I have been in the J9. B. Hunt lease purchase program since 4/10 until just recently. The only thing they care about is the pickup and delivery of freight. For both of the months I have been in their program I have not managed to make a pay check. I carefully spend on fuel but the surcharge they offer to pay for fuel does not keep up with the actual price at the pump. Once I add my truck payment to my fuel expenses very little if any monies remain.
In orientation as well when I spoke with the recruiter I was assured drivers average 2400- 2800 miles weekly. For 8 weeks I only reached that milestone once. I was also told by the recruiter try the program and if I was unhappy after 30 days I could switch to a company driver or leave and do as I please.
Well needless to say that was yet another lie. The truth is I am obligated by a contract for a period of 90 days to work for J.B. Hunt. After 60 days you must give the company 30 notice of your intent to leave. I recently did just that and this is when everything really started to deteriorate between myself and J.B. Hunt.
As soon as I advised my fleet manager that on July 7 I planned to leave J.B. Hunt it became nearly impossible to arrange to get home. I would have to say I wanted to be home two -three days ahead of when I really wanted to arrive. When I did arrive at my home I would get messages and phone calls trying to convince me to return to work well in advance of my scheduled return to work. The times I scheduled to be home held a significance since usually this was the beginning of the month and I was home to beg borrow and steal to get help from family and friends to pay my rent and other monthly bills.
On July 5 my fleet manager took the tradition of trying to get me back to work to another level. July 5 was a pay day and for a change I was actually entitled to $600.00 or so I thought. At 3 am that morning I checked my pay via the on board computer in my truck only to find I was only paid $240.00 so later that morning I received a phone call from my fleet manager who acknowledged that the company wrongfully omitted several items on my check. I then informed him that the reason I was home was to pay my rent and any other bill I could and the hardship this omission would cause me.
I was facing eviction the next afternoon. He advised me he would speak with his superior to see what he could do. He called me back and advised me he could get me the money I was entitled to but there was a catch I would have to instantly return to work or else I could not get the money. I declined and he stated to me that I should take the $240.00 I did receive and see if my landlord would accept that.
When I advised him they would not his response was oh well if you do not come back to work I cannot give the money to you. At the time of our conversation I had only been home for two days. He also aknowleged that as he stated to me "You have been home since Tuesday".
I told him that due to running non - stop Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning I was sleep all day Tuesday only leaving Wednesday. This conversation occurred Thursday morning and I was not scheduled to return to work until Sunday at 8 am. I spent the rest of that day borrowing monies to save my home and the next day borrowing to pay my other bills. All during this time I received repeated phone calls from various personnel at J.B. Hunt urging me to return to work but no one would give me the monies I was entitled to.
Despite my best efforts I could not and still have not been able to gather all the monies needed to pay all of my bills. Therefore I extended and received acknowledgement from J.B. Hunt of a new date to return to work of 6/15. The following week the calls kept coming from J.B. Hunt now threatening me with repossession of the truck I was leasing. I asked how they could do that when I was owed as much if not more than my upcoming truck payment and weekly expenses. I was told my only options were to immediately return to work, return the truck to Louisville, Kentucky by Tuesday 6/10, take it to Joppatown, Maryland and incur repossession charges or they would send someone to get the truck.
I told them I did not feel this was right given I was home on extended leave and as an independent contractor should not be told when to work. None the less after this conversation with the help of my family I removed all of my belongings from my assigned truck on Monday 6/09. Later on that day a message was sent to me on the trucks computer * (since I stopped answering their repeated and harassing calls to my cell phone) offering to pay me $400.00 to drive the truck to Louisville, Kentucky by 5 pm Tuesday and in his words we would shake hands and part ways.
But when I asked them would they fly me back home like they flew me there the best they would offer me was a bus ticket. On Tuesday afternoon J.B. Hunt sent a repo man to my neighborhood who took the truck and trailer. Now J.B. Hunt has kept the money I earned and is also charging me with abandoning a truck. Which they will probably reported to USIS and that will fulfill the threat that was made during one of the conversations with them that I would never be able to get another job in my profession as well that I would incur a substantial amount of fees and penalties for not returning to work when they wanted me to.
So far J.B. Hunt is delivering on all of their threats and none of their promises. And why has all this happened? Just because I have a family and my life does not revolve around trucking.
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