A Eastern Connection CO, Inc Blatantly robbed my mother of $970, mistreated her and then charged her $360 to get her own car back! Bayville New York

As part of moving from Arizona to North Carolina my mother contracted with A Eastern Connection to transport her Honda Accord from to her new home. She paid them $970 by personal check with the agreement that they would pick up the car on June 6, 2008 from her address, a date she confirmed with them on June 4.

However, no pickup was made that June 6 - nor contact made by them to advise that it wouldn't - and she had to follow through with her travel plans the next day and flew east. Prior to leaving, she left the car with a friend/neighbor and notified A Eastern who said the car would be picked up the following Monday, June 9.

That date came and went without pickup as did a number of other dates in the coming weeks. Not once did A Eastern initiate contact and became increasingly rude and even threatening in manner during her calls to inquire (and my calls........she is an 86 year old woman and solicited my support in trying to deal with the very unpleasant situation.......something I wish she had done prior to ever dealing with these lowlifes).

On Friday, June 20, I lodged a complaint with the NY State Better Business Bureau. A few days later A Eastern Connection finally contacted her, having heard from the BBB and assured her that she'd regret contacting them. She told them that she'd withdraw the complaint if they would only pick up and deliver her car.

A Eastern Connection picked up the car on June 27, but instead of delivering it to NC they instead took it to a parking lot in Phoenix, AZ (about 20 miles from where they picked it up) and, only after a series of increasingly desperate phonecalls in which we even had to involve a lawyer friend, told her that the car could be picked up at a location and provided a Phoenix phone number of a person who would apprise me of where the car was physically located.

They also said that whoever picked the car up would have to pay $360 in cash to do so. And that is eventually what happened. A friend picked up the car on Monday, July 7 (Phoenix police met him there at his request given the shady nature of things until that point) and did pay the cash and successfully retrieved the car and took it to another auto transport company who have since delivered it to her in North Carolina for the price of $1050.

So the transaction with A Eastern cost her $970 up front and then $360 to recover the vehicle.......which was somewhat the worse for wear, but nothing that I suppose they could be held legally accountable for since the vehicle was not in their hands (or their hired carrier) the entire time....not that there is much doubt who damaged the car.

She spent $1330 to deal with A Eastern and for her money got nothing but interminable delay, rude and threatening exchanges, a damaged vehicle and another bill from the legitimate company to actually get the car delivered to her new home.

A Eastern Connection is a disreputable company run by outright thieves. Our initial attempts to deal with them in a civil manner (as with a normal business)were an exercise in futility, met with ever-increasing rudeness and even heavy-handed and threatening replies. We were hung up on more than once. The guy who goes by "John" is the chief thug......evidently not his real name.

We would be happy to get involved in any sort of effort to bring this company to justice. As mentioned, we've complained (and now renewed the complaint) with the New York Better Business Bureau and are in the process of submitting a complaint to the Office of the New York State Attorney General.

If nothing else, be warned! My mother did not do her due diligence and has paid the price.

Bob
Marietta, Georgia
U.S.A.