Poor service, still fighting months later over bill
Tracy O'Connell
Submitted this review about
Froland Auto Transport
Review made Live: 2/19/2014 4:01:00 PM
My experience here was poor, throughout, in so many ways, but I would not bother to fill this out if the company were not still trying to get money from me, months later, in spite of my having a receipt and cancelled check for what they say is the full amount.
I was moving everything I own 2,000 miles and shipped a second car with this company. The rep went missing a couple weeks before the car pickup, and no one at the firm would return a call or email in any of my many attempts to reach ANYONE. Jim later said he had the flu . . . I understand illness and the need to rest, but is there no one who can shoot an email or make a call to say this? Apparently not.
With no idea when the driver would pick up the vehicle, and a need to leave, I put Jim in touch with a neighbor who had the car and the deposit check for $150. The balance was to be paid in a cashier's check for $1,000. This is already $5 more than the total bid, but I was at this point running on memory, as everything I had was packed away for the trip. I didn't want it to be for too little.
Sadly, I was in an accident in my cross-country trip and was flown 300 miles to a hospital, my cell phone low on juice and everything I own out of reach in the wreck. I contacted Jim and put him in touch with the person on the other end who would accept the car in my absence and who would have the final payment for the bill. The delivery, I find out later, was another disaster - the car was supposed to arrive on a Monday and instead came on a Thursday, at midnight. Because I wasn't present for either event, I'm not sure exactly what the date of either was.
Jim later contacted me at the hospital by phone to say I owed $70 and he needed a credit card number. Overwhelmed with the awfulness of my situation (injured, etc.) I gave him the number. I somehow still believed the company was legitimate and honest and this was somehow my fault - perhaps the neighbor had lost the check and scraped together what cash she could and this amount was still outstanding. Imagine my amazement when I finally arrived at my new home from the hospital to see the car sitting there and a receipt, for the check in the full amount, on the front seat.
When the credit card bill arrived with the $70 amount listed, I asked Jim via email what was going on. He asked if I had a receipt for the check. Yes. Was the check cashed? Yes. He would look into it. A month later, the amount was still on the bill. I emailed him again, and no answer. I then contacted the credit card company and they said they would look into it on my behalf. I am awaiting this outcome.
If the company truly didn't know it had the $150 check, why did Jim only want $70? If that was the only amount owed above and beyond the $1,000 final payment, the company owes me not just the $70 refund but $80 of the initial check. I think that would be fair anyway, given the inconvenience to myself and the people on both ends who had to deal with the company. I would split it between them. At best, the company owes me $5, since that's the amount I overpaid, between the starting and final amount, plus the $70 off the credit card bill, and a huge apology.
