Company Response Review Report Review
Stateway Auto Transport - Westfalia Fiasco

Robb Submitted this review about Stateway Auto Transport
Review made Live: 5/29/2013 11:54:00 AM
Attached is a summary of events and my business with Stateway Auto Transport. The industry is filled with competition and issues and you have to understand the crappy industry and do you research, but in the end, I went with Stateway and they initally won my business with a competitive rate and pledged pickup timing and delivery.

In the end, I never got a commited pickup date after ONE MONTH of working with them. I could not wait open-ended another month or longer or another month beyond that. They failed to commit in 7 days and deliver in 14 and a pickup date was still outstanding after a month therefore wasting my time and a month and in the end, I had to cancel my order and did arrange and flew out to California while returning on business for free and drove my vehicle all the way back to Michigan and without issue and saved half of the expense.

For this, I will have to give Stateway a negative rating for failure to meet agreement, waste of my time and in the end, did not get my vehicle delivered...at all. They seemed plesantnt and sincere, but I would not do business nor recommend it in the future! 

4/24 – Contacted Stateway about a possible shipment of a Volkswagon Westfalia from CA (92555) to MI (48164) after doing a lot of checking and research. I finalized everything and gave them and Bill Rosen my deposit ($195) by CC and said the vehicle would ready by Fri (4/26). The total quote was $895 (so $700 in cash for the driver). Bill quoted pickup within 7 days (usually 1 to 3) and delivery once picked up within 7 days, so in 2 weeks, I should have my vehicle.

4/26 – I was notified today by Bill that the dispatch team recieved the order and awaiting driver assignment.

5/3 – I tried to contact the company and Bill, but only got voicemails and no real person. I get a call (Kim or Rachel – I was up North hunting this weekend) back from a representative and they said the order was only recieved on the 26th, so only 4 days and the days are BUSINESS days, not regular days.

5/7 – As nothing happened over the weekend and didn’t hear anything on Monday, I tried to contact them, but again voicemails and no E-mail response. They called back later in the day, but I missed it.

5/8 – I tried to contact again and did get a call back from Kim. Basically, she said nothing yet and no commitment and they expedited the other day and would today and requested we see what happens on Thursday and Friday and if still nothing, then contact each other on Monday. I communicated that the terms and conditions were pickup AND delivery each within 7 days. She requested I send her a copy and stated that neither should have been firmly quoted as delivering across country and 2400 miles+ and changing vehicles and weather and what not, even the 7 days may not be adhered to! Likewise, they offer the driver the entire amount minus deposit (in this case $700) to a national database. When they don’t get anything, they piece-meal the deposit money out to be included, then wait, then add more, then wait in the hopes of attracting carriers/drivers and finalizing pickup and delivery. This eats up time. There was nothing further I could do...unless up the ante and throw in money (that defeats the low quote favor), so I said I’d wait until Monday and see what happens in the meantime. In parallel, I contacted friends that haul trucks for a living and kept another backup to fly out for free with perk miles and drive it back and save half the $$ on reserve.

5/9 – On Thursday evening, I still have not heard anything and E-mail Kim the proof of terms in E-mail between me and Bill. She confirmed reciept of the E-mail.

5/10 – Contacted Stateway and requested cancellation of order and full refund.

5/11 – Recieved confirmation from Kim of cancellation and 5-7 days for refund to be processed.

5/14 – Recieved E-mail of cancellation confirmation

5/24 – Requested updated status as looked at my account and did not see any refund. Recieved E-mail of refuns confirmation

5/28 – Logged into credit card and confirmed refund on 5/24.
Shipment Details
Origin State:
California
Pickup:
Never
Destination State:
Michigan
Delivery:
Never
Customer Service
Honesty:
Knowlegeable:
Promptness:
Customer Service:
Review Details
Quote or Order Id:
949815
Quote or Order Cost:
$895

Company Response
Anna from Stateway Auto Transport Submitted this response.
Response Date: 5/29/2013 5:51:00 PM
Dear Robb, thank you for sharing your experience. We tried very hard to ship your vehicle within the given time frame. Unfortunately, your delivery location was a very difficult one and we could not secure any commitments from neither our drivers nor from the many subcontractors we work with to go that far off the beaten path. We ship 200+ cars every week and 92% of them get assigned and picked up in 1-4 days, a very small amount of our orders take slightly longer. When this happens there is always a specific reason which we do our best to address and work around. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We would have had this order on a truck this week but we honor your decision to cancel. As you mentioned in your review, your deposit was already refunded in full. Have a great day.