Pacific Atlantic Freight

Customer was charged extra for their freight being re classed by the trucking company. We can only estimate a class based upon the information we are given over the telephone at the time, as we do not see the freight shipped, the carrier however is the one that sees it. If the customer was not up...

charged on previous orders with the same incorrect class,  they should feel fortunate as every carrier does not catch a class correction,  and that was to their benefit.
 
With that said, we have attached the agreement,  this is the agreement the customer signed when they booked their freight order with us, this agreement gave us permission to charge their account for any associated extra charges, which was signed.
 
Unfortunately there is no remedy for this charge,  as the customer did not provide any proof of dimensions to reduce the class change to a lower one.
 
Sincerely,
[redacted]
PAF

Review: I hired Pacific Atlantic Freight too transport two Sheet Lifters that I purchased from The Caldwell Group out of Rockford, Illinois, I sold these units too Reliance Steel & Aluminum out of Los Angeles. The bill of lading #PAF7090, they hired Double D Express to pick up the Sheet Lifters from Caldwell Group. (Double D Express moves a lot of freight from Caldwell which they are familiar with the products that Caldwell makes, they never charged as class 150 it has always been 77.5 for sheet lifters.) I guess Double D Express gave it to Clear Lane Consolidator to transport the lifters to California. At the terminal in California they gave the freight to Total Transportation & Dist, Inc. to deliver to my customer. On 1/20/2015 I received an email with a bill for $1,127.23 for two services that I did not approve. They stated on the bill that they are charging me an extra $145.00 for an attempt to deliver the equipment to Reliance Steel when they were closed. Reliance Steel is a large company and if someone would have called prior to driving to their plant they would have told them that they were going to be closed, if no one called to see if they were going to be open why is that my fault that they had to make a second delivery. Than when they made the second delivery they told my customer they would be there between 8:00 am to 12:00 am and arrived at 6:00 pm, I had to call Pacific Atlantic Freight to find this out where and when they will be delivered so that my customer could stay over and receive the shipment.On the same email they said the class of the freight was not correct, they stated it should have been 150 and charged my credit card $982.23, the freight class that I gave Jeremy who is the salesmen for Pacific Atlantic Freight was class 77 given to me by the manufacturer of the equipment that I am shipping. I was informed by Pacific Atlantic Freight that I have to get a spec sheet from the manufacturer. I again contacted the manufacturer and asked for a spec sheet, my inside sales rep told me that these units are specials and do not have standard spec sheets. I contacted Greg at Pacific Atlantic Freight and told him what Caldwell replied and again he said that will not work.So I contacted Caldwell and asked to prepare an email so I can send it to Greg at Pacific Atlantic Freight. Joan inside sales from Caldwell stated there Sheet Lifters always shipped class 77.5. They have used many carriers that have agreed with this classification. Fedx Freight, UPS Freight, Old Dominion, R & L, Conway, Estes and the list goes on. They do not understand why the freight carrier for bill of lading #PAF 7090, Pacific Atlantic Freight is trying to charge higher. The carrier that picked up the order, Double D Express, is very familiar with their products and has also transported Sheet Lifters in the past for them at class 77.5. They also said that Pacific Atlantic Freight and Clear Lane Consolidator, bill of lading #PAF7090, seems to be trying to gouge my company with a rating class 150. I emailed this to Greg at Pacific Atlantic Freight and he said that they use these same carriers as well and with these dimensions found they would charge the same increased class.Greg from Pacific Atlantic Freight said all they are hearing my supplier is other carrier, he stated that they have no idea what was shipped in the past with these carriers and the class that was used. With that said, this is simple, all they need is proof of the dimensions of the product shipped on this order to reverse their findings. So I contacted Caldwell again and asked for drawings, they told me that they normally do not send out drawing but because of this problem they would bend the rules. I sent the drawings to Greg with actual dimensions on them and he said unfortunately a drawing will not work, he said it could be a drawing of something else. He said where does it show relation to what was shipped, you can see the purchase order enclosed and the drawing have the same model number.I told Greg that the drawings that I sent him are the same drawings that are in Reliance Steel Manual for the Sheet Lifter, the drawings have dimensions on them, he also asked for a packing slip and my response was that I sold the Sheet Lifters to Reliance Steel than I purchased them from Caldwell so I would have had to make a packing slip. I did but it was not needed because Pacific Atlantic Freight supplied a bill of lading which to me acts as a packing slip.As you can see I have no idea what they are looking for. The drawings are attached with all of the emails that were sent back and forth. I signed a Freight Shipping Agreement allowing them to charge my credit card for any mistakes on the freight. I had no idea something like this would happen. After this happened I checked on yelp and live rip off reports and found the attached similar complaints against Pacific Atlantic Freight in the past.Desired Settlement: Refund the extra charges that were billed to my credit card.

Review: I hired PAF to find me a 53' semi with a reefer to haul my load of houseplants from southern CA to CO. I verified with them on 3 different occasions and was told the truck would be there. An hour after the truck was supposed to be there, I was told they didn't have a truck. I had to find myself another truck that arrived the next day. In the meantime, this new truck cost me more and I had to pay to have my plants moved from the parking lot (which is where they were left since the truck didn't arrive) into a covered building.PAF won't refund me the difference because their contract states that they are not responsible for no-shows. It states I am to go after the actual carrier. I believe it is wrong for them not to guarantee their service and make me have to work with the company THEY hired. I hired PAF, not this other company, I should only have to deal with PAF. At any rate, I've asked them repeatedly to give me the contact info for the carrier they hired, and they have refused. How can I do what their own contract states, if they won't tell me who the carrier is?I would NOT recommend PAF to anyone. Once you pay them, they don't care an ounce about whether or not the service was actually provided.Desired Settlement: The original truck with PAF cost me $3,598.00. The new truck with Penske cost me $4,500 plus I had to pay $200 to have the plants moved. Difference that they owe me is $1,102.00.

Business

Response:

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience these issues may have caused.

Due to the nature of our business as a freight broker we rely on our carriers to provide the services we contract with them at our discounted rates. Unfortunately, on rare occasions such as this, due to mechanical issues or other unforeseen circumstances; the carrier is unable to perform as needed. PAF made every effort possible to rectify the situation and we were happy when we were informed that the customer was able to make other arrangements to get his freight moved as needed.

There was no written statement of a guaranteed pickup on this load. According to the department of transportation and contrary to the customer's understanding, we have no legal recourse against a carrier that fails to show up for a pickup appointment unless there was a written statement of guarantee that the shipment would be picked up.

The full amount paid for the services paid by the customer were refunded.

Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience these issues may have caused.

Best regards,

Bill Horton

Pacific Atlantic Freight

Freight Shipping Services

4607 Lakeview Canyon Rd. Ste #341

Westlake Village, CA 91361

Toll Free: 1 (800) 761-9686

Review: Offer a quote of 73% off other shippers but first have me sign a clause that you can charge me anything for any service your driver makes up then charge more then the shipping rate! Two weeks post delivery I get a charge for: limited access, my street is large. use of a lift gate.... the driver pushed off each box and five people watched....inside delivery: the driver offers to take the boxes into the garage and explains to me how he has three kids and understands how tough it can be (pretty custom in our culture to offer to help a women with heavy boxes). Now I have to pay an additional $385 for three checked boxes on the delivery form after I sign the form, not before. I was never informed by the driver that he would be charging me more then the cost to ship three boxes from Houston to Fort Collins.Desired Settlement: Take the $385 off my credit card

Business

Response:

To whom it may Concern,

Review: I was quote for a freight service and used the freight service. The shipment was made with no issues. 45 days later the company debited another $202.80 from my account for 3 charges that have not been documented or proven.I have requested a refund to my account because no one can prove that the extra services were requested by the receiver of the shipment.The information I gave for the quote and shipment were accurate and the driver made the conscious choice to provide services not requested and made a claim that the school he/she was delivering to had limited access, but nothing to back up that statement. I was very clear that the freight was going to a school, so a claim of limited access is not viable, additionally, they delivered during the school day, so there was not an issue with the time of day he was there.Desired Settlement: I would like to have $202.80 refunded to my account for the false charges.

Business

Response:

To whom It may concern:

Review: We used information provided by PAF to send a shipment. We paid for the shipment. They charged our credit card an additional $297 after the fact due to "incorrect information being provided for the shipment".Because PAF provided me with the information used for the shipment, we disputed the credit card charge with our credit card company, and the $297 was returned to us. Now, almost a year later they are billing me $1057.76 and said they have submitted us to collections. We paid for the shipment, and disputed the $297 charge. Now they claim we owe $1057.76 even though no further services were ever provided to us. We owe PAF no monies for any reason. I have a copy of Invoice 44558 PAF sent me showing paid and zero balance from 6/24/2014. The Invoice they are claiming we owe now is Invoice 44558 showing balance due of 1057.76, dated 6/24/2014.Their invoice claims discount may be removed if invoice is past due 30 or more days. We paid the invoice for freight on time. The $297 they were trying to charge us is an additional fee, not the discounted price I was quoted and paid. The description of charges in the Invoice they claim we owe is for "discount removed, original charge" which is not applicable as we paid the invoice for the freight within 30 days, and the $297 we disputed and it was returned to us. We filed a complaint regarding this matter last year, and are filing again as this company continues to attempt to collect money on amounts not owed.Desired Settlement: PAF needs to confirm we do not owe them any amount.

Business

Response:

The cardholder/complainant has left out a few important details of the transaction.

Review: We used this company for several LTL freight shipments. I explained to the sales rep that I dealt with that I did not know what freight class we should use for the metal products we ship, and was given an answer of either 55 or 60. I used a class 60 to ship metal cages, the first time in March of 2013 with no issues. The second time I sent the same cages, also as class 60, and received an upcharge of $297.45 for using the wrong class. At first they said that I should have used a class 300, and in further communications said it should have been a 400. I disputed the charge as their representative is the one who told me to use class 60 - and they denied my dispute. I then have had to spend additional hours preparing and filing a dispute with my credit card company. I should not be responsible for this upcharge, and I do not appreciate the rude way this company dealt with me regarding my dispute.Desired Settlement: I want to have PAF cancel the upcharge so I do not need to waste more time dealing with Bank of America regarding this dispute. I paid them for both the first shipment sent as well as the second identical shipment that they tried to charge me the extra $297.45 for, I do not owe them additional funds.

Business

Response:

Customer was charged extra for their freight being re classed by the trucking company. We can only estimate a class based upon the information we are given over the telephone at the time, as we do not see the freight shipped, the carrier however is the one that sees it. If the customer was not up charged on previous orders with the same incorrect class, they should feel fortunate as every carrier does not catch a class correction, and that was to their benefit.