Serious ethics problems here- late shipment, request more money, lies
Soo Lee
Submitted this review about
Lightning Auto Carriers
Review made Live: 9/21/2016 2:24:00 PM
Company first ships my car really late, wants more money, I put a review on this site then the company hides my review by claiming I am NOT their client. I had to send the proof to transportreviews.com to prove I am indeed their customer. Then the company puts a reply to my review saying they admit I had to leave countless messages- because I work until 5 PM LA time, and they charged more money because I changed my destination from LA to San Francisco. OK... I sent my car to LA, original destination I ?ave them, I am a STAY HOME mom. They seem to lie every single time. Yes things happen when you do business, and it is best to be honest about it and get it over with. 200 bucks doesn't make me too mad, however, avoiding phone calls and chasing after Matt or Brad, then paying more money to ship my cars really late, then to have my review deleted, then replying with lies (this site advised me to put a rebuttal review, as I cannot put a reply to company's reply). If they thought I would say "forget it" and give up, then they were wrong. Serious work ethic problems need to be addressed by someone and get corrected.
Here is the original review and the company's response:
Do NOT use Lightning Auto Carriers. Lightning Auto Carriers did not fail to miss ANY of the complaints you can ever imagine in shipping your car.
(1) Always voicemail- Matt Vogel would never ever pick up the phone. I have to leave messages then he calls back at his own convenient time. I cannot talk to him during normal business hours.
(2) Ship date- Got a quote slightly lower than Montway so I went with Lightening- huge mistake. Made a reservation to take 2 cars from Boston to LA 1 month prior to pick up date. I followed up 2 weeks prior, then 1 week prior. Matt assured that my car would be picked up on the day promised. The day came (he gave 2 days) and nothing. He still claimed that he's "hopeful" the car can be picked up. Next day, nothing. I told Matt every single time I called that I am flying out the day after my car was supposed to be picked up. Next day, nothing again. By 5th day, I am getting really worried and I tried to cancel the contract with Lightning, and now I had to pay higher price with everyone else since I really needed my cars to be picked up asap.
(3) Price- Now Matt calls back claiming the driver is requesting $2,200 instead of $1,900 he quoted me. OK. how should accept the fact that my cars are still sitting in the parking lot after I flew out to CA AND now I have to pay $300 more? Matt said that is because I am sending them urgently. Urgently??? Really?? Then what was he doing one month ago when I made a reservation, then followed up few times prior to shipping date?? Now I am trying to send them urgently?
(4) Driver confirmed they did not ask for $2,200 Matt mentioned. Of course not, I knew that. I have documents to prove it, too.
Do yourself a favor and never use this company. Matt- I really hope that you train yourself on work ethics and integrity. I feel sorry that you make a living that way, it is pathetic. I went through so much nightmare trying to ship my cars after 6 days of the date you promised. My car carrier was J&S Auto Hauler, and you can save broker fee and the hassle of leaving countless messages to Matt and Brad with Lightning. J&S actually picked up my cars then dropped them off in 3 days. 3 days from Boston to LA.
Company Response
Brad from Lightning Auto Carriers Submitted this response.
Response Date: 9/10/2016 3:23:00 PM
Soo Lee is correct that she did get Matt's voice mail but what was failed to be mentioned was it was after 8:00pm. Soo Lee stated in the review " I cannot talk to him for hours during normal business hours ". We do close at 8:00pm and Soo Lee get out of work at 5:00 on the west coast 8:00 eastern standard time which is when we close. We work 8:00am - 8:00pm MON-SAT Soo Lee could not return or talk are calls then. Are communication has never been in issue in over 10 years of business. We has a driver dispatched and assigned to pick up Soo Lee's cars on her requested date from Boston to LA. The problem that came up was that Soo Lee changed her delivery from LA to San francisco the day before pick up! 382 MILES AWAY FROM THE CONTRACTED DELIVERY LOCATION. Yes there is a charge to change your route 382 miles away from where we contracted it to be. The driver agreed and so did Soo Lee to a $300.00 charge to have it delivered to San Francisco. In the end Soo Lees cars were picked up 3 days late because we had to change the route 382 miles. There was an up charge of $300.00 to deliver to San Francisco from LA for 2 cars. The cars would have been picked up on time and the price would have stayed the same if she never changed the route 382 miles the day before pick up.
