CRETE - A Year in Review

Discussion in 'Discuss Your Favorite Trucking Company Here' started by evertruckerr, Jan 11, 2008.

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  1. supersnackbar

    supersnackbar Road Train Member

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    Finally got the laptop out instead of my newest paper weight...aka my Thunderbolt. The fun I had a the Ottawa shop earlier this month was, shall I say, less than enjoyable.

    I took my truck in because I was having issues with my APU's startup warning beep(it beeps whenever the apu engine isn't on, for hours...so don't park next to me for a break), issues with a check engine light, a pungent odor of coolant when I use the A/C, the plastic mirror surround on the drivers mirror was duct taped on, my drivers side sleeper vent is sealed with the red engine gasket cement(and looks like crap) plus my APU needed serviced.

    Well, they couldn't find a leak in the cooling system, didn't seal the vent properly, couldn't figure out why I am getting a check engine light, and only could figure out how to blame me for the APU beeping.

    I was sitting in the break room and the mechanic came in, and with a condescending tone, said "let me show you what you were doing wrong". He tried to tell me that my APU issues were caused by me not using it right...he claimed that if I wanted to use the apu for battery maintainence, you just need to turn on the on/off, and select nothing in the mode...I said that the engine wouldn't start if you didn't turn on the 'APU' button on the other side of the control screen...he said that was only for A/C...that the engine would start without it...Wrong....it's labeled "APU". So I said...lets try. I turned on all my lights, my radio, my tv/dvd, all the interior lights...but left the 'APU' button off. Soon enough the inverters started beeping because of battery's needed charged...He then tried to tell me that the key can't be in the ACC position or it wouldn't start...But couldn't explain how I could use the APU and have the CB on if I were waiting for a customer to call me on the radio...since the Century's are wired so that the CB only works with key on or on ACC. But then I reached back and hit the APU on button...and it fired up(with the key in ACC position) and started charging. After we argued back and forth about how to run this thing...he told me to leave....and headed to the shop office. Now being the certified SOB that I am, properly trained in how to be an A-hole(I have a PhD in A-hole, so I'm actually suppose to be called Dr. A-hole) I dug out the instruction manual and went in the office. In front of all his peers, his boss and the lady that does all the paperwork I went off. Started to hand him the manual, but pulled back a bit and asked "you do know how to read, Right??"...(dirty looks ensued) and said, read this part (the part of the manual that tells you how to run the APU for battery charging only)which explains that I was doing it right....Now, I wasn't expecting any kind of acknowledgment of being right or an apology, and I wasn't disappointed...because all he could do is tell the boss that they needed a repair manual for these APU's if they were going to have to fix them, turn to me and say "Take it to TK or Lincoln, we can't fix it"...but then the boss told him to replace my batteries...that didn't need to be replaced. I sat on a 2 week vacation, with the Q/comm coming on 5 minutes every hour and search for the satellite then shutting off, and still had lights and power for the entire 2 weeks. The only truck I have had to do this. So, I have new batteries, and the problem.

    Oh, and they didn't service the APU, the idiot did an "A" service on my truck instead, 4500 miles before it was due(I verified it at the Wilmer shop by having them pull my maintenance records on the computer), so now with the heat we've been having, I am 300 hours over on my APU..... MORONS...useless MORONS. It makes me wish I was headed to SLC....(hahahaha)
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2011
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  3. Rattlebunny

    Rattlebunny Medium Load Member

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    Gee SS, sounds like a typical holier than thou mechanic. Having been a maintenance crew chief (aviation industry) I can promise you that we're not all that way. Had this guy been in my shop and disrespected a customer (that is in fact how you should be treated) I would have had his head ... right there ... for your viewing pleasure.
     
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  4. Motorhead01

    Motorhead01 Light Load Member

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    I agree, the last thing I need is some mechanical "moron" telling me how to operate something after I read the instruction manual and followed the directions. In the military the technical manual (TM's) is the equipment "bible" as it where, not to be confused with field manuals (FM's) which are "guides" to how something should be done.
     
  5. supersnackbar

    supersnackbar Road Train Member

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    Aug 19, 2007
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    Honestly, I'm starting to feel it is SOP at CCC to treat the drivers like that...not unlike any other ATA member company(ATA aka - the anti-trucker association). I get that attitude from a lot of different departments here as well, not just the shop. Before I started driving I worked in an in-house shop for a chicken plant...they didn't have much more respect for their drivers there either, so I'm not shocked by it. In fact, I would be shocked if I weren't treated like that.
     
  6. supersnackbar

    supersnackbar Road Train Member

    19,137
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    Aug 19, 2007
    Your Town, USA
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    What got me was he was acting like this was the first time I'd ever used the stupid thing, even though I had just got done telling him about the last apu issues I had been having the last couple years in my last truck... I guess it takes a brain to stop the words from going in one ear and out the other.
     
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  7. supersnackbar

    supersnackbar Road Train Member

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    I did read a cool article about the newest q/comm units out. I hope we get them eventually. In cab scanning, in cab e-mail, wifi connection, door to door gps vocal directions(truck routing). Transport america/southern cal and swift are suppose to have them
     
  8. rachi

    rachi Road Train Member

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    Marten has them also.
     
  9. JoeyJunk

    JoeyJunk Road Train Member

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    I have them now, MCP200. I used the navigation at Schneider, called NaviGo. It was horrible!!! Down right horrible. Have not tried it at new company yet. Dont care for it. I am getting sick of my personal GPS also. After an upgrade it has been giving horrible directions. The scanning is great. Not as fast or cut and dry as Transflow, but still nice. Also, the vocal thing is horrible for anything but a freeform message. If you try to use it for an assignment, it speaks all numbers in their true form(ex. trailer 511069...Jill(the lady voice on the unit)will say 511,069. Just tried it today also. As far as Im concerned at this point, all its good for is the logs.
     
  10. supersnackbar

    supersnackbar Road Train Member

    19,137
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    Aug 19, 2007
    Your Town, USA
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    I have a car GPS which I use, mostly to keep track of traveled miles. That way I can keep track to see if the miles they're paying are still accurate(which I have to say, Crete's mileages are usually very close to actual miles driven, closer than any company I've ever worked for). Plus I also like to use it to keep track of my out-of-route percentage. Since it's a car GPS, I don't use it as much for routing, even though it has a 'truck' setting, it isn't set up for truck routes per say. If I pull our company supplied directions off the q/comm (that are from other drivers, or what a CSR got from Mapquest) and when they're vague, or like usual for me, coming in from a totally different direction, I pull out my Thunderbolt and pull up the Google maps (google earth for your phone) and get the overhead satellite view and get a general idea of what I'm driving into. The Thunderbolt also has a navagation function on Google maps, so it's like a GPS for turn by turn, but it's using actual satellite views instead of an animated screen, which is cool for those customers we don't have directions for in the system, and my nag-agator can't locate the address in it's database. Now if the stupid thing would quit rebooting while I'm depending on it, it would be great. But it is definately not like the old days when you had a box of city maps and a voice on the other end of the CB giving you directions (or many voices arguing about who had better directions to the same place)
     
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2011
  11. Old MP

    Old MP Light Load Member

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    SS,
    Quick question if you don't mind and have the time. Would you recommend your company to a recent graduate for their first driving job? Thanks!
     
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