What's your take?

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FR8CHICK

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Feb 18, 2010
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Havelock, ON
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I hired this carrier to take a half a load from IL to ON. The other half of the load got stuck at customs and could not go in bond. So now we sit and wait for this other freight to get cleared. (My half is good to go.) However, this happened Wed. so all day Wed the carrier knew of the issue and could not get it resolved. Thurs at 11am, I called them to see why they missed a 9am del appt and that is when I find all this out. I asked why no one called and they said they called me at 5 the night before and left me a msg, since she remembered as she was going out the door, that I had freight on the truck as well. I received no msg from this carrier advising the problem. This issue went on all day Thurs which included (me) finding out that the driver dropped the trailer on Wed. at "ABC" in MI and bobtailed home because he didn't want to wait for the load to clear. Pardon? Hello? You ditched the trailer because you didn't want to wait? And you feel this isn't something I should know about? Is there something your not telling me? We too are a carrier and I would never send a driver home unless I knew that this stuff wasn't clearing for days and I sure as hell wouldn't leave another customers freight on board! Obviously there is something else going on down there for you to allow your driver to abandon ship and come on home. The carrier to this point cannot give me an address or location of the trailer where my freight sits, won't give out the phone # for this yard is (said she had to look it up on the internet), was reluctant to tell me who the other broker was and was adamant that I not call anyone when I said I had someone on the inside at Livingston that may be able to help...things got worse and I was advised they will send a driver to Detroit to get the trailer whenever the broker says it is cleared.
I can't even go get my freight off this trailer because they won't tell me where the hell it is! So now I am at the mercy of a carrier that doesn't take the matter seriously and had the nerve to tell me that I should have sent my load FTL if I anticipated problems...Shut the front door! Are you kidding me? If I anticipated problems...? Problems (and customs) will happen every now and again with any shipment but ignoring the problem, throwing your hands in the air and abandoning ship doesn't solve them.
It isn't necessarily what the problem was, that people will remember...it is how you fixed it.

Sandy
 
Sandy,

Please PM me with the name of the carrier that is doing this, if you are unable to let everyone else know.

The service and communication (and stupidity) is not what I'm looking for to service our clients.

Thanks, oh, I hope it clears/delivers TODAY.

Happy Friday.

Keep well/dry,

Mike
 
I have tried to find anything here that would warrant giving the carrier "the benefit of the doubt". Could it be the 1st time something like this has happened to them and they have no idea how to resolve the problem? Could they be of such a small size that they needed that tractor and driver back home to perform other duties? Is the dispatching staff so inept that they can only handle one problem at a time? Regardless if any of the above are true or not, it does not relieve them of their obligation to contact you as a paying customer. Their lack of open, honest communication in dealing with this situation should earn them a place on everyone's DNU list.
 
We've all had problems with a shipment clearing at one time or another. We had one that turned into a mess and was going to take several days to resolve. We also had other freight on board. Rather than dumping the entire trailer somewhere we found a warehouse to unload and store the affected shipment so we could still make delivery on the other shipments. It's unfortunate for everyone that this carrier didn't do the same. It's going to be more costly for them to bobtail home and then bobtail back to get the trailer (unless they have really good paying 'bunk freight').
 
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Such an awful situation, what if you told them you were going to report the freight stolen if they don't tell you where it is? It's confrontational, but it sound like they got that ball rolling themselves.
 
Having been the victim in a freight hostage situation before, I find it best to be non-confrontational with the hostage takers, until the freight is delivered. Once delivery is complete, you have some options in how to conclude your transaction.
 
If they have told you that the trailer is at the ABC in Detroit, we have their address and phone numbers for this facility, if that would help

DWC
 
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As of now, the freight is not cleared (supposedly), they are screening calls (they didn't return my calls so I keep calling back) and are refusing to tell me where the freight is.

I told them that if I didn't have and address and phone # in a half hour I was reporting the freight missing. I don't think I am being unreasonable, just tell me where the freight is so I can try and get it. Note I said "try"...the carrier says it is at a secure facility and it will only be released back to the same driver that dropped the trailer...

I was born at night, but not last night. Also, we owe this carrier no $$ in any form and have used them once before, so there is no justification behind this.

DWC, call me at 888-350-9894 with that info please. .

Loaders, I am trying to remain non-confrontational but man - my patience is being tested!

Sandy
 
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If this is a load from IL to ON... Why would the freight be stuck in Detroit? Wouldn't it be held at Windsor?
 
Have you used this carrier before or at least heard of them to make sure they are legit? I have dealt with the same type of situation in the past and I never saw the freight again.
 
Fr8chick, I can certainly appreciate your frustration. My concern is, if these people are so unorganized and unprofessional, what in Heaven's name will they do next? Your primary duty, as you have displayed with your efforts so far, is to your customer and the safety of their shipment. The moment the freight is off the carriers truck, you can let fly with both barrels blazing!
 
If it's a US carrier that is doing the load for you, than it's probably still in Illinois on their dock and they are lying to you about the whole situation.
 
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Nawk

if the shipment is from Il to On the freight would still be sitting in Detroit as the Windsor Canadian Customs will send you back to Detroit if your shipment has not cleared, It is very rare that they send you to the off site warehouse in Windsor unless the shipment needs to be inspected
 
I'd say that this is probably being done by a US carrier that hands off to a Canadian one at the border. Or it's possible that the carrier isn't bonded. I think it's unbelievable for a cross-border carrier not to be customs bonded nowadays. Also a lot of the guys running LTL are post-audit, so they're able to deliver the cleared freight even if something is in bond, I believe.

I would think the best situation would be to go to Interport, offload the bonded freight there, and move on ...
 
So here's the latest...the carrier "Moonstone" (Kiki, Mandy, Judy) in Milton, Hillsburg, Hornby, or wherever the hell they are today, advised me that if the freight wasn't cleared by 11:30 that they would have it crossdocked so we could have our freight.

12:30 has come and gone and now they say it is not their problem and are refusing to deal with this situation. Then they said if I give them an address of a dock in MI, then they will drop it off, but they don't know when...

So I called their insurance company and then I get a call from Kiki telling me to file the claim and not to call him looking for the freight anymore and then he hung up on me. His insurance broker told me that she was surprised they acted this way "because he has been warned prior".
 
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Moonstone

I two am having issues with Moonstone. They were doing Round Trips for me from Ontario to GA and all of a sudden they started picking up whenever they felt like and delivering whenever they wanted and would lie about the trucks location.

They do not seem to care either. I have now put them on my DNU.
 
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Post Audit

One would be surprised to know how few ltl carriers are actually post audit. It is a very cumbersome animal to set up.

We have been doing LTL for the last 6 years and run about 20 shipments a week across the border. Thankfully we are in Quebec and run through Lacolle , where customs is quite helpful and most decent brokers have a presence. We avoid Landsdowne On., like the Plague.

WE are pretty thorough at screening customs documents and know which customs brokers to watch out for.

WE put about 4 trailers in bond a year and have them sent to Intermidiate whs. in Dorval. If the freight is near the back they will get customs permission to cut the seal and we can drop the OFFENSIVE freight.

You really need a high volume of freight and some incompetent staff to warrant the expense of going post audit.
 
wow moonstone;

our notes:

NOT TO BE USED - THEY LIE, ARE OFTEN LATE ON P/U & WILL CANCEL ON YOU AT THE LAST MINUTE
 
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