Maine to Hawaii Transport
Doug R.
Submitted this review about
United Auto Movers
Review made Live: 8/3/2015 8:24:00 PM
Our daughter in Hawaii wanted her car shipped to her. We live in the farthest eastern region of Maine and the vehicle transport brokers from whom I received quotes couldn't find a truck that would come to our home.
Of the two companies that quickly found a truck, one required us to take the car about 250 miles to Portland, Maine and United Auto Movers (UAM) arranged transport from Bangor, Maine, 125 miles distance. I signed the contract with UAM on April 17 and Joe called me on April 21 to inform me that he had a truck that would meet us in Bangor on April 22. I was extremely pleased.
It is significant to note that my experience with Joe and Stephanie at UAM was generally very positive and the primary communication problems that caused us great frustration and consternation were with N., the trucker. My calls to UAM were diligently returned. However, our misadventure has lessons for all parties, including UAM.
We told N. that it was important to keep us regularly posted about their estimated arrival in Bangor because my wife was juggling time away from work to drive the vehicle to Bangor. Enroute, N. was setback several hours by exceptionally slow traffic and a tire blowout, but failed to tell us until we met the day after our scheduled pick up. The updates on the scheduled day kept indicating the truck was having delays, but would make it sometime later, when N. clearly knew that would not be possible. It wasn't until the evening that N. confirmed that pickup would be a day late.
N. picked up the car on Thursday, April 23, saying that they expected to arrive in Long Beach, CA within 9-10 days. In order for the car to ship on a Saturday it had to be at the port by the previous Monday. N. invited us to communicate for progress updates. On May 1 or 2 I texted and called N. but got no response. Then I called UAM and they made contact. Joe told me that N. said they would be in Long Beach Tuesday, May 5 or Wednesday the 6th.
By Thursday there was no notice that the car had been delivered to the port. I texted and called N. again, with the same no response result as before. I should have called Joe immediately, but waited until Friday for N. to answer. Joe found out from N. that the truck had broken down on the AZ-CA border sometime after N. had told Joe they would be in Long Beach on May 5 or 6 and the replacement part would not be available for several days! He said that had I contacted him sooner he could have arranged for another truck to complete transport to Long Beach to arrive by Monday, May 4 to ship out on May 9.
N. arrived at the port in Long Beach Thursday, May 14 and my daughter's car shipped on Saturday, May 23, arriving in Honolulu June 2 or 3.
Lessons learned: 1. I was too patient before contacting UAM to find out why the trip was taking so long. Don't hold back like I did to avoid being overly "pushy". My mistake - normally, I would have reacted sooner.; 2. As the customer, I should not have had to initiate contact with UAM to find out from N. what was happening with the car after it was picked up. There should have been an arrangement between N. and UAM to periodically directly communicate with each other about progress or lack thereof, especially when there were problems. UAM should have checked with N. when they did not get word by Wednesday, May 6 that my vehicle had been delivered. That was a breakdown in customer service. Otherwise, my daughter's car likely would have arrived in Honolulu two weeks earlier than it did. 3. My advice to Joe and Stephanie is to be more proactive communicating with the truckers, identifying and addressing problems eliminating the need for the customer to be disadvantaged. Had this occurred, my review would have been 5+ stars.
