I paid Autotrail Transporters $880 to have my car shipped from MD to CA. The day before the car was to be picked up, I called to confirm and see what time the driver would arrive. I was told that he was running 2-3 days behind.
I called back in 3 days (on Thursday) to find out the status and was told that the driver would not arrive until the weekend and possibly Monday. They could not give a definite day. I was leaving to go cross-country on Saturday.
I asked them for the name of the transporter (Autotrail is just a broker) and they refused to give it to me... Most likely because they had yet to line up someone to pick up my car.
Then Greg, the "Operations Manager", who I later found out is the owner, got on the phone and proceeded to yell at me and tell me not to threaten his employees. (Huh? All I did was ask for the transporter's name.)
He then said he'd just cancel the contract because it sounded like I wasn't happy. I told him that I didn't want to cancel because they have a $250 cancellation fee and he had already been paid in full. He then told me not to call there again. The driver would get there when he could. So much for scheduling a 2-3 day window for pick up!
In the end, I cancelled the contract (in writing) out of fear that if my car did get picked up I'd never see it again. I am now out $880. You see, it took less than a minute to CHARGE my credit card. It's now been more than a month and I still have not received a refund.
Autotrail is one of the cheaper places around for a reason. They probably make much of their money by convincing people to cancel their contracts so that they can keep the $250 "administrative fee" for doing nothing!
0 comments