Friendly and polite, but very late with poor communication
j71
Submitted this review about
Domestic Auto Transport
Review made Live: 5/17/2010 8:02:00 PM
I arranged for 1-7 day pickup, starting April 26. The route is basically a straight shot from DC to Denver across I-70, so I didn't really expect any problems.
When no pickup had been scheduled by day 7, I called Domestic. Elizabeth said she would "update my order" to see if she could get a hit. She called back almost immediately, saying she found a carrier to pick up on Friday May 7 (day 11), but it would cost an extra $50. I was getting tired of waiting, so I agreed. I asked for a contact number for the carrier and was told "no", but not to worry because the carrier was excellent and would call ahead of time to schedule pickup.
Unfortunately they didn't call and they never showed up. Over the next several days, I called Domestic several times to find out a status, but I didn't really learn anything substantial until Tuesday (day 15). That's when Holly was able to tell me that (1) Elizabeth no long works here, and (2) they had rescheduled the pickup for Wednesday May 12 or Thursday May 13. Great! Too bad they didn't actually show up until Friday morning (day 18)...
Since the extra $50 was for a pickup that never happened, and since it was WAY over the 1-7 day window, I asked that the extra $50 be refunded. Malia and Holly were both very nice about it, and Domestic did refund the amount with no hassle.
Delivery was scheduled for day 20 (Sunday). I confirmed the day before with Casey at Domestic, but again the carrier was a no show with no phone call. This time I made sure had gotten a contact number for the carrier, so I tried it - but no answer, no return call. I wasn't too surprised, given the history to this point.
On Monday May 17 (day 21) I called Domestic again. Casey found out that the car should be delivered within a few hours - and this time it was! The driver (Eric) called me a few minutes later and said he was on the way and would be there in about an hour. He seemed professional, friendly and courteous. The car was fine, everything worked out OK.
So my overall review is just a middle-of-the-road "3". Definitely not great, but it could have been *much* worse. The staff at Domestic was always very polite and friendly on the phone, and apologetic that things were not going well. I suppose they have very little control over the carrier - besides setting the price right, picking a good carrier, and keeping me informed. Which is what they are getting paid to do, and unfortunately it seems they screwed it up a bit this time. The carrier ultimately did take good care of the car, which is the most important thing. And Domestic did refund the additional charges when requested.
My suggestion: a little additional communication from both Domestic and the carrier (Lamb Enterprises) would really have gone a long way to improving the experience. I would have happily given a much better rating, even with all of the delays, if they had just kept me informed / not left us waiting for days without showing up or calling.
