On March 21 I entered into a contract with AutBay Expediting through Uship.com. The contract was in the amount of $1,500 to move household goods and my vehicle, all inclusive. The move was from San Jose, CA to Savannah, GA to leave on May 1 and be in Savannah, GA on May 5.
They asked for a deposit of $800.00 within 72 hours with balance on delivery in Savannah. I paid the deposit via PayPal on March 21. During the week prior the planned move, I emailed the Harrisons to ask if I changed the vehicle, what would be the resultant action. They responded there would be only an additional $200.00 charge. I paid the $200.00 via PayPal on April 28.
On April 29 at 10:00 A.M., I received an email from Shannon Harrison stating they would not be at my residence on Monday, May 1 to pick up my belongings and vehicle. They stated the reason was they had not received the inventory list 3 business days prior to the move and could not get the insurance coverage.
The prior week, there had been several email exchanges between myself and Shannon Harrison regarding the inventory list and I had specifically told her it would be there by Friday, April 28 at the very latest. At no point, did she ever correspond with me that was too late.
They offered me a bid-match retraction via Uship, which I refused. That would mean that I would have to go through the bidding process again and it would delay my move an indeterminate time period. They told me the soonest they could be there would be May 8.
I agreed to May 8, with the promise from them of a guaranteed arrival. They did make the promise. On May 5, I received a call from Rob Harrison who said he could have a driver at my apartment on May 6 to pick up my furniture but could not take my car, but had another driver who would be there on May 8 to pick up my car. I agreed to this since I had already had to re-schedule airline tickets, etc. And it had cost me more in rent, utilities, plane fees, etc.
On the morning of May 6, I received a phone called from Shannon Harrison and was told that the driver was in San Jose but didn't have the money for fuel. She asked could I pay him the $500 that they were going to pay him upfront. I told her absolutely not, they needed to make arrangements to get the money to him. At noon, he arrived at my apartment as planned.
Under the terms of the original contract, there were to be people there to load the furniture onto the truck, blankets, dollies, etc. Rob said that this driver would not have anyone, but would go by Home Depot and hire someone to help him. When he arrived at my apartment, he was alone, had no blankets, no dolly. My husband had to help him, I had to buy blankets.
When he begin to leave at app. 6 P.M., I as him if I needed to sign anything. He told me no, that Rob had all the paperwork in OK. Rob had told me previously that he had faxed everything to Greg (the driver) when I accepted the split-move. So he left my apartment without a bill of lading. I took pictures of the truck before he closed it and his tag number. I asked him for his telephone number and email address since he told me "he was accessible" 24 hours a day. I called him and emailed him several times during his drive with no response from him.
I was flying from San Jose on Wednesday May 8 and would be there at 11:00 P.M. Greg told me he would be there at 6:00 and he would not unload my furniture unless someone was there with the $500 cash to pay him. I made arrangements for my daughter and son-in-law to meet him when he called from my apartment in Savannah.
I arrived in Savannah and my daughter told me that Greg had called from outside Savannah and wanted them to bring him some money because he was broke-down. That was approximately 8:30 P.M. They did not meet him. We arrived at my apartment at midnight and he had just started unloading my furniture. We waited until he was finished, paid him the $500 and left. He still had to clean up some things and was there when we left. Nothing was damaged. I still received no paperwork of any kind from Greg regarding this move.
During the prior week, I had several conversations and email exchanges with Rob Harrison regarding my car transport. Each response from Rob was a different story. The driver was in Oregon having truck problems. Then he was in Redwood City and would be at my husbands condo the next day to pick-up my car. He was still having truck problems. He was somewhere else. Then he quit corresponding with me. He never showed up.
Finally on May 12, I emailed Rob and asked what was going on. He told me he would call me that night. He did not. At 10 P.M. That night, I emailed him and told him to refund me the $200 additional charge I had paid him via PayPal. I would find another transport company. He said he would do it immediately
He never refunded my money.
I called his insurance company to inquire about his bonding company. He had called the insurance company prior to that to warn them I might try to defraud him. I did not file a claim since nothing was damaged in the move. However, he did not fulfill the contract; he caused me additional costs by not fulfilling the contract and untold stress.
Since this happened, I have read on Uships site, the Harrisons have done this to other customers and they have been suspended from the Uship website.
I have filed reports with the BBB in Lawton, OK, the FBI Internet Fraud Unit, Uship.com, PayPal, the OK Attorney General, the Fair Motor Carrier's of America.
Debi
Sacramento, California
U.S.A.
0 comments