Shipping a car is expensive and every dollar counts. This is a high pressure sales industry and people can be easily led to believe that making an up-front deposit somehow reserves the spot on a transporter.
Brokers will use every trick in the book to get the customer to provide credit card information over the phone. They tell them things like:
“It reserves the spot for you!”
“It is a fuel reservation”
“It will guarantee the driver’s services.”
These brokers, in turn, disparage companies that do NOT charge up-front fees.
Here is what that “up- front fee” is…… your broker fee.
Most of the companies that tend to charge up front, are also the ones that tend to low ball the customer (see Beware of Cheap Quotes http://transportscams.com/cheap-quotes/).
Here is what they don’t tell you up front. They do not tell you that the fee you give them is NON REFUNDABLE, even if they never do their job.
Here is when most people find out the ugly truth of these companies. When their car isn’t picked up for days, if not weeks, and they get the broker on the phone and try to cancel, they get the bad news then; or they sign the contract and change their mind, they get the nonrefundable story then too.
Most times, these companies bury that information in the fine print of their contract. Their contract contains things such as:
“If you place an order and you do not cancel within 3 hours of placing said order, your deposit is nonrefundable.”
“Even if we never get your car picked up, your deposit is nonrefundable.”
“We reserve the right to cancel your order at any time and your fee is nonrefundable.”
“If you choose to book with another company, your deposit is nonrefundable”
“Even if we verbally state your car will be picked up tomorrow, we reserve the right to take up to 15 business days to ship your car. Any deposit paid will be nonrefundable.”
Here is another one that they do. They tell you your deposit, is fully refundable over the phone BUT they make it so difficult if you try to request a refund (you are told something like the refund request has to be emailed between 2am and 4am under a full moon while spinning counter clockwise AND also provide the time the car came off the assembly line, you get the idea), the deposit becomes nonrefundable because of the sheer frustration you, the customer, would have to endure to get your money back.
Does all of this mean that every company that charges an up-front fee is not on the up and up? No. There are some that do and if they do not get their job done, they do refund your money
In order to save yourself that aggravation and heartburn, work with a company that does not collect credit card information over the phone to make an up-front deposit.
Work with a company that gets their job done first before anything comes due.
Most importantly, do research!
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