Just FKN DONE!

[Tow411]

Topic Originally Created by oldschoolpete in November of 2016:

 

Passed a milestone I suppose, I've been really pissed about it for a long time! The HORRIFIC dispatching, the inability to save our E-mail address FOR 3 YEARS NOW!  There inability/refusal (by design) to use mile markers, The slow pay, short pay "in audit" nonsense. I kept track & I get short paid average of 15-20%  ......well boys I'm done!  DONE DONE DONE! .......here are my rates, you pay by credit card before I leave & you pay the 3 points on the CC transaction added to the quote right in the begining! Had my rep call the other day "hey......so it looks like you have turned down 2 calls already this month".........me: uhhhhhhh I've turned down all of them actually!  PAY ME OR DONT CALL ME! ...... 

 

oldwinch  said:

best move you made old school, wish every one could see the light. at the top of the motor club forum the need to put DANGER,DANGER!

 

Mack6X6 said:

 What oldwinch said!  Congratulations, Steve.

 

Central Towing GA said:

Here Ye, Here Ye!

P.S. Only 15-20% were short paid?....what a lucky joker! 85% of ours are short paid. We still work for them occasionally but luckily we never relied heavily on them. We have a company from 20 miles away in another city running calls for them.....only a matter of time.

 

In Memory of NationalAutow who said:

I cannot envision this business model working successfully in any other industry.

I say WE are to blame for allowing this to go on so rampantly for so long.

I am not defending the big "A" however they only get away with what we let them get away with and they are theoretically no different than the majority of clubs.

Clearly this is a bad business practice and I think the industry is coming around albeit very slowly. The best thing we can do is to be vigilant and do NOT accept short pays. Do NOT accept runs that do not make good business sense (money) for you. Bill correctly and timely and follow up.

If they refuse to do right, call them out here on tow411. I can assure you that this board is a very major reason that the industry makes any changes that benefit us at all.

 

TowmanBlue  said:

Same here, I have only been excepting calls that are profitable and not for charity. Several dispatchers want to know why I didn't take their calls and when I explain they say they hear that all the time, out of area with no deadhead miles but most of all shortages on what we do take. Talked to the AFM and he said that calls that are submitted electronically don't have issues but from the posting on here, it doesn't matter they still come up short. What bugs the hell out of me is they can't tell you where the customer is but they can tell you what the mileage is. They try to sell the driver locate GPS system but it is no better than their billing system. That is the same with the BIG A and the others.

 

oldschoolpete said:

Central towing, what I was saying is they are All on average short paid 15-20% ........they just trim them because they can and it works. They do it because they can!

FYI. UPDATE: The last few months have been fantastic! No bullshit circle calling all night for nonsense calls!.....no trying to track invoices to see how Fkd I got on the call I did 45 days ago!.....no hour sitting on hold to try to update an existing call ......NONE OF IT! ....instead I have focused my time on networking and going out and getting accounts & building a larger customer base. .......I had to tell my area rep to take me off the list & notified him we are CC. UP FRONT ONLY & no one from Agero-hole is even to call us unless it's a supervisor with credit card authorization. It took 4 emails back & forth & me telling him that if I hey don't quit calling me I'd take the calls and just not run them. Guy then asked for my phone number! (Irony.....needing my number to quit calling me!) ........I actually enjoy watching the other guys in town run there trucks ragged for peanuts & there drivers calling wanting to come to work for us...........meanwhile I just ordered 2 new 2017 5500 84ca aluminum body 408T's with auto loader heads & stiff legs. .....................I really encourage everyone to not reward the bad behavior, horrific customer service and stealing from you ......because those 3 things is there business model!

Today I had The big A call me to "manage a claim"  told them I don't deal with them, it's not there car, they aren't the insured and they aren't the insurance company and I won't deal with them for any reason period & hung up. Then they called me back from a blocked number and I again told them the same thing!..........several hours later "ABC" insurance company called regarding the vehicle and was fine with paying my rate to have the vehicle towed to the body shop and wanted to know why we wouldn't deal with them and were dumbfounded when informed as to why!......Mission accomplished (on this one) and I will continue to do the same thing every time ........either something will change or it won't and I just don't care either way! 

 

Steve Catlett  said:

Good for you I also will no longer accept any motor club work, to put it plainly they suck!!!!

 

Towman2  said:

We quit them all 10 yrs ago, best business decision ever. Tired of the middle-man, the middle-middle-man and the middle-middle-middle-man taking their cut of our money! Now all the night, weekend and holiday calls that their vendors won't go do are very profitable. When then can sell us a truck for 1999 prices we will come back and work for 1999 rates.....

[thtdon]

Good posts.  But you have missed a lot.  Over a year ago, I discovered that they were cheating me out of my over-mileage.  They collect over-mileage directly from the customer, using their credit card over the phone.  They charge the $4.00/mile for over-mileage like I do.  But they try to get me to do the whole call at their much lower basic mileage rate.  Last summer, I had an Agero call at a local college.  The client was Progressive.  And the customer had a $50 limit.  I towed the car to a local repair shop one day.  And I towed the car back to the college the next day.  The motor was blown.  The girl had purchased the car a couple of weeks earlier.  So I got called to tow the car to New Jersey.  I asked how much coverage she had.  I was told that the call was covered in full at the basic rate.  I pointed out to the dispatcher that the customer had only $50 coverage for the previous 2 tows.  The dispatcher told me that the customer was charged for all of the over-mileage on her credit card by Agero.  And I would be expected to perform the whole call at the lower, basic rate.  I told her that I could not afford to perform the call so cheap, and that I needed the $4.00/mile over-mileage rate to make the call feasible.  She basically said "tough shit".  So I told her to take the call and shove it.  This has happened repeatedly.  I collected $112 of over-mileage for first time in 6 months yesterday.  Must be an oversight on their part. 

 

Now on to the automated dispatching system.  All things considered, it's not too bad.  But the customers on the road absolutely hate it.  Customers ask me what their alternatives are.  The only alternative is AAA. 

 

Another issue is their mapping software.  Apparently, it is fairly new.  And they are suffering glitches.  I am having a problem with it's accuracy.  Let's say that there is a disabled car on I-93 in Andover.  So the dispatcher asks the customer what his location is.  The customer says "I-93 north, @ exit 45, Andover".  That's a specific location. But Agero's software will seek the closest surface street, which in this case could be River Road, Old River Road,  Shattuck Road, or Federal Street.  All streets are within a tenth of an air mile of the actual location on I-93.  So I get the call emailed to me, stating that the call is at 300 Federal Street.  I go to Federal Street, and I can't find the car.  I call the customer.  And the customer says that he is on I-93 northbound.  And the customer also says that the dispatcher argued with him, stating that the customer was mistaken about his location.  Their software is incapable of listing a highway location. 

 

I'll add to this post later on.  Duty calls.