Driver falsely accused of being rude

[CharlesD]

We have one driver who is Mr. Professional. Everything is yes sir, no sir, please and thank you, the whole nine yards, former military and extremely respectful with everyone. Last week he went in to pick up a load and it wasn't ready yet. He asked the shipper when it would be ready and was told a couple hours, so he called me and told me it was going to be a couple hours and he was going to go get a bite to eat and come back.

Then I get a phone call from our customer on this load telling me that the shipper just called to complain about the driver, saying that he was rude and they don't want to see him back on he property. We were pulled off the load. I called the driver and he told me that nothing seemed to be out of sorts when he was there. He asked when the freight was going to be ready, he was told a time, and he went on his way.

Now I know all this customer is always right business, but in this case I felt I needed to defend the driver. I knew we weren't going to get the load back, but we have a three year history with this guy and he's never been less than polite with anyone, so I felt the need to tell our customer that whoever at the shipper says he was rude was off his rocker. I was told that because of the circumstances we weren't going to get dry run pay and I came back and said that because we were pulled off the load on what must be a false accusation that I expected double our normal dry run charge. The next day a higher up from this customer called me and we had a good talk where I once again insisted that our driver was not rude to anyone and that the shipper was most likely trying to back out because they probably found a cheaper option. We eventually got the dry run I asked for and got another load for the driver.

How would you have handled this? Was I right to adamantly take our driver's side even though I wasn't there? How often does this sort of thing happen? I'll still insist that he wasn't rude and the shipper was trying to back out of the load without paying anything. What do you think?

 

[usafk9]

I'd have done exactly as you did. Awesome that you stick up for your peeps.

I got called unprofessional a few short weeks ago, by a supervisor at the Fed, after we went WAY above and beyond serving one of their customers. In my book, that is tantamount to being called a liar. I despise both. I'm a lot of things, and a few of them are not great, but unprofessional and a liar are not among them.

Good on ya, Charles.

Edit: I should add that it is un-freakin-believeable the lengths some people will go to to weasel out of a commitment that they already made.

 

[chefdennis]

Ok, you took the side of a "Contract" driver that you have a relationship with. You stood yur ground with the customer all the way up the line and didn't allow them to not only not pay, but you got paid what you asked for...

Good for you...I have no doubt that you just earned a bunch of respect from those that work with you including that customer....Way to go!!

 

[davekc]

I think it is more common than you think, but not hardly a everyday event. Some shippers are total gamers and pull just what you mentioned. We had a case several years ago with something similar but we got the load back. In our case Panther stepped up to the plate and defended the driver after a review of his record. I wasn't privy to the conversation but whatever happened, it got resolved. They try to get you. It was one with a "your driver arrived too early" wow a whole half hour. One minute late and they would have tried to back out of the load agreement. Just gaming bs. You handled it like a professional carrier should.

 

[mxzane933]

When i was doing the courier thing my last stop was a ton of 75 pound boxes of print paper and the customer didn't pay for the extra specific placed delivery so technically i only had to wheel it to the front door but to be polite i took all of them inside and dropped them were ups drops all there stuff. Then a real snobby. Women comes up to me askes me why they weren't here here n here i told her you didnt pay for the service and my co told me never to do any xtra because the service is paid for and we both lose money. But i explained to her i brought them inside when technically i wasnt supposed to do that. Couldn't believe how much fatitude she was giving me . Needless to say i got my paper signed and headed about my day. I get to the shop to load scanner and file paper work and the boss came out and was like ok yea thats what i thought you still have the same clothes on you did on this morning. He explained the women called staples and said how rude i was and that my pants were hanging around my knees aka "sagging" and my boss took up for me saying the kid has never had a problem with any customer etc and i saw his shorts and they were just long shorts. N took up for me i guess some people really have someone pee in there corn flakes for breakfast. Lol i was wearing company collar shirt with plaid shorts. Nothing too out there. Lol i feel you did the right thing in the situation. Knowing that my boss stuck up for me made me want to always go the xtra for him.

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[moose]

I think it's time for you to get your very own costumers,
surly they deserve your service.

 

[idtrans]

I got accused of being rude 3 weeks ago at a shipper in IL when I asked them to please single file the 20k worth of freight instead of having all 20k on the nose of the trailer. they said I was a idiot and a moron and much more and my response wa maybe i am but i want to be a safe driver also and if you could please fix the 8 pallets the length of the trailer. and they called and made a huge story and then i played the audio recording of the conversation to the broker and he said wow I never had a driver who video and audio records a trailer. Well I do all the time loading and unloading since many shippers and receivers don't let drivers on docks anymore!

And my advice to all of you who drive dock highs is GET A AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDER FOR YOUR BOX AS WELL !!!!!!

 

[canesman07]

I had a customer call my company and complain about me. I got to the cons, checked in and was asked to pull up to the dock. I then informed the woman that I am not dock high and need to use the ramp. She then cussed me out and called me a name under her breath. When she came out to get the freight she slammed the forklift into my van. This prompted me to ask her not to do so. Her response was that it did not matter it was not my van.......long story short I relayed the story to my dispatcher which they took my word for it and it was never brought up again. If you do have a rep your customer reps will defend you.