VENT: Shipping Nightmares

[nathank]

I had heard the horror stories. People shipping vehicles and had all kinds of problems, but I like many thought "what are the chances?"

Well I bought a clean 71 stepside from half a country away thinking I would be seeing it in 10-14 days just as the shipping people had promised me. And with real time GPS tracking, it is even going to be fun in the process right?

Wrong.

Real time GPS tracking kept me up to date on how the vehicle was sitting at the origination terminal, then it moved... wait no, still at the terminal... then, oh crap still at the terminal. Day before the truck is supposed to arrive it is still sitting at the origination terminal. So I call, and I was informed that the current ETA was no longer valid, it would now be 4 days later than expected. Well ok, I can deal with that. Then the next day I get a call, "sir we can't start your vehicle, it has a dead battery, so we are unable to load it". Well that's weird, the terminal was a towing company. The towing company can't start a vehicle with a dead battery? That's odd.

So I call the guy I am buying the vehicle from and ask him to take a look since I am halfway across the country. I hated to inconvenience him on a vehicle he had sold and should be done with. Of course he didn't mind, good thing I bought from a nice guy. If he had said no I guess it would have sat there forever, since the towing company can't start a vehicle with a dead battery.

So now it has been 2 weeks, the truck hasn't moved... and who knows when it will. My ETA is null and void now since they weren't able to start it and get it on the truck it was supposed to leave on. It took 2 weeks for a truck to come get it so I am guessing I am in for another 2 weeks before I see it move. That is, if it starts. My personal belief is that these people are stalling and I don't have a clue what a course of action would be against them. From what I see, I am at their mercy and it will take as long as they want it to until I see that truck.

Can anyone share a similar experience and perhaps offer some suggestions?