Quick rant...this was so ridiculous, I just couldnt get mad...I just had to shake my head. Dispatched 70 miles south to a state highway between two small towns. I was looking for a Kenworth box truck with a reefer unit, belongs to an ice company. It was supposed to be 5-6 miles on the other side of the first small town. I head out, get a couple of miles from the first town, and get a call from dispatch saying that I just passed the guy and needed to turn around. I’m thinking…..I know my dispatch was for 5-6 miles on the other side, how could I have passed him?” I called the number… and the guy said he got the truck started and decided to head towards me. Wouldn’t that have been nice to know? SUPER hard to hit a moving target. I met up with the guy in a Walmart parking lot. He explained that the truck’s computer had been acting up, but he got it going and his boss wanted him to head towards the shop. His boss wanted me to follow him in case the truck broke, and my company would get paid as if we towed it. Works for me. We pull out, and ½ block down the road, the truck starts slowing down, and he whipped into a little side road with a massive hill. I didn’t want to pull in behind him since my truck is 42 feet long. I pulled onto the shoulder and went to talk to him. He said “Yep, it’s done again, you’ll have to tow it”. I asked…could you have possibly found a worse road to pull onto…and stop on the upgrade of a big hill?”… I got all hooked up, but he wanted to help at every step…very much in the way to the point where I was tripping over him. I finally got everything done, and we headed slowly up the hill, looking for a place to turn around. The country road he selected went from normal size to really small, and then the 90 and 180 degree curves started….no side roads to turn onto, no way to do a T turn…nothing. We crept along for over 6 miles…the road getting more hilly, curvy, and dark…it was good and dark by then. I finally found a big space to do a three point backing turn around…with him out of the truck wanting spot me…no thanks, since I can’t SEE you…and we headed back to the main road. 45 minutes extra to go 13 miles out of the way… And they thought it was ok to leave the original location without telling anyone…but think we probably charged too much using our regular rates and no extra time billed.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 03:25:56 +0000
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