Bumpy road
Randy
Submitted this review about
Bluestar Auto Movers
Review made Live: 12/9/2007 1:19:00 PM
I bought a vehicle on eBay and wanted to have it shipped from Boston to a shipping terminal in Seattle. I chose Bluestar for a couple reasons: 1. They had fairly favourable reviews on this site. 2. They could arrange to have the vehicle delivered to a shipping terminal in Seattle (some companies only do door to door, I needed a terminal).
Facts:
- Was quoted $1050 and given a pick-up estimate of 3-5 days. Paid deposit of $150.
- Original pickup date was scheduled for Day 5. Day 5 came and no pick-up.
- Pick-up revised to Day 8. Day 8 came and vehicle was no picked up.
- New scheduled pick-up of Day 9. Then Day 9 and that date was missed too.
- After 3 missed scheduled pick-up dates, Bluestar decided to try a different carrier. With the new carrier, I now had a new pick-up date of either Day 12 or Day 13. Day 12 and Day 13 came and went.
- New pick-up date of Day 14 was also missed.
- Vehicle was finally picked up on Day 15.
- Once the vehicle was picked up, actual transport time was very quick (3 nights).
- I picked up vehicle. Dead battery. Explained to Jason at Bluestar that vehicle had dead battery. This issue was not addressed by Bluestar. I had to buy a new battery.
Opinion:
Bluestar Pros:
- Customer service was good in terms of always being able to get a hold of someone fairly quickly. Staff are informative, mostly helpful and friendly (most of the time XXXthey can be very defensive very quickly).
- They have a toll free phone number. This is helpful because during the course of trying to get my vehicle shipped, I made several dozen phone calls to Bluestar to obtain status, arrange pick-up logistics, etc.
- Despite the repeated missed pick-up dates, transporting the vehicle was actually quite quick. My compliments to USA UA (carrier).
Bluestar Cons: This was a very frustrating and probably one of the most stressful experiences I've had to deal with.
- The main problem is that Bluestar is not the carrier, "just the broker". As a result, Bluestar claims that they cannot be held accountable for the missed pickup dates. And that's just the problem. They refuse to be held accountable for the several missed pick-up dates (or the dead battery). They simply pass the buck citing that it's not their fault, it's beyond their control, they're doing everything they can. To a certain extent, this is true. They don't operate the trucks. But if they're not accountable, what value does Bluestar add to the process? Why use a broker at all?
- At the end of the day, Bluestar simply didn't deliver on what they said they were going to do. To be clear, I understand that they only give "estimates", not guarantees. But Bluestar grossly underperformed. My estimated pick-up date was off by 10 days. I had 6 scheduled "tentative pick-up dates" and 5 of them were missed.
Recommendation:
- I would not recommend Bluestar or any other broker/agent. If they're simply going dispatch, what value do they add? Why not just book it direct with the carrier and save $150? And if you are going to use a broker such as Bluestar, ask them what carrier they're going to place the vehicle with, what is the reputation of the carrier, and what sort of relationship do they have with the carrier. In my case, Bluestar had absolutely no pull with any of the carriers from Northeast to Northwest USA, hence the multiple delays. Since they are a Florida company, perhaps they have more pull with the carriers that go in and out of Florida... I don't know.
- If you have to have the vehicle shipped, book with a carrier directly. This will eliminate the problem I had with the lack of accountability on Bluestar's part. And you'll probably save a few bucks since Bluestar isn't skimming $150 off the top for their fee.
- Quite honestly, I would have preferred to fly out to Boston and drive the 3000 miles myself. This would have saved me A LOT of frustration and anger. It would have been cheaper and quicker.
