Company Response Review Report Review
Communications Skills Greatly Lacking

C Klinvex Submitted this review about AmeriFreight Car Shipping
Review made Live: 3/6/2011 6:32:00 PM
As a business owner myself, I’m not going to bash this entire company because of a single poor experience. Quickly here are the facts and lessons learned for those of you thinking of shipping your car with AmeriFreight.
1. These guys like most in their space are middlemen that sit between you and the trucking companies – they simply place a bid that they hope a shipper will accept. Basically you are paying for their expertise in working the transaction for shipping your car.
2. My contact was great on the phone for my first call and quickly gave me a competitive quote and emailed me all the forms to get started.
3. Issue #1(Poor Communications): He did not respond to my initial messages and calls so after a couple days I finally got through with a stern email basically saying “Please return my emails/calls.” Once he understood the situation he responded to my inquiries quickly. It was much improved though I wonder if I hadn’t spoken up if he would have ever reached back out to me. Lesson learned . I sensed my contact was juggling a lot of balls and keeping track of at least my inquiries was at least initially not a priority – though with some prodding it got better.
4. Issue #2 (Establishing Expectations): Initially I was told that it would take about 5 days to locate a carrier to take the car at the quoted price and then another 2 days to pick it up. When I read the agreement it lays it out differently, stating that timeframe was NOT guaranteed and that the best way to speed up the time is to offer more money to the shipping companies. It makes sense. Lesson learned: read the agreement rather than just listening to the quick spiel by the agent. After 10 days I still had heard nothing and thought to myself, how much more will this cost me and how long will it take?
5. Issue #3 (Poor Communications Again) now coming to the end of the second week and no news, I reached out to my agent to inquire where things stood. He said we needed to add more to the bid, and he kindly put $25 more to the bid (now $495) and would push to get the car picked up. I really appreciated his sincerity and help and told him so. However, I emailed him and said I’d be out of the country the following week so please do not send it before March 6, 2011. Two days later (Friday) I get an email message from my agent at AmeriFreight stating that they had a carrier and would be delivering the car the following week (when I’d be out of the country). Quickly I called back leaving a message stating “Please do not deliver the car before March 6!” The carrier also called with a similar message and I called back and left the same message. Well, you guessed it – no one must have read my email or listened to my messages. Without confirming with me the acceptance of the delivery date, they authorized the shipper to pick up the car and send it to my uninhabited home.
6. The End of Story: I got a call from the trucker on the following Wednesday on my cell phone stating he is a couple hours from my home. At that point I have to excuse myself from my business meetings which was embarrassing. Now I’m in a hotel lobby out of the country, calling everyone I could think of back home who could drop what they were doing and work with this truck driver to inspect and accept the car. After three hours of calling many people, I finally found someone who rushed home to take care of the transaction. What a mess to say the least! I could not see how they could possibly ship the car without first receiving my consent - but they sure did. Lots of lessons in there for anyone shipping a car. My car now is in my garage. This could have been a positive review only if my AmeriFreight agent would have better communication/organizational skills. To those of you who had great experiences with AmeriFreight with your cars, all I can say is I’m envious.
Shipment Details
Origin State:
Virginia
Pickup:
On Time
Destination State:
Tennessee
Delivery:
Early
Customer Service
Honesty:
Knowlegeable:
Promptness:
Customer Service:
Review Details
Quote or Order Id:
J. Goolsbee
Quote or Order Cost:
$470

Company Response
AmeriFreight from AmeriFreight Car Shipping Submitted this response.
Response Date: 3/7/2011 4:40:00 PM
We are always disappointed when a customer had a less than excellent experience when shipping a car with AmeriFreight. The customer had all reason to be unhappy the way the shipment went and we apologize for the inconvenience. Often circumstances dictate the outcome of a shipment different to what we anticipate or plan. From our side we try to mediate and manage the process as best as possible but may not always get the best outcome. Fortunately these incidents are more the exception than the rule as is evident form the many positive experiences our customers had with us. Every issue we encounter is a new learning experience and we use it to assist us to continuously improve our services to help our customers enjoy a worry free auto transport experience.