I contract with a company and they forced me to pay my bill...

Discussion in 'Trucker Legal Advice' started by Unclehams, Nov 14, 2019.

  1. Unclehams

    Unclehams Light Load Member

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    I have a repair account TOTALY SEPERATE and in no way was it started with anyone but myself and TRUCK stop REPAIR ( names changed )

    I contract with company X who also has a long standing relationship with TRUCK STOP REPAIR.


    well today I learned that truck stop repair who I always made payments when I could and who I gave my bank account info out to and told them to withdraw X amount every week when I had it. contacted company X where I work as an owner opp ( not lease op ) but owner op. My truck I got was not thru the company I work for ( thanks truckers report advice subforum for helping me dodge that bullet)


    anyways truck repair contacted company x and told them I have a bill and even said they would not work on any company x trucks unless it was paid. The invoice they sent was for the total amount owned.

    Company x told me they were going to withhold X amount out of my next settlement, PAY THE BILL and deduct it from my settlement @ x amount per week.




    I never gave permission , I never set the account up with truck repair and previous bills from them have always been paid with my debit card or with cash...


    what are my options legally? can I sue?
     
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  3. magoo68

    magoo68 Road Train Member

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    Company x had two options pay YOUR bill or drop you as a carrier if they wanted to continue relationship with said repair shop..
     
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  4. brian991219

    brian991219 Road Train Member

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    You have no options, sorry. I am not being a smart arse, but legally it does not matter who owns the truck (you in this case) as it went into the shop with their name/DOT number on it.

    A motor carrier is legally liable for all trucks displaying their DOT number, lease or owned. As such the shop decided to collect on the invoice. The carrier paid it on your behalf and is now taking it back from your settlement.

    They have to do this within the terms of your contract, so unless the lease agreement doesn't allow this they are most likely within their legal right ro do so.
     
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  5. gentleroger

    gentleroger Road Train Member

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    No, you cannot sue. Ok, yes you could but you would lose.

    It sounds like you had repairs done at Bob's Garage. You owed Bob's Garage and had set up a payment plan. You would let Bob charge an amount every week "When you had it", which makes it sound like your payments were spotty.

    Bob got tired of waiting for payment so he contacted the company whose authority you run under trying to get payment made. Your company does business with Bob and does not want to antagonize Bob nor get involved with any Mechanics Lien, so they paid the bill and are allowing you to pay it off at no interest, sounds pretty nice to me.

    If you pay your bills on time this will never be an issue.
     
  6. gentleroger

    gentleroger Road Train Member

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    Oh, and you also shouldn't use X for an amount and a pronoun- it gets confusing.
     
  7. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    While that's all great there is a problem with this going on behind the back of the OP.

    If he is telling all the information, which of course we have to assume there may be more info, then the shop soliciting the carrier for any payment is wrong, the carrier assuming the bill leaves the carrier really unable to collect from the OP even if there is a contract in place, neither party received approval for this to happen by the OP.

    The OP had a payment plan setup (I think it exposes the OP to other forms of fraud but I won't get into that so as long as payments are made, there is no issue that the shop could justify soliciting the carrier.

    A good lawyer would be able to force the carrier eat the shop bill, and get back the escrow which would be considered the owner's not the carrier's money unless there are other things that are not being told.
     
  8. Eddiec

    Eddiec Road Train Member

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    Pay your bill. Close that bank account and open another account. Terminate your lease and severe ties with the repair shop.
     
  9. wichris

    wichris Road Train Member

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    Read his post, he said he makes payments when he can. Sounds like he ran up bill's and didn't pay them and doesn't make any consistent effort to pay them. Does he use the carriers MC# to avoid sales tax? Or use the carriers name to receive discounts? Have run into this with O/O's before, suck it up and pay your bill and there won't be a problem. If the carrier is going to pay it and make deductions then he's making enough to do it himself.
     
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  10. gentleroger

    gentleroger Road Train Member

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    I think we can safely assume that there are things we do not know and that the OP is not being 100% upfront about.

    It also sounds like payments were NOT being made. At what point does the shop have the right to go after the carrier?
     
  11. snowwy

    snowwy Road Train Member

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    You owe somebody money. Somebody has every right to collect by any means necessary.

    Think of it as a collections that is now garnishing your wages.

    You COULD go to court. As you have every right to dispute the charge and they would have to show proof.
    BUT, you're in a losing situation.

    Just smile and keep on trucking. At least they didn't place a lien on your truck or a collections on your credit.
    And you may or may not have lost any credit account you had to work with for repairs.

    If you can't pay your bills. You probably shouldn't be owning a truck.

    How many Fortune 500 companies have gone extinct because they couldn't pay their bills?
     
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