Shaffer makes the hit list

I would think that you would prefer to get cleared of their unrealistic accusations first before letting on to your leaving the company. My thought is if you are leaving and they know it, you will get the blame to save somone elses arse. That would be easy for the company and all involved. Then maybe they give bad report on your DAC or whatever, which hinders you from getting next job. I feel for ya man but thanks for the heads up, Shafer/Crete has been calling me for the last four weeks wanting me to sign on. But they will not assure me of a regional route so I am considering CT and McElroy flatbed divisions that say "home every weekend". That is more what I want. GOOD LUCK !

 

Well on Monday I plan on filing for unemployment and hopefully be awarded something at that end. After bringing the tractor trailer back to the shop, one of the mechanics immediately got underneath the truck with his air wrench and started to go to work however, I didn’t see hime take anything off rather just heard the pneumatic wrench working. The Forman came running out and told him that they needed digital pictures before doing anything but the mechanic continued doing something under the truck a few minutes afterwards and like I said, came out without any parts. I am also going to check on this timing theory to see if that has any possibilities as it sounds like it does. Really appreciate the replies here as it gives me a little more info to go on. And no, I’m not sure at this point it is worth going back to a company that cannot be trusted as to being kicked to the curb on a seconds notice like tbis without at least hearing from me what happened as I was driving. As of yet, no one has asked me what happened. Supposed to have some sort of hearing in Deland sometime this week, unfortunately after the fact that I was booted out to defend for myself.

 

Thats really bad...I hate hearing this..Ive seen things like this happen and the driver never seems to win on them when it comes to a Co. oppinion...Your career if your found responcible will be tarnished, and youll do good to find a job driving a mini van if they report it on your DAC that you were responcible.. 1..If this happens, Id talk to a lawyer..That Co. cant make the final decision to hold you at fault..It has to be a neutral shop or facility that is qualified to make these decisions, to be able to point fingers at you for driver negligence or faulty equip. Etc..Your fight here is that Shaffer doesnt want no more heat from the DOT as possible due to their equip.. And its easier to say you did it and fire you..Shaffer saying you did it isnt good enough..And an outside oppinion had darn better well know what theyre talking about when it comes to court..They could be owned by you one day.. Id request the paperwork on the final decision and stress it has to be a neutral facility..Id tell Shaffer their paper work coming from their shop and their oppinion on what happened wasnt worth the paper it took to wipe my for, and let them know you are concerned..Because if it doesnt work out alright for you ,youll know soon enough...You would be out of the Trucking Industy for a while. And even if you arent, youll be working for the lowest paying worthless Co. that exist..That most likely have no clue to what DAC is..If your that lucky for a while anyway... I had a friend While approaching a stop sign have a brake drum while bobtailing fell apart..It just busted in 3 peices. He bumped the car at the stop sign and it needless to say turned into an accident at this point.. He shut his Co. truck down on the spot and refused to move it. He claimed the brakes just got spungy on him.. State police came did report as well as road service.. He wasnt ticketed, and the acc. report indicated mech. failure by the mech. that made the repairs..And thats what the Trooper listed..Well a week later the Co. Fired him and charged him with a DOT acc. For over excessive use of brakes. applied his bakes at 15 mles an hour.. But anyway, and He was through....He couldnt pay anyone to let him drive.. They reported that it was driver Negligence and messed him up good..Well to make a long story short it took some time working the system with the attorneys and such, he found one familiar with trucking Industry and accs. that would work on commission only. And when he got through he walked out of that courtroom with his record clean of that being his fault. And a large chunk of their !!! If it doesnt work out for you, and you get messed up on your DAC and it disrupts your livelyhood in order to make a living or just plain survive! Find a lawyer..I hate seeing Co.. pass the buck that easy and messing folks lives up for their own benifit.. I dont see how anyone can say it was your fault period..Theres just too much there for dought. And it could have been something else....And just as sure as it could have been something else...Youll be cleared...

 

I for one would contact an attorney if things get rough after the Deland hearing. It was not your fault hence the reason why you should look for work somewhere else. Move on to greener pastures. I know a couple of companies operating out of Orlando and would be glad to forward them to you.

Kinghunter

 

Actually I am thinking of contacting a lawyer before the hearing in Deland simply because of how I was treated in an inhumane and unjust fashion. Here I have a refrigerator unit, bedding, computer and additional electronics, about a months worth of clothing and months worth of groceries on board, tools, several bins of miscellanies items, and once packed, I had about 10 additional garbage bags full of other stuff. Here I am supposed to hop on a Grey-Hound bus where the closest place to catch is over an hour and ½ away with all of this stuff. The concern expressed by the Deland terminal was at minimum to say the very least. In fact, I probably should even use the term ‘concern’ here. It was more like, stay in touch was we can have an inventory of who’s who in our file system just in case we have a higher authority to answer to… little do they know at this point, they just might!

 

I work for Crete... With the gutless engines these trucks have... you couldn't have snapped a drive shaft, yolk or rear end if it was in good shape and installed correctly, no matter how hard you are on or how fast you drop the clutch. I have had much more powerful trucks in my career and never once had something like that happen, and with some of the junk trailers we have here at Crete, sometimes it's almost impossible to get the tandems to slide unless you just about hop the truck to pieces. I can only guess that they take care of the Shaffer trailers as good as the Crete's.

I too work out of the worthless (Deland) terminal. Crete tried to leave me hanging a couple years ago. I tore a muscle in the back of my left leg stepping out of the truck in New Kingstown, PA. Home is north of Gainesville, FL. After a week of doctors visits, and hospital visits, they offered me a bus ticket to the house. I was on crutches and I have enough stuff in my truck, like you, to last a month or so. After I refused to allow them to stick me on a bus, they conceded and said they would credit the amount of the bus ticket towards the price of a rental car, but they would charge back the difference once I was back to work. With Crete's corporate discount, a rental car was cheaper than a bus ticket. With that little amount of advance notice, Greyhound charges an arm and a leg. The only drawback, they gave me 24 hours to get the car, unload my truck(on crutches), and get to Florida. Roughly a 1050 mile trip. Thank god the car came with a rear spoiler, because it grew wings. I picked the most expensive, fastest car I could find, and stayed about 1/2 mi behind it. I didn't know that they put speed limiters on rental cars now. But I made it with about an hour and a half to spare. I was out of work for 2 mos. and I am still fighting them for any kind of payment, short term disability, workers comp, medical bills. Nothing has been paid by Crete. I have a lawyer working for me, he says he's in court with Crete 100 times a year, they try to stick it to a lot of people. If they can find a loophole or any excuse they can use, they take it instead of taking care of their drivers.

 

And I thought that there was some sort of law that they had to provide you safe transit to the house when you weren't at your home terminal, since they provided you transit to the location you picked up you're truck in the first place. If not, I guarantee that no one would be willing to drive that truck once I got thru 'cleaning it out' . Sure it would hurt my career, but no more than what they put on my DAC already.
Shaffer tried to screw a driver like that before, when he/she left, they had parked the truck in the hot sun, after spreading a pound or so of ground beef inside all the cracks and crevasses they could find. Needless to say, the truck was pawned off on several drivers, but no one would drive it. It smelled like someone had died in it. They replaced the entire interior in it, but it still smelled. They even tried ozoning the thing. To my knowledge, it was traded that way, and refused by the dealership. Knowing Crete/Shaffer probably ended up parting out everything they could use, and scrapping the rest.
The problem with getting a lawyer here, is that many of the Exec's at Crete are lawyers, or have high priced lawyers on retainer. And they will 'lawyer' you into the poorhouse. They are almost like trying to sue an insurance company.

Best of luck, I am actively seeking employment elsewhere myself. I have had enough of this useless excuse for a trucking company.

 

I ended up having to put all my stuff into a local storage facility and catching a ride to Philadelphia where I got a plane ticket to Orlando. My wife picked me up in Orlando and we have to make plans to get my stuff out of storage at a later date. I plan on seeking some legal advise but not sure where it will lead to. Meanwhile I am seeking other avenues.

 

Wow, just wow. I wish that I could even begin to understand what would give someone the idea they can treat people like that. Sure you're just a driver. And to them the driver is the lowest guy on the pole. Too bad that foundation makes it possible for all of them to survive. When any company realizes that, someone tell me, and Ill pull for them as long as I can.