Unable to find a carrier even after a week - do not recommend

Prav Submitted this review about Viking Auto Transport
Review made Live: 9/26/2011 11:11:00 AM
I contacted Mr. Tony at Viking Transport on 09/15 to ship a car from NY to FL.

He explained he was a broker and would list the vehicle for the agreed upon shipping price($590) and see if any driver would accept it. Fair! However, he wanted a security deposit(upfront - $150) which isn't the norm in the vehicle shipping industry.

After 3-4 days, there was no feedback from Viking so I called - was given the run around - "oh the driver should have called you and/or will call in the next 24-48 hrs" or "its the busy snow season" or "NY to FL is a busy route".

Finally, after a week(on 09/22) - I called again and tried to cancel - Tony started discouraging me saying I need to find a driver first..blah..blah and was reluctant to refund the deposit.
I demanded he refund my deposit and he changes tunes and said he found a driver available right at that second but would need additional $100 more - I simply declined the bogus offer and am waiting for refund back into my credit card(takes upto 5 business days)

I would recommend shipping with a broker carrier and not just the broker alone unless you don't mind waiting for weeks.

Update: 09/26/2011 -

#1. Viking Auto tried to take this review down by claiming am not their customer. Had to send-in additional documentation to Transport Review to prove that transaction had occurred. What a pain!

#2. Its been couple of days since cancellation and so far I haven't seen the refund posted to my credit card. I will wait for another 2 days and call my credit card to dispute the charge.

Company Response
TONY D. from Viking Auto Transport Submitted this response.
Response Date: 9/27/2011 10:12:00 AM
Praveen you did not mention in your review that we provided you with three different prices to move your car, and you chose the least expensive, it was explained to you that the price that you were choosing was the cheapest, so your car was last in line, since there were other cars paying more to drivers. This was all explained to you at the beginning, but you still chose the least expensive way, that usually takes longer to pick up the vehicle. We offered you the additional $100 and you chose to take it. But if you would have accepted it when we offered it to you in the begining your car would have not taken that long to get picked up. And your deposit has already been refunded in full.......Richard