Polite, helpful and honest, but took a long time
Cheryl Cockrell
Submitted this review about
Dependable Auto Movers
Review made Live: 8/16/2008 6:04:00 PM
All of my communication with the company was with Kim, and she was super friendly and took the time to explain things and answer any questions I had. This made me feel much more secure about leaving my car in their hands. The company always answered the phone right away or answered voice mails promptly.
The company did not find a driver for me until about 2 weeks after my order had been placed, around the maximum limit of time they promise to stay within. The driver was assigned the job on a Friday and planned to pick up my car in TX on Monday. The first driver did not work out though, as I explain below, and the company found a second driver a day or two after Monday. By the time this second driver was assigned, had picked up the car in TX, dropped off a few other cars along the way, and dropped off my car in SC, it had been almost 3 weeks since I had originally placed my order.
Here's why I ended up not using the first driver:
At 9:30pm CST Sunday, the truck driver called the guy in TX ("Joe") to let him know he would pick up the car the next morning. Joe said it was too short notice, he would be at school at that time, but would be available at 3pm. Truck driver said i can't wait that long. Joe contacts me to tell me the situation. I say ok let's find another truck driver. I call the truck driver to see what's up. I asked him how long he had known about this before he decided to call Joe, he informs me that Dependable Auto Movers contacted him Friday and he agreed to pick up the car. He waited all weekend to call Joe because he did not want to bother someone over the weekend. It seems weird to me that he would not bother someone on a Friday afternoon but would call them at 9:30pm at night on Sunday, thinking that was a better option than to inform someone ahead of time instead of 12 hours before.
So I called Dependable Auto Movers Monday morning to let them know of the situation. Turns out the reason that they had not informed me that a driver had been found is because they wait until the contract with the driver has been signed before e-mailing me. The truck driver had not yet turned in the signed contract. This concerns me because the truck driver might have picked up my car without even having signed the contract! I would recommend making SURE that all paperwork has been completed when the driver attempts to pick up your car. Kim at Dependable Auto Movers was very friendly and offered to make a special note that I should be informed as soon as a truck driver is dispatched, even before he has signed the contract. She did end up doing exactly as she promised. I liked that she was honest with me about exactly what had happened.
So I had found a second truck driver, and he called to tell me he would be arriving in TX the next day, in the morning. But the next day he called to say that actually he would not be there until late afternoon. By 5:00pm, I was quite worried, so I called him, and he said he would not get there until possibly the next morning or if traffic was easy, he might make it there very late that night. I waited up that night for him, and finally got a call shortly before midnight saying that he would be there in 10-15 minutes. So I met him at the local gas station at 12:15am at night, and had to inspect my car for damage in the dark. There was no damage or oil/dirt spilled onto it from other cars or the road, so I was happy about that. But I did not like that the driver changed the drop off time several times, each time by several hours. I know driving is unpredictable, but I'm sure he could have estimated the time better than that.
