A N Webber - broker - bad experience

Discussion in 'Freight Broker Forum' started by true blue, Dec 17, 2014.

  1. true blue

    true blue Medium Load Member

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    Harrisburg, NC
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    Here's my bad experience with A N Webber's brokerage dept.
    I finally sent the president and business development mgr the same email (today, 12/17/14 and no response from either of them) regarding the account of the problems I have with them.

    Hello Kae,


    I’ve got a real problem with your dispatch department.
    I took my first load (Danbury, CT to Lenoir, NC) with your company which was delivered last Tuesday 12/9/14.
    Load # 30003620.
    I was on time on p/u and delivery and kept dispatch (Meghan Meier) advised by phone every step of the way.
    I gave my ETA for p/u at 10-11am more than once, but the shipper was never informed.
    When I was signing the BOL, he asked me what time I arrived, so he could enter it on the ppwk.
    I told him 10:15 and asked him shortly after if he had gotten the call from the broker that I’d be there around 10-11.
    He said no, told me I was scheduled for 8am. I told him there was no way I could be there for 8am since that was my unload time that morning.

    Meghan also told me the consignee received 24 hrs.
    I called Tuesday and told her I’d be there around 2:30 and she said she would make the call (I assumed she meant the receiver; who else could it be?).
    I arrived at 2:40 and was told by Jason that he didn’t know I was coming and that would have really helped him since he was all backed up now with hot loads to load.
    The other receiver had left early that day and could have prepared Jason by pulling some loads but didn’t.
    He told me it’d be around 4pm before he could get to me.
    He also told me that receiving hours are 8-5, not 24hrs.
    I called Meghan and informed her of both situations.

    At 4pm I checked with jason and he said it’d be at least 6pm – called Meghan and she told me to keep her informed and, of course, to record them on the BOL.
    I got unloaded at 7:15 pm and emailed her right away with the detention hrs.
    I also called Meghan the next morning with the same information.
    She asked me for the BOL right away so she could get the detention approved (which she said was $50 hr. for that customer).

    I have been in touch with her every day by phone and/or email (which I have initiated each one) and keep getting the same answer – “they haven’t responded to my email, I will resubmit it tomorrow”.
    I finally called Monday 12/15 and asked for a supervisor. Pat finally came on and said he would take care of it and would call me back either that afternoon or latest next morning.
    Never got a call. Emailed Meghan Tuesday, as well, and she said she would update me – never did.
    Called today and Meghan said Pat was in a meeting.
    How long would it be? She didn’t know.
    Found out he had just left for a “meeting”.
    I asked if it was with a customer and she said yes.
    So, I have been and still am on the back burner, stuffed at the bottom of the pile.
    This is insane. I’ve been trucking 35 years and would only expect this from a bottom feeder broker.
    I thought you guys had a reputable name.
    This takes a lot of time out of our day, especially this email and we are prolonging this and our payment far too long.
    Can you please get this rectified right away and put us on quick pay with no fees?
    Here are the emails – NOTICE not one of the emails was initiated by Meghan or your office – AND this does not incude phone calls:

    12/9 – 7:28 pm
    Hi Meghan,

    My times @ Sealed Air in Lenoir, NC are:
    2:40 pm – Arrival
    7:15 pm – Departure
    Entered on BOL with Jason’s signature.

    12/10 – 10:04 am
    Hi Meghan,

    Are you working on getting the detention for us?

    12/10 – 12:58 pm
    Yes! It is in for approval at our customers corporate office


    12/10 – 3:30 pm
    Hi Meghan,

    Has the detention approval gone through yet?
    Haven’t received an updated rate confirmation yet.
    12/10 – 3:41 pm
    We haven’t gotten anything back yet. We are still waiting to hear back. Sometimes it can take a couple of days I will put it in again today and again tomorrow morning. I will keep you posted! J
    12/10 – 3:47
    Thx.

    12/11 – 11:36 am
    Hi Meghan,

    Just a reminder on the detention so we can get this billed.
    12/11 – 1:28 pm
    Meghan,

    Can you keep me posted on this, please?

    12/11 – 1:46 pm
    I will absolutely know as soon as I hear something back! I resubmitted it this morning so hopefully soon!
    12/11 – 1:53 pm
    Thanks, Meghan.
    As long as I get updates on it, I’m confident it’s still being worked on.
    Just helps to know.

    12/11 – 1:53
    I don’t blame you there! That way you know it’s not being thrown under the rug.
    12/11 – 2:07 pm
    Right! :D

    12/12 – 9:46 am
    Meghan,

    Where are we with this detention?

    12/16 – 2:02 pm
    Meghan,

    I called and spoke to Pat yesterday on this detention.
    Can you update me or have him email me back?

    12/16 – 2:07 pm
    The woman who approves the detention was out of the office yesterday Pat said so he forwarded her everything she was going to need and asked her to please advise today. We will keep you posted!

    As I menioned, Pat has not gotten back to me either, after yesterday’s promise to do so.

    Looking forward to getting this rectified today.
    Can you please get back to me right away?

    ****End of email.

    I sent these emails around 1pm and about 3 pm, not having heard from anyone, I called and asked to speak with the girl (shown on the website for billing) named Aimee. She no longer worked there and i spoke to the new girl, Sam. I explained the situation and offered to forward her the email I sent to the president. She said she'd call me back after she checked into it.

    Later, i got a call from Meghan, instead. She said, "Because he receiver was first come, first serve, there would be no detention".
    I stewed for a few long seconds and then just hung up.
    Really? Then why did you send them my hours and tell me that account was set at $50 hr.?
    Why did you string me along for over a week?
    Something isn't right there!

    I called a few more times and asked to speak to the president, Kae, who was in but, "I'm sorry, I couldn't reach her."
    I left her a vm to call me. They should pay us anyway, for all the trouble they caused.
    I'm sure the customer would be very surprised to hear of what a carrier has to go through to get paid.

     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2014
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  3. true blue

    true blue Medium Load Member

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    Jul 13, 2011
    Harrisburg, NC
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    So, last night I email Kae after not getting a response all day and ask if there's any news?

    Here's her email back to me this morning:

    Marty,

    Pat said he already took care of this. He told you it was first come first serve. The customer will not pay detention.

    Sorry ,

    Kae


    Well, as they say at Staples, "That was easy"! All you have to do is say, nope, no pay for you. So, i responded back to her just now:

    Wow, Kae, for all the hassle I went through with your people stringing me along for over a week, not ever getting back to me like they promised, I think it would be more than appropriate for your company to pay me an extra $100 for all my trouble.
    What do you think?
     
  4. Allow Me.

    Allow Me. Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    This is why the driver needs to talk directly with shippers/consignees to verify appt times etc.
     
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  5. true blue

    true blue Medium Load Member

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    Harrisburg, NC
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    Allow Me, you're right. I didn't have the phone numbers on the rate confirmation. I usually do call on my own and not depend on the broker. I'd rather hear it directly from the horse's mouth. I asked my wife to look up the phone numbers on the web, but we weren't successful in getting the right numbers.
    So, I was at a loss.
    Thanks for your good advice, though.
     
  6. true blue

    true blue Medium Load Member

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    Jul 13, 2011
    Harrisburg, NC
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    So, here's her response back to me:

    Hi Marty,

    I apologize if you felt at any time that you were getting strung along for over a week. We have no control on approval on this detention.

    I myself answered your emails twice. It appears that Meghan answered your emails..twice on one day. Pat also let you know detention was denied.

    I am sympathetic of your frustration on all of this. I am just hoping by the tone of your email that you now know that you will not be paid for detention...it is no fault of ours and that you may be kidding about the 100.00 for all of the trouble. If we all all got paid that kind of money to try to solve a problem we would all be rich!!! As you well know... Problems arise in this industry every day. A.N.Webber would never intentionally try to take money away from any driver. We all know they are the backbone of this industry and have a tough job. We hate to see a driver wait to unload or load.

    Please have a safe a blessed Christmas and look forward to working together in 2015

    Kae

    A.N Webber. Inc.

    Now, of course, I couldn't let it stand without a response.
    So, here's my response email back to her:

    Kae,

    Thanks for taking the time to respond to my emails. I do appreciate that.
    I would like to address your comments with some of my own, though.
    In any business, customer feedback is very important – to those who care.
    I would love for my customers to give me feedback if things don’t go right for them with any service I provide, rather than they just leave and I not know why.
    In my view, truckers should also be your customers.

    Here are the points I would make to you:

    1. It appears that Meghan answered your emails..twice on one day.
    She did respond to most of my emails, but remember, she said she would keep me updated and never did. Only when I pressed with phone calls and emails did I get the “update”, which was the same story over and over again – “they still haven’t responded”. Sounds to me like she didn’t want to make any effort beyond supposed emails that were sent that she said she was not getting responses from for days on end.
    2. My wife called and asked her why she didn’t just call them, if they weren’t responding to her emails. Supposedly she called after that. Why do we have to prompt her to go beyond the minimal effort?

    3. Pat also let you know detention was denied.
    No, Pat didn’t let me know anything.

    Remember this from my first email to you?:

    “I finally called Monday 12/15 and asked for a supervisor. Pat finally came on and said he would take care of it and would call me back either that afternoon or latest next morning.
    Never got a call. Emailed Meghan Tuesday, as well, and she said she would update me – never did.
    Called today and Meghan said Pat was in a meeting.
    How long would it be? She didn’t know.
    Found out he had just left for a “meeting”.
    I asked if it was with a customer and she said yes.
    So, I have been and still am on the back burner, stuffed at the bottom of the pile.”

    So, Pat never did call me back. I got the phone call from Meghan only after I sent you, Todd and Sam the email and Sam (the new A/P girl) said she would check into it. That’s when it was suddenly decided there would be no detention pay.

    My impression: Meghan, nice girl but too timid and not trained well, didn’t want to pursue it too much. Pat didn’t really want to get involved (and I wonder, since he never did get back to me, if he ever did “look into it”, since he just walked out that day for a meeting without communicating anything to Meghan, or me, about it). A courtesy call, like “I’ve sent them all your info and I will get back to you after my meeting I have to go to” would have been the professional thing to do. But that didn’t happen.

    4. Are you telling me you don’t know your customer enough to know they don’t pay detention? Why would Meghan tell me to make sure I recorded the hours at the consignee on the BOL? And why would she tell me that account pays $50 hr. on detention on my first call to her about it the very next day after I delivered? Why would Pat not know right away that his customer didn’t pay detention? Instead of sending all the information again to the customer, wouldn’t he know that would be useless if they don’t pay detention? Seems to me your people really dropped the ball on all that.
    5. Yes, I do feel like I was being strung along since for over a week I kept getting the same story – to wait.
    6. As a broker myself, I would have been proactive and gotten through to the customer one way or another in quick time. I would never let a driver or carrier be in limbo for any great length of time. But, everyone has their own levels of service.
    7. Since I consider truckers just as much my customers as my shippers and recievers or whoever pays the bills, I would have paid the trucker out of my own pocket (and have done so), even if it took up all my profit. A good broker knows he can always take it out of other loads later, to make up for it, if he wants to. My policy is, if you take care of your carriers, you will always have a truck. Good carriers, especially top notch ones, deserve extra pay for extra time detained. So, no, I was not kidding about being paid the $100 for all that trouble.

    8. If a customer didn’t want to pay for detention, I would also examine that customer to see if I wanted to continue doing business with them. Customers who don’t respect truckers’ times (without compesation) would be short-lived in my book. Some brokers are more interested in volume of work rather than quality customers. If a customer wasn’t interested in safety or didn’t care about the truckers’ time spent waiting at his dock, I would have no use for them. They would just be a liability and eventually be a problem. I couldn’t send my best carriers in there for fear of them being disrespected and losing my carrier’s respect for me because of it.

    9. Obviously, you and I differ on how we value and treat carriers.
    You seem to be ok with the lack of customer service, care and professionalism by your brokerage department. If you really cared about that, you’d be apologizing for what happened and wanting to make things right for the carrier. Since the tone of your email seems to imply that the problem lies with me, rather than an apology and steps you would take to make sure a carrier never has to go through something like this again, indicates to me that your bar is set very low and I cannot recommend you to any of my truckers or carriers. On the contrary, I would strongly recommend against doing business with your company.

    Sincerely,
     
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  7. EddieSpagetti

    EddieSpagetti Bobtail Member

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    So you were late to your appointment in the eyes of the receiver and you are whining about not getting a $100.... Wow.........
     
  8. rollin coal

    rollin coal Road Train Member

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    Sometimes getting an updated confirm with detention is more headache than it's worth. This is why you always want to be pushing aggressive on the linehaul rate that way a $100 extra or not doesn't really matter. Now if your reload is from a typically bad area for rates then you need to be vigilant about what kinds of loads you are booking. You don't want to be booking papermill or beer loads on cheap rates. What sort of freight and customer was this BTW? If it's routine one off load where the broker's telling you easy pick and drop there you go. Because, again, you're just not always going to get a solid linehaul everywhere so be picky about the reloads and don't mess with notorious time wasters mills, grocery warehouses, etc....

    ...that said it doesn't make what A.N. Webber did to you right. In fact it's just evidence that they are basically liars. Another driver was talking about this earlier tonight and it's like this, we all know this is trucking and stuff happens. But be up front about the bad with the good. There was no reason at all for them to string you along for a week like that. A lie by omission is still a lie. They can blah, blah, blah about how they love working with drivers who are the backbone of the industry... ...save that BS for someone who cares or maybe have some t-shirts printed and wear them. Actions are louder than words.
     
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  9. true blue

    true blue Medium Load Member

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    Harrisburg, NC
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    You're right, Rollin Coal. Now, I did get a pretty good rate on that load, especially coming out of CT and 20 mi. from where I unloaded coming right to my home state. So, I'm not complaining there. I fought for the detention because it's the principal of the issue. Brokers need to step up and admit when they've not done their job or don't care about your time. They also need to be educated and given a hard time so hopefully the next guy isn't screwed. If more of us truckers gave brokers a hard time every time they could have done more for us, but didn't, maybe we'd be more successful in wearing them down to do their job and treat us more fairly.

    I did make a profit, but I was trying to latch onto another load that loaded that night, but the delay prevented that.
    It's ok, I bounced home and was thankful.
    The trip up was customer direct, so it definitely was not cheap frieght.
    And no, I don't waste my time on grocery loads - if I do take them, they're HOT and pay very well.
    And I insist on high detention pay to ensure I'm not screwed with delays at either dock.
    It's a deal breaker if I don't get it. And I get it in writing on the rate con.
    This load, I was so happy to get out of CT and I really didn't think there would be issues on any detention, so I didn't bother addressing that.

    You may not believe this but I recently got it in writing that my detention started "when I arrive, not when they give me a dock" and I set the detention at $120 an hour - and this was a grocery load by a very large major carrier/broker. They kept saying they couldn't pay it, but I told them straight out - $120 hr. or NO DEAL. They called me back 5 TIMES with increasing offers of this and that, but I stuck to my guns and got it. And, BTW it paid $2000 on 397 loaded mi. I think they were about to lose this customer and I had asked all the right questions to determine that they were in a real jam.
    You just have to know your game and know how to play poker.
    I had to deadhead back 150 mi. to pick it up. True story.
    At both places I was in and out in ONE hour!
    I didn't care about the detention pay as much as I wanted to get the heck out of there.

    OH, I DO NOT do Walmart or Food Lion and several others, no matter how much they offer me.
    Walmart is the number one company on my most despised list.
    I don't give a crap how desperate they are - I'm not going to help them out at all.
    The way they screw truckers, vendors, their own people and ruin American companies and competitors is pure evil.
     
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  10. true blue

    true blue Medium Load Member

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    Harrisburg, NC
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    I do have to say that A N Webber did honor my request to pay me with quick pay with no fees for all the waiting time I had to endure before I could send in my invoice to get paid for the load. That, at least, is a sign of some good will. We got a phone call with the EFS Transcheck transaction # and the full amount of the linehaul, shortly after we emailed them our invoice.
     
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  11. true blue

    true blue Medium Load Member

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    Your post shows you must have just glanced at mine. If you're going to post a response, you should at least get all your facts straight. What do you think your unwarranted anger and accusations stem from? I can see how these kinds of problems could jeopardize your ability to be successful in the trucking industry. Is that why you are no longer a trucker?
     
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