Buyer - Carrier Confllict

A few days ago we booked a load from Canada to the US with a company that it is not a broker. They are the buyers and take care of the transportation of their shipments (well, they sell the loads, but the shipper is making the payments).
We booked a load at 11:00 am on a Friday. The driver went 130 miles empty to pick the load, he got to the shipper, and they wouldn't load him. It was 2:30 pm when they called to let me know that they couldn't load because we didn't have general liability insurance on file with the shipper. I told them that I would call our insurance and have the paperwork send to them. The answer was "ok, but you have to wait until Monday since the lady who is in charge of processing this information is gone for the day".
Because it was the only shipper in the area the driver had to go back the 130 miles and...as expected, we've lost any chance to book a load for that weekend. I called the guy who I booked the load with and asked for his assistance to find another load. He said he couldn't do anything for us. I have asked him to agree on a $200 payment for the whole thing. He said he would never pay for something like that and that we should've known that our paperwork was not updated (it was the first time that we were working with that facility and even though we have worked with the company before they have never asked for general liability).
So, we ended up driving another 400 miles empty (to the states where we could load on Saturday).
Now, the question is knowing that they are not brokers, is it anything we can do to recover part of our loss? I feel that they are pretty confident that we cannot do anything about it. More than the money, the lack of professionalism hurts more...

 

Because Edson, AB is a dead area, except West Fraiser. He had to go back to Edmonton. Unfortunately it was too late to book a load and all the brokers I have talked to said that they had no idea about any company willing to load on Saturday/Sunday in their area. Yes, we did lose money but we would've lost even more money to have the truck stucked in Edson or Edmonton. He booked a load right at the border. We made $2,000 that week-end in the States and we lost about $300 for the empty miles. So, I don't believe that staying in that area for nothing would've done us any good. Sometimes, you have to measure what is the worst of 2 choices.
I am not sure what you mean by "You are also want to consider Customs in Canada as well and what they require to cross a load over.". We've been doing US to Canada and Canada to US for 5 years now... that is not an issue.

 

Indeed. Still, I would want to find a way to teach those guys that it is not ok to disrespect other people's work, money, and life.

 

They are not brokers. They are the buyer. They have the authority to book their own loads. We found the load on DAT Express so... they do have all the appropriate paperwork.
Plus, we' had been doing business with them before and we have never experienced things like this.

 

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