DO NOT USE COAST TO COAST OF KUNA, IDAHO, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING THEM
Aubin
Submitted this review about
Coast to Coast Auto Transport
Review made Live: 2/18/2008 10:05:00 PM
COPY OF LETTER WRITTEN TO BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU:
I transported my vehicle from Orlando to Seattle due to my job relocation. Fearful of transporting my two vehicles, I explicitly used Coast to Coast Auto, (CTC), because of the specific recommendation of the website Movingscam.com and their referral of excellent customer service. I used CTC despite lower estimates. At the last moment, CTC was unable to retrieve and transport my second vehicle on the specified date, as promised, so I had to use another company. That left me in an awful position as I had to scramble to find transport in my final weekend in Florida. My car was delivered at 6:40 AM on January 30. It was delivered filthy, mud and snow covered, and in the dark. (Ironically, having been our first day in Seattle, we filmed the truck unloading our car in the dark in the snowy, icy weather.) Not once did the driver mandate I scrutinize the vehicle or provide a flashlight in the dark. He simply showed me the inside of the vehicle, obtained my $1300 payment, and left. I was unable to see signs of damage thru the thick layer of mud, dirt, and snow. My job is at the Seattle airport and the hotel, (and temporary home), I resided in was across the street. Having not established my airport contract parking, it was more convenient, (and free), to use the hotel’s free transportation to travel to work across the street. My car stayed in the hotel lot mostly for several days and after finally warming up, I took it to a self-car wash to remove all the dirt and mud. It was then I discovered that the right side of my hood and the side body was damaged from what appeared to be chains falling from the upper deck of the transport trailer. I began the process of notifying CTC of this hidden damage. (I have dated cell phone statements from two phones showing my having dialed their number in my attempts to contact CTC.) Each time I called, I was either told I would have my call returned, which never happened, and other times told to call back on Friday’s as that’s when damage claims were taken. What kind of customer service is that? One Friday I called and was told the lady was out and would call the following Monday. No call. I called and after much “run-around”, I was told I would receive an information pack with instructions. When I received the pack, I was instructed to obtain three repair estimates which I did. Still nothing. I called to see what was taking so long as it will be a short time before the damage begins to rust and deteriorate. I was told now that since I signed the statement for the muddy car that that was posing a problem and they had to think about it. In other words, I was simply out of luck because I should have had the vehicle cleaned and washed prior to signing the driver’s delivery! I was told several days later that the driver acknowledged that it was dark, snowy, icy, and noted that the damage could have easy been undetectable. As mentioned earlier, I have the vehicle on film being unloaded in the dark with snow and ice present and I will submit the film clip along with cell phone records and damage photos. To this moment, I still have not heard from CTC and the procrastinating is continuing into month four. The second car transported with AAA Transport was not recommended as highly as CTC. That car arrived in the same dirty, muddy condition from the drive. Their delivery receipt clearly states the owner is signing for visible damage only and that unseen damage because of mud cover is still the liability of their transporting company. Perhaps CTC can learn a lesson from AAA. Maybe they should agree to wash the vehicles first, provide a flashlight, and inspect their vehicles prior to releasing. If CTC does not honestly settle this matter and stop procrastinating, I will go as far as needed to hold them liable, including court, and will also submit this to Movingscam.com to inform them that CTC must be removed as their top referral and also to transportreviews.com.
(AFTER THE CONCLUSION OF THIS, COAST TO COAST ATTEMPTED TO GET OUT OF THIS BY SAYING BECAUSE THE VEHICLE WAS COVERED IN MUD AND WE WERE UNABLE TO SEE VISIBLE DAMAGE WE WERE OUT OF LUCK. THE FOLLOWING LETTER WAS WRITTEN TO THEM AFTER THEY WOULD NOT OFFER ANYTHING MORE THAN 50% OF THE BILL. WE PAID $663.00 IN DAMAGES FOR OUR "HALF" OF THEIR BILL FOR REPAIR MAKING THIS TOTAL TRANSPORT $2000.00. DOUBLE THE COST OF THE LOWER ESTIMATE FROM A BETTER MORE REPUTABLE COMPANY. I DECIDED NOT TO GO TO COURT BECAUSE TIME LOST IN WAGES FROM WORK PLUS COURT COST WOULD HAVE EXCEEDED C2C'S HALF OF THEIR REPAIR BILL.)
LETTER TO COAST TO COAST:
I am writing this letter in acknowledgement of your response to the Better Business Bureau and am very reluctantly accepting your proposal to provide half the cost for the damages your company did to my vehicle.
It was very unfortunate that your response to the BBB contained much erroneous information which I informed you of many times now. This is most notable with the time line of events. I have attempted to call your office repeatedly almost since the inception of this claim but to no avail. My cellular telephone records record these times and they were to be provided in court. However, each time I called, there was a different reason why you were not available, that you were calling back, that you were out sick, that you were part-time and only did claims on one day of the week, etc. How is that my fault as your customer? Combine this with the fact that my hotel I stayed at until my permanent home was available was directly across the street from the Seattle airport left me without a need to use my vehicle. It stayed at the hotel lot as I used the complimentary shuttle as a means to commute to work across the street without driving or parking cost. It was many days later when I washed the mud off my car when an off day arrived and the weather was warm enough to do so. That is when the damage was noticed. My boyfriend even filmed the car being unloaded off the carrier in the dark, in the snow, from the hotel window that winter morning so I could have a MPEG memento of our first day in our new city which I can email to you. I strongly urge you go back and read the report I sent to the BBB concerning this claim for the facts of what I had to go through. I have absolutely no reason to be dishonest or attempt to gain “something for nothing” as that is not the integrity of my character. The damage to the top of the hood was clearly from the overhead chains on the carrier that transported my vehicle as damage from another car or my brushing into something is virtually impossible seeing the damage is to the top of the vehicle as opposed to the sides. Somewhere within your company of drivers that was involved in the transport of my car is a driver who knows very well that he was responsible for the damage and chose not to be honest yet Coast to Coast chose to allow this to happen and evade their responsibility in doing the correct thing in God’s eyes and this is totally unethical.
Most disheartening with this is the fact that I located several transport companies that had rates far lower than Coast to Coast. I was positioned to pay $950.00 as opposed to the $1300 I paid your company. There is a website that is called “movingscam.com” and another called “transportreviews.com” that both offered high recommendations of using Coast to Coast. Being fearful of my relatively new vehicle being damaged, I paid the extra $350.00 to use your company in good faith because of what I was led to believe. Now, the extra cost I paid plus the damages I must now pay for the damage your driver did to my car will have cost me about $2000.00 just have shipped my vehicle with your company! Add the fact that when the vehicle was picked up the driver in Florida noted NO damage to my hood. Now do you see why I am so frustrated? Even worse, Coast to Coast was to pick up our second vehicle on a Saturday morning of the final weekend we were residing in Florida for the same additional cost of the extra $350.00. When no one bothered to call, I called and was told that it had to be pushed back to the following Tuesday. No one bothered to call and inform us of this and our final day in Florida was that Sunday. That left us desperately scrambling to find alternate transportation on a Friday evening. I wound up using another carrier for $1200 when I could have used the original carrier selected for $950.00 had Coast to Coast promptly notified us that no driver was arriving to pick up the second vehicle. So now I had to pay an additional $250.00 because Coast to Coast did not bother to call much sooner with this information. However, the second vehicle arrived damage free, but covered with mud. The bill of ladle specifically stated that I was signing for visible damage only and anything under the cover of dirt or debris was still the responsibility of the company. Coast to Coast could learn a few lessons from their competitors. Again, do you see why I am so frustrated with all of this? This had been a financial disaster with moving expenses and Coast to Coast simply does not care. I will be relocating in about a year back to the east coast and I certainly know which company not to use for the transportation of my vehicles.
*** EVERYONE, DO NOT USE COAST TO COAST OF KUNA, IDAHO FOR YOUR TRANSPORT NEEDS. I WORK FOR A WELL-KNOWN MAJOR COMPANY THAT EXCELS IN CUSTOMER SERVICE AND WE ARE AT THE TOP THE INDUSTRY BECAUSE OF OUR AWESOME REPUTATION. I HAVE DELIVERED OUTSTANDING HONEST CUSTOMER SERVICE AND HONESTY FOR 18 YEARS NOW AND COAST TO COAST IS A POOR EXCUSE OF A COMPANY.***
