New to the HotShot World, would a dispatch service help?

(sorry for the long post)
My husband & I recently made the move from dump truck to hotshot. We have gotten pretty steady work from a local company but they never seem to have a load coming back - Atlanta to PA/NJ is a typical run - so we are getting a lot of "dead head" costs. I work full time so I can't really help him learn the load board situations while he is on the road. We were thinking about connecting with a dispatching service & even reached out to one when my husband was given a card at a truck stop.
This particular dispatch service charged 6% - 12% depending on the rpm, wanted my signature on a blank piece of paper for load confirmations, my bank account info & signed permission to access my account every Monday to deduct their percentage. I was only able to find a Facebook page when I did a company search when I saw their carrier packet & what they were asking for. It just sounded like a huge scam. When I questioned it, telling them that we too were a small husband/wife team that I had to protect us 1st, that we work through a factoring company that they would only invoice them for our percentage of the load & they could get their percent when the shipper paid them. Also, their big sell was the driver "just had to drive" & they do all the paperwork. Well, I told them that wasn't an issue for us because I do the paperwork & my husband drives. Their reply was that they were burned by a husband & wife team who was booking loads without their knowledge - which I thought was strange because it sounded like they were just upset about not getting their cut but IDK. Also, they claimed to have been burned by a factoring company which is why they use a CPA firm to handle the deductions. Given that I obviously had reservations, you would have thought they would have at least provided the name of the CPA, but no. We agreed we were no a good fit for each other. This was just too many red flags for me, I mean I'm new to the HotShot world not stupid. And if this is the norm, please feel free to call me stupid
All that said, 1st, was I wrong to be skeptical? Is this how dispatchers work? 2nd, should we look for a broker service or another dispatch company? Any advice / suggestions will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!!

 

Hey my husband and I are new to hotshot to what company do you guys haul for?

 

Check out this section. Lots of info, lots of reading.
A good place to start.

Expediter and Hot Shot Trucking Forum

The other thing you may want to try, is to contact a member here @flatbedcarrier. May be able to help with the learning curve.

 

READ THIS CAREFULLY

do not ever give personal info to a dispatcher or carrier other than what is legally required.

There is absolutely no reason to give them a signature on a blank paper, give them banking info or anything like that.

The biggest bullsh*** story I have heard is what you posted, "we got burned before" is a common one, but remember if these scum needs anything from you, they can't afford to pay you in the first place and will screw you.

 

You did right by avoiding this one! I'm a CPA myself with a specialty in fraud and I can tell you this has Red Flags all over it. Reading through your post, I was thinking that at least they use a CPA to handle the transactions, but not giving you the name so you could call and verify? That plus many others - access to your bank account, signing a blank document, claims of "being burned", etc.

The other point I noted was their "sliding scale" for commission based on RPM. That I can't answer as I am not in the business yet, but it looks questionable. It seems a rate is a rate is a rate to me, but I'm curious if this is standard practice?

I'm also curious - this guy who gave your husband a business card. Did this come out of casual conversation, or was this person scouting out prospective drivers?

 

My husband was at a truck stop and just walked up & gave him this card. He said that they were great, always kept him loaded, etc. My husband said this guy acted like this company was making him a mint! I want to put his name out there as a warning but I don't want to smear a company's name if he is technically legit with questionable business policies. Their Facebook page has only (1) review & of course it is praising the company. I'd hate for anyone to get rooked by this guy.

 

C H Robinson

 

@allhwy2020 - read this!

 

Also new to this.
Curious if dispatch service would be good to get my foot in the door.
Having a new authority I’ve seen that a lot of shippers/brokers don’t want to work with us.
That or they try slamming the price way down. Even down to .90-1.25 per mile. Does anyone have any tips on negotiating out of this limbo?

Not trying to steal your thread ACT. Just trying to expand for us new folk.

 

Just kinda skimmed through these posts. To much for me to read this late in the day. I’ve been saying this for many, many years now, I can’t say it enough. Never let anyone handle your billing. And watch what you’re signing. There’s a lot of scam artists out there. The only permission (power of attorney) you should be giving a dispatch service is for booking freight for your truck, on your behalf. That’s it.

And watch out for the scandalous factoring companies out there. There’s a bunch of them.