May 9
I recently moved from New York to California. I hired Air Land and Sea Auto transporters to take my 2 cars to California. I scheduled my 2002 Saturn to leave on April 1st so that I would have the car at my new home before I arrived. I was told by the salesman Ben, that the move would be door to door, the price would be $947.00 for each car, and that it takes 10 to 14 days to arrive. I left them a $200.00 deposit on my credit card for each car and scheduled the first car to leave on the 1st and the second car to leave on the 14th.
Our move date was April 15th. The plan was to have my son, in California, drive my car down to the airport in Oakland on April 14th, so when I arrived on the 15th, I would have my car available to drive 3 1/2 hours to my new home.
The 1st car (Saturn) had not arrived as of the 14th, so my son reserved a car for me to drive. I understand that a few days should be allowed in case of any situation that might arise during the transporting of the car, so I did not mind renting a car for a few days. We arrived on Friday 4:00 PM PST, April 15th at my new home. On Monday I had phone service and called Air Land and Sea (ALS) Auto to find out about my car, and to see if they picked up my other car (Dodge) in New York, since they had not scheduled that pickup and before I left NY. I had to make calls before leaving NY to find out why it was not picked up on the 14th. They FORGOT to schedule it but did so when I called and it was taken on the 15th.
We were already gone and had left the key with someone. When I called ALS I left a message but never received a call back. On April 20th I spoke to the dispatcher and he said that the Dodge was picked up on the 15th and he would find out the status of the Saturn. He never called back. Over the next few days I tried to reach ALS and left messages. Finally on April 25th I spoke to Natalie at ALS customer service. She said Ben did not work there any more and she would find out about my car. No Call back... I called Natalie, the next business day and she gave me the dispatcher who told me to call M&E Transport to find out where my car was. I was shocked that there was another company involved in this move since no one ever told me about this but I called M&E and was told that they did not get the shipping order for the SATURN until April 19th!!!
The car was on its way. Now it had been 2 weeks that I had to rent a car. I was told that the Saturn would be here the following week. I asked if the Dodge would be comming too. He did not know about that but said he would call me back. NO CALL BACK...
Last Wednsday, May 4th I had to return the rental car. I drove 2 hours to Santa Rosa to return it because I thought I could deal with not having a car for a few days, while I waited for my car to be brought to me. Today is May 9th and I still do not have my Saturn that was picked up from my house in NY 5 weeks ago... I also spoke to Don at M&E today and he informed me that my car SHOULD be delivered this week. The price I had to pay was $976.00! That is about $229.00 more than my balance was on my statement, Which is $747.00.
He said that I had to call ALS to ask why they raised the price. I also found out that I have to go to SACRAMENTO to pick up my car! That is 6 hours away from me. NO ONE told me anything about having to go there... Now I have to rent another car just to go there to get my car and drive for 12 hours! On May 10th, I was in Ukiah renting a car so that I can drive the 6 hours to Sacramento when my auto arrives at Kellogg's Transport.
I got a call from Janet (my fiancee) and she was hysterical crying. She had just got off the phone with Don from M&E and she told me that when she asked a question about possibly changing the location of the dropoff, Don started yelling at her calling her an idiot, telling her she was stupid and said "she better listen to him now because stupid people should just listen", and made other derogatory remarks. When she asked his last name he said " Baxter B-A-X-T-E-R... That's first grade spelling!"
He then hung up on her. She then called Air Land and Sea and spoke to one of the sales people, Vincent, who said he was going to call Don Baxter and find out what was going on. He said he would call back and NEVER did. Today is the 11th of May at 8:00 PM. No Calls from anyone! Been Calling ALS and M&E No response to my calls. May 16th.
Called Kellogg's Transporters in the morning and found out my car was delivered on May 12th to them. I was not notified of this drop off. I had to drive to Ukiah and drop off the rental and re-rent another car (because of the dropoff point being changed for this rental to Sacramento) and drove 6 hours to Sacramento. When I arrived the car was given to me after paying $976.00! The people at Kellogg's told me that this was the price I had to pay. So I am paying ALS an extra $229.00. I will call ALS tomorrow to inform them of this mistake. I also had to rent a room because I can not drive 12 hours in one day, not to mention the extra mileage that is now on my Saturn (it is a leased car) because I had to drive it from Sacramento.
It will put me over my limit when the car is returned in August. I will have to pay for that too! June 4th: Called ALS about the extra charge and they said M&E raised the price it was not them!
Called Kellogg's Auto Transport and the Dodge Avenger is not there yet. Called M&E and they said ALS raised the price not them! Someone is lying!
June 14th Called Kelloggs Auto Transport and car is still not there.
Called ALS Ext.# 12 and they said I have to call M&E Transport to find out where the car is because they do not know where it is. They also said that M&E might want their money before delivering the car to Kellogg's.
Called M&E and left a detailed message. Will wait 1 day more for this call before I report the car stolen.
June 15th
Spoke to M&E Auto. I was told to SEND the MONEY before the car is delivered since they had a hard time collecting from Kellogg the last time.
I called an attorney (out of the phone book) and Mr. Vogel suggested I write a letter along with the $ stating that he has been notified about this situation and I also wrote in the letter that it is understood by BOTH parties that I am sending this money WITHOUT seeing my vehicle and I want to have notice prior to the delivery so I can make arrangements to go to Sacramento to pick up the car.
I also sent this letter and money orders REGISTERED MAIL on June 16th. I am now waiting for a call to let me know the status of my vehicle.
June 21st
Received a call from M&E Auto telling me that my car was on it's way to Kelloggs in Sacramento. The Driver would call me when he was near Sacramento.
June 22nd 2005
Received a call from the M&E driver. He said he was on his way from Oakland to Sacramento and would be staying at his friend's house in Sacramento. He asked if I wanted to pick up the car from his friends house. I asked him why I could not go to OAKLAND and get the car from there since it was closer to me (3 1/2 hours) He said he could not do that. I told him to bring it to Kelloggs as he was supposed to. He said OK.
At this time I started to make arrangements to get to Sacramento. Pastor Ray from our church said he would take me there on Monday.
June 23rd
Received a call from M&E Auto stating that Kellogg's refused to take the car and it is at the driver's friend's house and we could get it from there. I called Sacramento Police Dept. To report this. They took a report and said I could have the car towed from the premises to a storage yard but the fee was very expensive. Called Kelloggs and was told they do not do business with ALS or M&E because their practices are UNETHICAL...
I then called Mr. Minous, the driver's friend and spoke to his wife, who assured me that the car would be fine until Monday. She seemed very nice and gave me a cell number to reach Mr. Minous.
It looks like Monday I will be going to pick up my car at the Minous residence.
June 24th
Spoke to Mr Minous. He did not seem too happy that the car was sitting in his driveway. I explained to him the situation and he was amazed that companies would treat customers the way I was treated. I told him I would come on Monday. He said he wanted to wash his car but because mine was in the way he could not do that. We left the pickup for Monday.
June 27th
Pastor Ray from our Church, picked me up at my home on Monday 8 AM and we started the drive to Sacramento. We arrived in Sacramento at 1:15 PM. I took a photo of my car in the driveway of, Mr. Minous' residence.
I rang the bell and he came out with paperwork that had to be signed. I indicated on the paperwork where the car was when I picked it up. There did not seem to be anything wrong with the car at the time. Mr. Minous was in a hurry to leave so I could not check out every detail. We drove away. The following things are wrong with the car...
The Passenger door handle is broken off!!! There is GREASE... A lot of grease all over the outside of the car
This trip cost me about $120.00 because I paid for the Pastor's travel expenses as well as now having to pay for my own in order to get this car home. I arrived home at 8:30 PM and I am hurting because this Unnecessary trip has put another major strain on my back / neck injury.
I feel that ALS and M&E Auto ABSOLUTELY did not live up to the contract and the costs which total DOUBLE the quoted price, as well as the physical and mental stress I have incurred because of this should be compensated by them. Been Calling ALS and M&E concerning the broken door handle but nobody returns my calls.
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