wendywolf
14th March 2006, 12:02 AM
If you are planning on making a move with your pets avoid the following company:
Pet-transporter Worldwide International, which I had found though a web page:
http://www.ipata.com
This company will promise you for 40 dollars, they will do a thorough investigation to see what your best options for the flights are, besides plan all ground transportation help, or advice on the correct Vets to use. When you give them the 40 dollars, the only part of the phone call they actually DO record when you use your credit card, they tell you this investigation is going to be so complete it will take at least 7 to 10 days.
At the end of that time, I got an email that they were “waiting” for an office near me in Amsterdam that they work with to get back to them and this was why they were running late. A day or so later, I finally get the quote and all it was, was a copy-edit- paste document with information as generic as can be that also did not have anything to do with the information I needed, and a quote for over 5000 dollars with out one single break down of what that charge was for.
On top of this, when I requested a break down of this, it seemed I was treated with a smugness that held the information up by them like it was hostage. I got a very sketchy at best break down, which at least alerted me to the fact that their charges were in some services 5 times as much as other transport companies I had talked to. Not just one item on their list was more expensive, everything was way-way more expensive, so expensive it was laughable and totally made me think they never really wanted to ship the dogs, they just wanted to scam me out of 40 dollars.
I complained that I was not given the detailed information, including actually knowing what flight my animals would be on. Now get this. They tell me according to TSA rules, they don’t have to tell people this until the animals are in the air! That’s right! They expect you to hand over 5 grand without knowing what airlines, route, air time or layovers may be in store for your pet.
I accidentally received in office memo’s from one person concerning my letter of complaint:
From: "Janice Cipparrone" <janice@petmove.com>To: "'Wendy'" <pagan@wolfs.org>Subject: RE: Fw: pettransporter quote# 3349/Trinity, Neo, KD and Melissa/Merlin/Owner:Wendy Wolf/DOT: November 2006/AMS to Auckland, New Zealand
.................................................. ................................................
Hi Cherie,
I don't think we should do anything with this. It's just a quote that they
thought was too high. People tell me that they sometimes think my quote was
high, oh well. It's well known in this industry that there are some
companies that are notoriously high. If they don't like the quote then they
don't have to use them. I think we should be entertaining complaints
regarding what happened once they hired the company especially in regards to how the actual animals are treated. It's interesting that some people get
the prices directly form the airlines etc and then can't understand why a
professional company charges would be higher? I'd like to know where they
get their free plumber.........I mean after they've priced the parts with
the plumbing place they're surprised that the plumber actually charges and
that they don't all charge the same price for the same work........
On the subject of what should and should not go into a file I think we
should drop the complaint against Bobbi's World should be dropped. Sorry
she thought Maureen was rude on the phone but that's not an ethics
complaint. OK?
Thanks!
Janice
……………………………………………………………………………………….
Amazing isn’t it? This woman shouldn’t have sent me this in the first place but it also shows besides incompetence with a computer, she really likes to sit there and play God and make herself feel more important by claiming to be the animal’s saviour. She wont even give people the information on what airline the animals are put on but she is all for protecting them. She dismisses not just one person but two persons in this one email. I have a feeling its easier for her to do it this way considering the amount of complaints that must flood her office.
When I wrote to her and asked her why she sent me this she wrote back:
.................................................. .................................................. ...
From: "Janice Cipparrone" <janice@petmove.com>To: "'Wendy'" <pagan@wolfs.org>Subject: RE: Fw: pettransporter quote# 3349/Trinity, Neo, KD and Melissa/Merlin/Owner:Wendy Wolf/DOT: November 2006/AMS to Auckland, New Zealand
Sent in error. Sorry, please delete. Thank You! Janice
.................................................. ..................................................
Oh ya sure. I’ll just delete that one. When she picked herself up off the floor, she wrote this one:
.................................................. ..................................................
From: "Janice Cipparrone" <janice@petmove.com>To: "'Wendy'" <pagan@wolfs.org>Cc: <IntlIPATA@aol.com>Subject: RE: Fw: pettransporter quote# 3349/Trinity, Neo, KD and Melissa/Merlin/Owner:Wendy Wolf/DOT: November 2006/AMS to Auckland, New Zealand
Hello Wendy,
This was forwarded to us for action. We deal with action concerning the
treatment of animals once in the care of shippers. As a trade organization
we do not deal with complaints concerning individual business practices of
member companies. We focus on issues concerning care of the animals that arebeing shipped by our member companies. We take complaints regarding animalsafety very seriously and vigorously enforce the Animal Welfare Act.
If you feel a company has given you a quote that you feel is too high then I
suggest you don't employ them to ship your pets. If indeed they have
charged you for a service they did not perform the you have the right to
take recourse. As a trade organization IPATA cannot seek legal recourse for
you. Again, we deal with ethics issues regarding animal safety.
To answer some one of your other concerns regarding not being told what
airline the pet is on, that is correct. According to TSA security
regulations which we operate under by the exact letter of the law we are not
allowed to divulge the exact flight information until the animal is in the
air. This has been federal policy since 9/11.
If you'd care to discuss any of this I'd be glad to call you if you'd like
to give me your phone number.
Thank You,
Janice
.................................................. .........................................
It seems they all try to get your phone number so they don’t have to put things in writing. I prefer my business done in writing so I push the email contact.
I asked her to see the regulation she was referring to with the TSA and she sends me this:
.................................................. ........................................
Hi Wendy,
Unfortunately I cannot send you TSA security regulations as applies to
shipping companies as this is not allowed by the TSA. The regulations that
we operate under apply to cargo shipments only and have no bearing on
passenger regulations or travel.
Again, we're a trade organization and cannot control what the individual
members charge for services. If you feel you were charged for services not
rendered you can take action which you will be doing with the Better
Business Bureau. I hope you do find a company who can assist you in making
your animals travel a good experience for you.
Thank You!
Janice
.................................................. .................................................
I have since made calls in to the TSA and to a contact at Boeing, and I await further information with what we have already discussed on this so-called regulation. I have been told in the meantime sometimes a transport company wont tell you what plane they are using because they don’t want you to know they are using a freighter with horrific conditions over charging people and using totally inferior service that puts the animals they claim they are concerned for in harms way just to make a buck. It was pointed out if we could track online packages, people, etc there is no reason that this information is being held back except they don’t want to give it to you. When you book a flight with many online services or directly, you can pick according to flight times, layover length and other factors that this transport company promised with the “investigation” that you pay for then refuses to tell you the outcome.
I will be using a transport company for my animals here in Amsterdam, Exel, the Netherlands that gave me from the very beginning all the costs associated with this and 2 choices on routes and airlines with the first FREE quote. Other transport companies here have done relatively the same. I’m not sure if it is just in America that these companies think they can get away with this assumed blind acceptance from people looking for help with their animals. I just know what has happened with me. This company lists itself as International and will call you no matter where you are. Don’t give them a dime! Also, make sure you get at least three quotes for your pets. You will be amazed how these can differ.
Avoid these people at all costs!
wendy
Pet-transporter Worldwide International, which I had found though a web page:
http://www.ipata.com
This company will promise you for 40 dollars, they will do a thorough investigation to see what your best options for the flights are, besides plan all ground transportation help, or advice on the correct Vets to use. When you give them the 40 dollars, the only part of the phone call they actually DO record when you use your credit card, they tell you this investigation is going to be so complete it will take at least 7 to 10 days.
At the end of that time, I got an email that they were “waiting” for an office near me in Amsterdam that they work with to get back to them and this was why they were running late. A day or so later, I finally get the quote and all it was, was a copy-edit- paste document with information as generic as can be that also did not have anything to do with the information I needed, and a quote for over 5000 dollars with out one single break down of what that charge was for.
On top of this, when I requested a break down of this, it seemed I was treated with a smugness that held the information up by them like it was hostage. I got a very sketchy at best break down, which at least alerted me to the fact that their charges were in some services 5 times as much as other transport companies I had talked to. Not just one item on their list was more expensive, everything was way-way more expensive, so expensive it was laughable and totally made me think they never really wanted to ship the dogs, they just wanted to scam me out of 40 dollars.
I complained that I was not given the detailed information, including actually knowing what flight my animals would be on. Now get this. They tell me according to TSA rules, they don’t have to tell people this until the animals are in the air! That’s right! They expect you to hand over 5 grand without knowing what airlines, route, air time or layovers may be in store for your pet.
I accidentally received in office memo’s from one person concerning my letter of complaint:
From: "Janice Cipparrone" <janice@petmove.com>To: "'Wendy'" <pagan@wolfs.org>Subject: RE: Fw: pettransporter quote# 3349/Trinity, Neo, KD and Melissa/Merlin/Owner:Wendy Wolf/DOT: November 2006/AMS to Auckland, New Zealand
.................................................. ................................................
Hi Cherie,
I don't think we should do anything with this. It's just a quote that they
thought was too high. People tell me that they sometimes think my quote was
high, oh well. It's well known in this industry that there are some
companies that are notoriously high. If they don't like the quote then they
don't have to use them. I think we should be entertaining complaints
regarding what happened once they hired the company especially in regards to how the actual animals are treated. It's interesting that some people get
the prices directly form the airlines etc and then can't understand why a
professional company charges would be higher? I'd like to know where they
get their free plumber.........I mean after they've priced the parts with
the plumbing place they're surprised that the plumber actually charges and
that they don't all charge the same price for the same work........
On the subject of what should and should not go into a file I think we
should drop the complaint against Bobbi's World should be dropped. Sorry
she thought Maureen was rude on the phone but that's not an ethics
complaint. OK?
Thanks!
Janice
……………………………………………………………………………………….
Amazing isn’t it? This woman shouldn’t have sent me this in the first place but it also shows besides incompetence with a computer, she really likes to sit there and play God and make herself feel more important by claiming to be the animal’s saviour. She wont even give people the information on what airline the animals are put on but she is all for protecting them. She dismisses not just one person but two persons in this one email. I have a feeling its easier for her to do it this way considering the amount of complaints that must flood her office.
When I wrote to her and asked her why she sent me this she wrote back:
.................................................. .................................................. ...
From: "Janice Cipparrone" <janice@petmove.com>To: "'Wendy'" <pagan@wolfs.org>Subject: RE: Fw: pettransporter quote# 3349/Trinity, Neo, KD and Melissa/Merlin/Owner:Wendy Wolf/DOT: November 2006/AMS to Auckland, New Zealand
Sent in error. Sorry, please delete. Thank You! Janice
.................................................. ..................................................
Oh ya sure. I’ll just delete that one. When she picked herself up off the floor, she wrote this one:
.................................................. ..................................................
From: "Janice Cipparrone" <janice@petmove.com>To: "'Wendy'" <pagan@wolfs.org>Cc: <IntlIPATA@aol.com>Subject: RE: Fw: pettransporter quote# 3349/Trinity, Neo, KD and Melissa/Merlin/Owner:Wendy Wolf/DOT: November 2006/AMS to Auckland, New Zealand
Hello Wendy,
This was forwarded to us for action. We deal with action concerning the
treatment of animals once in the care of shippers. As a trade organization
we do not deal with complaints concerning individual business practices of
member companies. We focus on issues concerning care of the animals that arebeing shipped by our member companies. We take complaints regarding animalsafety very seriously and vigorously enforce the Animal Welfare Act.
If you feel a company has given you a quote that you feel is too high then I
suggest you don't employ them to ship your pets. If indeed they have
charged you for a service they did not perform the you have the right to
take recourse. As a trade organization IPATA cannot seek legal recourse for
you. Again, we deal with ethics issues regarding animal safety.
To answer some one of your other concerns regarding not being told what
airline the pet is on, that is correct. According to TSA security
regulations which we operate under by the exact letter of the law we are not
allowed to divulge the exact flight information until the animal is in the
air. This has been federal policy since 9/11.
If you'd care to discuss any of this I'd be glad to call you if you'd like
to give me your phone number.
Thank You,
Janice
.................................................. .........................................
It seems they all try to get your phone number so they don’t have to put things in writing. I prefer my business done in writing so I push the email contact.
I asked her to see the regulation she was referring to with the TSA and she sends me this:
.................................................. ........................................
Hi Wendy,
Unfortunately I cannot send you TSA security regulations as applies to
shipping companies as this is not allowed by the TSA. The regulations that
we operate under apply to cargo shipments only and have no bearing on
passenger regulations or travel.
Again, we're a trade organization and cannot control what the individual
members charge for services. If you feel you were charged for services not
rendered you can take action which you will be doing with the Better
Business Bureau. I hope you do find a company who can assist you in making
your animals travel a good experience for you.
Thank You!
Janice
.................................................. .................................................
I have since made calls in to the TSA and to a contact at Boeing, and I await further information with what we have already discussed on this so-called regulation. I have been told in the meantime sometimes a transport company wont tell you what plane they are using because they don’t want you to know they are using a freighter with horrific conditions over charging people and using totally inferior service that puts the animals they claim they are concerned for in harms way just to make a buck. It was pointed out if we could track online packages, people, etc there is no reason that this information is being held back except they don’t want to give it to you. When you book a flight with many online services or directly, you can pick according to flight times, layover length and other factors that this transport company promised with the “investigation” that you pay for then refuses to tell you the outcome.
I will be using a transport company for my animals here in Amsterdam, Exel, the Netherlands that gave me from the very beginning all the costs associated with this and 2 choices on routes and airlines with the first FREE quote. Other transport companies here have done relatively the same. I’m not sure if it is just in America that these companies think they can get away with this assumed blind acceptance from people looking for help with their animals. I just know what has happened with me. This company lists itself as International and will call you no matter where you are. Don’t give them a dime! Also, make sure you get at least three quotes for your pets. You will be amazed how these can differ.
Avoid these people at all costs!
wendy