Sealand Auto Shipping

Terrible, Tardy and Dishonest

If you are looking for a company to jerk you around Sealand Auto is one of the best. If you are looking for terrible customer service and empty promises, Frank is spectacular at his job. Despite my relentless research (and several emails back and forth with Frank), to find a great shipping broker, Sealand Auto was a far cry from it's listed 4 star rating. I was told over the phone by Frank that my vehicle would typically be picked up within 2 days of the requested pick up date only to be contradicted by the agreement in writing. Mind you, going into the situation, I did not expect my vehicle to be picked up right on time. My vehicle was picked up 28 days after my 6/20/2013 requested pick up date which seems excessively tardy. (Frank took it upon himself to change my pick up date a few times as well though the original pick up date was June 20th). During those weeks, I probably placed about 12 phone calls to Frank and was repeatedly told that I would get a return call with the pickup. There was always a confirmed carrier "for that day" but never a pickup time. Frank never returned a single phone call and emailing him is pointless because he will just tell you to call the office during regular business hours. Keep in mind that their business hours are not listed online or stated in their recording. Frank then informed me after about a month that they added about $200 in company funds to the order. My original quote was $775 and the final outcome was to be $875 because I was asked to add a $100 ( not mandatory) gratuity for the driver to expedite my pickup. Within a couple of days we had a confirmed carrier and pick up time. Again, nobody called me to inform me of that, I had to call them. I decided to call the officially confirmed carrier to make sure he knew there was only three and a half inches of clearance on the front end of my car. Rather than answer my question he asked me how much I could pay. Confused, I said I was under the impression I owed him a COD of $675. He said that the invoice showed I owed him $900. I called Frank and informed him of the situation and he said to pay the $675 in COD and the company would be billed for the difference. I gave Sealand Auto a $200 deposit at booking. If the transport total was $900 where was this fictitious $200 of company funds that Sealand Auto added? In reality they only added $25 which they didn't have to do but honesty would have been appreciated rather than exaggerating to get me to pay $100 more. Had they really added $200 in company funds it would have more than covered the shipping costs. Naively, I figured if they went to the extent of paying that much out of pocket the least I could do was add $100 more which was all I could afford. After making it clear during my inquiry that I was not interested in a hook and bait situation this is exactly what happened. During my transport the transport company lied to me repeatedly. This, of course, has nothing to do with Sealand however in the end I had to drive an hour to a different city to pick up my car because the transport companies truck broke down. Everytime I called the transport company I was told my car would be here in a couple hours rather than just being told the truth from the beginning. This went on for 3 days. I called Frank several times and informed him of the situation and told him I didn't feel I should have to pay full price since I had to drive and pick up the vehicle myself. Frank told me I had to pay the full COD or else the carrier would not release the car but that he would have a manager call me. But of course a manager never called me back so I called the driver and remedied the situation myself. Sealand Auto seems to be a one man show and no matter which extension you dial you will get Frank. I don't believe that he has a manager or anyone else in any other departments that you can speak to. I believe he uses this as a cop out to avoid addressing circumstances directly. He will persistently interrupt you when you speak and not allow you to state your case or what problems you're having. His main objective is to shut you up, give you an excuse or empty promise and get you off the phone. I'm actually shocked by the positive reviews and I am inclined to think they are either paid reviews or fake. Not one time was I rude with Frank to provoke such terrible customer service and poor attitude. In the end, after arguing with the carrier, I paid $125 less than quoted but I would have rather paid the $125 and received a more pleasant experience.

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