Shippingmasters

Response to customer [redacted] complaint.

I want to apologize to [redacted] that her scooter did not get delivered by the date she was hoping for, however it was delivered within the time frame we estimated on the email quote we sent her. 

On 5/13/2014 customer [redacted]...

contacted Shippingmasters for a rate quote to ship a scooter from CO to DE.  I discussed the shipping options over the phone with [redacted] and emailed her a detailed quote on the three different shipping options available for her to consider.  We noted in the quote that each available option was a specific shipping company that we work with.  [redacted]  call me back later that day after we sent the email quote to her and selected the fastest of the three shipping options we had available at that time, which was with a shipper called [redacted] Transport.  In the second paragraph of the email quote we provided to [redacted] we noted the following statement "Shippingmasters is a broker not a transporter."  Also contained in our quote is another statement that says "Shippingmasters is a shipping broker not a transport company.  We will refer you to another company that will transport your vehicle."  The email quote was sent to [redacted] prior to her booking her scooter shipment with us, so she was informed we are a broker up-front prior to booking her shipment with us.

Our email quote listed an estimated pick up of 2-5 business days and an estimated delivery of 5-10 business days after pick up for [redacted] Transport's service.  [redacted] booked her scooter shipment with us on 5/13, her scooter was picked up on 5/16 and delivered on 5/28 according to [redacted] Transport's online tracking system.  As such, the bike was picked up within the estimated pick up time frame noted in our quote and it was delivered within the estimated time frame noted in our quote.  We did provide [redacted] with a preliminary schedule estimate over the phone for pick up and for delivery after pick up that estimated delivery prior to 5/28.  I very clearly told [redacted] prior to booking her shipment that the preliminary estimate we provided over the phone for both pick up and for delivery after pick up was an estimated time frame and that we could not guaranty the time frames.  We also noted the following statement in our email quote "Pickup and delivery time frames are estimated averages and not guaranteed.  Some shipments take less time and some take more time than estimated."  [redacted] was clearly informed that we could not guaranty delivery by a certain date, we could only provide an estimated delivery date.  Once again, her scooter was picked up and delivered within the time frames we noted on the original email quote we provide to her for review prior to booking her shipment with us.

Since I told [redacted] prior to booking her shipment that I could not guaranty delivery by 5/23, it is unclear why she decided to book with the most expensive option available and did not just go with one of the less expensive, longer delivery time frame options we proposed.  [redacted] did contact me on 5/21 about the possible delivery delay.  I did contact the manager of [redacted] Transport on [redacted]'s behalf that same day to try get them to deliver the bike by 5/23 and I also stayed in contact with them until the bike was actually delivered.  As you can see from my explanation, I did nothing to mislead [redacted] and I did not wash my hands of her shipment.  To the contrary, I was very consistent in stating the delivery time frame was not guaranteed in both my dealings with [redacted] over the phone and via the email quote we provided to her.  

Here is what I propose.  Since [redacted] seems like a nice person, I am willing to make a good faith effort to resolve this issue by refunding $35 back on her credit card, which is half of the Shippingmasters $70 down payment we collected on her scooter shipment.

Regards,

[redacted] (owner)

Shippingmasters

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Review: I called ShippingMasters and spok with [redacted]. Told him I needed to ship a scooter from CO to DE and needed it to arrive by 5/23, he provided me with the shipping options and noted that the fastest way to ship would be the only way to get it there by 5/23. I told him it would be ready for pick up on 5/15, then he checked his shippers schedules and told me that he should be able to get it to the destination on 5/21 or 5/23. I told him if I couldn't get it there by 5/23 I would just choose that slower, less espensive option. To continue with the process I needed to pay [redacted] $70.00 then and he would set up the shipment. I paid with a credit card over the phone. I was contacted by [redacted] via e-mail with a form to fill out with shipping details. I filled this out and returned it. When I received my confirmation of the shipping service the delivery date stated between 5/23 - 5/28. I called [redacted] about ths and he said I would have to call the actual shipping company for info. It's as if [redacted] took his $70 brokers fee and then washed his hands of me. I proceeded to follow up with [redacted] who referred me to [redacted] whom had taken possession of the scooter. My many callst o [redacted] ended with a call from [redacted] telling me that on 5/21 the scooter arrived in [redacted], MD which is about 100 miles from the delivery destination but that it would not be delivered to DE for another week because their trucks had already delivered to that area that week and they only go there once a week. At that point my options were to wait until 5/28 or go pick it up in [redacted], MD myself..

I did not realize that [redacted] at Shipping Masters was a broker. I feel as though [redacted] sold me on a service that could not be delivered. We spoke regarding this and he told me that he is never allowed to use the word "Guarantee" in their business and that he would not have made promises to me. He did tell me they should be able to get it to the destination 5/21 or 5/23. If he had not told me that I would have paid $100 less and just shipped it slow. I feel I was misled by [redacted] in order to make the sale for him to get his brokers fee.Desired Settlement: I believe that the $70.00 fee should be refunded due to the misrepresentation of the service capabilities communicated.

Business

Response:

Response to customer [redacted] complaint.

I want to apologize to [redacted] that her scooter did not get delivered by the date she was hoping for, however it was delivered within the time frame we estimated on the email quote we sent her.

On 5/13/2014 customer [redacted] contacted Shippingmasters for a rate quote to ship a scooter from CO to DE. I discussed the shipping options over the phone with [redacted] and emailed her a detailed quote on the three different shipping options available for her to consider. We noted in the quote that each available option was a specific shipping company that we work with. [redacted] call me back later that day after we sent the email quote to her and selected the fastest of the three shipping options we had available at that time, which was with a shipper called [redacted] Transport. In the second paragraph of the email quote we provided to [redacted] we noted the following statement "Shippingmasters is a broker not a transporter." Also contained in our quote is another statement that says "Shippingmasters is a shipping broker not a transport company. We will refer you to another company that will transport your vehicle." The email quote was sent to [redacted] prior to her booking her scooter shipment with us, so she was informed we are a broker up-front prior to booking her shipment with us.

Our email quote listed an estimated pick up of 2-5 business days and an estimated delivery of 5-10 business days after pick up for [redacted] Transport's service. [redacted] booked her scooter shipment with us on 5/13, her scooter was picked up on 5/16 and delivered on 5/28 according to [redacted] Transport's online tracking system. As such, the bike was picked up within the estimated pick up time frame noted in our quote and it was delivered within the estimated time frame noted in our quote. We did provide [redacted] with a preliminary schedule estimate over the phone for pick up and for delivery after pick up that estimated delivery prior to 5/28. I very clearly told [redacted] prior to booking her shipment that the preliminary estimate we provided over the phone for both pick up and for delivery after pick up was an estimated time frame and that we could not guaranty the time frames. We also noted the following statement in our email quote "Pickup and delivery time frames are estimated averages and not guaranteed. Some shipments take less time and some take more time than estimated." [redacted] was clearly informed that we could not guaranty delivery by a certain date, we could only provide an estimated delivery date. Once again, her scooter was picked up and delivered within the time frames we noted on the original email quote we provide to her for review prior to booking her shipment with us.

Since I told [redacted] prior to booking her shipment that I could not guaranty delivery by 5/23, it is unclear why she decided to book with the most expensive option available and did not just go with one of the less expensive, longer delivery time frame options we proposed. [redacted] did contact me on 5/21 about the possible delivery delay. I did contact the manager of [redacted] Transport on [redacted]'s behalf that same day to try get them to deliver the bike by 5/23 and I also stayed in contact with them until the bike was actually delivered. As you can see from my explanation, I did nothing to mislead [redacted] and I did not wash my hands of her shipment. To the contrary, I was very consistent in stating the delivery time frame was not guaranteed in both my dealings with [redacted] over the phone and via the email quote we provided to her.

Here is what I propose. Since [redacted] seems like a nice person, I am willing to make a good faith effort to resolve this issue by refunding $35 back on her credit card, which is half of the Shippingmasters $70 down payment we collected on her scooter shipment.

Regards,

[redacted] (owner)

Shippingmasters

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Review: I talked to [redacted] at Shipping Masters about shipping my motorcycle across the country. I was under pressure to find someone to help me quickly. [redacted] gave me different options. However, only one option seemed like it may be able to work for me. He told me I could get a refund if I found that it would not work after talking to the people responsible for shipping the bike. He told me he would send me the contact info and I needed to call to find specifics. I had to give him $70 deposit to get the ball rolling. I emailed the necessary documents to the shipper and called a few times to talk to someone. I got no answer because the company did not have weekend hours. I did receive more detailed info this morning (Monday). As soon as I found oit that this option would not work, I called [redacted] back to get my refund. He preceded to tell me I could not get a refund because It was past the 48 hrs he gave for refund eligibility. The service was booked friday and because the company he refered me to did not have weekend hrs it was not possible to find any info till monday. Shipping masters will not refund my money and I feel they are being unfair! Just because they count Saturday and sunday as 48 hrs because they are open is unrealistic! The company they sent me to could not give me any answers until they opened on monday. As soon as I found out it wouldn't work I called [redacted] back. The whole process from the beginning was set up to fail! I want my refund because there was no way to get an answer from the company that was actually hired to do the shipping! Shipping Masters made shore that there was no possible way for me to get a refund no matter what! If this doesn't get resolved, I will be contacting my lawyer!Desired Settlement: I need to be refunded in full!!!!!

Business

Response:

To: Revdex.com of AZ

This note is a rebuttal to customer [redacted] complaint to the Revdex.com regarding the refunding of his $70 Shippingmasters down payment. In order for [redacted] to submit his shipping quote request to Shippingmasters he had to click to accept the Shippingmasters Terms of Use on our request a quote page at Shippingmasters.com. The terms of use display in a widow on our request a quote page and our down payment refund policy is document in the terms of use as noted below.

"A refund of the Shippingmasters down payment will be considered if a request for refund is made within 48 hours of booking a shipment with Shippingmasters. Whenever Shippingmasters issues a down payment refund, $25 per vehicle is withheld from ANY and ALL refunds to cover processing fees. If you are not satisfied with a shipper we have referred you to or have other reasons to switch shippers or cancel a shipment, upon your request we will provide other quotes for you to consider. Your original Shippingmasters down payment will apply toward other shippers for a period of one month. The rates, terms and down payment amount of other shippers will likely vary from those of the original shipper we referred you to. The shipper we refer you to might have a separate refund policy, please check with the shipper for their refund policy."

Not only did [redacted] agree to this down payment refund policy in our terms of use by clicking his agreement to these terms on our request a quote form page, we also provided him with the link to our terms of use and our down payment refund policy on our email shipping quote (see attached copies of his quote request and our email shipping quote). Our website homepage and our shipping quote also notes that we are open 7 days a week. Additionally, when we booked the shipment over the phone with [redacted], we told him that the shipper we referred him to does their weekly scheduling on Thursdays and that since he booked his shipment on a Friday he missed that weeks scheduling session. We told him over the phone and in our email shipping quote that the estimate for pick up on his bike would be 5-10 days after scheduling took place for his shipment the following week on Thursday and that the estimate for delivery would be 14-21 days after pick up (approximately 4-5 weeks overall for delivery). This is very close to the preliminary estimated pick up and delivery time frame the shipper gave [redacted] when he called them on Monday according to the shipper [redacted] Shipping's scheduling point of contact [redacted].

I took [redacted]'s shipment booking and I want to be clear that I did not tell [redacted] that he would get a refund if he found out that the shippers timing would not work for him. The estimates for pick up and for delivery after pick up that I gave him up-front prior to booking his shipment were very close to the estimates he got directly from the shippers rep [redacted]. If that time frame did not work for him he should not have committed to booking his shipment with us at all. Additionally, we note in our terms of use and in our shipping quote that pick up and delivery time frames are estimates and that they are not guaranteed. We also mention that the actual pick up and delivery time frames can take less and/or more time than estimated.

The Revdex.com requested that I try to work something out on this issue directly with [redacted]. The follow is a list of my seven attempts to contact [redacted] to try to work out a mutually agreeable solution, each time I tried to reach [redacted] I left him a message requesting him to contact me but to date I have received no response from [redacted]:

Called [redacted] and left voicemail on 6/06 at 11:26am PST - no response

Called [redacted] and left voicemail on 6/07 at 12:09pm PST - no response

Emailed [redacted] on 6/07 at 12:10pm PST - no response

Called [redacted] and left voicemail on 6/08 at 2:16pm PST - no response

Texted [redacted] and left text message on 6/08 at 5:44pm PST - no response

Called [redacted] and left voicemail on 6/09 at 11:25pm - no response

Even though [redacted] agreed to the Shippingmasters down payment refund policy up-front prior to booking his shipment with us, I am still willing to try to work something out with [redacted] regarding his down payment. I have a significant amount of time invested in his shipment and I am willing to try to work something out with [redacted] directly. Unless [redacted] contacts me, it is not possible for us to negotiate a mutually agreeable solution.

I now request that the Revdex.com recommend the next action for me to consider on this issue.

Regards,

Shippingmasters

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,