FFFFDISadvantage Auto Non Transport
MIKE VERDOLIN
Submitted this review about
A AAAdvantage Auto Transport
Review made Live: 8/5/2004 2:36:00 PM
I am an active duty military officer. I am being transfered from Washington DC to San Diego California, with a likely deployment once I get there. My wife and two children will be following as soon as our housing arrangement is confirmed (44 month wait for married housing in San Diego, but that's a different issue). You may not realize this, but the US Government does not pay for members to move their privately owned vehicles cross country. Unfortunately, this major expense falls to the service member.
The auto transport industry is composed of myriad brokers (who don't actually move anything) and carrier companies. Some of the companies act as brokers and carriers, and there appears to be no regulating agency with respect to their operation, the way they represent themselves, or handle financial transactions and contracts. Someone needing to move a vehicle is basically at the mercy of a company they may not be able to find anything out about. There are some websites, such as http://www.movecars.com , which list many interstate transport companies and brokers. It is through this mechanism, I found A Aaadvantage Autotransport of Tempe, AZ. Their website is http://www.carmoves.com , which is conveniently an anagram of the overall reference website. They proudly boast of major customers, such as PepsiCo, CocaCola, and even the US Government (The FBI) who reportedly are "thrilled" with the level of service.
I called on July 26th, 2004 and spoke with Mr. Ed Gearhard in the sales department. He was prompt and courteous in answering a call directed to the sales department. I explained I was a military member and was transferring across country and needed my car no later than August 14th at the destination. He stated that if the car was available immediately for a 2-3 day pickup window, the car would probably arrive before me. He went so far to explain how to get my car from a terminal in the San Diego area. He directed me to a payment page and I utilized my credit card to pay the transport fee. Two days went by and the dispatch date was still not provided. I tried to call customer service, but the responsive answering disappeared, as no one answered the phone. I sent an email and was promptly told they couldn't help me without a tracking number. So I wrote the next day with the tracking number, at which point I was told it could be up to 7 days before a pickup date would be assigned. I began to get nervous, as I realize that mine is not the only car travelling across country and that I would probably not see my car in San Diego when needed.
I spoke with Sandy Welch, a customer manager at the company. She repeatedly refused to put me through to the dispatch department, saying they would not speak with me. She continued to dispute Mr. Gearhard's verbal promise that the car would be in San Diego when needed. When finally pressed, she admitted that her company is NOT only a carrier (as perpetrated on the website), but ALSO a broker meaning they would in all likely hood hire a third party, perhaps uninsured, to move my car. Since my car was nowhere near a terminal, they were waiting on this third party subcontractor to become available to pick up my car. When asked when her company would have someone available she said at earliest 1 1/2 weeks from August 3rd. This would allow exactly ONE DAY to transport my vehicle across country. She said there was nothing she could do since this was the busiest time of year.
At this point I became very skeptical that the company was telling the truth about being able to deliver on the contract. So I did a Better Business Bureau search and found this http://www.data.bbb.org/phoenix2.asp (you may have to re-enter A Aaadvantage Autotransport to pull the report). It clearly shows an unresponsive and unsatisfactory business record. Alarmed, I further researched the situation on Google and found this http://www.auto-transport-reviews.com/review/viewreview.asp?454 which details terrible experiences of several people. I then found this http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-Moving_Services-All-A_AAAdvantage_Auto_Transport_Moving_Service/display_~reviews on epinions.com and 27 of 28 people had horror stories similar to mine. In fact, in some instances, exactly the same wording, promises of pickup within 2-3 days then no shows and then the company attempted to keep a deposit of 200.00 for not having done anything. As happened in one review, Mr. Gearhard, after complaining to Ms Welch, told me that I could pay an additional 300.00 to get the car picked up in the time frame that was originally promised. This is nothing more than extortion.
I cancelled the order, filed a complaint with the FTC (intrastate commerce violations), the BBB, and disputed the entire charge with my credit card company. I then found another transport company called Specialty Mobile Systems at http://www.autotransportspecialty.com/ where I spoke with Mr. Don Ferris, owner-operator. He related that he too, as a broker/carrier, had utilized AAAdvantage and they had all but destroyed a vehicle just a few days before my call. Instead of utilizing their insurance as required, AAAdvantage refused to pay the claim, instead subrogating the owner of the destroyed vehicles' insurance.
This company misrepresents the availability of their service, over promises, under delivers, tries to steal deposits for business contracts they obviously cannot deliver on, and then perpetrate what appears to be insurance fraud on the unsuspecting customer when a vehicle is damaged.
This fiasco may have cost me 200.00, but it has cost me more in terms of now being unable to find someone else to transport my car. It has cost me time with my family, and I believe it is unconscionable to have this happen to someone in the armed services at a time of war. If it happened to me, and atleast 40 other people who bothered to post a review about it (ALL OF THEM BAD), then many,many more innocent consumers are perhaps being taken advantage of.
