I want to tell ya a little story about what is (or was) supposed to be the "premiere west coast transportation company". I just found this site so the dates are a little old, but the story is worth it.

In June of 2008 I was very unhappy with the company I was with and made a few calls to other companies. Western Star returned my calls and did the paperwork dance. I filled the application out to perfection, sent it back and waited. A few days later I was told to go to my local hospital and take my pre-employment drug test. Waited a few more days, and then got the call. "We've decided to hire you, everything on your application looks great, you have a perfect MVR, and we think you'd make a great addition to our fleet". Now at the time, I was living in MN, so I was wondering how am I gonna get to CA. Jim said "we will fly you out here, just get to St Cloud airport and we'll make all the arriangments". They did to, Put me on a plane out to Los Angeles. I was told to pack enough stuff for 2 weeks, so that way i could get a load back to MN and pick up the rest of my stuff. I packed what I thought I might need 3 bags (2 big suitcases and a large duffel bag (which I had to pay extra for to get it on the plane) and proceeded to go and get a new job. Now when I found out I had been accepted, I turned down 3 other jobs just for this. Well the flight went well, and once I arrived in L.A. I was taken to a hotel (really nice room) and given a large packet of paperwork to read. The next morning Jim comes to the hotel in a stretch limo and picks me and 4 other drivers up and takes us over to McD's for a quick breakfast, and then we go to the office We are sitting there at the office watching a few films, when another guy named Dino comes up and calls me out to the conference room. He said "we are not going to be able to offer you a job" , Now I sat there with that dumb look on my face, and I said, let me get this straight, you tell me I'm hired on the phone after passing my piss test, pay for my ticket and FLY my rear-end out to CA, only to tell me 12 hours later that I can't have a job. Why? He said it was my application, I said what about it?

He said that my felony conviction disqualified me. Now this is where it gets good, so if you need to go and grab a coke or a cup of coffee, and a bag of popcorn, I'll wait.

{Muzak plays in background}

I told them on the phone and even had my probation officer fax Jim everything he needs to know about my crime. I was convicted of writing some bad checks ( On my own account) and since this is my first offense I was given probation. The judge asked what it was I did for a living and I said I drive a truck, and have been driving for almost 20 years, so the judge made sure that i was placed on the least restrictive probation possible, as long as I send in my restitution every month, they are cool. Needless to say that I was more than just a little upset. I mean I tell them everything, take all the required tests, plan and pack for a long trip, spend all day toting all these damn bags all over MSP airport, take a 9 hour flight to L.A. and get about 4 hour sleep before I have to be picked up to go to orientation. Then he says I will have someone take you over to the hotel and let you get your stuff, I said well how am I going to get home? Dino said that was my problem, I have to find my own way back. This is where I lost it. It took everything in me to not knock the living #### out of him right there. So I sit outside the hotel on the sidewalk and wonder what the hell am i going to do now, so finally I call a cab and go to Greyhound. $48.00 for the cab ride, and $197.00 for the bus ticket, which was the worst 3 day ride in my life. So everyone beware, make sure your t's are dotted and your I's are crossed before you take an adventure like I did. Now for the iceing on the cake. Western Star put "falsifacation of application" on my DAC. How is it falsifacation if I told them before I even recieved the application, that i had a felony conviction. And just for those who are interested, if I had written the last check for $148.00 instead of $151.00 I wouldn't even have a felony, it would be a gross misdemeanor. I have found out since I have this, that none of the super trucker companies will even touch me. I'm having to drive for the "outlaw" bunch just to make a living. Y'all be good and drive safe.

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If You Can Read This, Then Thank A Teacher.... If You Can Read This In English... Thank A Soldier...

I have had a similar problem with Barr Nunn, CTL dist., and EPES. Only difference is that no one will tell me why thy wont hire me. They pay for everything there and back, and won't tell me why they wont hire me. My DAC is in good shape, my MVR is clean, never failed a piss test or physical. CTL screwed me the most because I had a job and gave a 2 weeks notice to start with CTL. Others I was jobless and just got a mini vacation I guess. I even told CTL about previous problems with the other 2companies, and after a month of them going through all my paperwork and refereneces they verbally and in person said I got the job. SO gave my 2 weeks notice, turned my truck in PA took a plane home on a Wed, and was supposed to start on Mon. On Fri they called said they were no longer going to offer me a job and all the companies say we dont not have to disclose the reason for not hiring. Barr Nunn even put on my DAC, " quit or dismissed durning orientation" I guess I put this on here because I was interested in Western Star and came across your story.

Take care.

It all sounds right to me. Companies are not hiring people with felony convictions. Flying you out to California was a bad decision on their part but, beyond that I see nothing that they have done is out of line or out of the ordinary given your situation.

But shouldn't they have done this 'background check' BEFORE telling the applicant to come out ?
He admitted it ahead of time too..

I wish companies that pull this C R A P would or could be held liable in some sort of way... - at least be responsible to get the guy home for gawd's sake...

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Hanadarko
Milwaukee WI USA

Yeah getting the guy home would have been an honorable gesture. Unfortunately, honorable gestures are harder to come by these days.

If you still have the documentation on where you had faxed the information to them and if you can get your probation officer to write a statement for you saying that he had been in contact with the company you can use this information to clear your DAC/HireRight record! The letter from your probation officer will work the best when he states that "yes I had sent all the information asked for back back to so and so" and it's on the State's letter head. DAC/HireRight will HAVE to remove that bad report from your report! DO NOT use DACfix but go to HireRights site and find the link that will take you to the repair form and fill it out and then send it in. It will take about 30 days for them to fix it or they will send you a letter back saying why. DO NOT GIVE UP! Do it all again and make sure that when you fill out your form you type legibly and clearly like in your post! JUST be persistent!

The same thing to the other guy that didn't even make it to the bus station then got "Dismissed or quit orientation" But to tell the truth THAT one most companies will ask you what happened and you tell them and they take it with a grain of salt but you should do the same thing. MAKE Barr Nunn come up with the bus ticket! Or Plane Ticket IN YOUR NAME or the comcheck for the gas you used in your car getting there!

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No greater love hath a man that he give up his life so another my live John 15:13

are these companies not responsible for getting you back home if they bring you to orientatioin ?

Supposedly NOT. Maybe someone hooked up with a company that cared and did get the applicant home. But I think a lot of the stuff I read in T&Cs on the company, state that return travel is your problem.

Here is a word to the wise:
Get a credit card with like a $1k limit. Use it once or twice and then just hang onto it. Don't carry a balance. It will be used only for Emergencies.
Cabs/buses/airlines/car rentals/hotels - all accept ccards.
To me, its my 'get out of jail free card' and has saved my ##### many times.

I had to get from Detroit back to Buffalo on my own and I only had $20 cash. W/O that card, I am not sure what I would have done....
The feeling of being stranded like that really sucks.

I can't believe the way companies treat people (well I guess I can) but to say 'get lost' after arriving and then not having the means to make it back home is unacceptable.

I carry a few different ccards with me. All with $0 balances. Why? - One got frozen on me and I didn't know about.
I had to call the bank. Turns out they "thought" my account was hacked. Idiots. At least I had another card to use in the meantime.
I dont carry cards with high limits in my wallet, in case of theft. When I last drove, I kept an expired driver's license and a spare
ccard hidden in the truck - in case my wallet was lifted. Not having any ID is as bad as not having a way to get home.

Of course it always goes w/o saying...carry a cell phone too....

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Hanadarko
Milwaukee WI USA