Trusted First Auto Transport

Review: I contracted Trusted First Auto to ship my car from Florida to California. Their representative explained the way the process works is that I "bid" to have my car shipped and if it's high enough a driver will claim it and ship it. He also said that in order to get the car to my destination by the day I needed it, I will have to pay $100 more than I was quoted in their email to me. I didn't like this but I needed my car and was promised it would be delivered on time. Needless to say, come the day of delivery, I called the driver and he was still in TEXAS! In fact, he didn't deliver it till 4 days later! Every time I called the driver, I was given an excuse to why he was late. When I contacted the rep the day after the car was delivered, he told me I should get some money back and he would work on it -- I never heard back from him.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund of $160.00 since the service was not provided within the allotted contract time.

Business

Response:

All dates and times for pickup or delivery are estimates only. Drivers encounter traffic, weather, mechanical issues, etc that make it impossible for us to guarantee a specific day or time and every customer is told this. The salesperson who took this order said this customer was rude and unruly from the beginning and is just trying to get out of paying for a service that was provided. His car was transported and thus no refund will be issued. We provided the service, he has to pay. He filed a chargeback initially and I challenged it with his credit card company with a copy of his signature on the deliver Bill of Lading and copies of his contract and his credit card company sided with us and he is now upset. Bottom line is he doesn't want to pay for a service he received and that is illegal, theft of services. Thankfully he didn't get away with it.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

In response to his statement, the employee that I was in contact with told me that I had a right to a partial refund because they leeway they give is 2 days and my car showed up 5 days late. He told me he would talk to the carrier about a partial refund but I never hear back. If I was rude from the getgo, why did they take my business. I was upset when my car wasn't there on time and the driver kept giving me excuses as to why he was late. I'm not trying to "get away with anything" I just don't think I should pay full price for a service that wasn't performed by the date on the contract!

Regards,

Business

Response:

We are a BROKER and fulfilled our service by contracting the customer with a licensed and insured CARRIER to transport his vehicle. We are a totally separate company from the CARRIER and so the refund would have to have been from him. Once the customer signs the Bill of Lading at delivery and pays the driver, he has agreed to the service provided and that is why he paid the driver. If he he wanted a partial refund, it would have to have been from the CARRIER, not us. He is more than welcome to contact the CARRIER and try to get a refund from them, but it has nothing to do with us, the BROKER, as we provided our service as promised. A BROKER, like us, has no control over when a carrier breaks down in his truck, gets sick, gets caught in traffic, etc. This customer tried to do a chargeback against us and failed as we provided the proper documentation to his credit card company that we provided the service that was promised and they even agreed he must pay. The transportation business is not like ordering a pizza or getting a package from FedEx or UPS, there are 7-9 vehicles on the car carrier and each has a different stop in a different town that could delay the driver due to weather, mechanical failure, etc. If this customer was so unhappy, why did he pay the driver the full amount at delivery and not negotiate a discount from the driver who had control over the delay? Bottom line, no refund from us, customer received the BROKER service just fine.

Review: This complaint is against [redacted] doing business as “Trusted First Auto Transport” at [redacted] Mr. [redacted] is a sole proprietor operating a transportation brokering business out of a PMB at the above address. We were attracted to his company by his website which claims that the company has “5 Star Ratings from the Revdex.com, Transport Reviews & Transport Rankings!”.

At issue is that Mr. [redacted] received the requested down payment covering shipment of our vehicle from Michigan to California more than a month ago. He was initially very responsive but as soon as our checks cleared he terminated all communications - both by telephone and e-mail. We have sent numerous e-mails and left many phone messages to both his “Direct” (760-651-2171) and toll-free (800-559-6070) numbers requesting a return call in regards to the status of shipment -- with no response for several weeks now.

Researching after-the-fact, we found numerous adverse postings on the web detailing that Trusted First Auto Transport’s fraudulent business practices. There are no “5-Star” ratings from the claimed reviewers. Mr. [redacted]’s business has a “C+” rating with the Revdex.com, with several complaints having been lodged both at the Revdex.com and Transportation Reviews websites.

http://www.transportreviews.com/Reviews/NewestReviews/1Years/Would-Not-Use-Again...⇄ />
Elsewhere on the Web, many individuals claim to have been scammed by this company in much the same manner as it appears we have been.

The most recent posting we encountered was from two weeks ago - in regards to Mr. [redacted]'s company having likewise required prepayment and thereafter not provided the agreed service. Shipping was finally arranged at the customer's demand after the promised pickup date had come and gone. Thereafter the independent delivery company refused to deliver the car without full payment -- as Mr. [redacted]’s company had not paid the shipper as was his responsibility. It appears from her posting that “[redacted] M.” of Warwick, RI ultimately paid twice for the transport services, with no recourse.

Whether or not Mr. [redacted]'s company ultimately intended to provide the service we paid for, we can have no confidence of this. It appears from web postings that he repeatedly cut off communications with other customers once payment was sent. With the benefit of the Yelp posting by “[redacted] M.” of Warwick, RI, the risk is clear. It is obvious that our request for a full and immediate refund is more than reasonable.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Trusted-First-Auto-Transport/internet/Trusted-Firs...⇄ />
http://trustedfirstautotransport.wordpress.com/

http://scamship.com/complaint-review-uship-uship-com-shipping-broker-website-aut...⇄ Settlement: Full and immediate refund of the $450 paid by check for transportation costs.

Removal from his website of the misleading claims claims to a “5 Star” rating from the Revdex.com.

Review: This company failed to provide the transport service that we contracted for and now they will not call or email me or communicate at all.

Here are the detail as I have it quoted through emails and phone logs with the company and staff.

April 2, 2014 - Requested and receive quote to transport 1 truck from Georgia to California from [redacted]

April 2, 2014 - Received The Consumer's Guide to Automobile Shipping from [redacted]

April 2, 2014 - Sent email to [redacted] requesting a quote for two trucks & a tractor to be shipped from GA to CA

April 2, 2014 - Received a reply to call [redacted] in the morning.

I waited a week while I was getting multiple quotes from other transport companies.

April 8 & 9, 2014 - phone calls with [redacted] at Trusted First Auto Transport to discuss the transport details.

April 9, 2014 - email from [redacted] - [redacted] regarding other possible solutions for my transport issues.

April 12, 2014 - email from [redacted] - with the order receipt with details regarding my order placed with instructions on depositing the money due. We had been told we needed to give them a five day pick up timeframe. We did. The arraignment was for a pickup anytime from April 21 -25, 2014.

April 14, 2014 - I deposited the $2150. into the account number given to me by [redacted] in her email at the Wells Fargo branch in Norco, CA. I called and left [redacted] a voice message telling her so as requested. $1000. was for the working truck, $1150 was for the non op truck. We did not contract for the tractor.

April 16, 2014 - I spoke with [redacted] to see if she had a set pick up date and to let her know I would be flying to Georgia to be there for the pick up driver.

April 20, 2014 - I flew to Georgia to wait the five days for the pick up driver.

April 21, 2014 - I spoke with [redacted] and there was no driver or pick up set yet. She said because of the Easter holiday things were slow.

I also received an email from [redacted] saying she'd made ten phone calls looking for a driver. She would call me tomorrow or just

as soon as she had info. We agreed that the two car pick up was hindering finding a driver quickly and decided to cancel the non op pick up and just try

for the working truck pick up. I assumed the refund for the non op would be processed. ($1150)

April 22, 2014 - Spoke with [redacted] - no pick up, no driver

April 23, 2014 - Spoke with [redacted] - no pick up, no driver

April 24, 2014 - Spoke with [redacted] - no pick up, no driver - Nothing was set up for the 25th which was day 5 of our five day pick up period.

LuAnn said she would not know about next weeks schedule until late Friday or Monday.

I flew back home late on the 24th, very disappointed but still believing that they WERE WORKING ON FULFILLING THIS ORDER.

April 28, 2014 - I spoke with [redacted] and she assured me she was working to set a new pick up date for the second half of May.

I asked about the refund and she said she would put in or process the paper work request

May 5, 2014 - at 9:53 a.m. for 11 minutes & 55 seconds I spoke with [redacted] regarding the rescheduled dates for pick up and about the refund of the

$1150. She did not have anything set yet for the second half of May but she was very close to scheduling with this one trans[redacted] she

had been working with AND said she would call me next Monday (5-12-14) and let me know the date(s) and details .

Regarding the refund she said that she needed to know my Wells Fargo account number so they could transfer/deposit the refund to since

I did not use a credit card. I told her that I did not have a Wells Fargo account and that I would like

them to just mail me a check. We agreed that Trusted First Auto would refund $950 of the $1150 non op charge so that there would

be $1200. to offer the truck transport on the working truck.... so that would save time having to redeposit - if we need to pay more

for the pick up.

May 12, 2014 - I expected to hear fro [redacted] but did not. I called and left a voice message at 11:00 a.m.

May 13, 2014 - I called and left a voice message with [redacted]. No response.

I sent [redacted] an email and received back an automatic reply stating she is "out the office indefinitely for an emergency personal leave".

and To contact dispatch[redacted] or call customer service 8[redacted] if I needed assistance.

I did both. As a matter of fact, I have called all three phone numbers and left several voice messages requesting a phone

call to update me. I have also emailed all three email addresses that I have requesting an update. I went online to their website and requested

someone to please call me back.

May 14, 2013 - I sent an e-mail to dispatch again requesting someone to call me or email, stating how frustrated I was with this company

and their lack of response and requesting them to let me know the status of my refund and also cancelling my remaining order

and requesting a full refund now.

At 8:04 p.m. I received an email response. This is the exact wording "Try googling Carlsbad, CA and you might see why we are not able to answer

phones or emails. Thank you. Dispatch Department"

I replied that I saw the fires and evacuations and that I would be patient and wait until the next week for someone to call me back.

While I understand there were fires and evacuations and closures THAT DAY, I do not understand the lack of communication,

response or attention for the weeks leading up to that day. I have not heard from anyone at Trusted First Auto Transport since.

May 20, 2014 - I drove to Carlsbad in the hopes of meeting with someone in the office and receiving some resolution with all of this.

It is an 86 mile - one way drive for me.

I discovered that your listed place of business is a mailbox at the UPS Store and that the UPS sales person looked something up in her computer and then told me that she could not help me with any info but that I might want to contact the Revdex.com for help or information.

So to say the least - I am frustrated thinking that they are definitely some kind of scam now. [redacted] was very sincere and very believable BUT she is unavailable to reassure me any longer that they are working on anything at all. The Dispatch Department is very rude and unhelpful - fire or no fire. I have never heard back from [redacted] and have googled the info finding out that a Mr. [redacted] owns the company. Never heard from him either. That's pretty bad PR no matter how you look at it. Maybe I am stupid to think that a real company or listening to voice messages or re even readings emails - hoping that they will do the right thing but that is why I am writing this - in the hope that they are an honest company and that I will be getting my money back.

I sent them an email to every email address I could find, even making one up thinking Mr. [redacted] would have an email that followed suite like everyone else's - telling them that I would give them until 5:00 p.m. today to contact me (-one week after the fires that prevented them from contacting me per their only email response) - telling them also I would have to go through other routes - the Revdex.com, Carlsbad City Commerce, etc to try to get resolution and my full refund.

They failed to provide the service contracted for. I have given them ample time to make arraignments for a second attempt and now I have not been able to speak to a human being since speaking with [redacted] on 5-5-14.

I want a full refund. I am out of patience and I do not want to try to work with them now. Its been 5 weeks since I paid them. The "pay up front" was their deal to save brokers fee. I realize now how stupid that was on my part.

I hope you can help me. I have all the e-mails, the bank deposit slip, all the phone logs of dates and times.

Thank you very much.

[redacted]Desired Settlement: I want a full refund. I am out of patience and I do not want to try to work with them now. Its been 5 weeks since I paid them. Its been over two weeks since I last got to speak to a human being. The "pay up front" was their deal to save brokers fee. I realize now how stupid that was on my part.

Review: On Tuesday Aug. 6 my car broke down in Fillmore, CA I was towed to the nearest automotive shop which was [redacted]. That night when I was able to get home I searched the internet for towing services. One the 7th I had many emails and calls for towing companies, a few I said no thank you because they were not able to pick the car up that day. I received an email with a quote of $225 and a phone call from [redacted], after speaking to her she stated that the car could be picked up that day (in which I stressed that because the shop I had left it at wasn't doing the work on the car and I didn't want them to charge me storage fees), she had three drivers, I then informed her I had the keys and would that be a problem, she said yes it would be an extra charge being that they would have to use special equipment if it didn't have the keys "wrangler", so the charge would be $260, $100 that would have to be put down and $160 cash, money order or cashiers check to give to the driver. I again before I gave her the credit card, pick up and drop off information asked if they were going to be able to pick it up that day because the shop closed at 5 and she again said yes, that it was early enough. After I gave her the bank info. she said to have the money for the driver and she would call within one to two hours with the rest of the information. I went to get the cash. When she didn't call me back by 2 and half hours, I called her, she stated that everything was set up, the driver would call me, and to give him 1 to 2 hours. By this time it was around 11:30 am. By two I called her back once again. She gave me the drivers name and number. I called them and was told by [redacted] from [redacted] that he told her that the earliest day that they can pick it up wasn't going to be until Friday. I was livid. Tried to call [redacted] back to see if I could get my $100 refunded so that I can find another business that could pick up my car that day, and she didn't answer the phone or return my phone calls. Again, I had to call the auto shop and let them know, that I was getting the run around. On Thursday I still didn't get a call back, and was in contact with the driver and in our conversation I was told that they were located here in town had told him about the price hike since the keys were not with the car, he stated that he wasn't told that and wanted me to drop the keys off with his driver. Again on Friday I called [redacted] and I asked her about going back down to the price of $260 to $225. She stated that it was $275, and I informed her what our deal was. She stated that on the invoice was the $275, I told her I never received an invoice and that the only thing that I did receive was a receipt for the $100. She told me to check my spam which I did no invoice then she sent it that morning. I again stated that the quote was for $225 and went up only because the keys were not with the car, they now had the keys so shouldn't the price go back down. She said well yes, when the driver gets there to call her and she will talk to them about the price change. When the driver got here Saturday (which I was fine with as long as it was out of the shop) I called her and she didn't answer the phone calls. After speaking with the driver about the frustration that I was feeling with [redacted] company, he told me that there was no way that they would have picked up the car without the keys, there is no such thing as a wrangler, and that he had told her the first day she put the order in that he wasn't able to pick it up until Friday August 9.Desired Settlement: I feel that not only should I get the $50 extra charge fee returned to me, but also a refund for the lies that this company had told. It does line up with fraud, since she was telling me that the car would be picked up that day.

Business

Response:

After speaking with her transport rep, [redacted], I am confused with the nature of this complaint. [redacted] has tried to contact the customer many, many times to talk to her about her concerns and she will not call back. It is my understanding the customer left her car at a service shop, but chose not to let them do the work and wanted it transported out of there. The customer did not leave the keys with the service shop and and this causes big problems when you are attempting to transport a vehicle. This customer's accusation of fraud is so far off base that I cannot even intelligently respond to such nonsense. If the customer would come out of hiding and contact us, we can try to resolve the issue, but without communication from the customer, we have nowhere to go. Thank you.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Number one I have been sick, came from the hospital on Thursday. I have decided to do any communication with this company through email only. Second of all, I gave the keys to the driver before they picked up the car. Also, the reason why I called it being on the line of fraud because of all of the lies that I was told by this company. The main reason why I went with this company was because of the fact I was told that it would be able to be picked up that same day, I also believe that the quote that I was given should be honored, since the company again received the keys before they picked it up. The following are the messages from Ellie that I received, which is crazy to me that she would say the driver went out of his way to get the keys when I called her and told her that one I dropped them off, and told me to call her when the driver arrived because I shouldn't have to pay the extra $50 and she didn't answer the phone calls. Here is the emails from yesterday