The Good, The Bad, The Honest Truth of a New Roehl Lease Operator

First let me say that we are talking about $1600.00 not $16,000.00. In short however I handle it I will be back in the black within a couple of weeks. The problem is that Roehl is going out of their way to convince me I shouldn't stay with them and encourage me to speed up the process. In a business relationship you want a certain level of loyalty and dependence and Roehl is doing their best to create independence and a lack of loyalty. I don't take it personally since there are plenty of other drivers they have done this to, but water seeks it's own level. How they treat drivers goes a long way to determining the type of drivers they will have.

Roehl is a starter company and a place for those who have priorities beyond driving. If you want a start in driving, Roehl is a good place to consider. If you need guaranteed time at home, Roehl has multiple options for you to consider. If you want a jumping off place to dive into becoming an owner/operator, their lease program is very fair. However, just like fast food, or retail, there comes a time to "grow up" and move on.

 

I'm on the road again, the truck still has issues, but nothing that can't wait a month until I build up some money. It turns out that the fuse cover I need is the Mega Fuse Block. It turns out that you have to buy the entire panel at $100. I'll let them put it on so that will be an hour of labor. It looks like I need air conditioner compressor number 4 for the truck and of course Roehl won't stand behind their work. So if I am going to pay for the repair again, I'll just go to Freightliner and get it done by someone who does stand behind their work. The final issue is that the APU is overdue for a p.m.

Roehl has managed to cheese off the one person you don't want to make mad. Believe me I have been married to her for 24 years and I can tell you she is passive-aggressive off the charts. I'm not kidding she talks about how in college she took a personality test and was off the chart in hostility. Any way she is figuring out how to cut costs at home so that we can put away as much money as possible and pay this truck off at least a month earlier than planned. My wife is great and has taught 2 year olds 10 hours a day, 4 days a week so that we can make this thing happen. When I have been ready to quit she has been the one to keep me going. I can't tell you all she has done at home so that I can concentrate on driving safely. After all of this for Roehl to suddenly decide they want to be butts doesn't sit well with me, or at home. If they want to be the McDonald's of trucking that's fine, but it is a whole lot harder to replace drivers than it is to replace a burger flipper.

You would think that management would get a clue when they politic as hard as they do and can't find enough Kool-Aid drinkers to vote them one of the best companies to drive for. Maybe you should actually become one of the best companies to drive for instead of throwing your drivers under the bus every chance you get. (Yes I am venting and yes I am angry, little old ladies get upset, I'm downright torqued off.)

 

What has ROEHL done to you that is wrong? How are they treating you badly? Your posts just sound like you are having a lot of maint issues with your truck and taking it out on ROEHL, without giving any examples of how they are treating you poorly.
Can you give an example of how ROEHL is not upholding their end of the contract?
I have had plenty of maint issues with my truck, and it definitely gets frustrating, but so far, ROEHL has done everything that Jeff said they would when I signed the leased 22 months ago.

 

Preach, I have to agree with Viking here. You've been a huge help to me with providing info on the program, but I don't understand either. In one post you said the lease program was fair, then you rip it to shreds in another. I remember a month or so ago they helped out eek111 by agreeing to finance his whole engine rebuild when they could have told him too bad so sad. I also give them credit for being willing to offer advances for repairs we don't have the money for. They could easily say "tough ####, not our problem" and let your truck sit. Do I agree with everything they do? Of course not, but I do think they want us to succeed, because if we do, then they do as well.

 

The lease on the truck is fair, however I have always had issues with dispatch and operations. It seems that as long as they own the truck they will do whatever to keep it on the road, but once the truck is yours you are on your own. Actually they did tell me on this latest repair, "Tough, but that's your problem." Keep in mind I am no longer leasing the truck and even though they haven't put the title in my name this is now legally my truck. I have also always had issues with the way they try to dispatch owner ops like company trucks. You are either my customer, or my business partner you can't have it both ways since the two relationships are in conflict with each other.

Make no mistake about my attitude, if you as a company want to behave this way, or change how you handle such things as repairs beyond what you have held in escrow that is fine, just don't wait until after the work is done to say so. My point remains, they want to tell me I'm on my own that isn't a problem, but with the low rates that Roehl pays it's one more reason that our relationship is coming to an end.

 

Did they use those exact words " Tough, but that's your problem" or was it more like,, "I'm sorry Preacher, but you are responsible for those repairs""?

Can you give an example of how they are mistreating you or misrepresenting themselves? I am not insinuating that you are making this up by no means. It is just that you have stated that they are doing you wrong, and that you have always had problems with dispatch and operations, but have not given an example of how they are doing so.
Reading your previous posts makes it seem that you are having a lot of mechanical issues with your truck, and in frustration you are taking it out on ROEHL.

 

I feel the same way. The situation with EEK111 was a very classy move on ROEHL, and does not sound like a company that will hang you out to dry on your own.

 

Read through this entire thread if you want to see the life and times of drivers who have entered and left Roehl's lease/purchase program. If you want to know how tough it is to make it just consider that Roehl929 and Lastrebel are both long gone and Etch left just before I started.

I have no problem with the fact that repairs and maintenance is on me, in fact it states that in the contract. It also states in the contract that payment for repairs start with your fleet manager. I had numerous discussions about these repairs with my fleet manager and never once did he even bother to mention that all issues are now handled by payroll and the operations manager or that they will no longer do advances. If he had bothered to be up front instead of waiting till the last minute when I was almost at the shop I could have been on the road 2 days earlier. In the long run I am better off not relying on Roehl since third party lenders want to make sure I have payments I can afford. In fact we had enough money in the bank to cover the repair when combined with my maintenance fund. There is an entirely different attitude on their part when you actually own the truck.

 

Curious as to who you work for now??

 

Just because it cost 60 to 65 com to pull a load down the highway. He still makes 25 com or so. Rig t up there with CRST first year money.