Our company provided transportation services for Qualified Transportation. The original rates were agreed upon in writing in November on a job to job basis. When it came time to provide the service in December, the job was completely different than described to us in the original agreement. Each load was extremely overweight, roughly 10,000 - 20,000 pounds over. Al Lewinsohn had asked us not to raise our rate because he would lose money on his end. We had rejected the job and told Qualified that we weren't capable of providing service at the original rate. Al had told us that no one else wanted to provide service and begged us to accept the loads as they were. Before performing the service, Al Lewinsohn was verbally informed that the service would cost $150 - $200 more than the original rate. Every job was unique requiring a different rate for each job. Each time we were asked to provide the service we received a verbal acceptance of the new rate, which is normal practice in our industry. When it was time for Qualified to pay our invoices each one was shortpaid by the extra amount we charged. When Al Lewinsohn was confronted as to why this was happening, he replied that he did not want to lose money on the shipment and the rates paid were the ones he had in writing and it was up to us to prove he agreed upon new rates. Since we don't usually tape our telephone conversations, this was impossible. We ceased doing business with him after four jobs and ended up losing money on the deal. I am not concerned about the money because we cut our losses at an early stage. I am, however, a believer in integrity and if you say you are going to do something you should follow through. I hope future companies do not fall into the same trap as we did.
Richie
Newark, New Jersey
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