Company Response Review Report Review
Lost my car keys! Lousy customer service

Sue Stein Submitted this review about SVP Auto Shipping
Review made Live: 12/4/2012 11:40:00 PM
I had the absolute worst experience with this company. I was shipping my car from Kitchener Ontario to my father in Vancouver, BC. SVP shipping arranged to pick my car up at the car dealership in Kitchener and take it to the shipping yard in Scarborough. Approximately 2 weeks later I received a phone call from Steve at SVP Shipping to report that my car had not left the rail yard because my car keys had been misplaced.

After I spent most of my weekend doing all the leg work, making phone calls to both dealerships, sending e-mails, and making arrangements (while Steve at SVP did nothing at all), my car was towed to the closest dealership (because the key needed to be coded to the car) nearest to the shipping yard where they made another key (I had to contact my dealership who contacted the other dealership to verify that I was the owner of the vehicle before they would make a key), and then towed back to the shipping yard.

Steve at SVP Shipping took no responsibility for this and blamed the whole thing on Allied, whom he hired to pick up the car and deliver it to the shipping yard. He contacted Allied once, then from then on Allied and I dealt directly with each other while SVP basically disappeared from the picture. Allied took full responsibility for losing the car keys, including the entire cost of towing the car to the dealership and back, and the cost of a new key ($695.00 for the key only!) Allied even reimbursed me for the extra two weeks I had to keep insurance on my car and sent me a cheque in the mail afterwards!

My vehicle was shipped with J. Simons (I wish I would have just shipped with them directly) and they were wonderful. Jackie at J. Simons in Vancouver delivered the car herself to my 81 year old father. The battery was dead (someone had not closed the trunk properly and depleted the brand new battery) so Jackie at J. Simons took my dad to Canadian Tire on her own personal time.

My vehicle took a total of 41 days to arrive in BC!

I wrote to Steve at SVP and said " I am extremely dissatisfied with your company and your service. Not once have you even apologized to me or my father for the great inconvenience this has caused, nor have you acknowledged or thanked anyone else who has put in their time and effort into problem solving and delivering my vehicle. I have dealt directly with both the service manager at Kitchener Lexus and Scarborough Lexus, Harry at Allied Systems, and Jackie at J. Simons. Jackie even took the time to go to my father's home on her own time after office hours! I could have shipped directly with J. Simons. In fact, I have dealt more with them than I have with you. The only thing you have done throughout this ordeal is pass the buck to everyone else while you collected your customer's money. You have not made any attempt to make this right in any way.

His response was pathetic and rude. He did not even apologize once to me or my father and I feel like Allied, J. Simons, and myself took care of making a new key, the cost, the battery, and communicated between ourselves all without any help from Steve at SVP Shipping.

I will be bringing this matter to court to seek full compensation from this loser. I was told by one of the companies SVP deals with, that he is inexperienced and therefore does not deal with problems very well. I read the good reviews and thought he was trustworthy. Perhaps if all goes smoothly this may be true, however, when someone does not make it right with a customer who has had a bad experience, that truly says a lot. DO NOT SHIP WITH THIS COMPANY!!
Shipment Details
Origin State:
Ontario
Pickup:
Late
Destination State:
British Columbia
Delivery:
Late
Customer Service
Honesty:
Knowlegeable:
Promptness:
Customer Service:
Review Details
Quote or Order Id:
Burley
Quote or Order Cost:
$1255

Car Condition
  • Vehicle was dirty
Company Response
Stephen Burley from SVP Auto Shipping Submitted this response.
Response Date: 12/7/2012 11:21:00 AM
Yes, unfortunately when the vehicle was dropped off at the rail yard the keys went missing, which is a very rare thing to have happen. As soon as we were made aware of the situation, the car carrier company and the rail yard were contacted about the situation, and a search for the keys was launched. Once it was discovered that they were nowhere to be found the owner was contacted and asked if they could contact the Lexus Dealership to have a key made (which cost roughly $695.00, and was taken care of at no expense to the owner), as Lexus would not allow us, or our associates, to have a new key made, it had to be the owner requesting to have this done. So, the spare key that the owner's father had, was picked up by an employee of the rail agent (who lived nearby) on their own time to help out, and was couriered to the Toronto Rail Yard (at our cost), in order to have the vehicle delivered to a local Lexus Dealership and have a key made. Once the vehicle was ready, it was picked up, and was loaded on a train that was held for a few days, in order to get the vehicle to Vancouver as quickly as possible to prevent any further in convince. The owner was contacted several times during this situation and during the movement of their vehicle by email and by phone. Also, SVP Auto Shipping was in constant communication with Allied Systems (Car Carrier), and J. Simons (CP Rail Agent) throughout this situation, and by working together as a team, we were able to resolve this unfortunate incident. I personally have been shipping vehicles through North America for the past 10 years, and during that that time have work very closely with Allied Systems and J. Simons.