Link America.. BAD

Ouch Shaggy! It hit the fan their as well.. Man it seems most places are going on a roller coaster ride these days..

 

The whole industry is spiraling down. I know a lot of guys that are going into other lines of work. The pay, or lack of, just isn't worth it anymore. Sad when you can get a job that pays $12/hr (like my son has) and make more than driving for some of these carriers, then have a real life. If these carriers don't wake up, it will be harder than it is now to fill their seats. These carriers claim that there is a driver shortage when the opposite is true. Just drivers are no longer loyal because carriers treat them as dog meat. I want the 90's back where there was actual respect and a real shortage...

 

All the good things I've said about this company...well, lets just say I may be eating every word. We'll see. More to come... let's hope it's not material that should end up on the "other" Link thread...

 

10 minutes my ###, I work here at blink America....going to Melton. Sitting for a week because my truck needs a thermostat...was told I have a rare engine, DD15, not rare at all. When my air conditioner quit working in mid summer it took two months to get it fixed. When my fuel gauge quit working that took running out of fuel twice to get that fixed. This place has some good people here, the poor choice of overhead and poorly placed planners make this company a joke. Y DMV Doug Kelly was one great and I mean great DMV, but he is now gone to planning, so what I'm left with ....well, made me change my mind about good ol link. So enjoy and hope you have good luck with em.

 

I don't deal with Doug Kelly but I've heard a lot of good things about him from several drivers. Alan Williamson is a great DM, too. Best I've ever dealt with.

If it were me, I think after a week I would have flat refused to operate the truck with no A/C. A few days is one thing, and to be expected with any company. But in the heat of summer and with today's trucks, it can be a safety issue. A DOT officer having a bad day could write for it during an inspection as a failed compressor could lock up without notice, or bad electrical could cause a fire...blah blah and so on. Preaching to the choir... Fuel gauge, same deal.

DD15 rare? LOL...that's like, all of the Cascadias, right?


Most of my maintenance issues with them were with trailers, and I did put trailers out of service. Flat refused to pull them unless to get repaired. Wiring, lights, and tires. That's their biggest problem (click link to see violations). They didn't give me any crap when they realized I was serious about not pulling defective trailers. And a lot of the crap I was finding came down to two things:

-- Drivers not doing their job (by not inspecting equipment or not reporting defects to Breakdown, or ignoring defects, etc.)

OR

-- Drivers did their job and reported, but Link refused to repair.

To fix the problem, either:

-- Link needs to crack the whip on making drivers do their pre-and post-trips

OR

-- Drivers need to crack down on Link and refuse to operate equipment that doesn't meet DOT standards

They were real good to me until I started having bad back problems and had to take medical leave. Even though they had notice that I would be down a few weeks and that they said they would send someone to get the truck, it sat until it was impounded in the lot across from my house. Every realizes that there wasn't anything within the law I could do about it and have tried to stick up for me, but Operations still feels the need to withhold the rest of my pay to cover the impound/storage. And is Russel returning my phone calls? Not one. Next step will be on the way in the next day or two.

I still have a job, but when (if) I go back, it may be a while before I see a paycheck.

 

Russell will kiss your behind one minute and stick it to you the next. Then when an attorney gets involved, tune changes quick around there. As soon as Link feels they have no control over you they will treat you different.

Had three of their mechanics come by my shop this week begging to go to work there. Couple of drivers too. I couldn't hire any of them. Link trashed every one of them. It took me getting an attorney involved to have mine corrected for it was false. I've been gone since August and got my final check plus and additional $1350 in penalties this week. (Wage and Hour involved) It's sad, but you will have to go that far to get your money back from them.

They started good, but I guess they are only good until the behind kissing stops and you see their true colors and leave. Then their true colors come out. They have that mentality of you will work for us or you will work for no one.

Oh, my attorney had a subpoena to get their average on the ratings they gave on driver reports and they are astonishing. Just for the month of August, they had 312 ratings given and only 4 were listed as satisfactory. The rest were negative USIS reports. My thought is 312 drivers lossed for a company employing just over 400 in one month is unbelievable! They are averaging 700-800% yearly turnover per USIS! My attorney called them a sham and shady company. He said he is surprised they are still in business.

 

Yeah well, my husband is getting the same runaround. We're waiting on 2 paychecks from them. I just contacted an attorney and they're reviewing everything.

Just a shame that my husband has to deal with their crap while he's still in orientation for a new position. L/A doesn't care about who they screw as long as it's to their benefit!!!!!!

 

You have to get an attorney involved. There is no other way around it. That is what I did and they removed everything from my dac report and gave me the money owed. I was told to never apply with them or any affiliate company for I can never work for them again, like I want to... lol

 

I'll be able to post more about my situation later if that's any clue as to why I've changed my tune...

 

Interesting on how we all went from good to bad, except one... He still loves it and good for him.