Bad Shiply experience - what would you do?
Discussion
If you aren't familiar, Shiply is a website where you can list items you want moving (in my case a car) and people then make you offers to do the job. They have feedback and you can check they are verified with insurance etc.
I wanted a car moving from Wakefield to Winchester and accepted a quote of £189 (plus the fee you pay direct to Shiply). I was very specific that I wanted the car to arrive between 2-6pm on Thursday and booked the afternoon off. The transport provider had agreed to this.
Thursday comes and I leave work at lunchtime, clear the garage out and am waiting for the car. I get a message from a member of the owners club saying he has seen my car on the back of a broken down transporter on the M1. I ring the transport provider and he says he has broken down and will be late; he is waiting for parts. He has managed about 15 miles from Wakefield and in the 5 hours he has sat there hasn't thought to ring me. Could have stayed at work... Gets to about 9pm and he says he is being recovered to Doncaster and will continue in the morning. So I book the morning off work and wait. In the morning he is uncontactable. No updates, not answering the phone, ignoring my messages. Shiply send him a message too and advise all I can do if he doesn't appear is to phone the police?! Eventually he answers (after several hours of trying) and tells me he has arranged to borrow a truck and will be down in the afternoon. So I book the afternoon off too.... and he doesn't come. Eventually he messages me saying "9pm"... then nothing. At 11pm he finally appears.
I am very relieved to finally get my car, but incredibly frustrated about the fact it has been so stressful and that the communication has been almost nil on his part, as well as the fact I needlessly took one and a half days off to wait for him. So what do I pay him? Agreed price was £189. I have suggested to him I pay half as I don't see why he should get his money when I have lost out on a day and a half of work. He's not happy with that and says fuel was £100 on its own. I feel bad for the guy but the problem with Shiply seems to be it is full of clapped out old vans that break down all the time. You can only leave feedback if the job is completed, so a lot of these problems are hidden. My delivery was already cancelled once at short notice by someone else for this reason and their feedback remains immaculate.
Sorry, that went on a bit... anyway... currently thinking I'll give him £120. What do we think?
I wanted a car moving from Wakefield to Winchester and accepted a quote of £189 (plus the fee you pay direct to Shiply). I was very specific that I wanted the car to arrive between 2-6pm on Thursday and booked the afternoon off. The transport provider had agreed to this.
Thursday comes and I leave work at lunchtime, clear the garage out and am waiting for the car. I get a message from a member of the owners club saying he has seen my car on the back of a broken down transporter on the M1. I ring the transport provider and he says he has broken down and will be late; he is waiting for parts. He has managed about 15 miles from Wakefield and in the 5 hours he has sat there hasn't thought to ring me. Could have stayed at work... Gets to about 9pm and he says he is being recovered to Doncaster and will continue in the morning. So I book the morning off work and wait. In the morning he is uncontactable. No updates, not answering the phone, ignoring my messages. Shiply send him a message too and advise all I can do if he doesn't appear is to phone the police?! Eventually he answers (after several hours of trying) and tells me he has arranged to borrow a truck and will be down in the afternoon. So I book the afternoon off too.... and he doesn't come. Eventually he messages me saying "9pm"... then nothing. At 11pm he finally appears.
I am very relieved to finally get my car, but incredibly frustrated about the fact it has been so stressful and that the communication has been almost nil on his part, as well as the fact I needlessly took one and a half days off to wait for him. So what do I pay him? Agreed price was £189. I have suggested to him I pay half as I don't see why he should get his money when I have lost out on a day and a half of work. He's not happy with that and says fuel was £100 on its own. I feel bad for the guy but the problem with Shiply seems to be it is full of clapped out old vans that break down all the time. You can only leave feedback if the job is completed, so a lot of these problems are hidden. My delivery was already cancelled once at short notice by someone else for this reason and their feedback remains immaculate.
Sorry, that went on a bit... anyway... currently thinking I'll give him £120. What do we think?
t happens.You're not the first and you won't be the last to have a bad experience with Shiply. It really is a race to the bottom.
There are companies like Welman Transport and Apex Motorsport Logistics who move stuff with top notch kit in covered trailers but they cost accordingly and I don't think you'll find either of them on Shiply. If it's something relatively cheap then I suppose shiply is worth a punt but if it's something of value then an extra £100 or so to have it there when you want it and moved in something appropriate seems a bit of a bargain.
At the end of the day he did get it to you and working that price backwards probably had about £50 quid in it after costs.....
There are companies like Welman Transport and Apex Motorsport Logistics who move stuff with top notch kit in covered trailers but they cost accordingly and I don't think you'll find either of them on Shiply. If it's something relatively cheap then I suppose shiply is worth a punt but if it's something of value then an extra £100 or so to have it there when you want it and moved in something appropriate seems a bit of a bargain.
At the end of the day he did get it to you and working that price backwards probably had about £50 quid in it after costs.....
I’d have charged £550 plus VAT for a specified date and time. To fit it in ‘when we are passing’ it would have been £400 plus VAT.
Operators licence, six week inspections and fully comprehensive good in transit cover all costs money. You chap didn’t have any of these.
Our insurance renewal for two trucks, three trailers and no fault claims in 31 years is £14,000. That covers vehicles upto £250k in value.
Pay peanuts...
Operators licence, six week inspections and fully comprehensive good in transit cover all costs money. You chap didn’t have any of these.
Our insurance renewal for two trucks, three trailers and no fault claims in 31 years is £14,000. That covers vehicles upto £250k in value.
Pay peanuts...
So stressful he couldn't be arsed to phone the guy who's car is currently sat on his truck not going anywhere? His sole reason for being there in the first place?
I would say pay him his fee minus whatever your day's holiday cost but suspect it's probably more than the entire bill.
£120 is reasonable when he cost you a day's holiday for the sake of a phone call he couldn't be bothered to make.
I would say pay him his fee minus whatever your day's holiday cost but suspect it's probably more than the entire bill.
£120 is reasonable when he cost you a day's holiday for the sake of a phone call he couldn't be bothered to make.
You paid £189 to move a car 212 miles...what did you expect ??
Mate of mine was in the car transport business. He did it properly.
Licensed.
Insured.
Always operated within weight limits for his transporter.
He gave up..couldnt make it work financially owing to the ridiculous low prices others were charging
Mate of mine was in the car transport business. He did it properly.
Licensed.
Insured.
Always operated within weight limits for his transporter.
He gave up..couldnt make it work financially owing to the ridiculous low prices others were charging
Aggh flipping shiply, cowboys for hire.
So you paid £189, they usually take a 33% cut for cars, well they do on the international jobs I'll bid on occasionally as a back load, so your chosen cheapo cowboy wasn't making a huge wedge.
A breakdown can happen to anyone, I've had them a thousand miles from home & it's a nightmare, but 1st thing you do is let customer know, then arrangements can be made both sides.
If he'd not been spotted broken down, normally it's they have issues with the connecting load to yours, for example it may have been cancelled & he had to try & find something else & strung you along, but if you want to pay peanuts you've got to expect that.
As mjk above his figs are proper outfit ball park the normal figures, I'd be a tiny bit cheaper but we are v similar, although I'd expect enclosed for that & are small firms like me non vat'd so that saves £100+ or so to a private person.
So you paid £189, they usually take a 33% cut for cars, well they do on the international jobs I'll bid on occasionally as a back load, so your chosen cheapo cowboy wasn't making a huge wedge.
A breakdown can happen to anyone, I've had them a thousand miles from home & it's a nightmare, but 1st thing you do is let customer know, then arrangements can be made both sides.
If he'd not been spotted broken down, normally it's they have issues with the connecting load to yours, for example it may have been cancelled & he had to try & find something else & strung you along, but if you want to pay peanuts you've got to expect that.
As mjk above his figs are proper outfit ball park the normal figures, I'd be a tiny bit cheaper but we are v similar, although I'd expect enclosed for that & are small firms like me non vat'd so that saves £100+ or so to a private person.
Edited by iguana on Saturday 9th March 16:38
Nobody wins a race to the bottom,
How do you suppose suppliers save costs?
I’m in logistics and I quote on things based on carriers I’ve got a good relationship with,
People I’ve known for thirty years who often ring me in the evening if there’s a problem
I come up against quotes that I know it’ll be impossible to move freight on
Where the freight for SFO is flown into one of the charter airports in Florida and trucked from there when it’s worthwhile to operate a truck.
It staggers me that someone makes a 35 grand piece of machinery and then thinks it’s a good idea to save ninety quid on the shipping
How do you suppose suppliers save costs?
I’m in logistics and I quote on things based on carriers I’ve got a good relationship with,
People I’ve known for thirty years who often ring me in the evening if there’s a problem
I come up against quotes that I know it’ll be impossible to move freight on
Where the freight for SFO is flown into one of the charter airports in Florida and trucked from there when it’s worthwhile to operate a truck.
It staggers me that someone makes a 35 grand piece of machinery and then thinks it’s a good idea to save ninety quid on the shipping
j4ckos mate said:
It staggers me that someone makes a 35 grand piece of machinery and then thinks it’s a good idea to save ninety quid on the shipping
Had one just recently, reasonable value cars, £150k ish each one out & one back UK-Germany, customer stresses must have proper insurance & enclosed transporter, yip no problem that's my bread & butter with £2 million daily cover, up go £10 million & enclosed transporters. He picks someone open trailers only & just on basic cmr insured - that's what at the mo approx £7k/tonne? All to save less than £200!
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