An Ontario man says he鈥檚 still waiting for a vehicle he purchased on Kijiji to be delivered to his home. But after more than a month, he says he鈥檚 losing hope that the car will arrive and believes that he is a victim of a scam.
Steve Sherlock, from LaSalle, Ont., says he purchased a 1955 Dodge Coronet for his wife from a seller in Duchess, Alta. in August for $28,000. He says the seller is legitimate and the vehicle exists, but problems began after he hired transport company, 鈥渃armoves.ca,鈥� to move the vehicle to his house.
鈥淭hey quoted me $2,400, which I paid in full,鈥� said Sherlock.
鈥淏ut they started to give me the runaround early on and I started to think something doesn鈥檛 seem right here.鈥�
Under the Terms of Shipping on the company's website, it states it "cannot guarantee exact pickup or delivery dates."
However, in his agreement with the company, Sherlock says the car was scheduled to be delivered on Aug. 9. But he claims that after inconsistent communication with carmoves.ca and multiple delays on the delivery date, he filed a police report and got his bank to flag the company鈥檚 account as fraudulent.
Sherlock says he eventually heard back from the company, which told him he owed them more money.
鈥淎t this rate, I was fed up. I just wanted the car, and I was willing to pay the extra. It was around $1,500,鈥� he said.
But Sherlock told the company he would only pay the remaining balance once the vehicle was delivered to his door, which still hasn鈥檛 happened more than a month later, he says.
鈥淚 just can鈥檛 believe there鈥檚 people out there like this. I really can鈥檛. It鈥檚 just disgusting what鈥檚 happened.鈥�
Sherlock isn鈥檛 the only person speaking out about the company. Camille Raiche from Quebec says he purchased a classic 1963 Mercury Meteor in British Columbia and hired caremoves.ca to transport his vehicle back east.
He also paid in full and says he still hasn鈥檛 received the vehicle after more than a month.
Like Sherlock, Raiche says communication with carmoves.ca has been spotty and the delivery of his vehicle keeps getting delayed. Raiche sent CTV News a recent email correspondence with carmoves.ca which states that it hired a third-party company to transport Raiche鈥檚 vehicle.
"The vehicle is with third party, we have attempted to ask them for the location of the car many times. They are not answering, and we do not have the car,鈥� reads the email. Raiche says he was directed by carmoves.ca to file a complaint against the third-party contractor.
鈥淚 have lost hours of sleep during the months of August and September hoping for a miracle,鈥� said Raiche.
鈥淢y wish is that people responsible for these scams and thefts are found and jailed. They are nothing but a bunch of crooks.鈥�
According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), a non-government watchdog, this type of incident possibly falls under the umbrella of 鈥渧ehicle transport scam,鈥� which has multiple variations.
The BBB says one of the variations is people hire a transport company to move their vehicle and they are asked to pay upfront. The company will delay the delivery of the vehicle and ask for more money. Eventually, the vehicle may or may not be delivered.
BBB spokesperson Melanie McGovern says people need to be vigilant.
鈥淚f you are transporting a high-ticket item, you really want to thoroughly research the company and not just based on their website,鈥� said McGovern.
鈥淎sk some friends. Take it to other websites, take it to review sites, use the name of the company and a search engine, and type the word scam to see if anybody else is reporting any kind of suspicious activity.鈥�
McGovern is encouraging people who鈥檝e been victims of scams to file a complaint with the BBB.
Sherlock says he thought carmoves.ca and carmoves.com were the same company, the latter he is familiar with. He says it was a costly mistake and wanted to share his story.
鈥淚 just don't I don't want to see other people get hurt. That's my biggest concern.鈥�
Sherlock did purchase insurance for the transport of his vehicle; however, he won鈥檛 be able to claim any money until the vehicle is reported stolen. Unfortunately, he says he hasn鈥檛 been able to file the car stolen with LaSalle RCMP because although he has a bill of sale and proof of payment, he says the detachment requires the vehicle to be in his name.
Sherlock asked the seller of the vehicle, Richard Berg, to file a report with Alberta RCMP, but says Berg was told that the purchaser of the vehicle needs to file a stolen vehicle report.
鈥淚 have all this information, and yet I got the police pointing fingers at each other saying, 鈥榥o, you have to report it stolen,鈥� 鈥榥o, you have to report it stolen鈥� and it's just frustrating,鈥� said Sherlock.
CTV News has reached out to carmoves.ca multiple times through email and phone and have not received a response from the company.
