Due to a military move, I called Dependable Auto Shippers on Friday May 3 to arrange transport of my 58 Cadillac from Cincinnati, Ohio to Tacoma, Washington. I spoke with a customer rep and was quoted a price on a special for $822.00. He assured me that their "customer service was second to none and had been doing this for over 50 years. Blah. Blah. Blah". To give customers "peace of mind", they had satellite tracking of all of their shipments while they were enroute. I was told to empty the car have 1/4 tank of gas or less and secure the battery. They gave me a "no later than" date of June 20.
On May 25 I drove my car 45 miles from Dayton to Blue Ash towing in North Cincinnati. A note here: everything was mechanically operational at this time or they would not have accepted the car. One day later my credit card was charged for the delivery fee of $822.00.
I arrived in Tacoma on June 12, and figured that the car would be delivered and I would be getting a call in a week to pick it up. On June 20, I used a library computer to access my Dependable Auto Shipper acct # and their website showed my car STILL in Cincinnati. I called their (800)-826-1083 to see if this was an error. After being on hold for almost 20 minutes on my cell phone a phone rep said that my car was "inoperable" and moved to "special logistics". She fowarded me to their customer service line and my phone died waiting on eternal hold.
The next day after my phone charged overnight, I called their 800# again to get someone to tell me the status of my car. I was again fowarded to customer service and this time I was able to leave my name, ph# and acct# to have someone call me back. Exactly one week went by and nobody called.
On June 28th I called again and finally got someone and asked where my car was, what was happening. I was informed at this time that my car was now in Frankfort (near Chicago) IL & had "an emergency brake that would not release" in order to continue transport it would be classified as an "inoperative vehicle" on their "Special Logistics" area. I asked why I was not informed of this and she could not give me an answer. I was also informed that it would cost an additional $1,800 to continue the transport from IL to Tacoma as an INOPERATIVE VEHICLE. I very firmly but politely asked for a supervisor to return my call ASAP.
In the meantime, I called the DAS terminal in Frankfort IL and spoke with a gentleman in the yard about my car. He told me that the emergency brake was "stuck or jammed" and they tried everything to fix it. I suggested at My cost to tow it to a repair place to fix the brake but was told they did not "have authorization to move the car from the terminal and liability issues". This was turning into a racket. I did explain to Mr. Campbell how to release the brake but I don't think he was doing it right. It was a Mr. Campbell at this time gave me the name of a Falan Mangino at DAS.
I called the 800# again and asked for Mr Mangino and got his voice mail. I again left all my info and told them "my vehicle had no mechanical issues at the beginning of the transport so someone with DAS must have damaged it or it would not have been accepted for transport".
Luckily, I have a brother-in-law who lives in the Chicago area and he was willing to help. On July 6th I called and was on hold for 20 minutes and was cut off. On July 9th I called and requested a release authorization form emailed to me. I emailed a signed & scanned a copy back for my brother-in - law and to DAS (to make sure nobody forgot anything).
My Brother-in-law and his wife got to my car and messed with the brake for about half an hour (thinking this was more involved than it really was). His wife just reached in and pulled the release lever and click! It was released!
I emailed Falan back and informed him the "brake was fixed" and the vehicle was to continue transport to Tacoma, WA.
A few more emails were exchanged in the ensuing time and the car was finally picked up at noon on Aug 13th (last week). They held my car for a total of 78 days. At 4:45 I got a call from DAS that my "car was ready to be delivered".
If it were not for exceptional luck, and my wonderful in-laws, I would have been reamed for an additional $1800.00 for an emergency brake they were inept at releasing.
My car is missing the original jack (one on ebay for $175.00 probably mine), the spare tire and trunk liner are gone too. I am getting no where with these clowns on anything. On the plus side, I finally got my car and a roughly $50.00 refund because "peak transport time had passed".
If you need to transport your car accross country, don't use (Un) Dependable Auto Shippers. They will do everything to give you the run around, screw you over or mess up your car in the process. Their "customer service" is one of those phone trees that plays awful 70s disco music and you never get through in a timely manner. Take the time and effort to rent a truck from Budget, or Uhaul. Your peace of mind is priceless. Good luck in your transport needs... You will need it from these jokers.
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