Old James Freight

Beware of this company. Based out of Des Plaines, IL. DOT# 3224408 MC# 1009730. It's a Chicagoland company, so you have to expect at least a few games. Yes, I knew it was a possibility with a company like this. I have ways of dealing with it, and all of them are legal. I just don't want anyone else to make the mistake of working with this company, or its owner Bogdan Roman.

Was recruited by the owner, Bogdan Roman, to drive a Freightliner Cascadia. As I walked up to the truck I could already see problems. Federal inspection issues on the truck and trailer, badly mismatched drive tires. Then a broken off shock on the trailer, a completely unsecured spare tire in the tire rack, and an obvious hole in the outer wall of the trailer. I insisted on getting these things straightened out. The owner drove the truck and trailer, and doing pre trip inspections is obviously not his strong suit. Claimed to have a million miles driving.

My resume clearly states I need to see all paperwork I will be asked to sign, before I leave home, and that I will not sign anything I haven't seen before leaving home. I guess the owner wanted to play games, and test me on that. He springs this ridiculous contract on me after I show up. Yeah, I refused to sign it. He said forget it, and we'll figure something out later.

As soon as I drove the truck I could see an obvious handling problem, and it got worse with a load. The next I reported it to the owner. He made it clear he didn't want to put any more money into an older truck. A lot different attitude than what he told me on the phone. At this point I knew my stay with this company would be very short. Just wanted to get through the holidays, and get what I could out of it. The handling problem got bad enough I considered it unsafe, especially if they put the truck in the hands of an inexperienced driver. I have over 26 years experience. After 2 trips to shops there was no improvement, mainly because the owner would not do proper repairs. So I told him to get me back to Chicago, and I'll be going home.

On the way in to Chicago I got this guy a clean dot inspection in South Dakota. He complimented my work multiple times. He knew I was quitting, so he tried to get me hired on with a friend. I had to drop the final load in Chicago, and it was a very expensive one. So I suggested to the owner that I leave my 2 big padlocks on the trailer. He thought it was a great idea, and agreed to reimburse me for the locks. I tried to be a pro till the end. I have emails and texts to back all this up.

Even after all this, the guy is still trying to screw me out of over $3,000 in pay and reimbursements. I let him know that was a bad idea, and I never let anyone screw me and walk away clean. Suggested he be reasonable, and pay me what he owes me. Then we can forget each other. The guy chose not to. So the war is on.

 

Level 3 inspection, paperwork and me. Like I said, I had most of the problems corrected before I went anywhere. Especially the obvious ones.

 

6 1/2 weeks after I quit , and still no pay. This one's going to be an all out war. The last straw for me. No more Chicagoland jobs.

 

It appears this company is starting to set up shop under another name and DOT# in Glendale,Arizona. Old James Logistics, DOT# 3527335. Authority is not active yet. Address matches one connected to the original company, Old James Freight 3224408.

Nice try. Standard Chicagoland game. Get a backup DOT# in case the first one goes bad.

Claimed to have gotten a clean inspection for the truck I was in in California last year. Straight up lie. Got dinged for a lighting violation. Only clean inspection they have is the one I got them.