Horrible Company - Not sure who I need to blame.
Arslan
Submitted this review about
Gold Star Transport
Review made Live: 1/21/2014 2:43:00 PM
* I have decided to look over the ratings of this company. Initially, my review gave this company 2 out of 5 stars, however, since then, they have tried to make false claims to have this review removed from Transport Reviews. Apparently, they lied and claimed that I was never their customer so they could have this review removed. However, I kept my invoices from pick up and delivery. I am re-rating the company and reducing the stars I initially gave them. Horrible attitude and clearly a lying company. They have not contacted me to rectify any of these mistakes. They have just stopped contacting me completely as soon as the car was delivered. They did not reply after I told them about the damages either. Its almost like they never existed. Horrible way to do business. Hope no one gives them a chance to make their lives miserable. *
I had my car shipped from NY to Washington. Gold Star representative was very responsive from start to finish, but not after I received my vehicle and wanted to file a claim.
Just to make this all clear, Gold Star is a broker. They deal with the shipping carriers, who are a company themselves that actually ship the cars. Gold Star's job is only to find a reliable and a good shipping carrier for you and they get their fees that way. Now regardless of who does the actual shipping, Gold Star is held responsible for anything during the transaction (delays, customer service, etc..) because you are paying Gold Star for their services. If you are paying, you would hope that you will get a good service in return from Gold Star and any of the companies they deal with to have the cars shipped.
At first, my transaction started off great. The Gold Star Representative was very helpful and responsive. She was quick to set up a pick up for my vehicle. I called plenty of companies to inquire about having my car moved. Many wanted more money to have my car picked up quicker, however, Gold Star was great in that department and had my car picked up fair quickly (as oppose to what I was told by the other companies). Other companies tried to bait me into paying them $200-$300 more if I wanted the car to be picked up within 2-3 days, however, Gold Star got my car picked up within 2-3 days without asking me to pay more. In addition to that, the representative told me that she would be taking less of a fee in order to meet the requested price. That was very generous of her and made me feel like I made the right choice by choosing Gold Star.
On the pick up day, I was told afternoon, however, the shipping carrier didn't pick up the vehicle until the evening. Not an issue with me though. I am not upset over that. They picked it up on the day they told me, great. I am happy.
Now when I set up my order, I was unable to give them an exact address to drop my car off. On the invoice, all it said was shipping from my home address in NY to SeaTac, WA. I asked the company to give me a 24 hour notice before the delivery of my car, so I could take a flight from NY to WA to be present to pick up my car. This was where it started to go bad for me and I started to regret shipping my vehicle. Just to clarify, throughout this entire ordeal, Gold Star answered my calls and returned my calls in a timely manner. One time, I even called the agent at 6 in the morning and she answered my call without any issues and listened to my requests. I really appreciated that.
I requested a 24 hour notice so I can fly to WA to pick up my car. However, I was never given that 24 hour notice. I called and called the company that Gold Star chose to have my car shipped. I asked Gold Star to get in touch with them, as well, but I did not get any call what so ever. The only call I got was on the day of the delivery and I was told in the afternoon that my car will be available to pick up in the evening in WA. I told the person who informed me about the delivery that I am currently in NY and that I would not be able to fly to WA until the following day. She gave me another number to call and let them know about the pick up. I called, no answer, and I left a voicemail. Now my car got to WA Friday night. I figured its there, I can just go to WA and pick it up. No problem at all. So far, this transaction is going not too bad. Aside from the 24 hour notice, not too bad.
I call the number they gave me, over and over again. No answer. I asked Gold Star to try and get in touch with the carrier THEY choose to have my car shipped. They told me that its a great and reliable carrier and that they provide great service. But it was a total opposite from what I experienced. I fly to WA and get there on Saturday. I get a hotel for a night, thinking I can give them the address of the hotel to have my car delivered. I call the number again. No answer. Call Gold Star again. I am sure they called the same number as well and got no answer. Now at this point, I am stuck wondering why did I even pay Gold Star any fees? I mean, I understand that they set up the order and just told the carrier to pick up my car.. but aside from that, they really didn't do anything for me. They called the exact same numbers I was calling. They were unable to request a 24 hour notice. They were unable to get in touch with the company for information about my vehicle. So what good were they, really?
So I had to pay for a hotel in WA for 2 nights. I called them Saturday and I called them Sunday. Multiple times throughout the day. I received no answer. I could just have stayed in NY those 2 days, if I was told by the shipping company or Gold Star that I would be unable to pick up my car over the weekend. HOWEVER, I was not told this. From what I understood was that I can get to WA and pick up my car at any time. No one told me that its only available on weekdays.
This is where is gets extremely frustrating. So after I spend 2 days in WA in my hotel room, waiting for them to call me. And tell me where MY car is, I was finally able to get in touch with them on Monday morning. The company opens at 7 AM. I call them at 7:05 AM. No one picks up. So I call them again.. and again. I finally get an answer at 8 AM. I am given another number to call. The number belongs to the driver of the trust or something. I am told that he has my car. I call the driver and I get no answer. Again, I keep trying. No answer. I call the company back, no answer. Now this is on Monday morning when I know they are open for business and taking calls. However, my calls are not going through to them or they are just not answering. I call Gold Star to see whats going on. They call the number, and I am guessing they get the same treatment, as I am: no answers.
So then I finally get through to the company and tell them that the driver isn't answering. They tell me that they will call him and tell him to give me a call. I wait, I get no call. So I finally call the driver again. He tells me that he does not have my car. Now, I am furious. He doesn't have my car? I ask him where is my car then? He tells me "well thats a good question". Are you serious? So now, I am in WA. Been there for 2 days, trying to pick up my car. And now I am told that they don't know where my car is. I am extremely upset at this point and Gold Star still really haven't done anything to help me out other than call them and get no answers themselves. Again, I wonder why I even paid Gold Star because other than the set up of the pick up, they really didn't do much throughout all of this (regardless of whether or not they tried. At the end of the day, they didn't help during this ordeal).
So I call the company back. I am worried, upset, and angry. My car is missing. They don't know where my car is. The first car I have ever owned with my own, hard earned money. The car I take care of with extreme care. No one knows where it is. So I call the shipping company again. No answer. I try again for about an hour and finally get someone to answer me. I am told that they gave me the wrong driver's number. They are 'sorry' and then they give me another driver's number who actually has my car.
I call him and he gets back to me within 30 minutes. He tells me that he has the car, but the car is in Seattle, WA not SeaTac, WA. So wait a second, I had my car ship to SeaTac, WA, not Seattle, WA, right? So why is it in Seattle? Regardless, I am told that he can meet me in SeaTac, WA in about an hour. So from 7 AM, I have been trying to find out where my car is and finally pick it up. The time now is 12 PM and I am finally able to hunt my car down.
Its all over!! ... Not quite.
I get my car and I notice some scratches on the body. First scratches I notice were on the rear passenger side door. The driver really tries to convince me that the scratches aren't a big deal. They are to be expected. So wait a second, I pay $1200 to have my car shipped, and I am to expect scratches? Does that make sense to you?
In addition to that, I notice more scratches on the trunk of my car. This time, very long scratches. Not one or two, but I notice a few of them. Now I make sure to point it all out on the paper that there are scratches. I write a statement before signing it and the driver writes his own statement near where I wrote mine, saying he does not agree. Well obviously you will not agree, you're the employee of the company I will be filing a claim for the damage.
Now I need to file a claim, but how do I do that? I call Gold Star and inform them about the scratches. I get a speech that some scratches are better just left alone and not filing a claim for because it would be a hassle or the insurance will go up or what ever. I honestly didn't care about that. All I know is, I had my car shipped and there weren't scratches on it, and now, there are. That’s it.
I was asked to take pictures and send it to the Gold Star representative. I took the pictures and sent it to her. No response after that. I had a lot on my plate due to this big move from NY to Vancouver, Canada. So I figured I'd just go to Vancouver and take care of finding a place and starting my job before bothering with the claim.
So I email the Gold Star representative after about a week and a half or so. I still haven't received an answer from her. I asked them to let me know how I can file a claim against the company for the damage. I really don't know because this is my first time dealing with anything like this. I have not received an answer from Gold Star. Now, I have no idea what I should do. I am going to try to contact the company itself, but I highly doubt that would be helpful in any way. Now, again, why did I pay fees to Gold Star? They really haven't been helpful throughout any of this. Other than the fact that they answered my calls and returned my calls to tell me that they will try to get in touch with the auto carrier, they haven't done anything. Regardless of whether or not they tried, they didn't do anything for me.
Again, I was happy with the fact that the representative was responsive and answered my calls. THAT isn't an issue. The issue is regardless of answering my calls, they weren't able to get any answers from the company they choose to ship my car. Company they should have a good relationship with and should be able to access 24/7. But that was clearly not the case because it seemed that they were just as much in the dark as I was.
Now filing a claim seems like a huge hassle, especially since Gold Star is nowhere to be found. I have emailed them twice and have no received a reply.
Would I ship my car again? I am highly debating to never do it again. If I do, I will make sure to fully document everything and to not count of them to give me any answers what so ever. To make sure I have someone on the other side before shipping it. I would make sure I don't have to rely on brokers like Gold Star to find out what the heck is going on.
