CH Robinson - Over 60 days... Make that 100 days actually

[Jim L]

A number of big brokerages in the US are going to the model where you have to upload your documents through their portal. While this may be perfect for the single owner operator that has time at the truck stop to upload their documents it doesn't bode well with our processes. It definitely helps the broker manage their processes. I don't want to remember which broker needs it done that way or each and every username and password plus needing to change it every other month. Then each portal has its own nuances just like its mentioned above - CHR needs their documents separated - others need it together.
It all boils down to weather you need them or not. For our CHR loads we are lucky to use only one rep and he is more than willing to upload our documents for each load as he is logged into their system anyway. We just add his name to the email of invoice.

 

[jonny-chicken]

Still no response... nothing...

We have an invoice that is near 120 days now, it is from May. and several more from June that are about to go over 90 days.

All of these invoices were emailed according to CHR's instructions, with paperwork, within a couple days of delivery.

We have attempted contact with A/P, carrier payables, carrier services, you name it... Nothing... I have also been regularly reminding the account rep at CH Robinson, who has been absolutely useless!

I am seriously starting to become concerned that there is a deeper issue with CHR. The last time I encountered a company who was as slippery as this and who let payables go this long, they went out of business a short time later.

I have notified CH Robinson today, that my next step is contacting their customers to let them know we still haven't been paid, and then it's on to Small Claims court.

 

[lowmiler88]

Time to upload the doc's individually like it was suggested earlier in this thread or stop complaining about it, no offense but anything we have is paid under 40 days and I don't think there is a big threat of CH going under since you seem to be the only one with the problem.

 

[jonny-chicken]

Time to upload the doc's individually like it was suggested earlier in this thread or stop complaining about it, no offense but anything we have is paid under 40 days and I don't think there is a big threat of CH going under since you seem to be the only one with the problem.

Thanks for your concern, but that is bad advice and I'm not going to follow it.

I have no interest in doing any more work for this money.

I send them my invoices by email, just as I do for every other broker or customer and that's going to have to be good enough.

Pretty sure I'm not the only one with a problem as I have heard from others by PM and by phone.

And good for you for getting your payments in under 40 days... It must be because you are such a nice guy!

 

[Fr8Guru]

Thanks for your concern, but that is bad advice and I'm not going to follow it.

I have no interest in doing any more work for this money.

I send them my invoices by email, just as I do for every other broker or customer and that's going to have to be good enough.

Pretty sure I'm not the only one with a problem as I have heard from others by PM and by phone.

And good for you for getting your payments in under 40 days... It must be because you are such a nice guy!

I personally don't have any issue with CHR at the moment but I completely support not doing any more work for money you are rightly owed... That is it's own slippery slope

 

[loaders]

Not receiving payment for your work is one of the most frustrating aspects of this business, something we have all experienced to some degree or another. What seems strange in this particular instance, is CRH is paying some of their suppliers on a regular basis and apparently, within terms and others not. Usually in the case of a business teetering on the brink of failure, their payables become slow and infrequent to all their suppliers (sometimes a few are paid to prevent the fear of collapse in the mind of their employees). I am sure we can all feel your pain and frustration JC, but there has to more than meets the eye here with this.

 

[jonny-chicken]

Thanks for the replies guys. I have some light at the end of this tunnel...

I have heard from someone at CHR named Jade. She was apologetic for the delays and non-response from her colleagues, seemed very professional, and said all of the right things...

I feel very encouraged after speaking with Jade. She is working diligently to resolve the issue asap and I hope to provide an update later today or tomorrow.

 

[loaders]

Good news.

 

[jonny-chicken]

An interesting piece of information came out of my conversations with Jade.

The Load Confirmations I get from CHR provide instructions for carriers to send their freight bills to: loaddocs@chrobinson.com

What the load confirmation doesn't tell you is:

There is a flaw in their software system that has resulted in many invoices being rejected even if the paperwork is attached... There doesn't seem to be anyone checking up on these rejections, so they are not resolved until someone gets LOUD about not getting paid.

The Automated CHR system that reads the emails sent to that address will Reject any email that doesn't contain the CHR Load number in the subject line.

I also heard from another member here who went through a similar problem of waiting months for payment with no response to inquiries. This member contacted me to tell me they found out the same thing. The CHR load number needs to be in the subject line of the email or it will be rejected and they won't pay you.

I really find it surprising that CHR would let this system continue to operate this way without having someone (an actual person) go into the inbox and check these emails to see if they contain paperwork for their loads.

I can only imagine this is also affecting CHR's cashflows, as they are not able to get the load invoiced because their system has rejected perfectly good paperwork and they have nobody checking up on it...

Anyway... That's the explanation I was given...

I hope to update this thread soon once I receive payment for these overdue invoices.

 

[loaders]

Ahhhhh......the joys of automation!

 

[AccountsReceivable@DRC]

Thanks AR@DRC, I will see if I can set that up... But I believe the issue may be deeper than that...

When I inquired about these most recent invoices, their response was to tell me that my invoices didn't include any paperwork... Personally, I know this to be absolute BS...

I then sent them copies of the original emails sent months ago to their "LoadDocs" email address, which of course included all of the required paperwork.

They have now gone silent...

Jonny,

We upload backup and the invoice (seperately) on their web portal (in the Navisphere Carrier section on CH's website). It is very easy to use and expedites payment. When we have the odd load number that the web portal does not recognize - we email it to loaddocs. And almost every time - we need to keep following up on payment and/or keep resending paperwork. The loaddocs email is a last resort only for paperwork submission. That might be your issue. Ask your rep to send you the details on the portal. You need a carrier profile first then you can use the carrier interface from there. Much easier and speeds up payment. Let me know how you make out and if any issues - shoot me a PM and I'll help you with that.

 

[jonny-chicken]

Jonny,

We upload backup and the invoice (seperately) on their web portal (in the Navisphere Carrier section on CH's website). It is very easy to use and expedites payment. When we have the odd load number that the web portal does not recognize - we email it to loaddocs. And almost every time - we need to keep following up on payment and/or keep resending paperwork. The loaddocs email is a last resort only for paperwork submission. That might be your issue. Ask your rep to send you the details on the portal. You need a carrier profile first then you can use the carrier interface from there. Much easier and speeds up payment. Let me know how you make out and if any issues - shoot me a PM and I'll help you with that.

Thanks AR@DRC,

I don't want to add another step or element to the billing process... For us, CHR is just another broker and it doesn't work for us to have a different set of invoicing steps for every broker we deal with... It gums up the gears... For all customers, we bill by Email.

I know others use the portal and that works for them. But that is just a broker's way of having the carrier do even more of their work. And, we've been dealing with CHR and invoicing them in this way for years... It has worked for us in the past and we've had few problems... Until their new system was installed, that is... The system that rejects invoices with the CHR load number in the subject line... That I have no problem doing, I just wish CHR would have mentioned this at some point in the past instead of waiting until I threatened collection action.

CHR has clearly identified the issue as a problem with their automated system rejecting perfectly good paperwork because the CHR load number was not in the subject line.

Thanks, but I don't want to go down that road.

 

[jonny-chicken]

This is quite a rollercoaster ride I must say... I had been feeling good after speaking with Jade, it seemed like I was getting somewhere...

It has now been two days since I've heard from her on this urgent matter.

I decided to escalate this to the next logical level... I sent an email to a Vice President at CHR...

You know what? I heard back within 3 minutes... He seems very interested in getting this resolved quickly and the two of us are working together to get it done.

 

[loaders]

Go big or go home! Hope this all ends well for you.

 

[jonny-chicken]

This is a quick update... It is my day off... haahahaa..

There was a concerted effort yesterday to get this dealt with and I heard from the VP at CHR that two cheques ( one USD one CDN ) were sent by Fedex. This should cover everything that is over 60 days.

I checked the tracking info and I will receive the envelope on Monday.