I am a broker, who was looking to ship a boat for a customer of mine. I posted the boat for transport and Bill West from Haul-Your-Boat called me to book it with him. Now never did he mention to me that he was another broker who was just going to hand off the job. If he would have told me that, I would have been ok with it, because at least that way I know have known who the carrier was (which I still don't know who that was). Anyway, Bill called me and assured me they could handle the job. So I dispatched it to them.
Days later I come to find, that Bill was giving my customer a hard time about pickup because, he had no method of picking up the boat unless it was done at a boatyard with a forklift (again, he never mentioned this to me prior to dispatch). With a name like Haul-Your-Boat, you would think he'd be able to do it without the use of a yard, or would at least mention it to someone before accepting the load. So when my customer called me to complain that he'd have to tow the boat over an hour to a yard, I immediately called Bill to get the details on what was happening. With an attitude, he told me that, that's how it's gone to be done and if that is not ok with me, then "tough sh*t, I(Bill) don't need the load". I hung up with him and spoke to my customer to see if he could make it out to the boatyard because I had no one else to dispatch it to. My customer accepted.
While loading, it took them longer than expected (about 3 hours longer), which is understandable because things happen. After loading, the boat was on it's way to CA.
About 2 days from delivery, my customer gets a call from either the driver or Bill, stating that my customer MUST pay the load and unload fee at the boatyards. So again my customer called me to complain as this was not in the original agreement nor mentioned previously. I called Bill to confirm this, and he told me that he was NOT responsible for any of the loading or unloading fees. That he would NOT pay a dime of it. I asked him if he could at least cover the loading fee and my customer would happily pay the unloading fee. He said "hell no, I'm not paying a dime. I'm not even making any money on this damn thing" (please keep in mind, I did not negotiate the initial cost of transport with him, he gave me a price and that was accepted by my customer. So if he isn't making money, it's his fault, not ours). I then told him that I was shocked that he had no problem with slamming my customer with these sudden fees, without previously discussing it with him. His response was that he doesn't care and that's how it goes, but my customer is paying those fees. I responded to him by telling him that, this was the worst business I have ever dealt with and it's people like him that give this industry the TERRIBLE reviews that we get. He cursed at me some more and hung up.
I told my customer not to pay a dollar more than the original price. Local law enforcement officials would not get involved so unfortunately he had to pay the additional fees if he wanted his boat.
I can not believe that such a scummy company still has customers. Bill West, you are a liar, a scammer, rude, nasty, unprofessional, and have 0 idea how to do business.
