Company Response Review Report Review
Communication, Communication, Communication

Tom Krabbenhoft Submitted this review about Domestic Auto Transport
Review made Live: 7/10/2010 12:23:00 PM
I had an out of the way/remote pickup and destination that would take extra time to find a driver for. At times it felt like getting the trip assigned required me to make regular contact to make sure my trip got bumped back up in the que, since each day it was not filled, other new business was rolling in for DAT. I anticipated this need. Increased/regular contact relating to the status of the search for a truck to pick up the car would have eliminated my own unncertainties.

When a driver/truck was identified the rate was increased $100.00 from what was originally quoted. Having done some shopping around earlier, this was a reasonable charge given my request for a top load and the more remote pickup/delivery points.

The car was picked up as scheduled. The top load requested was confirmed by the seller upon pick up which would make me sleep better during the week in transit.

One day before scheduled delivery, I had not been contacted by the driver nor DAT. I called DAT and they had difficulty reaching the driver. The driver finally communicated via DAT that the delivery would come in the early evening the following day. I finally recieved a call from the driver with less than an hour notice at 6:30pm while I was on my way home via the bus. Fortunately I was able to return to my office to retrieve my $$$ and get to the point of delivery. In fact, what had happened was that the car was handed off about 30 miles from destination to another carrier. I don't know if DAT knew about this or not, but I believe that this may have contributed to communication problems. In the end the car was delivered on time, and in good condition.

My efforts at contacting and staying in touch (and a little luck with me being able to return to town in the evening to meet the driver) are what made the difference between a satisified customer experience and a potentially frustrating or really bad experience (imagine the problems had the truck driver continued with my car 100 miles to the south had I not been able to meet him at 7pm with less than an hours notice?!). I don't think DAT really expects their customers to create their own positive customer experience, but that is what I feel was the case. Communication between the customer and broker, broker and driver, and lastly the driver and customer are paramount.

Malia was pleasant to work (she went out on medical leave around the delivery time; this was her best communication to me around this and I appreciate knowing who to contact in her absence). Jerimiah did a good job of diligently trying to get a hold of the driver on delivery day and following up with me the following day as he promised to do.

I would use this company again. My main suggestion is for them to work on improving their ability to recieve communication from drivers they contract with and have a system updating customers involved in long transports one day out from the scheduled delievery and reconfirming the same day of scheduled delivery. I expect this is a problem industry wide, and not specific to DAT, who can't really control independent drivers. If not doing so already, brokers should rate drivers on communication.

In the end though:
Picked up on time
Delivered on time
No damage
Fair price
Wife loves her car!

NOTE: Many transport companies offer small refunds for posting feedback. This is smart business and shows their committement to improvement and confidence in their services. I confirmed with DAT ahead of time that the content of my review would not determine whether or not they paid such a refund or not.
Shipment Details
Origin State:
New Hampshire
Pickup:
On Time
Destination State:
Washington
Delivery:
On Time
Customer Service
Honesty:
Knowlegeable:
Promptness:
Customer Service:
Review Details
Quote or Order Id:
3858489
Quote or Order Cost:
$1296

Company Response
terry Williams from Domestic Auto Transport Submitted this response.
Response Date: 7/12/2010 3:12:00 AM
Tom I am glad to hear your wife enjoyed her anniversary gift and just as happy to see you were pleased with my services. You were on a pretty lousy route but we pulled it off and everything went very well, thank you for the nice review. MALIA 360-834-6013