Major Disconnect in Biz Practices
Holly C.
Submitted this review about
Stateway Auto Transport
Review made Live: 1/14/2011 1:21:00 PM
My spouse is active duty military and we received orders to move from NC to CA. I contacted Stateway Auto at the end of Oct 2010 for a quote to ship my car on Dec 17, 2010. The quote process was quick and efficient. After a few days, and more decisions that were made in order to make our move successful, we decided to ship my husband's truck instead of my car. I called my quote rep, David, and was unable to reach him by telephone, so I left a message. After a few hours, I called back and spoke to a completely different person who re-ran the quote, assured me that shipping over the holidays was done all the time, and took a $165 deposit on my credit card. I did not hear back from the company at all regarding this order until my husband tried to reach them on Monday the week of shipping. Meanwhile, I have now moved to CA, my husband has temporary duty in New England, and my parents have agreed to help us, if needed, from VA. He had not heard from them or a driver regarding our scheduled pick up day or time. I began calling and emailing the company, too. I connected with a live person at Stateway Auto by Wed of that week. My rep, David, has now told me that there is a problem with the order and that I have been passed to his supervisor, Susie. I spoke with Susie. She spent about 30 mins on the phone with me explaining the car shipping process and apologizing for having our order slip through the cracks. She is honest with me and tells me that since it is now one week before Christmas, it is very likely that our car will not ship. And given the New Year holiday right around the corner, it is also likely that it will not ship until early Jan. She recommended, and I agreed, to let our order stay on their books until Dec 27, 2010 when she would follow up with me about a path forward. On Dec 27, 2010 I found it very difficult to reach Susie and when we did finally connect on the phone there was no new information. My husband and I were starting to get concerned that our car would not be here in time for him to report to his new job and we needed a car. I called and emailed David and Susie during the next few days and received no response. Given our situation, we decided to go ahead and buy another car. My parents in VA have agreed to car sit for us while we are in CA...so we have now decided NOT to ship the truck. We needed our 2nd vehicle and that is why we made arrangements to ship it w/Stateway Auto. I spoke to David on Dec 29, 2010 and asked to get our full deposit refunded and the order canceled. On Jan 4, 2011 I had no refund or confirmation that our order had been canceled. I called and spoke to David. David said that he needed supervisor approval to generate the refund and that had not happened yet. On Jan 5, 2011 I received an email confirmation from David that our refund amount of $145 will be refunded. I emailed him back and asked him why I was not getting my FULL refund of $165. I never heard back from him. I started pursuing complaints through the Better Business Bureau about Stateway Auto. Once I found the management contact name and telephone number at Stateway Auto, I contacted that number to fully disclose our situation and the fact that I will be writing a negative review about my entire experience. I spoke with a well spoken lady, Suzanne Bennett. She and I spent 30 minutes on the phone discussing my entire situation. She recognized that our situation was handled poorly and assured me that the $145 refund amount was a mistake and I would be getting the full $165 refund. She also informed me of how an order is supposed to be handled from quote to completed shipping. Our order did NOT get processed as outlined by the company procedures.
I do not know where the problem in this organization lies. I can tell you that trying to reach our representative, David, and the supervisor, Susie, by telephone and email was very difficult and frustrating.
As an active duty military family, we depend on companies and people to help us move frequently with as much success as possible. Any move from an apartment across town to moving across the globe is stressful. We make many decisions leading up to, during, and after the move of our household goods, children, pets, and cars. It is very disappointing to have made a decision early in the moving process and have it not work out at all. I am very frustrated that we ended up buying a second car, asking my parents to add a 3rd vehicle to their lives, having my parents drive and maintain our car, and at the poor customer service received by this company. I will not recommend this company to our military co-workers (active and retired) and will not recommend them to family and friends.
