Car arrived - but everything else was a failure

T. B. Busconi Submitted this review about Magic Carpet Auto Transport
Review made Live: 5/30/2012 10:25:00 AM
I found Magic Carpet based on great reviews online. I had a very pleasant exchange with Casey when I called in to set up the pick up over 1 month in advance of pick up date.
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The car arrived in New Jersey in one piece - so the total process was not a failure - however, looking at each individual interaction after the initial call, everything was truly awful.
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Initial Offer - I got a call from Casey a week or two after placing the request with an offer from a driver to drop off the car outside of Philly, some 30 minutes from where I scheduled it to drop off. The driver fed a line of nonsense, which was passed on to me, about the city I was shipping to not having proper roads. (They have multiple auto dealers and many large highway exist opportunities.) I refused this offer and was assured they would find someone to complete the order as requested a month in advance.
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Confirming Transport - I had a heck of a time getting a hold of someone as we got closer to pick up date. Several emails and voice mails were sent without response. Eventually I 'live chatted' with Michelle on their site and she was very pleasant and said someone would get back to me that day.
Nobody got back to me that day.
Again the next day I live chatted with Michelle on their site and she was able to finally get me a call back.
Both Casey and Michelle were very pleasant but blamed all of the issues on a new computer system. At this point I was very nervous that the pick up would happen and was assured it would be taken care of.
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Price and Pick Up Confirmation - I received a call back from Casey a few days before the pick up was scheduled to happen. "Good News! We confirmed a pick up driver and it will only cost $300 more than we quoted you over a month ago!" You can sense my sarcasm but it is really shady to wait until the last minute and jack the client on the price. But that is what happened. I did not feel I had much of a choice so we set the pick up and as advised I went to get a cashier's check in the delivery company's name and sent it to the contact who was receiving my car in NJ.
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Car Pick Up - the date for pick up was pushed to my last available date. The driver did not show up. At the very end of the pick up window Magic Carpet called my contact and told them they could not reach the driver and that they would try again on Monday. (This was Friday - car was meant to be picked up on Thursday or Friday at latest.) On Monday afternoon the car was picked up.
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Car Delivery - My contact received a call from the driver regarding delivery. They were in NY, had the car and wanted to make sure that we had the cash for the them. ???? We were specifically instructed that we could provide a cashier's check. My contact told the driver that we had a cashier's check as instructed and not cash. The driver said that they only delivered for cash. What kind of shady stuff is that? My contact called the delivery company and they said they would speak to the driver.
Over the next few days it became a total circus as there were calls placed daily about how the car would get there....among other things...
1. The transport broke down, there would be a delay.
2. Would it be OK if a driver was allowed to get in the car and physically drive it to the drop off location. (REALLY? What is the point of using this service if some person you do not know/trust, etc, is going to drive your car? Pretty sure you can go on Craig's List and find someone to do it for free just so they have a ride cross country.)
3. We will drop off tomorrow. (Never dropped off, called to cancel again.)
4. We are coming at 7-7:30 to drop off. My contact by this point was outraged at the awful service and told them when she would be available and when they could drop the car off.
5. Car was finally dropped off. Driver was curt and to the point - car was filthy but at least it arrived in one piece.
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Overall I was massively disappointed in Magic Carpet. Casey and Michelle were both very pleasant to deal with but the service was poor, the pick up was late, the price was raised, the delivery was both late and a complete hassle for the people kind enough to receive the car.....I would never use this company again and advise anyone looking for a smooth process using them either. This is the first time I have written a bad review of a service like this - I manage a national network of subcontractors and their service delivery as part of my job and I understand it can be difficult. The Magic Carpet grade out for this transaction was a D-. They would have an F but the car did arrive in one piece and seems to work fine thus far. I plan on taking it to a dealer to have it checked out to make sure.