During April of this year I called auto transportation companies to find one who could transport my son's car from Medford, MA to Colorado Springs, CO. I compared price, delivery time, insurance coverage, etc. Autotrail Transporters (AT) quoted me a price of $940, including a $50 charge to insure in case of damage during the trip, and a delivery time of one and a half to two weeks from pick-up. I agreed to this arrangement on the phone.
Several days later AT called me and said they made a mistake, and it would cost me $100 more for them to ship my car.By this time I could not arrange for another carrier to pick up the car before my son left MA so I had no choice but to go along with it. AT then charged my credit card $1,040.
The car, a 2002 Audi TT Quatro, was picked up in Medford on May 9th by a company called Autolog. My son, Casey, had placed four boxes and a duffle bag in the car which contained clothes, shoes, CDs a portable CD player. Casey was told at his time that the car would be loaded on a train within one or two days and then it would be in Colorado Springs in a week and a half. On May 20th my son called Autolog to get the status on the car. Autolog said they didn't know and told my son to call AT. He did, and asked them why the car had not arrived yet and when we could expect it. Casey told me that the woman he spoke with was rude to him and told him the car would be delivered May 31st. When I heard this I called AT to find out why they changed the delivery date. The woman I talked to was extremely rude and denied that they ever said the car would be delivered in one and a half to two weeks. She said they always state that the car will be delivered in one and a half to two and a half weeks. She berated me for not paying attention to the contract, which has no delivery date specified. She repeated in an angry manner that the car would be delivered on May 31st. After this I called a few other auto carriers and asked them how long it would take to ship a car from Medford, MA to Colorado Springs, CO. I was told anywhere from 4 days by one to 7 to 10 days by others. Each time, I asked if this was working days and was told no, total days".
May 31st came and went and still no car. So my son called AT on June 1st and asked again why the car had not been delivered. This time he spoke to a man who was even more rude and abusive than the woman had been. He told my son that we had never been given a delivery date, that they never give an estimated delivery time and that the car would be there by this weekend. When Casey reported this to me I began to get suspicious so called AT myself.
I spoke to a man who was extremely abusive and was yelling at me. When I asked why they kept changing the delivery date every time we called them he shouted that they never gave us a delivery date and the car would be there this weekend, I then asked for his name and he said John but would not give a last name. I said OK, John you are now telling me that the car will be delivered by this weekend, I'm writing this down, At which point he started screaming at me that no, he was not giving me a delivery date, they never give delivery dates! He yelled at me to read my contract here are no specified delivery times or dates. The car would be delivered when it gets delivered! So then I asked him if this meant they could deliver the car in a year or two. He again shouted that they had no delivery dates. I then said that at some point in time I would have to report the car stolen. He then screamed at me saying that they were going to dump my car and I heard him yelling at someone in his office, giving them our invoice number and telling them to dump our car.
I thought he was just trying to scare me. However, I searched the internet under Autotrail Transporters and found sites with numerous, detailed complaints about the company. One person said that AT did dump his car and he had to pay another company to pick it up and deliver it to him. AT refused to refund any of his payment even though they are the ones who violated the contract. I also called the Colorado Springs BBB (too late, unfortunately) and they had a very large number of complaints against AT and most of the complaints had not been resolved to the customers' satisfaction.
At this point I sent an e-mail to Autolog and explained the situation and noted that since they were the last ones who had possession of the vehicle, that I hoped they could determine where it was and when it would be delivered before I had to involve State and Federal authorities. I let them know that we would be calling them for the information. On June 2nd we called Autolog and were told that the car would be delivered to Denver on Friday (June 3) and would be transported to Colorado Springs, by two different transporters, and would be in Colorado Springs by Monday or Tuesday (June 7), I had my son call back and ask if we could pick the car up in Denver on Friday and he was told no.
On Monday, June 6 the car was delivered to an auto sales lot in Colorado Springs by Roadrunner Auto Carriers. When we went to pick up the car it had been ransacked. All the boxes my son packed in the car were gone along with our garage door opener, his safety kit and miscellaneous tools that came with the car.in addition, the license plate had been stolen. Dale Vonfeldt, the person who delivered our car, said there were no boxes in the car when he picked it up in Denver. I immediately called Champion Auto Carriers, who contracted with Roadruner Auto Carriers to bring the car from Denver to Colorado Springs to report the stolen items and noted them on the pick-up receipt. I was told by Betty at Champion to call Autolog, which had closed by that time. We then called the Police to report the stolen license plate and other items.
The next day I called Autolog, who gave me the number of the person who picked up my son's car in Medford. I called him and he remembered that there were boxes in the car when he picked it up and suggested I call Autolog to find out what happened to them. I called Autolog and they referred me to AT since my contract was with them. I called Autotrail Transporters and they rudely said they tell people not to pack things in the car being shipped. I told them that I was told that my son could pack items in the car but there was a weight limit. They said they had no responsibility for my son's stolen items and told me to contact Autolog. I called Autolog again and they told me the insurance I paid for only covered external damage to the car and they would not reimburse me for the items stolen from the car. They told me to call my own insurance company. (I recorded phone conversations.)
After paying AT $1,040 to transport and insure our car, with an estimated delivery date of one and a half weeks from pick-up, I went an entire month having to share a car, I have been threatened that our car would be dumped, and my son has been deprived of his personal belongings and could not even drive the car when it was delivered because the license was stolen. This whole ordeal has also taken hours and hours of my time to pursue.
AT uses loopholes in the law to rip people off. My story is one of many. First they lie about the price and delivery time to get the business, without any intention of delivering people's vehicles in a reasonable time or at all (their contract says they don't have to). Then they use intimidation and threats to try to force people not to contact authorities and then steal anything out of the transported cars that is not nailed down.
Again, the fact that this company is using the Law to commit these crimes and that no one seems to have authority or jurisdiction to go after them is infuriating. Autotrail Transporters is the worst, let me repeat, worst company I have ever done business with in my entire life. Hopefully you can do something to stop them.
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