Extorted out of an extra $50.
Jason
Submitted this review about
Montway Auto Transport
Review made Live: 1/25/2017 12:58:00 PM
Update:
Immediately after posting my review, Montway reached out to me to make steps to make it right. They offered me a $50 refund, plus a $50 gift certificate. They also agreed to investigate the matter and take action, if necessary.
It doesn't make the terrible experience I had the evening of the move go away, but their willingness and quickness attempting to make it right does go a long way.
Full Disclosure:
They requested that I upgrade my online reviews as a condition of my refund.
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Original Post:
I had serious problems. Long story short, I had a bit of an unusual situation, and made that very clear to everybody I spoke with, but nevertheless a Montway representative called me a liar, and assisted the driver in extorting me out of an extra $50.
Here are the details. The best thing I can say is that the booking process was easy and the sales the sales person was helpful and courteous and did a good job selling.
At pick up, I had serious problems. I was in the unfortunate position that I needed to put some additional personal items in the vehicle. I knew this would be a problem, so I made sure it was clear to everybody I spoke with. I explained this to the representative at Montway, to whom I explained that I would need to put some additional items, bulky but not heavy in the back seat as well as the trunk. The representative said they would note this in the record and that it would be fine so long as the items did not block the rear window. Later, I spoke with the dispatcher, to whom I explained the same thing. He saw the note from Montway and also said it would be fine.
Come the day of the pickup, the car is ready and well-packed, with plenty of items in the back seat, but not obstructing the view or rear window in any way. I receive a call from the driver, who complains about the personal items. I explain to him that I told Montway and his dispatcher about this, and that they said it would be fine. He says he'll have to call me back. Almost immediately, I get a call from a Montway representative. This individual was very aggressive and adversarial. I explained that I had told everybody about this multiple times, and he flat-out called me a liar and said no I didn't. He said he could check the recordings of my conversations and he would find that I didn't.
This is concerning for two reasons: 1) I was never given the benefit of the doubt, and was treated suspiciously and called a liar. 2) I was speaking to him from California, on a California phone number. California is a two-party consent state for recordings of telephone conversations. So, either he was lying to me to try to convince me to pay more money, or Montway has an illegal practice of recording phone calls without consent.
In the end, after much back and forth and anguish and being yelled at by this Montway representative, he said the driver couldn't take my vehicle without me paying an extra $50.00. It was extortion, plain and simple.
Additionally, the driver refused to bring the vehicle to my residence, in spite of the fact that the agreement was for door-to-door service. He didn't have any trouble picking the vehicle up on a residential street, but all of the sudden it would be impossible for him to drop off on a residential street. This makes no sense. I had a moving company, with just as large a tractor-trailer, in front of my house for 3 hours with no trouble. But unloading a car for 5 minutes was impossible. Ultimately, I had to take a cab to a parking lot miles away to pick up my vehicle, because that was more convenient for the driver, in spite of the fact that I paid for door-to-door service. Another $10.00 down the drain.
I would NEVER use Montway again, and I would NEVER recommend that anybody ever use this service. They are rude, and use any opportunity to extort you out of more money.
