Complaint Review: Exhibit Transfer Inc. - Nationwide

Our company participated in a trade show in Orlando this past November 2014.  We were solicited by Exhibit Transfer Inc. (via email) for shipping needs, which most likely happened as a result of ETi's relationship with the organizer of the trade show.

Since we did have shipping needs we received a price quote from ETi and researched what costs would be for Fedex and UPS.  ETi was far and away the better deal - $366.04 to ship to the show.  The quotes from FedEx and UPS were over $1000.00 each - so it was a no brainer to go with ETi.

When we arrived at the show our box (the shipment) was at our booth, in one piece.  We opened up the box and everything was intact and we set up our booth and had a wonderful show - perfect.  ETi came through like champs!

But, the return shipment (after the show) was a disaster.....and ETi OVERCHARGED us for their blatant screw up!

It goes like this:  We changed our return shipment destination (as it was orginally scheduled to be shipped back to Indianapolis) to a location only 20 miles from the Orange County Convention Center where the show was taking place.

So, I called a guy named Jason Griffen on his mobile (850) xxx-xxxx (((REDACTED))) from ETi to ask him what we needed to do to get our shipment redirected from Indy to a new location in Florida.  For the record I had been talking with Jason from the beginning of this entire shipping process.  He was a nice enough guy and very helpful setting things up to get our shipment organized to ship both ways with labels, pick-up times and going through all the Q&A with me.

I followed all the instructions Jason presented to me to get our shipment shipped to its new desitnation in Florida which included;        

1)  Filling out a new "Material and Handling Agreement" from FREEMAN, the show's Decorating General Contractor that has the new shipping address on it.        

 2)  Then attaching the 4 new shipping labels (with the new address) to our box.  These labels were freshly printed and given to me at the FREEMAN show desk.     

  3)  And finally, taking a picture of the "Material and Handling Agreement" and emailing it to Jason per his request.

This was everything Jason said we needed to do.  I then asked Jason what our NEW  shipping cost would be since we were only shippiing 20 miles from the Orange County Convention Center - remember it was $366.04 to ship from Indy to Orlando.  He said it would be the minimum $250.00 and it would be there by Monday, Tuesday at the latest.  At the time it was Friday.  

On Monday I called our guy in Florida that was to receive our shippment of the box - it hasn't arrived.  I call him back Tuesday morning, and it's still not there.  Then I call Jason on his mobile.  He does a little research and discovers our box is headed back to Indy, not to where IT SHOULD BE HEADED or HAVE ALREADY ARRIVED in Florida.

Fortunately Jason was able to re-routed it back to it's proper desitnation in Florida.  Unfortunately ETi billed me $601.45 for all this shipping they did.  Jason did provide me a credit of $75.00 making the new total $526.45, but whose at fault for this shipping blunder?

At the time Jason was blaming FREEMAN for the screw up.  I asked him if he thought they would give me a "credit" and he said "I don't see it going anywhere, they are very reluctant to offer anything".  So, I paid the $526.45 and I'm not sure I should have.  I certainly wasn't happy about it so I then called FREEMAN, why not give it a try.  

To my suprise they were extremely helful and, as it turned out, abosolutey not at fault in any way.  In fact, they sent me a copy of the "Material Handling Agreement" that was clearly signed by the driver for ETi - the same one I filled out to get our box shipped to the new location that was only 20 miles away from the Orange County Convention Centerwith the new address.

ETi works like this.  They are a Logistics Company that hires "sub-contracted" freight companies/drivers to move shipments for them.  They provide a wonderful service to consumers and the frieght business.  But the profit margins for ETi per shipment is very small, so they have very little room for error.

In this case they screwed up big time and they will NOT PROVIDE AN ADEQUATE REFUND for their error.  If this GOOF was due to a company/driver that ETi subcontracted with IT DOESN"T MATTER because ETi's name is on it.  I did everything exactly as Jason from ETi instructed me to do.  FREEMAN fulfilled their obligation to the letter, yet my company is out (depending on how you look at it) somewhere around $275.00.

Heads up everyone.....