[Gautham_v6]

Originally Posted by TejasV

I am here to share an unfortunate experience I have had with transporting my car from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad. The car is an Alto, my father's actually which we wanted to use as a second car in Hyderabad.

I am not sure if my experience would come under the category of being off topic , but I had a similar experience about 3-4 years ago.

I had to assist my grandparents with cleaning their LG window AC completely (Out of warranty), which we do it annually. And since I did not have Lg's customer care number, searched in Google and came across a website that was quite akin to LG India's website. Booked an appointment accordingly on a Sunday and on the same day, the service technicians scheduled a visit . Only after their visit did I realise that they were a third party firm and they charged more than the usual amount. They were nice enough to give a receipt though.

But then it was too late to take any action, so had to pay up their charges and ensured that I would rather navigate the support section of LG via their Indian website.

Agree with most people that Search engines must provide some form of identification for authentic websites / contact information of any services.

[Samfromindia]

This is one of the reason why I always drive my car between cities. My current company provided relocation benefits only if I use packers n movers and none if I drive, still I went ahead and drove. Apart from these hassles, the car may get damaged during transit, infested with rats etc. Vizag to Hyderabad is not much distance and I am sure many would love to volunteer and drive the way. I normally do Kolkata - Vizag - Vijayawada - Hyderabad - Pune once a year and give a night halt in Vijayawada along the way.

[darthvader001]

Would I have done it differently? Yes! Should I have been more careful, Yes! I was in the middle of a medical emergency in the family and let things be going by the brand name/also with Gati's HQ being next door to where we live, I was naïve. I just don't want others to fall into the same trap and hence putting it up here.

Sorry to hear your trouble. You're brave to accept your embarrassment publicly and giving awareness to others. Glad to hear it was only money and you received your car, because as I was reading day1, day2 etc., my thoughts were racing to something else.

My 2 cent & suggestion on this (to All) - these days we're all part of one or many groups in whatsapp or telegram. Better to ask for known references for any service. There are many people who would got a service done so we can trust our known circles than searching on google or bing. Or even better use Apps like mygate, apna complex, nobroker hood etc. for booking these services so we can be at peace with affordable prices too. Atleast in Bangalore these official society Apps are a boon. Making our lives easier and convenient.

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by TejasV

Hi folks,

Now I get messages saying they need another thousand more, from random numbers to get my car delivered. I went ballistic and said I will register a case (which I intend to soon, when I get time). They finally do a conference call with the guy who is actually transporting the car.


Tejaswi

Alright, lesson one in dealing with scammers/blackmailers/frauds : Never pay them. Their word or promises means nothing. The moment they realise that money can be extorted from you and that you are willing to pay up, they become greedy and start trying to squeeze more and more. They work on the principle of sunk cost fallacy. Since you have already paid them a larger amount, you will think 'oh why not just pay a bit more or else I will lose the initial amount too'. That's how they trap you and as long as they have leverage over you, they will keep trying to squeeze you whenever they need money.

You got lucky that they had already loaded your car onto a 3rd party truck and sent it on it's way. Or else they would have just kept it in some warehouse /abandoned it somewhere and continued extorting money from you.

[rjainv]

Originally Posted by TejasV

This guy who is actually delivering says he is paid a few thousand at max and assured my car's delivery tomorrow.

Have you got your car ?

[auxsend]

Best bet if time permits is to just make a trip out of it and then just personally drive the car to the new relocation spot. If time is an issue, then another option would be to use a known driver or someone thru a reference.

[rkw]

Saddened to know about the incident. It is very essential to check the credentials as there are many dubious parties in the market. I do not know why trademark / registration laws cannot be applied to prevent unauthorised use of well known company / brand names. All these companies might have to register in one or the other ways.
Beware of another cheating done by such entities - Getting the car transported by driving it.

[TejasV]

Originally Posted by rjainv

Have you got your car ?

Yes I did. Basically the guys operating the calls/taking the cash/billing aren't the ones transporting. that's being done by the company car transport truckers themselves. They get a cut of what we pay and actually are decent but there's no way to reach out to them directly and also i don't think its that safe as they have no paperwork.

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

This is one of the reason why I always drive my car between cities.

Was the only way I've ever moved a car between cities until now. This was a one-off and I did not have the time or extra hands who could drive. I had more important medical concerns in the family to take care of. Which is another lesson - can't rely on brand names/and don't ship unless you're 100% sure. Its okay to use a cab/keep the car safely where it is if that's possible.

[lpudr]

Been a victim of Agarwal packers(the fake one) around 1.5 years ago. There is a WhatsApp group of victims. Apparently, posting an FIR helps but i took the convenient route of paying up and getting the car delivered.
Eventually, when many people raise this, there will be a news around the accident and death of the accused (probably fake as well) and people will forget about it.
Prevention is better than cure so now i always book with trusted companies like topiwala.
Agarwal Bade bhaiya is also not trustworthy as they delay your delivery and the vehicle will most likely sustain damages - they will never respond to your transit insurance claims emails or phone calls.

[Rohan.agar]

Here is what I can suggest basis my experience.

Find of the transport companies and insist on paying via credit card. Most of the large companies will accept it, although they may charge 2% more, which will be well worth it.

This will weed out most of the scammers and they will not able to take a credit card, in addition you will option of claiming a chargeback in case of a dispute.

I colleague of mine has a similar experience with household goods, which damage had occurred. The transporter has changed for the insurance but actually not purchased it. He was able to claim a full charge back on paid amount since he had used his card.

Lesson I have learned is that saving a few thousand (on goods or car transport) is not worth and the damage done by these guys can be much much more.

[Neurodoc]

I have used packers movers frequently in last 6-7 years. Luckily never got cheated but my friend has been victim of fake VRL PACKERS last year.
He booked his household items to be shifted from Hyderabad to bengaluru. They quoted 15k, as VRL he never bothered to check authenticity and when package arrived at Bengaluru they demanded 10k extra.

He was so furious and went to police station and registered complaint. Finally things got sorted out without paying any extra money but it took 3 days of his work.

I always record every call when booking packers movers, usually once packing done i click photo of every box and last couple of times i even went to there warehouse where they load things in bigger trucks.
Visiting warehouse is best way to know the authenticity as they cant fake names there, usually all big companies have their own trucks for shipping.

[Krishna sankar]

I had transported my car from Mumbai to Chennai and used Agarwal Packers and Movers (Original - Topiwala ).

On the day of delivery, the driver called up by 2.00 pm saying the truck had reached the outskirts and they will drive from their to my residence at Chromepet which is about 30 Kms. Since i dont want the vehicle to be parked in their yard, i told him to get it immediately. He reached around 6.30 Pm when it was getting dark. I checked the car for damage, scratch etc and signed the delivery document that vehicle is ok. Next day when i sat in the car, i realised that the costly seat cover has been removed and when I contacted the driver / company they simply said that i had signed off the delivery document and hence cannot do any thing.

[acquillew]

In general, and not just online, the first red flag for me is extremely low rates for a commodity or service that I have paid more for in the past. If I receive a quotation that is way too less than the market price, I research and in 99% cases, it is a fraud. With more awareness being spread about not sharing OTPs with strangers on phone, Scammers are devising new ways to con us. In our family, we bought 3 cars this year, and after about a month of each purchase, we got a call offering 15 years RSA for INR 5000. For my Skoda, I asked them the GST number of their company, and they disconnected the call.

Our numbers are no more secure, and data is publicly available. You get an insurance, the insurance companies sell your number. Get a credit card, take a loan, book a car - all these open up your numbers for scammers. When I booked my Scorpio, I received a call offering a loan at 4.99%! But it did check my first flag criteria and I disconnected the call.

Thanks to the OP for sharing this.

[srini1785]

Probably the same gang :

DUO HELD FOR RUNNING FAKE TRANSPORT SCAM

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/94954003.cms