| Phone Number: | 800-876-4888 | |
| Secondary Phone Number: | 800-876-4888 | |
| Website: | http://www.1Flat-Rate.com | |
| Email: | [email protected] | |
| Transport Reviews: | http://transportreviews.com/company/1flat-rate-llc.asp | |
| FMCSA Licensing: |
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Sadly, I am unsatisfied by the service provided by the company.The first day my car was available for pickup was February 27, 2014. After a week, I started to get very concerned. I contacted the company many times about getting my car picked up. Finally the owner suggested I raise the price by $100. I was wondering why they even quoted me $830 as the original price if it needed to be higher in order for a truck to pick it up. Finally, on March 13, 2014 it was picked up. The driver then told me that because I had luggage in the back, it would be an extra $200. I talked to several people at 1Flat Rate to confirm this and no one got back to me with a firm answer if this was correct. The weight of the luggage should not have been enough to warrant that charge. So now, my total is $1130 (original quote of $830).
In transit, I talked to the driver several times. On the day of delivery, he was very difficult. He said he couldn’t wait for me to get off work (it would be several more days before I could get my car if I made him wait). I gave him my work information for him to drop the car off there, yet he never made it during work hours like he said. Around 7pm that evening, he called saying he couldn’t make it into my housing area (although big trucks are seen on the street daily). So I met him on the side of a busy highway where he proceeded to unload two cars. It did not seem safe, but at this point I was VERY ready for the nightmare to be over.
The company should have been more up front with me about the date of pickup. I was very frustrated that it took 2 WEEKS for my car to be picked up. They also should have responded to my questions about the driver’s extra charge. I chose this company because of the great ratings. I didn’t expect this to happen. If I ever have to ship again, I will look into other companies. I certainly hope they all aren’t like this! The driver was definitely not someone I would ever want to do business with again!
I requested a quote from 1Flat-Rate to ship my vehicle from MT to TN. The company sent me an email with their quote for $1070, along with a link to “Place the Order” if I wanted to proceed. Then for several days, I heard nothing. I finally called the company to check the status, and the rep said, “what? you placed an order without calling first? You’re supposed to call first, because those quotes we email out are automatically generated. They’re not accurate.” I asked him why they would deliberately send out quotes that they know are inaccurate and also reminded him that they’re the ones who’d sent me the email with the “Place Order” link. He couldn’t answer, and just huffed into the phone and said that now he would have to enter the order into the system, as if that were a distraction for him.
A couple of days later, I got an email that a driver had accepted my quote and would be picking up my vehicle the next day. My vehicle was being kept at car dealership in MT, so I made arrangements for them to have it ready to go (checking the battery, moving it out of their storage area, etc., which was all done). I also made plans on my end in Nashville, given the estimated timeframe they’d communicated. But the next day, I checked with the dealership, and no one had come to pick it up. I also got a call from 1Flat-Rate explaining that the trucker had picked up the vehicle, but then he got to the weighing station and he was over his limit, so he couldn’t transport it after all. Again, I knew the vehicle never left the lot, so I listened while this rep tried to tell me all about the weigh station. When he finished, I just hung up the phone and decided to cancel the agreement with 1Flat-Rate and call a different company.
The following Monday, I realized that after all of this, 1Flat-Rate might try to send another trucker out to pick up my vehicle, so I called the company and spoke to Ray, who I believe is the owner, to make sure my vehicle hadn’t been picked up and to cancel the order. That’s when the real fun began. First, he had no idea where the vehicle was. He was going to have to call the dealership and ask them and then call me back. Obviously, I could do that myself, and I asked how he couldn’t know where my vehicle was. He became very defensive, and as soon I told him how I had placed the order, he raised his voice and began a tirade toward me, saying “oh, you could read the part about placing the order but not the part about calling first, huh? Oh, you didn’t want to hear our explanation on Friday but now you call on Monday and want to know where your vehicle is, huh?” I mean, this guy was super aggressive. While he was ranting, I re-read the long quote email they’d sent, and in one part there was, in broken English that reads like a Nigerian phishing scheme, “please…confirm it is sufficient to get your vehicle moved, within your time frame.” Fine, but then why even provide an inaccurate quote in the first place, I asked, or have the “Place Order” link in the email if you don’t expect people to use it? “OH, IT’S PERFECTLY FINE; IT’S PERFECTLY CLEAR,” he interrupted (over and over). Ray continued yelling about one thing and then another, so I just him finish, and when I asked if he was done, he hung up the phone on me.
Needless to say, I quickly called the dealership and confirmed my vehicle was still there, thank goodness, instructed them not to release it to anyone, then called Ray back. He was totally unapologetic for hanging up the phone (much less for not responding to my order when I first placed it, for sending me an “automatic” quote that he knew was inaccurate, for a confusing email quote that invites you to place an order but not to place an order, for the breach of contract by his unreliable trucker and then trying to pass along dishonest excuses, or for anything else in the whole debacle). In fact, he started to rant again, but this time I said, “Ray, stop talking,” which apparently shocked him enough to pause for a second so that I finally could tell him just to cancel my order, before he had an aneurysm.
The shipping industry is one that’s full of pitfalls. It pays to be very careful, which is the raison d’etre for this great website. There are ethical, professional shippers and brokers out there. In my experience, 1Flat-Rate isn’t one of them, and I would steer well clear of them.