Take an inside look into the vehicle transportation process of a Mazda Tribute Automobile, from Arkansas to Texas! Listen to a recorded phone conversation between We Will Transport It, Inc. and Jim, a real customer.
WWTI: Transport
Customer Jim: How are you? I need to get a quote on getting my car from North Little Rock, Arkansas to Garland, Texas.
WWTI: Alright…one second here. And who am I speaking with please?
Customer Jim: My name’s Jim.
WWTI: Hey Jim, my name’s Doug. Jim let’s see here…and Jim what type of vehicle do you have?
Customer Jim: It’s a 2004 Mazda Tribute.
WWTI: Alright. And this is a running vehicle?
Customer Jim: Yes.
WWTI: Okay. And what’s your timeframe? When are you looking to get transported?
Customer Jim: I need it in Garland by the 23rd.
WWTI: Okay. So it’s ready to go now or…
Customer Jim: Yeah it’s ready, it’s been ready and I’ve been slacking.
WWTI: Okay, no problem. Four seven five nine nine what it was? Four zero?
Customer Jim: Nine nine zero six.
WWTI: Zero six, so sorry. And what’s the pickup city again?
Customer Jim: North Little Rock.
WWTI: North Little Rock, Arkansas. You said Garland, Texas?
Customer Jim: Yes.
WWTI: Jim have you ever transported before or used a transport company?
Customer Jim: Never. Never moved one, never had to deal with this.
WWTI: Okay. Alright. Here’s my suggestion to you as far as…what I tell my potential clients is, Number One, research the company that you’re planning on using making sure they’re five-star rated, that’s Number One. And then the reason I say that because if you have companies out there, some brokers, I’m not saying all but some of them try to play the old bait and switch game with you and low ball the quote and come back and just to bait you in, they hit your credit card up. So secondly, do not pay any of these guys any up front deposits. It comes down to reputation, you cannot shop price in this industry. I’m a consumer just like you…
Customer Jim: Man I’m a home inspector so I know what you’re talking about…
WWTI: Yeah man…
Customer Jim: … so you know if price is the only thing that matters, don’t call me.
WWTI: Yeah man, yeah, exactly. So I’m into giving a good job for you and then not coming back and asking for more money or any nonsense like that you know. I’ve been doing this for long enough, I know all the games that these guys play and it unfortunately gives us, the ones that are competent in the industry that’s doing a good job a bad rap. So like I said you’ll get a vibe, especially if you call around getting quotes, the representative that you’re talking to you can tell if they’re full of it or not if they’re answering yes to all your questions, stuff like that you already know.
Customer Jim: Right. Been there, done that.
WWTI: Alright, so Jim let’s take a look here…going up 314 miles sounds about right?
Customer Jim: That’s about right, yeah.
WWTI: Okay what I’m going to do is I’m going to quote you but then I’m going to check with my dispatch director and see if I can get this number down here a little bit because it seems a little high I’m coming up with. It’s coming up at five ninety…
Customer Jim: I’m sorry, you broke up.
WWTI: I’ll put my dispatch director. It’s coming in at 598 right now, but let me see if what I have coming up in the area and if I can get that down I’ll be…earn your business but like I explained to you before I don’t want to mis-price. Give me one second here.
Customer Jim: Exactly. Okay. Great.
WWTI: Hello Jim?
Customer Jim: Yes.
WWTI: Hey Jim, how’s it going? This is Carl the Dispatch Manager, how are you doing today?
Customer Jim: Good. How about you?
WWTI: Good, and thanks for asking. Now Doug was just going over the run with me and he was asking a few questions price wise so I figured I’d get on the line and see if we can work something out for you. He told me you understand how it works and say you already are prepared for lower rates and you know that people will low ball this and not get the job done.
Customer Jim: Oh yeah, I know how it works. The truth of the matter is I told Doug I’m a home inspector and I know exactly how it goes, you get what you pay for. I’m not out trying to get the cheapest thing, I want to get the people…
WWTI: Oh definitely…I’ll definitely help you out. I mean listen, we own Texastransporter.com, that’s one of our websites so we work directly with the Department of Transportation. My guys are all licensed, insured and bonded and we do not dispatch any driver that has any upcoming problems with the DOT, any insurance lapse or anything at all, so you’ll only get a great driver, and they inspect on pickup, they load, they insure and bring it to you direct, so there’s no loading, off loading. This is a one-day run, we get it done, I send a local guy. I already if you’re a little flexible when the job gets done if you have like a two-day window to do it it’s going to get to the $400 range. It possibly looks like it could get to 450.
Customer Jim: Okay. Well let me tell you this, I need it…the only issue is going to be this, it’s at a garage, it’s at Kittle’s Garage in North Little Rock and they close on Friday at 2:00 o’clock and then they open back up Monday morning. So …
WWTI: Friday at 2:00?
Customer Jim: Yeah, they close on Fridays at 2:00 o’clock, and I need it in Dallas or in Garland by the 23rd of this month.
WWTI: Oh you’ve got plenty of time. No loading on weekends…that’s nothing, that’s easy. Does the unit start and run? Do we need some kind of special equipment?
Customer Jim: It runs.
WWTI: Yeah Jim this is an easy run….
Customer Jim: It’s got a brand new engine. My daughter was driving from Dallas to…or from Garland to Virginia and …and north…so… (Inaudible)
WWTI: Dad had to come and bail her out.
Customer Jim: Yeah, she’s been in India for the last three months and the car has been sitting at Kittle’s. And I tell you what, if you’re ever in North Little Rock and need auto work done, these are the guys to do it by the way.
WWTI: They did right, they’re doing a good job…
Customer Jim: Oh they’re great. They’re great great people, they fix me up man, they…
WWTI: I wish we had more people like that, it’s just hard to find a good deal anywhere, everybody’s trying to get…
Customer Jim: Yeah.
WWTI: It’s not like…everybody’s guard is up, it’s a mess you know, business is… Our industry’s tough too because our competitors are always cut-throating, low ball. You know I always tell the clients, future clients or just clients that have used us that get lower rates, don’t get enticed, go with reputable companies, even if you don’t go with us, go with a…don’t cheat yourself. It’s never going to be cheaper, it’s a big headache. And then they end up sold…
Customer Jim: It hurts in the long run, you’re going to wish that you hadn’t…
WWTI: Every time. I have recordings, we just listened to one before I got on the phone, this poor lady call me crying. She was crying, they demolished her car, she wanted to save a hundred dollars and she went with a broker that found a driver that it was his first run doing it that’s why he was so cheap and he hadn’t … insurance correctly, he didn’t strap in the unit and it came off the back of the rig. So she called to kind of just tell us we were right, and I couldn’t say “I told you so,” I felt so bad. But it was crazy, we were going through all our recordings and that came up and I’m like “Wow isn’t that the truth,” you know.
But you’re an exception, that wouldn’t happen to you Jim. But yeah, no I already looked at the order, I know if you have until the 23rd to get it done, we will do it way before that but we will load on a week day, we would confirm with your loading… the people on pickup that we can go load it for you and then dispatch a driver. But it’ll get done for 450 so you can save a couple bucks and get this from 598 to 450. It still includes door-to-door service, your insurance is a hundred grand and we give you a copy of the inspection on pickup on delivery. I mean would you be in Garland, Texas when we deliver it?
Customer Jim: Yes. It’s going to be delivered to my house.
WWTI: And then on delivery is when the balance will be due. We don’t charge anything actually until we do the job, we load the unit up and it’s a small portion. From the 450 it would be 175 that comes off a debit or credit card at the time of pickup, and then you pay the balance of 275 on delivery. So it’s COD on delivery. I mean Jim obviously we take down whatever debit or credit card you’re using, we just don’t charge it to the person on pickup, the mechanic or whoever has the vehicle signs the bill of lading and lets us load it up, so we call on your behalf. Do you know the address where it’s at Jim so I can send this in writing to you?
Customer Jim: Yes. It is, it’s…
WWTI: Got it. Alright, and any contact number we should…
Customer Jim: Phone number?
WWTI: Yes, go ahead. Got it. I’ll just put “Front Desk” on there. My dispatcher will call before he goes and what he’ll do is he’ll verify a time or who to talk to and then we figure it out from there. We’ll call you to always keep you updated. Jim when do you think it is the earliest this vehicle can get picked up, I mean is it ready to rock and roll now or…
Customer Jim: It’s ready to roll now. It’s been ready…
WWTI: So it’s ready now. I’m going to send you an email now, it’s an order form that’s going to state everything we went over and it’s going to bring the rate down for you to the 450 I promised you. So you just have to approve that…email.
Customer Jim: Okay.
WWTI: What’s your email address so I can send this to you?
Customer Jim: That’s it.
WWTI: Awesome. And then what was your last name, I never got it Jim cause I’m putting it on the order?
Customer Jim: It’s…
WWTI: Perfect. And do me a favor, have you ever done an electronic signature, an esign before?
Customer Jim: Yeah.
WWTI: Awesome. You sound like you have, a lot of people have no clue what it is.
Customer Jim: We do it in the real estate world, we do it all the time.
WWTI: I was going to say I know your email address, I know what you do, you’ve probably done quite a few of these. So that’s what I’m going to forward to you brother, you just look it over and make sure I’ve dotted my Is, crossed my Ts…so this way you know you’ve got the information correct for the driver and everybody’s on the same page. And then I’m going to leave you …actually you just call the direct number. Doug’s going to be your point of contact, he’s been with me for years so he knows what he’s doing, he’ll give you updates on what we’re doing and where we’re at so you know what’s going on. Just to go over the delivery phone number, we’re going to call you when the driver needs to deliver this.
Customer Jim: Yes it is.
WWTI: Okay. And then the…and I’ll put “Or Front Desk” so whoever answers the phone they’ll know it’s your….Now for the insurance, we insure it for you, it’s a hundred thousand full premium. What color is the vehicle? Can you verify the year?
Customer Jim: It’s grey and it’s a 2004.
WWTI: And I’m going to put “Tomorrow” as first available or is today, if we get a last-minute run done today. Would you want it done this quick?
Customer Jim: Yeah, I mean they’re there till 5:00 o’clock…
WWTI: Okay we’ll put that on the form.
Customer Jim: …so if they can get it done today I’m not going to gripe about it.
WWTI: Nine to 5:00 p.m., loading. Friday 2:00 p.m. through the weekend it is closed to the weekend…
Customer Jim: She sent me an email and it says they actually are there from 7:30 to 5:30 Monday through Thursday; 7:30 to 2:00 on Friday.
WWTI: Got it. And I’m going to put that in the notes too so everyone is aware of it, there’s no confusion, no surprises, so it’s in writing, and then I’m going to email the order form to you and we’ll keep you updated. It’ll definitely go this week, it’s a quick run.
Customer Jim: Hey, I kind of figured. When I was talking to her on the phone earlier she says, “Well if you can’t get it done by the 23rd, we’re going to close for the holidays,” and I said “No, if I can’t get somebody there by the 23rd I’m coming to get it.” My daughter is coming back from India. My daughter has been in India for three months, she’ll need it back…
WWTI: Yeah. No, we will take care of it definitely. This is going to be an easy run, we do it all the time. And you’re a major city run so you’re North Little Rock to Garland so it’s not like you’re going from the bushes to the bushes and it takes long to get a driver to commit. We go through this run daily so I’ll get you somebody good. The worst thing I see happening is doing it like Thursday for delivery by Friday to you. So it’ll be …and if it goes quicker than that we’ll call you.
Now so I can send the order form up to you Jim for the time that we load it up to whoever’s there, what card did you want to leave on file? What debit or credit card did you want to leave?
WWTI: Okay now whenever you’re ready with that then I’ll forward this to you for your approval. Got it. And we appreciate your business and obviously you’re being receptive and you’re making our job easy, a lot of people are just…they want the low ball. You don’t understand, I try not to do them, so you’re smart guy that’s why your daughter…
Customer Jim: I’ve been there…been there and done that. Like I said, I deal with it every day, everybody’s saying “Well you know I found somebody else that’ll do it for $322, will you meet that…will you match that?” And I’ll say “No I won’t match it.”
WWTI: I will not. You want a good service you want it done right, exactly. So you understand what we’re…
Customer Jim: I’ll be happy to do that, what part of what I normally do do you not want me to do?
WWTI: That’s the best way you can put it. That’s the same way we feel, so we’re in the same ballpark brother.
Customer Jim: Sure I’ll discount it but I’m going to discount my service too, so…
WWTI: Exactly.
Customer Jim: What do you want me not to inspect? I’ll be happy to do the same kind of junk…
WWTI: You know what’s crazy, I guarantee when they end up calling and going through the fire that they regret it, and they probably don’t let you know but they’re like “We should have went with that guy…”
Customer Jim: No I’ve heard it numerous times. I’ve heard it numerous times you see I work with the agent. I work with the agent a lot of times and the agent will call me and say “Oh good God Jim they went with that other inspector and oh how I wish they’d have gone to you.”
WWTI: See that, that’s how we deal. Sometimes it’s a good feeling even though you wanted the business but…you don’t have to say anything.
Customer Jim: Exactly, exactly. Alright.
WWTI: I appreciate your time brother, it was nice talking to you. You made the day.
Customer Jim: You bet you. It was good talking to you too. Thanks a lot. Bye bye.
