Finally got my own truck

You're the last QC check on the load before you leave. That dock worker makes 12 dollars an hour tops and can't be counted on to do anything involving real legal liability properly. You're a professional truck driver and on a totally different plane of existence in terms of both pay and responsibility. It's your job to make sure it's loaded properly before you leave.

All of that being said I've seen trucks not turn on reefer units, break down and show up a week late, use load locks improperly to brace the load, and do all sorts of foolishness. I've never put a claim on anyone that they didn't deserve. It doesn't really matter if the dock worker screwed up, it matters that you didn't catch it.

If a customer tries to drop a ######## claim on a carrier I generally tell them they are on their own or pay it myself (because I know I can't collect it from the carrier and I have better things to do than fight them for months over usually at most 1-2k). Usually I fire the customer on the spot. I have ZERO tolerance for illegal claims in produce because they are truly just the customer stealing from me.

 

But by law the freight bill is not to be held or deducted from over a freight claim. They must be handled separately. Not saying it's right, but a guy could file against your bond over this.

I had a load of melons that was am 80% loss due to the reciever in Boston not unloading the trailer for 4 days. Melons are not exactly delicate but keep them in a dry van for 4 days in the summer sun...certain 3 letter broker deducted the claim from the freight invoice. I filed on their bond and with in a few days they paid the bill in full. I'll eat it when its my screw up, but I'm not eating it when is someone else's screw up.

 

Looking at Dot# & mc# on government site.

How can I tell how long the #### have been active?

 

Somehow above post got added to spyders quote. My bad. This is what i said:

It is right. Each load can and should be handled on their own merits. We take risks and have skin in the game. That's what insurance is for. Just bc a broker looses money on a claim bc they disagree with carriers insurance results, tells me it's not carriers fault, otherwise insurance would have paid said claim, therefore money shouldn't be held on previous loads, it's illegal That's why brokers I know that are responsible have cargo insurance as well.

I too have a brokerage, but I don't try to pin blame where it doesn't belong. Again if it's carriers fault, insurance will pay if valid. Too many times I've had to tell shippers how to palletize and load trucks properly. That's why I don't just take any old customers on.

 

One of the problems is this, too many brokers try to push blame where it doesn't belong to keep their customers happy. It's usually pretty easy to tell who is at fault. But brokers tend to go after easiest target, the trucks. With a little due diligence and research, you can tell the guilty party. However they don't want to piss off their customer, who tends to be at fault. Hence the easy way out, the truck

 

We're going to have to agree to disagree here. If the broker uses a ######## claim to withhold payment there is a process where you can get remedy for that. If I give you what you want I'm going to get legally cheated almost every single time.

I get where you guys are coming from in theory, but in real life the VAST majority of claims are completely legitimate and 100% the responsibility of the carrier. The idea that I should take it on good faith that the carrier will make it right if the insurance company *that the carrier picked for being the cheapest available* decides to not pay up is ridiculous and you know it. Honestly I think that dealing with the insurance company should be the carriers responsibility and they should pay for the claim before they get the money from the insurance company.

When you get a claim you have two choices. You can accept the claim and the deduction/repayment that comes with it, or you can reject the claim. If you reject it there's a mediation process for that. The guy who waited at a receiver for 4 days shouldn't be liable for that unless the real story is that he showed up 2 days late and they refused the load... and then the whole thing took 4 days to get resolved.

You have a much better chance of recovering money from me than I do from you. That's just the nature of the business. As a result I have zero sympathy for the argument that we shouldn't have the ability to hang onto disputed money until the dispute is resolved.

 

Check the legality of holding freight bills hostage on clean completed loads. Again this is why I don't sign contracts that have that language in them. If as a carrier you do, your a fool.

And why do all brokers say things like, "unless the real story is that he showed up 2 days late and they refused the load... and then the whole thing took 4 days to get resolved.". Always looking for a different excuse. How bout "I'm sorry this happened to the truck and let's see what we can do to resolve the situation".

You said, "If I give you what you want I'm going to get legally cheated almost every single time." So if it's so much better for truckers, why not buy a fleet of trucks instead of brokering. Get drivers and do the same work you do except on our end?

 

Because currently the only review on my company in google is by some guy claiming that I claimed him for 'overripe fruit'. That load showed up 2 days late with 10 bins turned over, only 3 of which were salvageable. The claim was only 888 dollars but he sure seemed to think it wasn't fair. In reality he got incredibly lucky as it could have been 12k with a less upstanding customer. You think brokers lie? We've got absolutely nothing on trucking company owners. That guy ran two loads for me. He was a day late the first time and groveled like crazy to get the second load. Then he ####ed it up completely.

EDIT: Obviously he put the review on google because he didn't want to risk us returning fire on any of the mediated places where you can call someone a bad actor. This is because he's a lying scumbag who didn't have a leg to stand on and we have paperwork to back that up. This is an anonymous internet forum, so pardon me if I have small suspicions that not everyone posts all the details of their problem loads.

Your right about withholding being illegal unless our contract makes it legal. Our contract does, and I won't do business with anyone who has a problem with it. To me there's no clearer sign that someone has claims happen to them occasionally and they plan to screw me if one happens. I never hear any of these arguments from good drivers who don't have claims. I wonder why?

On the flip side I've had claims happen to good carriers and had them send me a check the same day. I never even have to get to the point where I deduct those people. I DO start the process by asking how they want to resolve it. But I'm not going to give up any of that money until I know how they are planning to handle it. I'll release the money when and if I get my insurance payout. Always have, and I always will.

 

It was 2 hours late. Some tool ran into me about twenty miles away and it took a while to get a police report and then my truck jerry rigged enough to safely make the delivery. I also notified the brokerage firm with in less than 5 minutes of the incident.

You can dispute the validity of withholding freight payment all you want, i even agree with many of the points you used to support this, but there are laws on the books preventing that and you will lose every time if the carrier knows a thing or two.

Normally i do everything in my power to protect both my interests and my customers interests, but throw me under the bus because it's the easiest solution to the problem? Then you are on your own and if it costs them thousands, i don't care.

However i should add that im grateful for that particular melon load. At the time it sucked, but i learned so much after that, it was worth every second i sat there sweating in that sun. Today that truck would be empty that day, if not by the reciever then somewhere else. Or if it would benefit me, in route back to the shipper at the same freight rate.