Cdl Drivers Beware in Tampa St Pete & Clearwater Area

There is a current company placing seperate ads on Craigslist in Tampa ( in the month of March & April 2018) hiring for company drivers positions and now a recently new ad directed to owner operators using your own equipment...
Please be very cautious ... I worked for this outfit 1 month and right now I'm in the of chasing my last 2 paychecks not to mention all the toll money I paid out of my pocket too, while I kept getting the story that your PrePass / BestPass has been ordered and were just waiting for it to arrive in the mail ....Turns out the front guy, Leo who is running things for the owner, who is actually on the road driving and lives in his truck along with the wife.... So little chance of getting a hold of the owner as your forced to contact the front guy who is engaged to the daughter. This guy tries to assure you all is ok... But basically he is renting tractor trucks from both Penske and Ryder in the Tampa Bay area so has no real investment in the actual trucks... So no leverage there if your owed money because the vehilces are owned by the rental companies...
The guy basically provides you a rental truck and trailer that is also not owned by them but rented as well, then leases his truck services along with the new hired driver to another guy in the Gary, Indiana Area a few miles away from the Pilot truckstop off interstate I-80 exit # 6 in Indiana, that guy basically finds the loads for you and dispatches you... Do not expect to reach these people everytime you call them ... Though they suppose to be running a trucking company the dispatch does also runs loads for themselves and for some reason they do not set up their voicemail to be able to leave messages... So your forced to text them with what you need first if they didn't answer your phone call... If its something simple they tend to reply bacj quickly, but if its not, they say they will call back shortly, sometimes its the next day and they still didn't bother to call. For a very small fleet of just a few trucks, this is just not acceptable practice.
Btw, I meet that dispatch guy in the parking lot of the pilot truckstop, who then he picks you up and takes you to a rented garage service bay that is also the dispatch office they use .... He gives you a fuel card and furnishes you a tablet on the Verizon's network along with a quick tutorial on tips using their Elog system on that tablet.... My opinion about the equipment used by that trucking company is expect to be pulled in by the dot just on how they look... Not a good feeling ... Ask to see the dot numbers on the company he is planing to lease his truck services too ... Cause if their history shows alot of out of services violations your going to get stopped and inspected by the dot... Your expected to run hard or questioned why your not .. Very little preplans so you will be waiting when emptied for new loads then expected to run to make it if they are last minute brokered loads. Things changed on a daily / week to week basis... I had a bad feeling about this company, but they kept trying to convince me that they are legit ... I regret not going with my gutt feeling... When one works hard and stays out driving for 4 plus weeks like I did, it's really upsetting to get the silent treament and chase your money around like I'm having to do... I will post more info later about this company ... Please be sure to check out and research your next company to avoid this from happening to you!

 

The latest update regarding the situation with this recent employer I had working for them recently 1 month....
I'm excited to report that after chasing both my paycheck and all the road expenses I was paying out of my own pocket for such as toll and stuff, I did finally get all of my money and the check cleared .... Actually I ran straight to their bank nearby and cashed it in person.... I happily paid the $8.00 bank fee charge that Bank of America charges "to avoid any type of possible nightmare return check scenario issues later"...
Now to reply to all the comments that where not aware of my specific pay package deal that was agreed between me and this employer before I started as company driver for them and ever driving a single mile in their truck...
- I re-negotiated with them to pay me all 100 percent of both my empty miles and loaded as well of course ...
- In addition I also negotiated my mileage pay upto $0.60 cpm too for all paid miles.
- I was surprised that they even offered to pay me a guarantee pay salary of $1,500 a week as long as I stayed 3 weeks minimum on the road as a company driver...
- Their time off policy was work 3 weeks OTR and 1 full week off...
- I later negotiated a 10 percent surcharge on my paycheck for each every week that I stayed on the road driving pasted my 3 full weeks on the road as an incentive to make sure they honestly made an attempt to get me home.... I actually think this is a very great idea to implement in the trucking industry to help ensure that all company drivers can get their home time on some type of a regular basis....
The company later discussed my pay deal and with their load finding dispatch trucking company not to be so generous with all the pay incentives and though they still wanted me to drive for them ... they tried to get me to take less money across the board... I said no thanks and good luck finding drivers that would agree to less cpm and the 100 no pay for empty deadhead miles ...
Why a driver would ever agree to be liable of driving a tractor and trailer and all the responsibility not to me jeopardize their cell and NOT GET PAID..... Is just plain stupid.... people stop agreeing to it and it will just go away,,,,, people that agree to it is why it still remains..
My only other con with this company was they did ignore me and not both return calls or text to messages in a timely manner.... At the end of the it is up to you to negotiate the best deal for yourself and never worry what the other company is offering if it's less that want you want.... Keep your license and driving record clean as well as your CSA score and you will be surprised what extra money / benefits you can get out of a hiring trucking company.... When I'm looking ato working for a companyear do your homeworkids first and check out the company first and before you start not after your being screwed by them... I almost recently took a driving job that sound great till I later found out that the guy that I was talking to screwed another driver out of $5,000 dollars and just changed the companys name and transfered the new company into his wife's name and even keep all the same trucks and equipment ... He called me yesterday and you should have heard how defensive he got trying to deny it wasn't him and trying to convince me it was him... He mentioned as a manager he was driving a $180,000 dollar Mercedes Benz and lived in an expensive house ... I stopped myself from saying well if your screwing drives I can see why as a driver manager you can afford... Note he did change and abbreviate both his first and last name and was shocked that I knew it was still him.... Always do your research first, don't wait till you have to, cause by then it's usually means it's too late.
Be safe driving and have a Dot-Free Day