Magic Transport

Review: On January 22, 2015, my daughter (former Navy personnel and wife of retired military) and I contracted with Magical Spark's Fly horse transport to pick up our 2 horses in Madisonville, Texas from our breeder ([redacted]) and bring to Fallon, Nevada. At that time, the Magical Spark's representative ([redacted]) informed us they would be picking up the horses on February 1, 2015. That short of time (10 days) required us to overnight paper work (at an additional cost) to the breeder and to put a rush on the health certificates and Coggins blood test (all additional "rush" charges) with the veterinarian, Dr. [redacted]. We were very excited and please for this time because these horses were a gift for my daughter and son-in-law. On January 30, 2015, the Magical Spark's representative ([redacted]) informed the breeder (Ms. [redacted]) in writing that owners of another horse that they were picking up in Arizona, neglected to have all the paperwork ready so they were "stuck" in Arizona waiting on the paperwork. This delay was going to push our pick up back another 5 days according to the Magical Spark's representative ([redacted]).

On February 4th, my daughter wrote to the Magical Sparks representative ([redacted]) indicating that their driver had notified our breeder (Ms. [redacted]) that they were on the way to Texas. My daughter asked a question about heading east after picking up our horses. This is the exact reply that my daughter received from the Magical Sparks representative ([redacted]) on February 4th, 5 minutes later;

"Nope not at all true I don't know where anyone is getting there info I guess our company is going to start not posting things on Facebook because everyone is Reding into it way to much and making assumptions what has happened is the big storm that just went thru the east Michigan Pennsylvania and such we were scheduled thus past week with that store to do our east to west haul that hit pushed because of the storm so then we had to do our Midwest hauls so we were not sitting still would you say and sin e then our trips have kinda been juggled around we will be picking your horse up and going straight to Nevada he us headed tobtexas but yo finish out a route that was already in store before your route"

On 2-6-15 my daughter wrote this to the representative at Magical Sparks ([redacted]). This PM indicates that no one had heard from them regarding the pick up that was supposed to happen on 2-5-15;

"Hey there just wanted to let you know that the breeder ([redacted]) in Texas just got a hold of me to let me know that her phone was kaput yesterday and she is not sure if you guys tried to contact her or not. What she wanted to let you know is that if you guys are going to make it out to her place today you may have to wait a little bit for her since she is on courrier runs. Her phone is back up an running now, but she said that she hits a lot of no service zones on these runs she does."

There was no reply, no communication...

On 2-9-15 my daughter wrote the following;

"Hi there, I was just wondering if you had a estimated time of arrival at Ms. [redacted]'s place? I am asking since none of us have heard anything. I am a little concerned because we now have less than 3 weeks left for the health certificates we had rushed when we were first told 10 days out. Thank you."

There was no reply, no communication....

Both my daughter and I called them on the phone to try to work this out, but there was only a recording asking us to leave a message. I left a message for them to call me so that we had an exact date of arrival. I never have received a return call to date.

On 2-10-15 (10:21am)

"Do you have an arrival time for ms [redacted]'s place in texas? We are running out of time on our health certificate and would like a response please."

Reply from Sparks on 2-10-15 (10:31am)

Yes we ate working o. Delivery to Denver and then down there to you

This is the first time we heard anything about Denver and it was already 5 days past the second pick up date and 10 days past the first pickup date so we were very upset and disappointed.

At 10:45am, my daughter replies;

"Okay that does not really answer my question, I would like a date that will be fulfilled otherwise I would like you to refund us because we are well past the 10 days you originally told us and also past the 5 days that you told ms [redacted]."

No reply, no communication...

At 12:01pm, my daughter replies;

"We are cancelling our business with you. We are filing a complaint with PayPal for a full refund of our deposit"

Bottom line is that 20 days later we were no closer to having our horses picked up than we were on January 22. The only difference is that they had $617 of my money.Desired Settlement: Since the company did not perform the services promised, nor were they on their way to Texas after 20 days, we are requesting a full refund of the $617 deposit (50% of the charge for delivery our 2 horses).

Review: I hired Magic Transport(Magical Sparks Fly/Horse Transporter as their Facebook page says) with the expectation that my horse would be delivered to me in a timely and professional manner. When they were about 1 hr away from arriving in Appleton, WI (in Stevens Point, WI) she text me asking for directions. I had never been to Stevens Point at the time that they were driving through so wasn't sure how I could help, but looked up on Google Maps and told them what highways to take. She stated via text that she asked for directions from a guy at a gas station and he told her to stay on the same highway I told her to. About an hr or so later she called me and started screaming at me on the phone because according to her, I "gave her bad directions" and her "brand new Garmin" wasn't working and their phones weren't working and it was my job to give them directions. I didn't give her the wrong directions, they missed their turn and blamed me. Instead of exiting onto Highway 10 to head to Appleton, they continued on I-39/Hwy 51. This past weekend, I drove that same route and my husband's "old Garmin" didn't freak out, not once, it gave us perfect directions. Our phones also worked just fine. If you are transporting horses a person should map out their route before they leave (and use a map as a back up). After screaming at me on the phone, she handed it to her cousin [redacted]. I asked him if he had a map which he replied they did. If they had a map, they should have used it! This company charged me $100 more for their mistake, even though no where in the contract does it state they can do that. I paid it because I feared for my horse's safety. They demanded to see the PayPal invoice for the $100 when they arrived at drop off. This company had also picked up my horse at 11 pm & delivered over 24 hrs later at 1 am. It was only a 9 hr trip & it somehow took over 24 hrs. I will not refer this company to anyone & don't understand how a transport company like this travels without maps and mapping out their route.Desired Settlement: I would like my $100 back because no where in the contract did it state that Magic Transport could charge me for them missing their turn and going the wrong way nor does it state anything about the customer giving directions. The only reason I paid it was because I feared for the safety of my horse. When they delivered my horse I didn't try and get the money back than either because my husband and I feared for our safety. It was 1 am on a back road and we didn't know what could happen.