Complaint Review: HAYS MARINE TRANSPORT - Portland Oregon

I have clients too, and I have had personal problems as well. My personal problems have never have been so severe that I could not give a client the simple courtesy of a answer. Jim never returns calls. Never. I have had family problems too, but I never left anyone hanging like Hay did to me.

I never stick my neck out without covering my hiney. You state: "This man Anthony is so misinformed. I do not own any trucks!! I let my authority lasp as I no longer drive but work in a office!!! A bond, this guy is nuts, no bond is needed or available for this kind of work. We carry truck and cargo insurance!! He schould really get with the program and learn a little about this industry befor he shoots off at the mouth. Second of all if you notice his post is full of links for advertizing!! He is not legit but a advertizing spammer!!" I see that in the short span of time since your company was mentioned in two different threads on this site, that you have amended your own site to eliminate language that could have landed you in hot water, and of course, contradict yourself at the same time. Now I don't know what your game is, and I really don't care. But don't think for a second that you are going to deflect the truth, as it can be easily verified and very credibly. The fact of the matter is that you HAVE been representing yourself to be in business as a motor carrier. I read no less than a dozen entries on websites dedicated to the boating industry, referencing your previous site. I also want to clarify clearly, that you did not let your authority "lapse". Your authority was involuntarily yanked by the FMCSA, and it clearly says so on the SaferSystem website. You probably let your insurance lapse, which resulted in their yanking your authority. Whatever the case, the FMCSA CLEARLY states that it was INVOLUNTARILY REVOKED. Maybe you don't own any trucks. That's a good thing. At least I don't have to worry about you killing someone out there and being uninsured. What a relief. Your previous site claimed differently. What I do worry about now, is that you are brokering movements without a license and the proper authority to engage as a broker. And worse, those that go through you to move their possessions, are probably not aware of the fact that you can walk away under such arrangements, if something goes wrong, and the actual company transporting their boats is not insured or licensed properly. My advice stands, with some added advice as well, due to your recent revelations. When dealing with any trucking company, you have the right to request and receive all information in regard to the company's operating authority including their US DOT Number, insurance company(s) and all policy number(s), and bond information. Bonds are not always required, but when transporting personal property of the value that yours represented, I would never deal with any company that did not have a bond in place, and for enough to pay for the item or items being transported in total if a loss occurs. I would further decline to do business with any transport company that did not immediately provide such bond information upon request as well. Along with verifying their business credentials, you should always request their D&B Number (Dun & Bradstreet), and pull a credit report on them through the D&B website. It will cost you around $30.00, but it's the best $30.00 you will ever spend, because on that report, you will know if they are legitimate and firmly established as a business enterprise, and whether or not they are financially sound. NEVER pay any deposit or up-front fee in cash or by any method in which you cannot retrieve it if the business defaults on their services. Pay by credit card or arrange an escrow transaction through an agreed upon neutral source, such as a bank local to the other party. When you pay by credit card, you can dispute the transaction. When you set up an escrow transaction, the funds are not released until you give the third party authorization to do so. A decent trucking company will not require any funds up-front, but may request information from you to check your credit before agreeing to haul your property, or require a COD transaction at the point of delivery. A company that requests money up-front is probably financially unsound, or worse as you have experienced, setting up the potential customer for a rip-off. If a truck shows up to haul your property, and it is clearly NOT marked with the name of the company that you contracted with, do not let it take possession of that property until the company you contracted with, has listed the actual party that will be hauling your property on your contract. You are dealing with a brokered movement, or more than one party. Protecting yourself is even MORE important in this kind of arrangement. Demand immediately from the original party, a copy of their brokerage authority issued by the FMCSA. Verify that it is legitimate by looking them up in the SaferSystem database, that they are indeed granted brokerage authority, and that their authority is in effect. You can also verify if there is a bond on file with the FMCSA. You have every right to verify the credentials of the actual trucking company that will be transporting your property just as you did with the one you contracted with, and you have the right to demand to have the actual company hauling your property, request their insurance company to issue you a certificate of insurance by fax, naming you as a "Certificate Holder", and that certificate can be used as an means to verify that there is actual cargo insurance in amounts for any property claims, equal to or greater than the value of your property. In the event of any damage upon delivery, you also have the means to file an immediate claim, because you have all you need right there on that certificate of insurance to know where to file a claim for any damage. A point of law to be aware of is that all transactions exchanged by fax are as legally enforceable and binding as if they were signed in person. So there is no reason for anyone to attempt to thwart the process because they are not there in person to sign any documents. So either a bond or cargo insurance must be in place, and it is imperative that you insist on being issued a certificate by the insurer of the actual party hauling your property, BEFORE your property is loaded on their truck. And for the record, no...a property bond is not required if you are a motor carrier. However, Mr. Jim Hay, if you are now brokering loads as you have now attested, you ARE REQUIRED to have a bond in place at all times. Can you say...oops? Gee, and I see you have no brokerage authority either, as Hays Marine Transport. Would you care to clear that one up, given the fact that you have a website and claim to be in the business as a legitimate marine transporter? It's still rotten in Denmark, err...Portland. As to my being a "spammer" and an "advertiser", perhaps you should have paid a wee bit more attention. This site allows "key words and phrases" to be utilized by it's sponsors as a means to pay for the site, and allows those words and phrases to be used to link to advertisers. I have nothing at all to do with that. It's rather common these days on high volume websites. I Sir, am quite "legit". You on the other hand, are still very questionable.

On May 15, 2008 my $1,500 deposit was refunded by HAYS MARINE TRANSPORT.

This man Anthony is so misinformed. I do not own any trucks!! I let my authority lasp as I no longer drive but work in a office!!! A bond, this guy is nuts, no bond is needed or available for this kind of work. We carry truck and cargo insurance!! He schould really get with the program and learn a little about this industry befor he shoots off at the mouth. Second of all if you notice his post is full of links for advertizing!! He is not legit but a advertizing spammer!!

This man Anthony is so misinformed. I do not own any trucks!! I let my authority lasp as I no longer drive but work in a office!!! A bond, this guy is nuts, no bond is needed or available for this kind of work. We carry truck and cargo insurance!! He schould really get with the program and learn a little about this industry befor he shoots off at the mouth. Second of all if you notice his post is full of links for advertizing!! He is not legit but a advertizing spammer!!

This man Anthony is so misinformed. I do not own any trucks!! I let my authority lasp as I no longer drive but work in a office!!! A bond, this guy is nuts, no bond is needed or available for this kind of work. We carry truck and cargo insurance!! He schould really get with the program and learn a little about this industry befor he shoots off at the mouth. Second of all if you notice his post is full of links for advertizing!! He is not legit but a advertizing spammer!!

I admit it took along time to return this customers deposit as personal issues kept me out of the office for a period of time. Never have I kept a mans deposit and am soory it took so long to return it.

I did a quick check on this company, and have found out that you are basically dealing with a scam artist. This man, James R. Hay, has been operating without any legal authority to operate as a motor carrier for nearly 2 years. His authority granted by the Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCSA) was involuntarily revoked on 4/24/06. He has not drivers other than himself, and only one truck. The "family emergency" was a ploy and a rouse to abscond with your money. He has no insurance of any kind, nor any bond to file a claim against for what you were defrauded of. Be glad that he never took possession of your marine craft. Had he wrecked while it was on board his truck, it would have been absolutely uninsured. You need to immediately contact the Portland, Oregon Police Department to file a complaint of felony theft by taking against him, because he solicited funds from you under the pretenses of being a lawful enterprise, when in fact he is operating totally illegally and without the means in which to conduct such business. It appears he was previously located in Tampa, Florida at some point under the same name. I would further contact the source of his website, which you can find by Googling it under the company name. The website was created in 2007, after he was basically forced out of business by the Federal Government, when they revoked his operating authority. I would also contact the FMCSA and file a complaint as well, which will do nothing more than to further prevent him from ever being able to go back into business, if nothing else. The bad thing is that this man's unlawful company is listed repeatedly throughout the web on sites related to marine sales and transporting options, which is bad, because he's probably ripping off other people as we speak. A couple of points to remember when dealing with any business that you have never dealt with before; NEVER pay any deposit or up-front fee in cash or by any method in which you cannot retrieve it if the business defaults on their services. Pay by credit card or arrange an escrow transaction through an agreed upon neutral source, such as a bank local to the other party. When you pay by credit card, you can dispute the transaction. When you set up an escrow transaction, the funds are not released until you give the third party authorization to do so. A decent trucking company will not require any funds up-front, but may request information from you to check your credit before agreeing to haul your property, or require a COD transaction at the point of delivery. A company that requests money up-front is probably financially unsound, or worse as you have experienced, setting up the potential customer for a rip-off. When dealing with any trucking company, you have the right to request and receive all information in regard to the company's operating authority including their US DOT Number, insurance company(s) and all policy number(s), and bond information. Bonds are not always required, but when transporting personal property of the value that yours represented, I would never deal with any company that did not have a bond in place, and for enough to pay for the item or items being transported in total if a loss occurs. I would further decline to do business with any transport company that did not immediately provide such bond information upon request. Along with verifying their business credentials, you should always request their D&B Number (Dun & Bradstreet), and pull a credit report on them through the D&B website. It will cost you around $30.00, but it's the best $30.00 you will ever spend, because on that report, you will know if they are legitimate and firmly established as a business enterprise, and whether or not they are financially sound. You can verify all of the company's authority and insurance information on the SaferSystem website, which is accessible by the public, and it can be found by clicking on the "Licensing and Insurance" section of the site, once you have found their business listing either by the company name or US DOT Number. It is under the "org" suffix. The US DOT Number for his company, although defunct, is 1106763. I don't know if you will get your money back, but at the very least, if you file a complaint, you will at least get him arrested at some point to answer to the charges. I'm very sorry to read of this happening to you, and unfortunately it is an expensive lesson to not ever take things at face value, and to always check out a company, even if someone else recommends the company to you. Trucking companies exist in a very unstable market environment, and in as little as 30 days, a company can go from being completely reputable to bankrupt if things go wrong.