Good service...long review
shinka8
Submitted this review about
EbidTransport Inc
Review made Live: 11/25/2012 4:23:00 PM
This review is for ebidtransport.com. The carrier that was dispatched was Wemoveforyou/Ambela. This review is pretty late because I've been busy and then I just forgot. Hopefully better late than never applies in this situation. Customer service for ebidtransport was excellent. I got a quote online, and I also called and talked to Eric. At the time I had called I had plenty of time before my move, so he had lowered my quote because I had plenty of time for someone to pick it up if they had space. I didn't go with it right away though, I had to wait on my husband, and he's a last minute decision kind of guy, so about, I'd say like a month later, when its just a week or so before we have to move, he said, okay, lets go ahead and do this. I called ebidtransport, and the person I spoke to, I think his name was Chris, don't remember, told me up front that my car was on the third page of listed vehicles in the dispatch computer and that to move myself up on the list and be seen by transporters better, I needed to increase my bid. Original bid was 700 something, which to me was pretty darn low, but it was made for when I had a month of time before I needed it moved. He suggested I bump it up a couple of hundred, so I did just that. But then I didn't hear anything from them for a couple of days, so I was guessing my bid was too low still for such a long move, especially when I needed it moved so fast. So my husband told me on the day we wanted it picked up to call back and up our bid to 1200. My husband's price, not ebid, but they went ahead and did it, and I had someone willing to pick it up within the hour. Ebid did a good job, they had very open communication, they sent me the carrier information right away and told me to contact the carrier if I did not hear from them before ebid sent me their info.
I'm glad I did that, because the carrier never contacted me. When I called them, they gave me the driver's number. The driver said he's pick up my car within 45 minutes. That actually was bad news for me because I had to take my husband to the airport in NYC and it was some serious traffic time. Since I was already in NYC, my husband ended up taking a cab the rest of the way to the airport, and I got stuck in traffic trying to take my car back to the pick up location. The driver informed me that if I didn't make it within a certain time, he would just drop me, leaving me out of luck for a carrier. So I panicked and told him I could meet him somewhere closer; unfortunately, I didn't understand where he was at and I ended up getting lost and wasting a ton of time. Part of it was that I was expecting and looking for a big car carrier, but it was just a flat bed tow truck, so I could've missed him without realizing it. Anyways, he called and told me just to meet him at my original address and he was there within 5 minutes. He was extremely patient with me despite me wasting a ton of time. But then he chilled out in front of the house for a long time, he said he was waiting for his next pick up, so I'm not sure if he was really in a hurry to begin with when he told me he would drop me.
I checked the carrier info online and the rating from customers were awful, so I panicked and called ebid. They assured me that the carrier received very good reviews from other brokers and they even sent me the reviews, which was assuring. The original drop off date was Thursday, 7/19, but when we called, the carrier changed it to 7/20, so we expected it to be there around the time our plane landed in CA. I think it made it to CA on Friday, but the carrier called and left a message saying the car would be dispatched on Monday, so we had to get a rental car for the weekend, which was fine, since we ended up stuck with a big van, we were able to go buy some furniture. When our car came on Monday, it was early afternoon, we saw it being unloaded off the flatbed into the main street while we were driving to return the rental car, he said he was going to call us after he got the car off the truck. We were just so happy our car made it in one piece and all of our worries were alleviated. Oh, and we had a problem with payment by cash because my husband's company forgot to issue the reimbursement, so the carrier allowed us to pay by credit card, it was just an extra 50 dollars, we didn't mind, we were just happy they were being so accommodating. I did worry because somewhere I saw that ebid only uses carriers that have a $0 deductible, but my carrier had a larger deductible on their bill of lading, I think that's when I called ebid freaking out about the reviews, and they let me know that the reviews were good and that a 0 deductible is pretty expensive for a carrier, but to contact them if I had any problems.
The car was filthy because we had an open carrier, after it was washed we did see a long scratch on our hood, but it wasn't deep and it was easily buffed out, so it is no longer there. Ebid was very helpful and tolerant through my entire freakout over transporting my car, and despite not so good customer ratings, the carrier was very patient and accommodating. The car was late, but nothing was majorly damage or missing. Plus, it was going across the country, the original drop off date seemed a little unrealistic, although I wish I had the option of picking it up at their location in CA rather than having to wait until after the weekend to get my car since we were so close. I do recommend them both and although I hope never to have to ship another car, I would use ebidtransport.com again.
