Warning Bad Driver!

[purgoose10]

I seem to remember someone maybe a year or so ago talking about this very thing. I think then he was running with a woman and both were scamming owners.
Back about 20 yrs ago I had a driver go missing on a load going to a Nuclear Plant in the northeast. Could not find him for 3 days. I just went nuts. Anyway I got the New Jersey state patrol looking for him (figured that's where he'd be). They found the truck in a service area on the toll road. I file,d a breach of promise on him. Thats the only charge you can charge a driver for using your truck or equipment since they are employees. Long story short he lost his license and never drove a commercial vehicle again that I know of.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

some small carriers, Pulse, vehicle, license optional.....ready to go....yeehaw

 

[lugnut1]

Our current drivers rock. We had one bad apple, very bad, rotton apple. Yes we will be more selective and become really, really good at background and reference checking and adding GPS tracking. We dont need the largest fleet, just the best one.

I was going to remain mute on this, kinda believe that a public forum is not the place for it. However, the reason I am posting and Blizzard started this thread is to protect other carriers and shippers from this individual. After processing this for a bit, I am convinced that this guy had the intent to come on for a week, pull as much advance money from us as possible (another lessoned learned) and handle whatever crisis or habit he has in his life. I look at how this selfishness affected so many people, the shipper who needed the load delivered, our partner carrier who trusted us with the load, our company, our drivers and their families I was poppin tums through the whole ordeal. I pray that God will work on the heart of this person and that he will be changed from the inside out. Until that happens, carriers beware...

I guess I need to thank him for making our company better. We learned a lot from this guy that will only make us stronger and more efficient.

Ya'll actually sent this drivers name out over the Sylectus system? It would seem more lessons are forth coming.
We have looked at your driver qualifications posted on your web site and we do not understand how the driver was working for your company based on your qualifications required of drivers to work for you. Explain please.
While you two are spending much time bashing the driver (openly) we would like to receive a pm about the driver so we might hear both sides of the story. Please include the driver contact number.

 

[PreacherRich]

Ya'll actually sent this drivers name out over the Sylectus system? It would seem more lessons are forth coming.
We have looked at your driver qualifications posted on your web site and we do not understand how the driver was working for your company based on your qualifications required of drivers to work for you. Explain please.
While you two are spending much time bashing the driver (openly) we would like to receive a pm about the driver so we might hear both sides of the story. Please include the driver contact number.

That would be a complete waist of time. We are not bashing the driver, this guy was very good at making up stories and deceiving a lot of people, not just us. Any story he would come up with cannot be believed anyway.

 

[lugnut1]

That would be a complete waist of time. We are not bashing the driver, this guy was very good at making up stories and deceiving a lot of people, not just us. Any story he would come up with cannot be believed anyway.

So it’s, a complete waste of time for you to send us the info we are requesting or it’s a complete waste of your time to supply what you have openly offered to everyone with the exception to those who desire to verify your very good story....?

 

[xiggi]

I am sure when you call the guy he is going to be totally honest about screwing someone over. Not sure what you are trying to accomplish.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using EO Forums

 

[cheri1122]

Lugnut: people who expect others to come looking for them with pitchforks [and rightfully so] don't keep the same phone number for long, they most likely use prepaid throwaway cell phones for just that reason.
I'm against tracking devices for several reasons, mostly philosophical , and resent being considered [possibly] guilty of deception without any reason, same as with drug screens. It's an unwarranted invasion of privacy, IMO.
Escrow, however, is a reasonable response to the risks a 'new' O/O or driver presents to a small carrier.

 

[lugnut1]

Lugnut: people who expect others to come looking for them with pitchforks [and rightfully so] don't keep the same phone number for long, they most likely use prepaid throwaway cell phones for just that reason.
I'm against tracking devices for several reasons, mostly philosophical , and resent being considered [possibly] guilty of deception without any reason, same as with drug screens. It's an unwarranted invasion of privacy, IMO.
Escrow, however, is a reasonable response to the risks a 'new' O/O or driver presents to a small carrier.

So what your saying is the OP will give me a bogus number to contact the accused driver and what your post implies is that we should expect the drivers phone number to be disconnected or not in service.

 

[cheri1122]

The OP is a well respected member here - I wouldn't suggest he'd give anyone bogus info of any kind.
The driver in question is a different sort of person, the sort who plans for being sought after, and not with pleasant results. Those sort of people don't make it easy to be found, is what I'm saying, because deception is part of everything they do, IMO.

 

[bubblehead]

The worst part is that it's the 'little guy' that gets slammed - jerks like that driver know that the bigger carriers have the resources to thoroughly check backgrounds & references, and to pursue those who don't live up to their commitments.
But even the littlest guys can network and exchange info on the internet, which may be the best thing you can do: warn each other about the bad apples who target smaller carriers.
Also, if you don't hold back some kind of escrow, it might be something to consider. Even if it's just a temporary holdback [say 90 days] it would help cut the loss somewhat, at least.

Up until the big CREDIT BUREAUS came to fruition, we had a service in the finance industry called the LENDERS EXCHANGE. It allowed the smaller companies to minimize their risk when it came to lending decisions. For a while, both services were available whith the bigger companies primarily using the Credit Bureaus (and sometimes both) and the smaller companies using the Lenders Exchange. Later when the cost of the Credit Bureaus came down, the Lenders Exchange became obsolete

I am aware that the idea of some sort of system to report drivers/owners has been mentioned on EO in the past and the larger companies utilize DAC. With this most recent event as the OP shared and with the responses like cherri. I think/know that someone like EO (Lawrence) could start a service which provides a guide or scale much like the Credit Bureau or the Lenders Exchange in order to help the smaller companies avoid being victims as blizzard was.

Blizzard, thank you for not only sharing this with us, but for doing so in such a manner that it could remain available for many to read.

 

[lugnut1]

If you want this drivers name, address, drivers license number, license plate number, please send me a privite message and I will gladly give you that information.

We are still waiting on the pm with the offered info about the driver this thread is about. Are you retracting the offer or can we expect its arrival soon?

 

[blizzard2014]

Yes..IF that customer was a major source to Bliz's load counts....something like this could devastate an upstart company....

It's not necessarily going do devastate our company. The load we got was a load that was booked through the other carriers customer. The problem is that that one customer accounts for a lot of business over a 90 day period. If that customer chooses to they are going to cut off business ties for 90 days with the carrier that gave us the load. What can i do about all of this? If that carrier looses business and decides to throw us under the bus I just have to take it like a man. I am the reason why that is going to happen. I have never seen this happen before not even when I was a big truck driver. You'd figure that if you are treating people right and providing fuel advances and paying faster than most of the competition drivers would act more professional. You live and you learn I guess.

 

[blizzard2014]

The OP is a well respected member here - I wouldn't suggest he'd give anyone bogus info of any kind.
The driver in question is a different sort of person, the sort who plans for being sought after, and not with pleasant results. Those sort of people don't make it easy to be found, is what I'm saying, because deception is part of everything they do, IMO.

This guy has three different address that I've found so far. One of them is his mothers address in South Carolina. I am not sure if this guy has shut his phone off yet because he was sending me text messages last night. I will give Lugnut the information. I have nothing to hide. I'm preparing my case for small claims court in Kent county Grandville Michigan. I am gathering 2 different police reports, all of the wire transfers I sent the guy through western union, the fuel advance he got from our factoring company, the Motel 6 in Amhurst PA so that I can prove the entire time he was sending us on a wild goose chase he was holed up in that room, and all of the text messages and recorded phone calls between him, myself, rich, and our partner carrier.

I am going to hit him with a default judgement in small claims court and then I will be suing him for unspecified damages, mental anguish, breach of driver contract, neglegence, and for theft of the customers freight and our fuel advances. I will spend whatever it takes to get this guy in court or at least screw up his credit rating for 10 years. And if I get a default judgement against this guy and find where his van is i will own it very shortly!

 

[blizzard2014]

I just got a PM from another EO member that this guy has driven his van before and dumped it somewhere after he drove home. I also remember seeing this guys name in a drivers wanted advertisement not too long ago. This guys is possibly a repeat offender and you all need to be vigilant.

 

[cheri1122]

We are still waiting on the pm with the offered info about the driver this thread is about. Are you retracting the offer or can we expect its arrival soon?

Why the passive aggressive hostility? I mean really - if someone doesn't answer your request within minuets it might be because they're busy elsewhere, not because they don't intend to.
And who's 'we'? Is it the royal 'we', or do you represent others?

 

[blizzard2014]

Why the passive aggressive hostility? I mean really - if someone doesn't answer your request within minuets it might be because they're busy elsewhere, not because they don't intend to.
And who's 'we'? Is it the royal 'we', or do you represent others?

I just sent him the information. We are a small company and I am working nights as a dispatcher, load tracker, and I also do payroll inbetween. I went to bed yesterday morning at 6 AM Eastern. A mans gotta sleep sometime. Also, I just spent 50 bucks to run a complete background check on this guy and he has a judgement and a few tax liens on him. I have all of the address and phone numbers of his family members - this shoud prove to be useful when I get a default judgement and go after the guys cargo van. I will be forwarding this information to my partner carrier and any recruiting department/owner who wants it. Thanks for your concern.

 

[Mike99]

This guy has three different address that I've found so far. One of them is his mothers address in South Carolina. I am not sure if this guy has shut his phone off yet because he was sending me text messages last night. I will give Lugnut the information. I have nothing to hide. I'm preparing my case for small claims court in Kent county Grandville Michigan. I am gathering 2 different police reports, all of the wire transfers I sent the guy through western union, the fuel advance he got from our factoring company, the Motel 6 in Amhurst PA so that I can prove the entire time he was sending us on a wild goose chase he was holed up in that room, and all of the text messages and recorded phone calls between him, myself, rich, and our partner carrier.

I am going to hit him with a default judgement in small claims court and then I will be suing him for unspecified damages, mental anguish, breach of driver contract, neglegence, and for theft of the customers freight and our fuel advances. I will spend whatever it takes to get this guy in court or at least screw up his credit rating for 10 years. And if I get a default judgement against this guy and find where his van is i will own it very shortly!

Like I said in the PM I did work with Ivan. He drove for Panther. Yes he is a liar, but he did not did any damage on my truck or the cargo. He has clean criminal background. You can sue him but I dont think you will see a dime from him. He's broke. Same situation I have with John Petrus from LRT. John still own me 5k and he is not answering on the phone.

 

[AMonger]

How did America come to this, where free-spirited types who value privacy are denigrated? I thought even Canadians were more independent than that. Apparently, there's more difference between Canadian English and American English than I thought. What we call freedom, they call rebellion.

You are absolutely wrong on this point..IMO...only a small percentage don't want one....I have found with my experience, the ones that don't want one are the free spirited, I don't want anyone watching me types...most of the guys I've met with this attitude I would not want at my carrier...
these guys are so rebellious they go so far as turning off the GPS feature on their phones so Panther can not track them and then scream about check calls every hour....

 

[OntarioVanMan]

How did America come to this, where free-spirited types who value privacy are denigrated? I thought even Canadians were more independent than that. Apparently, there's more difference between Canadian English and American English than I thought. What we call freedom, they call rebellion.

nothing wrong with the free spirit....but a lot of expedite counts on GPS location....IF they want to be free of the system....then they can not complain when they don't get loads because customers won't deal with them....personally I could care less how they operate., but that doesn't stop my freedom to say what I think....

 

[outandbout]

I just sent him the information. We are a small company and I am working nights as a dispatcher, load tracker, and I also do payroll inbetween. I went to bed yesterday morning at 6 AM Eastern. A mans gotta sleep sometime. Also, I just spent 50 bucks to run a complete background check on this guy and he has a judgement and a few tax liens on him. I have all of the address and phone numbers of his family members - this shoud prove to be useful when I get a default judgement and go after the guys cargo van. I will be forwarding this information to my partner carrier and any recruiting department/owner who wants it. Thanks for your concern.

First, I actually believe your story about the guy disappearing with your freight for 18 hours and abandoning it. It is awful that someone would represent their company, self, and fellow drivers in such a manner. Luckily for us expediters, people that behave like this are not rampantly amongst us. Most every driver and contractor out here is of good enough character to be trusted with the customers' freight. Freight abandonment, however, is the violation here and that is where your communication should stop about this for now; at least until you get a court judgment. Whatever you do don't get involved in a counter-suit because of some privacy issue with your applicants' information and alluding to possible drug use. Sorry, I've already permanently red-flagged your business myself for that and for using adjectives to describe the driver at this point with improper timing.

Next, you say that you just spent $50 on a background check while all the while you were charging contractors a $25 fee for your business expense of a background check for signing on with your carrier. This just leaves me speechless.

The bottom line is that although I hope you win the suit if you are right, I also believe that the alleged perp should print everything off of here and take to court.