Need some advice

bryan21384 · May 9, 2021

Does CFI pay during training?

slow.rider · May 9, 2021

MattyIceFlatBed$$$ said: ↑

I’ve called unemployment and left probably 50 messages, with no reply. Do you have any idea what website I might actually get a response from? All the ones I’ve tried haven’t word anywhere unfortunately.
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Usually it's better to just show up there.

Dockbumper · May 10, 2021

bryan21384 said: ↑

Does CFI pay during training?
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My understanding is they pay for lodging and meals during school and around $500 week while out with your trainer.

roundhouse · May 11, 2021

slow.rider said: ↑

Usually it's better to just show up there.
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Yep
I’d just show up in person.
The covid unemployment is substantial.
Plus it would make attending a state vo tech school free I think .

Jaebo74 · May 12, 2021

MattyIceFlatBed$$$ said: ↑

MattyIceFlatBed$$$Bobtail Member
NewRecently I went to CDL school for a flatbed company and did extremely well. After 19 days of training I went to Des Moines Iowa to take my road test to get my CDL. Before starting my test the company explained how their test was going to be different from what I practiced on and that that’s how they do things in Des Moines. Before meeting my DOT officer I was allowed one training run on a new course. This went well thanks to knowing my pivot points and being able to adjust to their new procedure. However, once I was paired up with my DOT officer I found out that he was a trainee and that he would have someone watching over him as well. Pre-trip went perfect, 100%. Backing is where things got weird. After doing the straight back I set myself up for my offset at which the trainee told me I had to reset. Not wanting to use my get out and look I asked him why, to which he replied he could not tell me. So I reset and started the back maneuver again, again he said reset. Are there and use my get out and look and could not see any reason that I had to reset as I was lined up and inside the cones at this point. Reluctantly I reset once again and every time I got back between the cones he held his hand up telling me to stop. By the end of this I had used all of my pull ups doing the resets I was instructed to do. After I got out of the truck he informed me that all I needed to do was pull up and back straight in… I asked him why he kept telling me to reset and he told me that’s what he meant by reset. What the hell.

I was then told that I come come back next next day and redo the test and then it wasn’t that big of a deal in their mind. Day two I showed up and did the backing maneuver the first time without changing anything I’ve done from the day before and the trainees hand never went out once. I passed at 100%. Now time for the road test. I went through the entire road test watching my speed carefully making sure I took wide turns, not accelerating through any of them, Calling out every sign and hazard as well as speed limit sucks. After about 30 minutes on the road we arrived back at the yard and the instructor said I had done well. At this point he wanted me to step out so he could discuss with his trainer how to score everything and that he would be right with me. After 10 minutes of waiting he stepped out and told me that he had caught me speeding while going downhill on the bridge. ########, I was closer to going to slow then I would ever be to speeding especially during a road test. He said I was going 50 in a 45 and that speeding was an automatic fail, no questions asked. Even after trying to discuss this with my trainer operator, he shrugged at me and said DOT word is final and that I could not retake the test. I asked him if they could show any record of the speed in the truck during my test, to which the reply they could not. At this point I was sent back to Georgia I am told to get my CDL at my local DMV.

I made an appointment to do my entire test over at the DMV, since it was conducted by a third-party I would have to redo the entire test in Georgia. The couch is that they do not have a truck for me to test on and ultimately I would have to fine a tractor trailer to bring up to the DMV in order to test. At this point I am beyond broke and at a loss as to what to do. I know a couple of people that are CDL drivers but unfortunately my test is on a Wednesday and they will be on the road during this time. I am posting this because I need advice and ultimately I need help to resolve the situation. CDL driving has become a passion for me and I truly enjoy doing it, but I need help. Anybody out there who can advise me as a a way to get a truck to test on for almost no money, would be a great help to me at this point. I’ve been unemployed since the end of January and still have not received any unemployment benefits so I simply have nothing to work with. If anybody out there can give me an advice or help in anyway, please respond to this thread. Anything I can do to repay any help, I am more than willing to do. I can even repay money once I get my CDL job and I am a man of my word. If I say I will do something, best believe I will.

MattyIceFlatBed
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If you're near Dalton or Calhoun, Georgia NorthWest Technical College has school. Hope Grant will pay for the whole thing. They have 2 campuses, one in Lafayette and one in Calhoun.

roundhouse · May 12, 2021

Jaebo74 said: ↑

If you're near Dalton or Calhoun, Georgia NorthWest Technical College has school. Hope Grant will pay for the whole thing. They have 2 campuses, one in Lafayette and one in Calhoun.
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Chattahoochee tech in kennesaw has a good program too .

Six9GS · May 12, 2021

I went to the Swift Academy in Phoenix. They have the instructors (a different one than the ones that taught you) administer the test and the gave me a slip of paper to take to the MVD (In AZ it's the MVD, not DMV) and get my CDL.
I don't think they did you any favors, the testing seemed fair and not a given you'd pass (some didn't). But, the advantage was you took the test in the same trucks you trained in and the same cone spaces you practiced in and drove on the same roads you practiced driving.

JSanborn103 · May 13, 2021

They fail you because they get paid per test. When I took my test one of the guys failed because he dropped the key to the truck.

9/10 people failed when I was taking mine

this wasn’t the same place you took yours btw

Goldenfan · May 13, 2021

Do you owe TMC any money?? I hope not.

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