Yves
Enthusiast
All,
Here an update on the current status of my car shipment from Oregon to Austria.
Things are taking a really nasty turn with the shipping company involved (EMO Trans – Patricia Stilwell).
My 2 cars (M-B ML and Viper) were loaded December 19th in PDX, Oregon and were promised to be in Vienna January 23rd. It is Feb 1 now and I do not know where my cars are.
Some history :
Since I am really anal retentive about my cars, I asked around whom to go with and actually was recommended EMO Trans by one of the most reputable Viper dealerships around. Their name is irrelevant in this matter.
Emo Trans had shipped several Vipers to Europe for this person, all from the East Coast. Right now it turns out they had no experience on the West Coast, and I'm the one who's hurting.
A small overview of what has happened so far :
- 2 parties were involved to load the cars : a professional company which I hired to help me load the cars and a contractor of EMO Trans who was going to bring over the container. The trucker arrived one hour late and I obviously had to pay the loading company for their waiting time. EMO Trans called this unfortunate, but did not want to compensate, since this was a ‘third party’.
- January 5th I decided to give Patricia Stilwell a call and she mentions I had to pay an extra bill of 500$ since my cars were not properly blocked, batteries were not disconnected and some other stuff. Apparently some people in Seattle had gone into the container and blocked and braced the cars, disconnected the batteries, etc…
- Now I got really concerned. I told her to immediately get back to who ever was involved in this (of course a contractor of a contractor) and ask them what had triggered this since :
o My cars were loaded by a professional company. These people used wheelwebs, which are currently the standard for high end cars. My Viper is lowered anyway and would not really do well if one sticks some wood underneath it.
o I had personally disconnected my batteries. In view of the specific set up of the Viper battery, I also asked them some more specifics of how they had disconnected that one.
- After a couple of days I got following answer :
o Wheelwebs was not a commonly used technique on the West Coast and ‘’new’’ to the people who went into my container. They recognized it was unfortunate this happened, but told me I should have reacted faster when they let me know they were going to perform these actions. Obviously, I was never notified. Patricia Stilwell tells me she sent several faxes and E-mails between Christmas and NewYear. I asked her for the evidence, but to date she has not been able to provide me with this. Most probably she was just on vacation during that period.
o The subcontractor also admitted they did not work on the batteries once I told them where the Viper’s battery is located.
o In case my car would be damaged…well, that’s what I had insurance for (the f’n rudeness !)
- My current position is that I am not paying for any of this BS. Net, this 500$ is a combination of incompetence (not knowing their business) and fraud (charging for services never performed). I told Patricia several times to go back to her buddies on the West Coast, but she is actually protecting them. She is now threatening not to clear my container if I do not pay.
- Though this is a company move, I feel like I can not charge these costs. If I let them get away with this, more people are going to become victim of this scam. It would also be unethical for me to charge this to the company. Being a lawyer myself, I obviously have evidence of all their fu$k ups and am now considering legal action. I also want that bit$h out of a job.
Anybody any good ideas on how to inflict maximum damage ? Not usually my style, but this is just unacceptable...
Here an update on the current status of my car shipment from Oregon to Austria.
Things are taking a really nasty turn with the shipping company involved (EMO Trans – Patricia Stilwell).
My 2 cars (M-B ML and Viper) were loaded December 19th in PDX, Oregon and were promised to be in Vienna January 23rd. It is Feb 1 now and I do not know where my cars are.
Some history :
Since I am really anal retentive about my cars, I asked around whom to go with and actually was recommended EMO Trans by one of the most reputable Viper dealerships around. Their name is irrelevant in this matter.
Emo Trans had shipped several Vipers to Europe for this person, all from the East Coast. Right now it turns out they had no experience on the West Coast, and I'm the one who's hurting.
A small overview of what has happened so far :
- 2 parties were involved to load the cars : a professional company which I hired to help me load the cars and a contractor of EMO Trans who was going to bring over the container. The trucker arrived one hour late and I obviously had to pay the loading company for their waiting time. EMO Trans called this unfortunate, but did not want to compensate, since this was a ‘third party’.
- January 5th I decided to give Patricia Stilwell a call and she mentions I had to pay an extra bill of 500$ since my cars were not properly blocked, batteries were not disconnected and some other stuff. Apparently some people in Seattle had gone into the container and blocked and braced the cars, disconnected the batteries, etc…
- Now I got really concerned. I told her to immediately get back to who ever was involved in this (of course a contractor of a contractor) and ask them what had triggered this since :
o My cars were loaded by a professional company. These people used wheelwebs, which are currently the standard for high end cars. My Viper is lowered anyway and would not really do well if one sticks some wood underneath it.
o I had personally disconnected my batteries. In view of the specific set up of the Viper battery, I also asked them some more specifics of how they had disconnected that one.
- After a couple of days I got following answer :
o Wheelwebs was not a commonly used technique on the West Coast and ‘’new’’ to the people who went into my container. They recognized it was unfortunate this happened, but told me I should have reacted faster when they let me know they were going to perform these actions. Obviously, I was never notified. Patricia Stilwell tells me she sent several faxes and E-mails between Christmas and NewYear. I asked her for the evidence, but to date she has not been able to provide me with this. Most probably she was just on vacation during that period.
o The subcontractor also admitted they did not work on the batteries once I told them where the Viper’s battery is located.
o In case my car would be damaged…well, that’s what I had insurance for (the f’n rudeness !)
- My current position is that I am not paying for any of this BS. Net, this 500$ is a combination of incompetence (not knowing their business) and fraud (charging for services never performed). I told Patricia several times to go back to her buddies on the West Coast, but she is actually protecting them. She is now threatening not to clear my container if I do not pay.
- Though this is a company move, I feel like I can not charge these costs. If I let them get away with this, more people are going to become victim of this scam. It would also be unethical for me to charge this to the company. Being a lawyer myself, I obviously have evidence of all their fu$k ups and am now considering legal action. I also want that bit$h out of a job.
Anybody any good ideas on how to inflict maximum damage ? Not usually my style, but this is just unacceptable...
Credit card company might not go with that though...
