BUT the carrier/trucker wants an additional $200 because they have to “bump” another car and drive waaay out of their way to get his car. She goes on to says her company is willing to help the customer with this additional cost by reaching into their own pocket for $100 to help cover this additional cost and all he would have to come up with is the remaining $100. This now brings the total amount he would have to pay the carrier/trucker directly when his vehicle arrives to $430 (balance). That does not include the $200 deposit he already gave the broker.
Let’s do some basic math here: Their original quote = $530.00. They’ve already charged $200 (deposit) on his credit card leaving $330 (balance) for the carrier/trucker. Now they want him to believe the total amount will be $530 (original total price) + $200 (carrier request) = $730. BUT all he has to pay is $430.00 (balance) directly to the carrier/trucker when his car arrives and the $200 (deposit) he has ALREADY paid on his credit card. And don’t forget, “they are reaching into their pocket” for a $100 to pay the carrier/trucker. His total out of pocket cost for this auto transport would be $630 (credit card already charged + balance to carrier/trucker).
Now here is the rub. They claim to be reaching into their pocket to pay the carrier $100 out of what the customer already gave them in the deposit of $200. What I suggested to him was to agree to the additional $200 the carrier/trucker was requesting, but DEMAND that he (customer) pay the carrier/trucker the total amount the carrier/trucker was requesting and they (the other broker) just credit back his credit card the $100 they were going to give to the carrier/truck. They did not like that solution. There were a lot of “hmmms” and “uhhhhhs” “We can’t do that.” “That’s not the agreement we have with the carrier.”
What they wanted him to believe was the carrier/trucker wanted $330 (what the broker offered on the load board) + $200 (additional request) = $530 on delivery, but the carrier/truck would not take it unless the customer pays him $430 on delivery and the broker mails him a check for the additional $100??? WTH!!!
Call me crazy, but I don’t think that broker really had to mail the carrier/trucker an additional $100 as they claimed. I bet the carrier was to be paid $430 on delivery and the broker was going to pocket $200 as their fee. These guys were greedy and tried to pull a fast one on a customer.
By the way, my auto transport company got his vehicle moved 1 day later for my original price of $535 total!
AUTO-TRANSPORTING 101: NEVER GIVE AN UPFRONT DEPOSIT UNTIL YOU HAVE READ THEIR RETURN POLICY AND GET ALL “GUARANTEES” IN WRITING PRIOR TO SUPPLYING YOUR CREDIT CARD INFO.
Tags: auto shippers, auto shipping, auto transport, car shipping, car transport, dependable auto shippers, vehicle shipping
