Tri-State Miss Understood

wvcourier · Jul 3, 2015

I was recently leased to Tri-State Expedited, but decided to part ways because of thier massive deductions, administrative fees, non toll reimbursements etc.. i cancledy lease, went to Milbury had my qualcom and signs removed, i thought everything was fine. But my next settlement they charge me almost an adiition 120 dollars to remove qc(my qc removal escrow wasnt paid in full) wich is ridiculous considering i had 300 dollars in my unit Escrow (that they say wont be released until July wtf!!) And now my they are charging me for an accident that happened in 7 weeks ago, that resulted in zero citations,wasnt even really my fault, zero damage to either vehicle, zero damage to cargo, but now they are charging me for this (i thought this was what insurance was for) and took all my money from my last settlement, and probably not going to give me my escrow. They never said anything about this prior, and i followed all procedures correctly. Is this Legal?

Turtle · Jul 3, 2015

Without knowing more, I'd say probably yes. The details of what they did should be in the contract, though. The escrow, that's not just some money they throw in a drawer and can use it whenever they want, they are bound by law in what they can do with it, and when, and when it must be released. I'd want to know a lot more about the accident, though, and what they charged you for and why, since you say no damage was done, yet you say that's what insurance is for. If no damage was done, why is insurance even mentioned? Need to know more on that one. Need to know what the deduction said on the last settlement, as to why it was taken.

FlyingVan · Jul 3, 2015

About accidents, I don't know if this is the case with Tri-state, but it is a possibility.

When I was in the orientation before starting for one of my previous carriers, the nice instructor lady told us that it didn't really matter if you were at fault or not. The carrier was self insured, and in some cases it was cheaper for them to settle than to fight, even if it wasn't the driver's fault. And guess who had to pay the $2500 deductible.
Fair for us? No. But business is business and we could walk out if we didn't want that. But I bet 75% of my class were thinking about food, or break, or when they could get out of orientation and start making a killin'.

LDB · Jul 3, 2015

Did you take a ton of photos with a digital camera after the accident?

wvcourier · Jul 3, 2015

I received this today, and no one was in to answer my questions, and no one said anything prior . Cargo was not damaged made delivery on time? When i canceled lease they didnt say anything about this, When i talked to settlement last week about my zero commission, and complained about the 120 Qc removal fee and escrow questions, they didnt say anything about this,?? They told me i still owed $5.72, but that was it.This is someone trying to milk whatever they can, bad business at the least, and confirms i made a good business decisions by ending my lease with this "family owned, part of Family" expediting company. What a joke. Im sure my escrow will read 0 just like my last two settlements. If its legal , it still unethical. This was almost two months ago, and to put this on someone after they legally end lease, do everything correctly, but what to take my last two paychecks, wen i need it most...and now surprise me with this. Wen i have bills due, and was expecting this money.

wvcourier · Jul 3, 2015

Yeah i took photos with the camera they provided. I followed all Tri State accident reporting protocols. Called 911, Police report, etc. Made delivery, talked to Saftey, turned in paperwork.

xiggi · Jul 3, 2015

Those insurance deductions are now common with self insured carrie4s. It helps keep initial costs down compared to going out and getting your own insurance. Everything else QC etc is probably in your contract.

wvcourier · Jul 3, 2015

Should have notified me, should have called and said something. Should have atleast let me know when i canceled lease, or told me last week wen they said my last deduction would be only be $5.72, Nope, ,they dont care, just more deductions to them. Deduct, deduct, deduct, its what they do best.

Turtle · Jul 3, 2015

Many carriers charge a QC removal fee. Some call it a Reconditioning fee, as they have to go over the QC and clean it up, make sure it's in working order to hand out to someone else. That's usually stated in the contract somewhere. (Panther charges, or at least did when I was there, $250 for that, even though I removed the QC and handed it to them, even though the QC came from Con-Way NOW and it wasn't Panther's in the first place. It was in the contract, just the same.).

On the accident, the deduction shows cargo and/or accident damage. It's not necessarily cargo damage. That could also be the insurance category of the deduction if it's under the cargo insurance policy instead of unloaded bobtail insurance. If there was vehicle or other damage, it can take a few months for the claim to be settled. It appears to be that no cargo was damaged, but there was some other type of damage.

You say they should have notified you, but if all that is in your contract, then there's really no need for them to do so.

It happens a lot where people leave a carrier and get surprised by deductions or escrow, because they failed to read the contract, or more often, they simply forgot some of the details in the contract because those details weren't all that important at the time they were first read. Then the driver gets all mad and calls the carrier a bunch of crooks.

On another note, $6.32 Comdata Service Fee for an advance? Good riddance.

Mike99 · Jul 3, 2015

Im sure if you read the contract you will find the QC and sign removal fee....Long time ago I had some vans leased to TriState. When I terminated my contract , I removed the QC ,removed the signs and I sent it back. Was no charge...And after you read the contract and find the QC removal fee... say a sorry ...Like I said I did work with TriState 3-4 years and they were great people...

wvcourier · Jul 3, 2015

My gripe is the Newest surprise accident deduction., I dealt with the qc removal deductions last week. And still think its BS to take someones last penny, and send them a settlement that reads zero,(contract or not) when i have 300 in escrow. But if you complain, then the next week there will be a New "deduction", and how dare anyone question why they would take someones last penny on settlment, and not use the Escrow. Because if you do, they will make sure you leave with Nothing!! What makes it worse ,is they did this on purpose. They wanted to make sure it was a surprise. pure Evil.

xiggi · Jul 3, 2015

I am sure hundreds of drivers have left tri state and received their escrow, and final settlement.

I understand your frustration but if you owed the money you owed the money no matter how much it sucks.

OntarioVanMan · Jul 4, 2015

they didn't charge you decal removal fee?....Most carriers do especially you probably left before the required time...that should be in your contract....

bubblehead · Jul 4, 2015

[QUOTE="... I dealt with the qc removal deductions last week. And still think its BS to take someones last penny, and send them a settlement that reads zero,(contract or not) when i have 300 in escrow... pure Evil.[/QUOTE]

If those basic "deductions" took your "last penny" then Tristate (or this business) is not a good match for you. As other posters stated the deductions are not unusual.

If you think you have a legitimate claim then get a lawyer and pursue your claim. Venting here won't get your money back.

If you do recover your money, then a summary of your experience would be most helpful in this forum for the other expediters and would also give more credibility to your story. It could even cause these companies to pause and rethink their business practices. But the current venting or ranting has zero economic impact on their spreadsheet.

wvcourier · Jul 4, 2015

bubblehead said:
[QUOTE="... I dealt with the qc removal deductions last week. And still think its BS to take someones last penny, and send them a settlement that reads zero,(contract or not) when i have 300 in escrow... pure Evil.

If those basic "deductions" took your "last penny" then Tristate (or this business) is not a good match for you. As other posters stated the deductions are not unusual.

If you think you have a legitimate claim then get a lawyer and pursue your claim. Venting here won't get your money back.

If you do recover your money, then a summary of your experience would be most helpful in this forum for the other expediters and would also give more credibility to your story. It could even cause these companies to pause and rethink their business practices. But the current venting or ranting has zero economic impact on their spreadsheet.[/QUOTE] ..........................
....They took my last "penny" as in my actual last two Settlements wich Literally read Zero .because of these Surprise Deductions ,( not my actual Last Penny) but money i earned and was expecting. Just like the Escrow they have been deducting over past few months, thats money I earned. And how they keep that money in Limbo at same time Deducting my Last two settlements,with,QC removal fees, and now New accident deduction, Its BS.!!

wvcourier · Jul 4, 2015

OntarioVanMan said:
they didn't charge you decal removal fee?....Most carriers do especially you probably left before the required time...that should be in your contract....

Do you Think Tri-State is going to do anything for Free, of course there was a Fee...but that wasnt a surprise deduction, that was 30 cash from my wallet, that I was glad to pay, rather then me spending hours trying remove them.

bubblehead · Jul 4, 2015

wvcourier, Review your contract. If you still believe you were wrong per contract or a bogus charge then consult with an attorney. I have no problem with airing some issues on this forum but more times than not, after the airing is done (self included) no action is taken by the OP that may result in restitution. This only benefits the wrongdoer.

DollarSign · Jul 4, 2015

As long as they don't owe you money for a run, then I would find someone that I want to work for and move on!

beachbum · Jul 4, 2015

Sure glad I'm leased to Landstar we have fees but none that you guys have at these other carriers

mjmsprt40 · Jul 4, 2015

I'm leased to a small carrier. There was a time that I left them to do something else, but came back after that something else didn't work as well as one would hope. No surprise charges---- hmmmm.... maybe I picked a good one?

I have to say, I don't have a Qualcomm and the signs I have are magnetics I had made on my own dime, and since I started with this outfit way back 5 years ago I've been remarkably accident-free so that all might have something to do with it.

However-- listening to tales like this thread make me terribly resistant to moving to another company. Why ruin a good thing?