Submitted by
Stephen Blitz
from
:
Subject
: Communication Could Have Been Better
I arranged for my shipment from New Jersey to Wisconsin through Cascade Vehicle Shipping (see my separate review of Cascade). My estimated delivery date was Thursday, so I called Cascade on Thursday morning to find out who I should call to find out an estimated ETA so that I could be at home when the car arrived. I was given the name of the driver, Chris, and called him on Thursday morning. He advised me that he had a couple of deliveries before mine in the Chicago area, that he estimated he would be at my address about 5 pm, but would call me when he was about an hour away. So far, perfect communication.
I next got a call from Chris about 5:30 indicating that he expected to be at my adddress about 7 pm and would call me when he crossed the Illinois-Wisconsin border. Later delivery than originally projected, but still no problem.
When I had not heard from Chris by 7:30, I called him again and learned that he was in the Madison vicinity (about 30 minutes from my home; he had not called from the Illinois-Wisconsin border as promised), but needed directions to my address. When I gave him directions to my address, he seemed astounded that I was located in a residential area. He had apparently never even been given my address by Cascade, knew only that he was going to "Fitchburg" (a city south of Madison with a population of about 22,000), and apparently had no GPS and no maps to guide him to my address.
Claiming that he could not get his large truck anywhere near my home, he asked whether there was a large open area, like a shopping center, where he could drop off the car. I told him that there were such areas, but that they were a mile or two away and I had no way to get to them, since I had no car. Even though Cascade had promised me door-to-door service, I nevertheless offered to meet him about six blocks from my home, along a major street, and to accompany him to one of these large open areas. When, however, he arrived at our rendezvous spot, he looked at the local streets and discovered that, yes, he could indeed stop his truck a couple of blocks from my home and unload the car.
From there on, things went smoothly. Chris was quite expert at backing the car out of the truck, and it had arrived in great condition, except for a lot of dirt (which I thought I would avoid by paying extra for an enclosed truck) which he claimed was due to rain coming down when the car was moved from one truck to another.
Yes, the car arrived in relatively good condition. And it was delivered on the estimated delivery date (although a few hours later than had been estimated by the driver). That was the good news. But, Fast & Furious really needs to provide a delivery address to its driver, and the driver really needs to explore that address on a map or GPS so he can let the customer know well in advance if, for any reason, delivery to the customers home (as contracted for) cannot be accomplished and so that some reasonable alternative delivery point can be worked out. (more)
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