We obtained various quotes to transport our vehicle which ranged from $750 to $1055 from other transport companies. We selected Magic Carpet Auto Transport based on their reviews, friendly contact person, and good median price of $866.
We needed to transport a 2011 370z from Virginia to Colorado. At this price range the estimated pick up time was between 1-10 days. We were ecstatic to learn that a driver would be picking up our car from the dealership on Sunday which was only 6 days later and was scheduled to arrive in Colorado on Wednesday June 1st (9) days from the original day the order was placed.
When Sunday came around we hoped everything had gone smoothly during pick up since the company is closed that day. Monday was Memorial Day so we assumed that by this time our vehicle should be on its way. We went ahead and called the dealership to ask how the pickup went. I was shocked to hear from our salesman that he did get in contact with the truck driver on Sunday, but that he would have arrived after the dealership closes after 6 pm and the driver suggested leaving the car keys in the vehicle to just pick up when he arrived. I do not know anyone who would agree to leave their cars inside a $34,000 vehicle for a stranger to pick up! The dealership did not leave the keys in the car so the driver never picked it up. Let me inform you that this dealership is open 9 am to 9 pm Mon-Sat except they close at 6pm on Sundays. I was irritated to find out the driver couldn’t make it to the dealership during business hours. Had I known this, I would have gotten in contact with the dealership that day and asked if someone could stay until the driver arrived.
Everything quickly turned sour from this point forward. We contacted Magic Carpet Auto Transport on Tuesday to inquire about the status of the vehicle. We could not reach our contact person so we left a message during the day. Later that afternoon they were never returned, so we called again and spoke with another representative who assured us they would be calling us back in a few minutes. That never happened either which I find extremely unprofessional. We gave Magic Carpet Auto Transport as much time as we could that day to return our call and they never did, so we called about 15 minutes before they closed and finally got a hold of our contact person. Apparently, she did not receive a single one of our messages to get in contact with us and did not have much information about why the vehicle was never picked up on Sunday so we gave her the information that the dealership provided. We mentioned that we were unhappy that the driver suggested leaving they keys in the car and she mentioned that they do not have control over the driver’s actions which we understand. We asked when we may get another driver and she re explained the process so we brought up their suggested pick up timeline of 10 days which meant that they had about 2 more days to get another driver. She basically informed us that there was nothing further she could do and that another driver should have picked up the car today but that the hydraulics on the truck broke and Magic Carpet Transport had absolutely no control over that which is why their timelines are only estimated. We were left wondering at this point if the company completely disregarded our pick up timeline. Our contact person reassured us that she would work on getting another driver soon.
We called the next day to see if there were any news about a driver, after all this could have been the day we would be picking up the car. Still no news, and at this point our contact let us know that the bid on our car $886 may not be appealing to a wide range of drivers and that the only way to speed up the process would be to pay more? We told our contact that it was their job to get a driver to pick up the car in the estimated 10 days at the price we were quoted $886. Once again she said that they do not make any guarantees and that everything is an estimate, they have no control over drivers, or broken trucks. At this point the contact became rude, made smart remarks, and refused to do anything further to set this straight. We were appalled by the idea that we would have to pay more money to get the vehicle to be picked up after their suggested timeline and even then, there was no guarantee any driver would pick up the bid!
Yesterday, Thursday June 2nd. We spoke with a manager who informed us that there was a driver willing to pick up our car on Monday June 6th, but that the driver was requesting $75 in more pay. Not only was Monday day 14, but once again could not completely guarantee an arrival. This supposed driver would now cost a total of $961 which is more than our original quote and pickup would be on day 14, 4 days after their estimated pick up window, and arrival would be standard 7-9 more days.
This was the point where we agreed that enough was enough and we cancelled our order all together.
WE MOVE FREQUENTLY AND I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT I WILL NEVER USE THIS COMPANY BECAUSE OF THEIR LACK OF COMMUNICATION WITH THE CUSTOMER, DISREGARD FOR THEIR TIMELINES, AND BUMPING THEIR PRICE AFTER THEY HAVE MISSED THEIR TIME FRAME WHICH I FIND RIDICULOUS, AND OVERALL BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE. TO BE HONEST, THE PRICE THEY REQUESTED AFTER THE EVENTS IS ONE I WOULD HAVE BEEN WILLING TO PAY HAD THEY BEEN MORE COURTEOUS AND HONORED SOME SORT OF TIMELINE.
IN THE EVENT THAT YOU STRUGGLE WITH THIS COMPANY, EXPECT TO HAVE DIFFICULTIES GETTING IN CONTACT WITH YOUR REPRESENTATIVE OR GETTING ANY ANSWERS, PAYING MORE THAN EXPECTED UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO WAIT INDEFINITELY FOR YOUR VEHICLE OR BETTER YET, THE POSSIBILITY OF IT BEING STOLEN BY A SUB CONTRACTED DRIVER.
