Goodbye Link

[faey06]

Well.... I've done it.... I've severed the ties with Link. Got sick & tired of paying big bucks just so that I could have access to D & B. The info gleaned from there was not up to date and to consistently see poor carriers trying to double broker loads sucked. So no longer do I have to listen to the ding,ding,ding!!! I'm free!!!!!

 

[alx]

Competition

It is unfortunate that link does not seem to have any real competition in the canadian Market.
Hopefully some other load board will become competitive!!

The rate for link should be based on the amount of viable loads that are posted. If this were the case , the monthly rate should be half of what it was last year!!

 

[faey06]

I agree.. we hardly ever used it for loads.. just the credit info.... so I'm better off without it

 

[Nawk]

It is an awful lot of money and it's a shame that they have such a monopoly on this market. Good competition keeps a company sharp. No competition... well, you know

 

[honest]

I agree, in the last 10 months I have lost thousands on brokers and carriers whose credit looked good on D&B and Equifax, then went broke a month later. Things are moving so fast, and unfortunately most folks do not bother to report the delinquents to these institutions anyway. As for Link in my opinion, if it were half the price we pay now it would still be overpriced, Mostly trash (cheap freight) on the board these days.

 

[faey06]

Thank goodness other feel as I do.... thanks for the feedback

 

[whatiship]

We have been using Load Surfer for the past few months. At the beginning there were very few trucks posted but it has changed. Have found lots of carriers who we never dealt with before that have done the job.
Give them a try!
It is way less money and the people are a lot easier to deal with.

 

[cdaustransporter]

I was looking at Loadsurfer as well but there were too many questionable carriers that may have 1 or 2 trucks that have posted all over the place. Also carriers that many mention on this site of filing complaints to link about now show up on Loadsurfer. There just was not the quantity or quality of leads on Loadsurfer that there were found on link.

Loadsurfer was free for awhile but I believe they are starting to charge soon. I not sure if all will continue on there once there is a fee attached.

Anyone else notice good or bad on Loadsurfer????

 

[PackRat]

one thing to consider : where are all the carriers that DO get kicked off Link going to go? I'd bet alot go to Loadsurfer.....something to think about anyway....

(little cadveat.....I am not implying that there are not any GOOD carriers there as well)

 

[Manitoba Moose]

Load surfer

We had a long, long look at load surfer and will not be subscribing...
* Its like someone else said, the deadbeats from one board move to the next.
* They had a big spiel a while back that a couple of large brokerage house signed on so things were going to be soooo much better. They are the same cheap-*** brokers that post .50 a mile stuff on all the other boards. "But its in US dollars"
* Their site is so combersome and very inneficient. Gotta keep reposting and no way to "roll over" your postings to the next day. I don't want to spend 1/2 hour every morning re-keying in my postings. Yes you can save to templates and re-post from there but by the time you've done that, I don't know, just don't like their system.
* Value for the dollar is just not there

I agree with Faey on Link... They are indeed over-priced bastards but right now, unfortunately, they are indeed they best bastards out there.

ITS isn't much better with posting credit watch but I tend to rely on them more than I do Link.

We still do our due deligence and we still get F**ked. I guess if someone wants to screw you, he'll find a way.

What are your thoughts about going back to the way things were done a few years back. All loads C.O.D.?

 

[Frtbroker]

Link & Loadsurfer

I appreciate your comments on Loadsurfer. They have been calling me nonstop to give them a try. I have heard similar complaints from companies we deal with.

Link, certainly has lots of problems with it. We use it sparingly and by no means rely on their information to be accurate. We do our checking ourselves to confirm accuarate info.

I sympathize with everyone that has a truck stuck somewhere and the only load is someone with no credit or that you have never heard of. I say do your home work, your better off taken a cheaper load or running a truck some extra miles to get a load from a legitimate carrier or broker and getting paid rather than not getting any money.

Remember the good old days where you have your 20 maybe 30 or so core carriers/brokers you trust to either get paid or to trust to do the job? That's the way I do business, right or wrong. We don't take on new carriers unless 100% without a doubt all the t's are crossed. I would rather tell a customer can't pickup today then deal with a double broker or freight held hostage situation. When I was on the trucking side of things we use to have a list of approved brokers/carriers we would take a load from. If you called us and you were not on the list we would take a really hard look at whether we would haul for you.

The government and link have all taken the high road on managing the problems in transport. We have to do it ourselves. I say we very careful, don't take freight or give freight to companies that are not 100% legit or that you don't know. This site has some very useful in obtaining info or checking if someone is legit.

We all start doing that and these scumbags disappear.

Sorry for the rant!! Having one of those days!! Congrats Faey, we are close to doing the same.

 

[loaders]

Frtbroker, has it right on this. We follow the same system when deciding who we use as a carrier, everything has to check out! Why risk a customer giving freight to an unknown carrier? As far as Link goes, I liken it to a fishfinder. It only shows you what's out there with little or no description of what your seeing. That big mark on the screen could be a nice fish (good carrier/broker) or a floating piece of you know what (bad carrier/broker)! There is no substitute or magic wand that can replace due diligence! This site is another tool that can be used to help filter out the scumbags when dealing with a new carrier/broker. Just yesterday we checked out a carrier on Inside Transport who was calling on one of our loads and lo and behold - scumbag! I shudder to think what the outcome could have been if we had allowed this guy to haul our freight. It may take awhile, but eventually these creatures will not have enough to eat and hopefully they will shrivel-up and blow away.

 

[faey06]

I use Free Broker credit... you get a certain amount of free reports & then pay a nominal fee for the others. That's going to be an awful lot of reports I can generate for the same money I was paying Link