If leasing a truck was going to be this hard I would have never done it. The first thing you do is call them up, Jason will tell you that he has to fax you a thing about the company and if you like it to call them back.
So i got the fax, it said things like own a new model peterbilt with a 70-120" sleeper, run east coast to west cost, be a independent contractor, sign on bonus, 72% of line haul and 100% fuel surcharge, and the list goes on and on (it is to goo to pass up is what you will think to yourself).
So i called back and they said i need to send them a money order to them for $100.00 to cover background check and other things, but if you are 'hired' you get it back (ok still don't sound bad, right).
A week goes by and they call me back and said everything is ok when can I be there in Springdale, Ar., next week sound good, so off I went to what i will soon find to be Hell, Ar..
Well I showed up at the yard, and being I took a bus there they where real nice and picked me up from the hotel. 2 days went by signing papers that said i was 'leasing ' a truck from them, i was an 'independent contractor', and many other papers that will give them permission to screw you later. Now i am at the point where i get to go outside and pick the truck i wanted, cool. There she was a 2005 379 extended hood Pete red in color. That is the one I wanted, and got.
Ok everything was going good I am on the road with the truck I've been wanting and my girlfriend by my side. Everything was going good, Making $1600-$1800 a week after the truck payment ($685 a week), Fuel ($1500-$2100 depending on price and which way I was going), and all the other things they took out (tire fund, advance charges, lumper, tags, stuff like that). By the way I did not get my contract on the truck yet cause they said wait and see if this is the truck you really want.
As i said so far everything is going good, then it all hits I get the contract it says 'rental agreement' on it and some of the things in it did not make any sense. Two other drivers there and myself got together and things started clicking on lot of things that they where doing to us and here is the long list of it.
1. Truck payment - I payed them $2740 a month so he (Keadon Stienert the owner) could make the $1800 payment me has with the company he 'leases' the truck from
2. Cash advances - he uses tchecks and they charge him $1.00 and change for every tcheck he issues i averaged 6 checks a week for fuel and lumpers, he charged me to start $20 a week and at the end $80. Keadon will tell you that it is the brokers he get the money from and that is what they charge him.
3. Repairs - Forget it it aint happening unless he thinks that it need to be done, and it will when you get to the yard, you dont know what it will cost you until you get the settlement (which i will get on more later). You dont need to sign any work order forms or anything cause the mechanic they got working there is an idiot that while do stuff like put a oil drain plug in with the same impac gun he uses to change tires with. Let alone couldn't tell you the difference in tires.
4. Fuel surcharges - this is the one I thought was the winner for all excuses. If you dont et the surcharge and you ask Keadon or Sheldon (his brother) why dont i get it on this ld, the answer (are you sitting down), well i have to be able to afford to pay the people i the office some how.
5.independent contractor - can someone send me the definition of that word, cause to the people at Hurricane Express it means, You are mine to do with as they please. Forget about home you will soon learn it aint there, wife she left to, kids who are you they forgot, a life you aint got one so stop asking.
If i knew that being a independent contractor ment that i will be treated the way they treat people then i would have joined the circus. Also as a independent contractor with Hurricane Express you will do what ever lds they tell you. You have only one choice sit until they decide you have been there long enough (normally 4-7 days) and they will still charge you for the truck. Even though you have singed papers and making truck payment they treat you like a company driver.
6. Rate - on this i mean the rate the ld pays, you know where I get my % from. Well if you ask them they don't know. This is the only company i have ever found that will take a ld from the broker and not know what it is paying. Well at least that is what they say cause if you do call up the broker and ask them there answer is i can not tell you cause Hurricane Express asked us not tell the driver what the rate on the ld is. (more on this later)
7. Settlements - this is supposed to be payed to you weekly and they will be nice and fedex it anywhere you want it to go. Provided you even get one, Keadon thinks it is his right to not pay a driver if he does not want to or if he thinks that the driver just did not perform his/her best that week and make enough money. His theory is he will pay a driver when it is worth it.
8. $25 a day - this is all you can get from them for personal expenses
9. Fired - Yes it is the one word everyone does not like to hear. Now there is a problem with being fired from this company, if I was supposed to be a independent contractor then how could i be fired, he should have terminated the contract we had. Now someone correct me if i am wrong but if i was fired dont that mean i am a company driver?
10. Stolen truck - no you did not read this wrong nor am I just adding things in. I was fired on the 17th of April in on the 15th of April i found out the truck was reported stolen. On the 17th of April i got paper work from the Hampton Police Dept in Va that the truck was reported stolen on the the 5th of April (contract was still in effect with the company / still employed) also on the 17th of April i got a fax from the state of Arkansas that the truck was reported stolen by Sheldon Steinert.
All this started to happen to me when i got what was supposed to be the lease on the truck, as i said earlier 2 other drivers and myself got together and found flaws with things. Well, went to OOIDA and sat down and had a talk with someone there, showed them what these clowns were doing to us and that person showed us what a contract was supposed to look like. Along with many other things they were doing to us.
The next day we (the drivers) had a meeting with the owner of Hurricane Express, Keadon Steinert. Before we had a chance to talk with him he had his brother take a dump truck, a RV and another truck and block the exit to the road so we could not leave. Then he had John, saftey department, (i like to call this person monkey boy and others will agree) go out side and flatten one steer tire on all our trucks. That was it they stooped to an all new low right there.
Now the owner did not want to talk with us as a group it was individually, or not at all.in the mean time i decided this is B.S. And called the police. They showed and saw the trucks blocking the exit/entrance and after we explanded to them what happened well john and Keadon got a lecture from the law.
Now back to the meeting, Keadon said i was first so i went in there and shortly after him lawyer joins us (this was a realistate attorney). When i asked him why is it a rental agreement not a lease purchase he said that is the way it works. So i sowed him a copy of what dot calls a blanket lease purchase and he told me that only pertains to him and the company that he gets the trucks from. Everyone need to find one of these and read it before they sign one with any company. Anyways we all got back to work and then a couple of weeks later my mother went in for bypass surgery and Keadon asked what is more important my mother or making money. What the F*.
If anyone reading this decides that they want to go to Hurricane Express and lease a new truck, I have only 2 pieces of advice for you. 1. Dont Do It, and for those that dont understand this is not a one time f*, it did happen to many, many, any other drivers 2. Take a real big jar of vasoline with you cause you will need it.
Keadon if you are reading this stop playinng with you hair. You aint that good looking. And if you like you can call me i got proof on everythinng i said here and much more i never told the on how you steal money from them. But my number is still the same, so lets do lunch you make enough so your treat.
William Baileyknoxville, Tennessee
U.S.A.
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