Covenant Transport So bad, I don't know where to begin... Chattanooga Tennessee
It was a miserable experience right from the start. I finished driving school and went to orientation in December of '04. Went through the process, physiical and all, then got a trainer. Problem is, no one told me this toothless idiot was nuts. I was driving in Pennsylvania, and it had just started to snow. Thisguy makes me pull over with less than half an innch of snow on the ground. Turned out that he was from Florida, and afraid to drive in the snow. We lost our UPS load as a result. The next morning we drove about five miles, and saw that it had not snowed at all a little further down the road. So I missed a paid load because my trainer was a coward.
This kind if tghing continued until I'd had enough. I told him one night that I no longer wanted him as a trainer, and to drop me off at a motel. I'd call Covenant and get a new trainer. Well, he proceeded to basically kidnap me. He wasn't going top let me off the truck, and was acting completely insane. He hit the brakes very hard and threw me into the windshield. At that point I went into the sleeper, where I called the police on my cellphone. When he heard me on the phone to the police, he took me to a motel. From there I filed a kidnapping report with the police, and waited three days for a new trainer.
My new trainer was okay, and we got along well. At least he wasn't afraid to drive in the snow. But he didn't teach me any backing skills, which will become important later. But we covered a lot of miles and made good money, and all in all I enjoyed having that trainer. He wasn't perfect.... Often I couldn't wake him, and I had to keep driving. But I laterlearned that truck driving is like that.
After training I was to go out with another student, who was black, for twenty-one days. We were under a high security load, on our way to pick up a load of Dell computers, when this guy starts threatening me. I told Covenant when I really wanted to educate hhim via my Marine Corps training. But Covenant had strict rules against fighting, and I wasn't going to throw my job away because thhis gguy was too stupid to know that he shouldn't be saying those things to me. I did most of the driving in self preservation. Thhis idiot nearly took out an awning at a convenience store when he whipped it in like he was driving his personal vehicle. It took forever to get out of that parking lot. I got that load delivered to New Jersey, then dumped him. Convenant sent us both back to Chattanooga on a bus. I got a new partner. I have no idea what happened to the other guy, but I was glad top be rid of him.
I went out with another driver, and that experience was pretty much uneventful. He did, however, have a nasty habit of getting lost when we went through a big city, so I had to do most of the driving there as well. But we got along okay, since he slept most of the time.
Soon I was out on my own, and it was a bit scary at first. But I adjusted. I delivered my sercond load to a JCPenneyu store under construction. There wasn't a bit of pavement anywhere, just packed dirt with ruts and stubs for water and gas turnoffs sticking up everywhere. I took the guys word that I could get into the loading dock, and proceeded around the building. There was construiction equipment in use everywhere, and I had to negotiate it all. Some genius had left his plumbing truck on the loading dock, and I bumped it asI backed in. He called the police, who proceeded to tell him thast he should not have been parked there. But Covenant still fined me five hundred dollars anyway.
I was on a dedicated deal, which meant that I couldn't refuse a load unless I was out of hours. My sneaky dispathcher would load me beforre I'd finished a load, then leave for the day. My attempts to inform him that I was out of hours were never heard, as he would always blame me and say that he'd been home at the time. To a road weary driver working on a sixteen hour day of griving, this bit about his being home was like salt in a wound. And he knew it. As a result I was often forced to work beyond the point of exhaustion. I had two other "accidents" as a result, one where I hit a steel pole leaving a Pilot Truck stop in OPhio. Another driver was coming in at the same time, so I moved over to avoid him, just a little too far. Covenant fined me five hundred dollars because I bent one trailer wheel and had to have it fixed. The other involved backing a trailer into a spot at the Chattanooga terminal to have the brakes fixed. In the dark. I hit an improperly park trailer with my tractor and cracked the fiberglass. I was fined five hundreed dollars for that as well.
Fast forward, I quit Covenant, and went to work for US Xpress. I know thye two companys are run by a sister, US Xpress and adopted brother, Covenant. But there was a world of difference in the manner in which they operaed. USX actually knew what they were doing. IO worked there, and never had any problems from them. No accidents, no grief, nothing. But I was driving dedicated for Nissan out of Decherd TN to Canton MS. After a sixteen hour driving day I had to take crap from a kid at the Decherd terminal. I was tired, and disgusted. So I quit.
Here some two and a half years later, I receive a nasty letter from a collection agency, which appears to be owned by Covenant Transport. They inform me that I have to pay the nine hundred dollar remainder of those fines. I sent them two certified letters, one informing them that they cannot "bill" me for a company-lecied fine, and if they'd wanted this money they shoul;d have worked to keep me a happy employee instead of abusing me at every turn. I also informed them never to contact me again on this or any other matter by written or spoken word, and that if they reported me to the credit bureau as they threatened to do that I would sue them for slander and defamation of character.
Joyride
Hixson, Tennessee
U.S.A.
7 Updates & Rebuttals
Joyride
Hixson,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
Clearing Up The Loose Ends...
#8UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, April 18, 2008
This is meant to clear up any loose ends. Drivers, pay attention. Multiply the caustic comments and rotten attitude by several hundred and you will get the Covenant Transport experience in a nutshell from coast to coast. If you choose to work for this company, you will not be treated with anything even approaching respect. Even if you are a veteran. In fact, as evidenced, it will be turned and twisted to get under your skin, as was done to me, only you'll be under load several thousand miles away and trapped in that truck and these comments will be on your Qualcomm. And you will be unable to do anything about it. You will not be able to stop when you want, or anything else for that matter. You'll be a prisoner on their truck and treated as such. Drivers, do not work for Covenant Transport. If you currently drive for them, finish your current load and turn in your truck at the nearest Covenant terminal. You've suffered enough. Covenant will tell you that no one will hire you, but it isn't true. I had no trouble finding another job. However, as was donne to me, Covenant will try every means legal or not to discredit you, and make it hard for you. But you MUST fight back, as I have done, through correct legal channels. Document everything, and don't let coercion force you to take matters into your own hands. That is not the way. As in my case, just because I have the ability to put someone in the hospital doesn't mean that I should. And choice should never be confused with ability. But I wont allow belittlement by individuals who think this is grade school make me break the law.
If you are a new driver just out of truck driving school, do not work for Covenant Transport. The promises made will never be delivered. It is true that you can make a lot of money driving a truck. In my best weeks at US Xpess, I was bringing home 1200 dollars a week. But here is the catch. The normal D.O.T. approved workweek for a truckdriver is 70 hours, but you will be working well beyond that in most cases. It often added up to around ten or twelve dollars per hour, with no overtime pay. That is the reality.
I would urge all drivers to join a union, such as the Teamsters. These trucking companies are big, and when it comes time to fight one of them legally you'll need someone eqally big on your side. And don't let the trucking companies treat you as Covenant has done me. If we all join together to fight them, we'll all be better off. What helps one will help us all.
Take care...
Joyride
Hixson,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
I can tell you've never been a driver...
#8Author of original report
Wed, April 02, 2008
I can tell you've never been a driver. You no doubt are what all us drivers despise, a Company Terminal employee who has no clue what it's really like out there. You go home every night at five to a nice warm bed, while us drivers are out there making your payday, and unappreciated and even abused by the lot of you. It's no wonder Covenant Transport is so despised in the trucking industry. You say that I should grow up... ? Well, I think you should. Bravery is easy on a keyboard, but I can bet you'd never say any of that to my face... Go get your CDL, if you can pass the requirements, then drive a truck for three years with all that goes with it. Only then will I give value to what you have to say. Otherwise it's just brown-nosing rhetoric, and I don't have time for it.
Joyride
Hixson,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
I can tell you've never been a driver...
#8Author of original report
Wed, April 02, 2008
I can tell you've never been a driver. You no doubt are what all us drivers despise, a Company Terminal employee who has no clue what it's really like out there. You go home every night at five to a nice warm bed, while us drivers are out there making your payday, and unappreciated and even abused by the lot of you. It's no wonder Covenant Transport is so despised in the trucking industry. You say that I should grow up... ? Well, I think you should. Bravery is easy on a keyboard, but I can bet you'd never say any of that to my face... Go get your CDL, if you can pass the requirements, then drive a truck for three years with all that goes with it. Only then will I give value to what you have to say. Otherwise it's just brown-nosing rhetoric, and I don't have time for it.
Joyride
Hixson,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
I can tell you've never been a driver...
#8Author of original report
Wed, April 02, 2008
I can tell you've never been a driver. You no doubt are what all us drivers despise, a Company Terminal employee who has no clue what it's really like out there. You go home every night at five to a nice warm bed, while us drivers are out there making your payday, and unappreciated and even abused by the lot of you. It's no wonder Covenant Transport is so despised in the trucking industry. You say that I should grow up... ? Well, I think you should. Bravery is easy on a keyboard, but I can bet you'd never say any of that to my face... Go get your CDL, if you can pass the requirements, then drive a truck for three years with all that goes with it. Only then will I give value to what you have to say. Otherwise it's just brown-nosing rhetoric, and I don't have time for it.
Joyride
Hixson,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
I can tell you've never been a driver...
#8Author of original report
Wed, April 02, 2008
I can tell you've never been a driver. You no doubt are what all us drivers despise, a Company Terminal employee who has no clue what it's really like out there. You go home every night at five to a nice warm bed, while us drivers are out there making your payday, and unappreciated and even abused by the lot of you. It's no wonder Covenant Transport is so despised in the trucking industry. You say that I should grow up... ? Well, I think you should. Bravery is easy on a keyboard, but I can bet you'd never say any of that to my face... Go get your CDL, if you can pass the requirements, then drive a truck for three years with all that goes with it. Only then will I give value to what you have to say. Otherwise it's just brown-nosing rhetoric, and I don't have time for it.
Momof_2
Small Town,Virginia,
U.S.A.
Grow Up!
#8Consumer Comment
Tue, March 25, 2008
I can't believe you would blame others for your actions. First you calm that the guy was trying to hold you hostage Why you didn't realize then that you had Marine training? News flash You are not cut out to be a driver. You stated yourself everything that YOU hit wasn't in action--- only you.
Southern Belle
Fairmont,West Virginia,
U.S.A.
rebuttal for covenant transport so bad.....
#8UPDATE Employee
Tue, March 25, 2008
YOU HAD 3 ACCIDENTS AND YOU ARE STILL WORKING AS A COMPANY DRIVER OR SHOULD I SAY WERE WORKING.
YOU GOT REAL LUCKY THERE ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY WERE BACKING ACCIDENTS AND TOTALLY UNCALLED FOR BECAUSE YOU WERE TOO LAZY TO GET OUT AND LOOK !! THE WAY YOU DESCRIBE THINGS ON HERE SOUNDS LIKE COVENANT DID WHAT YOU WANTED. YOU GOT A NEW TRAINER AND A NEW PARTNER THEN YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH EVERYDAY THINGS THAT MIGHT HAPPEN AT A CUSTOMER LIKE CONSTRUCTION AND YOU ARE BLAMING THEM FOR THIS?
THEY SHOULD PUT THOSE ACCIDENTS ON YOUR DAC REPORT MR MARINE MAN BECAUSE YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR BACKING. YOU CAN LOOK AND SEE THAT CONSTRUCTION IS GOING ON BUT YOU CANT NOTICE A TRUCK IN A DOCK?
ALSO WHY WOULD YOU AND A PARTNER WANT TO GET PHYSICAL AND FIGHT? AND MOST IMPORTANTLY IF YOU ARE TIRED, OR OUT OF HOURS OR FEEL UNSAFE THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD THEM ABOUT THE SITUATION ON THE QCOMM. IT WOULD BE IN WRITING AND YOU COULD ASK FOR A NITE SUPERVISOR AT DISPATCH. THE LOAD GETS THERE WHEN THE DRIVER DOES. YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE THE RIGHT THING AND SHUT DOWN AND NOT DRIVE THOSE HOURS LIKE THAT. THAT WAS ILLEGAL AND THEY CANT MAKE YOU DO IT. THAT TRUCK PROVES YOU DROVE IT AND NOT THEM BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE WHEEL. MAY I SUGGEST MORE MILITARY TRAINING FOR YOU TO DEAL WITH THAT ATTITUDE YOU HAVE BECAUSE YOU ARE IN CONTROL NOT COVENANT TRANSPORT WHEN THAT TRUCK ROLLS AND BACKS UP!!! QUIT BLAMING THEM FOR YOUR MISTAKES.