Ok. Now I’m mad! I’ve been “out of work” since the “Accident” which occurred on the 4th of July. I just found out that my claim was JUST approved today (July 17, 2009). Repairs on my truck won’t even BEGIN until later next week! Covenant Transportation is SELF INSURED! Judge, for yourself, the situation.
The email copied below should be self-explanatory to all but the most ignorant or least attentive! Neither of which I would expect a Vice President of a rather large Trucking Company to be!
From: Dennis Dearborne [mailto:dennisdear@aim.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 6:33 PM
To: coodou@covenanttransportation.com
Cc: dennisdear@ec.rr.com
Subject: Warning shot fired across your Bow!
Please send any email responses to dennisdear@ec.rr.com
To: Mr. Doug Cook, Vice President of Safety at Covenant Transportation Co.
Mr. Cook,
This email is intended, not as a threat, but as a “shot across your bow”. I want this to be your opportunity to “do the right thing”.
On the 4th of July, at 4pm, one of your company drivers (of only 1 month, according to him) backed a trailer into the front end of my truck (that I own). He contacted me at just above the headlight (on the passenger side) and continued tearing his way through my hood. Contact with his trailer didn’t end until my passenger side door mounted mirrors.
He had approximately 100 YARDS of clear maneuvering space in front, and the spaces are EXTRA wide (Pilot Truck Stop in Breezewood, PA – just at the exit of the fuel islands). Your driver (James E. Barker.. truck number 11503), in spite of having all that maneuvering space in front of us, performed a “blind side” approach. I DO have a witness to this “Accident”. Weather was DRY and CLEAR! Your equipment sustained NO DAMAGE WHATSOEVER! I, however, am an Owner Operator and no one is going to be “bailing me out”. Your driver was “released to leave the scene” by your Safety department. He was not detained, was not told to call the police, and was not drug tested! This, on top of being GROSSLY INCOMPITENT/NOT PROPERLY TRAINED to perform one of the least challenging backing scenarios I could possibly imagine!
These are just some facts of this occurrence. Now, the real reason that I have to write you this email!
The incident was reported to both your company and mine! Claim numbers were issued. Police report filed (by ME, since your safety department did NOT direct your driver to report the “accident”). I was given a name and number to call this past Monday (Jan Luttrel). I placed a call, as she directed me to (via verbal communication relayed from your driver) but was put into voice mail. I have called TWO additional times today. I STILL have received NO communications from ANYONE at your company.
My company, whom I lease back to, is a VERY LARGE competitor of yours, and will remain unnamed at this time. Being an Owner Operator, I’m on my own! Subject to having to wait for YOUR company to respond. However, I AM STILL under a Customer Watch load that MUST deliver (to be considered an ontime delivery) TOMORROW evening in Baltimore. Obviously I cannot deliver that load myself! But they are, nonetheless, putting me under some great pressure to give them status (which I DON’T HAVE) of what YOUR company is doing about this situation!
Now… back to the “shot across your bow”, and a fair warning for you to intercede in this mess!
I publish an Online webZine called the “HiTech Trucker”. AND I’m a contributing editor to someone who writes a daily column at the Lexington Examiner. These are NOT just some “casual editorials”, done “once in awhile”! They are done DAILY! I’m also HEAVILY involved in the Twitter, Facebook, Friend Feed, and YOUtube communities (only to mention just a FEW) and well respected there! I have some even greater ties than what I’ve mentioned. But, again, my intent is NOT to threaten, but more to forewarn!
I trust you have at least a small grasp, maybe even greater, of the power of the Internet Mediums. I’m prepared to do a piece that explicitly identifies your company, the apparent lack of proper training, and the way that (at least in MY case) things are handled by your company. This IS, after all, well within my First Amendment rights! I hope that I don’t need to tell you the speed of which these kinds of things are picked up on, and proliferated, by the Internet (Just Twitter alone, if NOTHING else!).
I’m hoping that you can get involved in, and intercede, before I have to resort to doing more than just a warning shot across your bow.
I plan on making only TWO more phone calls to Jan in the morning (7/8/09). I expect that I will only be able to leave yet TWO more voice mail messages. The first will be to inform her of my editorial avenues available. The second call will be to inform her that the articles are READY to be distributed (will only take me a couple of hours!). I’ll give her about 1 more hour…. and then I “push the button”.
Mr Cook, I assure you, from that point the stories will distribute in an unstoppable fashion. Please don’t make it come down to that!
I’m a reasonable sort of guy, and patience IS one of my virtues. But enough is enough! This is going to end up putting me OUT OF BUSINESS if I don’t do something that, normally, I’m not inclined to do.
This letter to you, would ALSO be published, in its entirety.
I thank you, in advance, for anything that you can do to end this travesty.
Sincerely,
Dennis Dearborne Editor, writer, originator of the Hitech Trucker webzine www.hitechtrucker.net
Mr. Cook,
After finally (this morning) getting in touch with your Claims, and Insurance departments, it was brought to my attention that I sent the correspondence (above) to @covenanttransportation.com address instead of @covenanttransport.com. This, of course, means that you did not receive this email last night as I intended. This was my error when filling in the address line, even though I had it written down correctly. Computers are, in actuality, just dumb machines following the orders of we humans.
The appeals I make to you, in the email above, are now rendered moot, for the most part, in that the process is now finally moving forward.
However, I do STILL beseech you to take to heart the portion of this email that DOES fall under your direct purview, those related to Safety AND training of your drivers. I don’t feel that my judgments of the lack of the “backing skills” of this particular driver are without merit. I, as well as others involved in activist areas of the Trucking Industry, ARE watching lawsuits pending (or settled) that your company has been, or is currently involved with. In particular, those that would seem to indicate improper or inferior training of your drivers. I am still going to reserve the right (again, via my 1st amendment rights, if nothing else) to post articles pertaining to our findings. The public, AND innocent truck drivers (like myself in this case!) need to be protected from incompetence on our highways! Incompetence from the operators of ALL forms of vehicles.
Thank you again, for any assistance you may provide,
Dennis Dearborne
The reply to my email, from Mr. Cook, cannot be copied here as there is a legal statement, at the bottom of his email, which forbids me to do so. However, even though I followed directions conveyed to me (as written in my first email to Mr. Cook), his response indicated that the “slowness of the claim process” was MY FAULT! Citing that I had contacted “incorrect people” in “incorrect departments”. And, also, that any further correspondence should NOT be sent to him! I wonder how he “processed” the parts of the email that WERE directed appropriately — to the VP of SAFETY! They were summarily ignored. And I was “dismissed” with a simple wave of his hand, as some ignorant trucker!
Pretend, for just a moment, that YOU are the VP of SAFETY of ANY corporation. Is this the way that YOU would have handled this issue?
I enclose a couple of pictures to illustrate the “Parking Challenge” their driver had to contend with!
Look at all that “maneuvering space” for a straight line back! Can you imagine how backing could be any simpler?
Parking stalls are EXTRA WIDE. My Grandmother could back a truck into a stall successfully under these circumstances. Imagine this driver, with his obviously lacking training, backing into a “normal” stall in a “normal” Truck Stop row spacing! YIKES!!
© 2009, Dennis Dearborne. All rights reserved.
Tags: Backing Accidents, breezewood pa, company, covenant transportation, dearborne, Dennis Dearborne, Don, doug cook, July, Lexington, Mr Cook, Mr. Doug Cook, MY, truck, Trucking Accidents, trucks
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Damit Boy! Looks like the Covenant driver had it in for ya Driver, nice wide open large backing space to have blind sided into, he must have been smothering and afraid someone would shuck him to the spot, Good luck, submitting this to Digg and my twitter to share the word
I suppose every driver was a rookie at one point in time, and I’d guess this driver had just recently been kicked loose from his trainer (probably a year too soon). That’s really beside the point in this case though.
The lack of action and responsibility on the part of a safety department / claims department of a major company is inexcusable. Just goes to prove my thoughts on safety departments in general; They’re only in place as a public façade. With safety departments and insurance; I wouldn’t be surprised to find them in cahoots with each other. It all boils down to the bottom line; the bucks. If they think they can save a dime, they could care less about the human element and the losses one might have as a result of their inaction.
No reply is necessary to son’s comments. His words speak for themselves!
Dennis
Sorry for all the crap they are putting you through, I sure hope you get compensated for loss of work, hotel, how you gettin’ by?
Being taken care of with a hotel (food, or any other incidental expense) was totally “out of the question” with the “insurance” branch of Covenant. I ended up having to drive back home for my repairs so that I had a place to stay for 3 weeks. Justifying any loss of work/income still remains to be “qualified” by them.
The body shop’s estimate for repairs was “beaten” down to less than 75%, to include all the parts to be listed as “economy this, and economy that”, even the replacement hood and the paint on it, including any labor! Excuse me Covenant, but my hood was the factory original part! And I originally paid for a first class effort on my truck’s paint. 7 years after wards, the paint was still excellent. Now, what will I end up with? How well will the “economy” paint job look in another 7 years? Remains to be seen.
I’ll make it through this Kathleen, I really appreciate your asking. I’m just really irked that a stance of irresponsibility, from just about any angle by Covenant, should have inconvenienced me in ANY way at all! And I don’t feel like I would be alone in that attitude.
The DANGERS, to anyone on the road (or OFF in this case), are extreme enough to the general public. I’m concerned for all of our SAFETY when I realize just how unprepared some of the drivers actually ARE that are “pushed” into profitability by even any of our more MAJOR trucking companies!
Dennis
Hey Dennis, this ain’t right! Covenant, SHOULD fix your truck back to the way it was, NOT to the way they seem fit! I really hate to see them get away with this, they should HAVE to pay you from day one for the ALL the headaches they have caused, and are still causing.
It still remains to be seen on the “compensation” side of things. I’ll keep ya posted on that issue, as well as, what the quality of work turns out to be like on the repair side. I can really sympathize with a shop that’s been beaten down so low that THEY can’t make an honest living for themselves either! INSURANCE… the filthiest word in the English language – from MY perspective anyway.
Oh man, I feel for you. I hope you get a lawyer and sue the shit outta of them. Covenent is NOT the company it used to be. Your truck should be fixed to original condition and NOT the way they want, you didn’t ask for this.
I was traveling on I40 east thru Albuquerque whilst in construction zone when a Covenent driver was trying to run me over by tailgating (both driving truck) I told him to back off as I don’t speed in const. zones. When we got out of zone he tried putting me in the center divider wall a few times and then when I was trying to get around him on the right side his co-driver threw a jug of piss on my truck. Luckily I have a fast truck and was able to get around the idiots. I called Covenent the next day and the gal said “oh my, I’ll have them call you” never heard from them.
I hope you sue the shit out of them and get a ‘new’ truck outta of this just for the headache. Good luck as it looks like this is just the beginning.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be posting “updates” on the status of this situation. Please stay tuned. Hope things get interesting on this front.
Dennis
I received a call from the Insurance adjuster this morning. He was on vacation this past week. Seems, that in his absence, they hadn’t mailed out the check to the body shop set to do the repairs. “The check was put in the mail” this morning.
My truck was tentatively slated to be finished this afternoon. Now it’s going to be Monday because of having to wait for the check. And, as any of you in the trucking industry know, that means Tuesday, at the earliest, before I will be “working” again. “Accident” was on the 4th, available for work again, the 28th. 25 days of “downtime”. YIKES!!
Dennis
I think you should have called Covenant and told them you needed to rent or lease a truck to keep working and get their ok then rent or lease a truck from the company you are leased to and charge Covenant
for the cost that way your big carrier is also involved and they can squeeze Covenant to settle the debt.
remember these big companies are ran by young kids who know zero about running a truck they just learn what their job discription is . If you want action you need to talk to the horses face not his ass. Talk to their CEO David R. Parker.
Thank you for your comments Mario.
In all fairness to Covenant, they DID offer to put me into a rental, to avoid the expense of putting me up in a Motel while awaiting substantiating my claim AND repair of my truck. However, I’m an Owner Operator, and for 6 months at a time my truck is my HOME! I also drive all 48 states for the company that I lease my truck back to. This would have made the “return process” of that rental cumbersome at best! Both of those things taken into consideration, I opted to not take the rental route!
Please take note also, that my main “beef” with Covenant was concerning their VP of SAFETY’s cavalier approach to my email to him expressing my concern with their training qualifications, as well as, their apparent lack of concern about releasing their driver from the scene of an “accident” with no investigation, drug testing, or even involving law enforcement for an accident report at the scene. Instead of, at the very least, a polite response I get treated like some “ignorant truck driver”! I find that, industry wide, Trucking companies value truck drivers as, at best, a disposable commodity! I, as most people would, find that very offensive!
How about it Mr. Cook! What is a VP of Safety actually concerned with at your company? Condescension of your, and other company’s, truck drivers? You do seem qualified in that role!
Dennis,
I think the saddest part of all this is realizing………no, confirming, the indifference and apathy that many fellow beings have for one another. The fact that this guy went on vacation and didn’t give it a thought that you were losing so many days wages, just makes me sick!!!
It reminds me of a story that happened quite a few years ago to Allen:
It was Christmas time and when Allen went to pick up his check at the office on Christmas Eve, the owner of the company had forgotten to sign it. The secretary in the office called the owner up to tell him, and his answer was, “he’ll have to wait until after Christmas, I’m not driving all the way back there ( he lived 2 hours away).
The same thing applies; selfish, self centered, all about me, I don’t care about you.!
I just wonder how these people sleep at night? Huh, probably just fine…BECAUSE THEY DON’T CARE.
Hi Donna, Thank you for your comments.
Their driver was not released for vacation, but WAS released, without investigation at the scene of his “accident”, to go immediately back out on the road and get on with the business of “making a living”. This immediate release was the focus of what prompted me to email Mr. Cook, VP of SAFETY, at Covenant Transportation. Please see the comment posted by Mario, immediately prior to yours, where I also wonder “how these people sleep at night”. I concur with your assessment “Because they don’t care”! It would only matter if their own vehicles were backed into by some unqualified driver at say, a Walmart, putting it out of commission for a month! This “accident” then leaving them unable to get to work for a month! Somebody’s head would roll, I would confidentially predict.
I’m happy to report though, that as of yesterday (8/06/09. Sorry, I reported a “bug” in my WordPress theme to the author. Because of the “bug”, comments only display the date of the original Post, and not the dates of the comments). I’m finally back out on the road making a living for myself again. However, I’m not going to let this concern with improperly trained drivers go! It’s of most concern to me that a VP of SAFETY seems lackadaisical about proper training AND how their safety department handles investigations of accidents!