I worked for CR England from June - January. A friend and I were hired by CRE as a team, but later decided to lease our trucks. Big mistake!!!
Right from the start, we were told we would have much home-time. On the road 3 weeks and home for 3 days. It actually was on the road 5-6 weeks and home for 4 days. Any time I asked to be re-routed home after a long stretch out, 4 week minimum, my dispatcher, Cindy, would always either have an excuse as to why I could not go home, or would not answer my tel-com messages or return a phone call.
September I became a trainer for CRE. My first trainee and I were on the road for 2 weeks, when my home time was due. I was told that I had to either put him up in a hotel for the time I was home, or he could stay in the truck. He wound up staying in my home for 4/5 days. It was a great stress on my family and our bills. Between showers, food, etc. CRE just expected me to pay for all of this with out being reimbursed.
Later in the year, around November of I found out I would need to have some surgery (Biopsy). I was on the road, another long 6 weeks out, and I tried several times to get Cindy to route me home, so I could be home for Christmas with my family. But as usual, not response from her. I told her that you would need some time off (weeks) to get things in order and do follow up visits with my doctors. I left several voice mail messages, and when they could not get me on the phone or in the truck, they had the truck repoed. I finally get her on the phone and she denied ever getting a voicemail or my even telling her I needed the time off. She became very nasty and rude when I told her the messages were left, which to me means she got them and just did not want to admit it and that she erased them.
I asked to speak with her supervisor, and he backed her up. He didn't even really care what I had to say. I then receieved a letter in the mail stating I was terminated due to abandoning my truck and I owed CR England approximately $12,000.00 for the balance of my lease agreement. I called the head guy at England and told him I didn't quit, that I was out due to illness and surgery and all he had to say was that he had no idea that any of this was going on and that I should speak with my dispatcher. Yeah, the distpatcher who lies and erases messages. I knew I would get nowhere.
I registered a complaint with CRE and they sent me a letter stating that they did some research on my request and that I still owed them the balance of my lease.
Needless to say, they have ruined my credit, caused me and my family great emotional stress and money problems. Some times my paychecks were in a negative balance due to them charging me twice for repair items or tires for the truck. Whenever I called to get a credit, it was always a long time coming, if at all.
I hope this helps, because I am a good driver with a clean driving record and I would love to get back into O-T-R, but CRE is stopping that from happening.
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