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2.5 21 Complaints
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FreightCenter Complaints 21

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8:01 am EST
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FreightCenter Over charged when opx the freight company only charged the quoted price

I was quoted for freight then paid Freightcentes. 2 weeks after delivery Frieghtcenter recharged my card for more then the first time . I went on the site looked at the bill and it stated XPO the freight company charged a Residential delivery charge (it was a commercial building with a dock rural area) , a upcharge for weight a (65 pound diff) and a service fee for the new add on's I called Freightcenter and was told XPO sent a bill with the upcharges. then I called XPO and was informed that a up charged bill was never sent and Freightcenter was only charged for what was quoted and no other moneys were asked for . I ask them to check with there billing dept and was informed the quote amount and the bill to FC was the same amount. I then called FC back and was told XPO lied to me yes they said XPO lied (there words). I asked them If they had the total bill from XPO and to send it over to prove there statement. They sent the Freight center bill over and when I called back they said they could not give me a copy of a bill from XPO. I then called XPO and told told them FC said they lied and was told that is not true. and confirmed a 3rd time FC was charged no more then the quote. ALL call's were recorded by myself and FC Then called back FC and the supervisor would not forward me to someone above her. If you look at the BBB site you have pages of complaints of the same type of thing. I am now going to call my CC company for fraud and the police just to make a fraud report ( I just want it on file) I would think this could fall under interstate fraud and then it would be in the hands of the FBI. I do not think it would be pursued but you never know. .

Desired outcome: CC company refunds my last payment and Freightcenters deceptive ways are looked into for fraud

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11:24 am EDT

FreightCenter I was charged extra fees a month after shipment was agreed and delivered

I placed an order for shipment to a family member in Florida for $444. After a month since the delivery I was hit with extra charges. BA0-[protected] order #. I wasn't asked or provided with the fact that I'd be charged extra for a service I didn't request. The bill states for a lift gate, and inside delivery two items I specifically didn't need or request. Because of those added services I am charged a ridiculous amount of money. I would have never used their services had I know they would find some way to double charge me for something I did not need nor want. The box I shipped could have easily been moved without a lift gate (under 50lbs) and didn't request or require inside delivery. I personally moved the box myself multiple times and ways without the need for a liftgate.

Desired outcome: I would like full refund of the extra charges $276. The processing fee and delivery fees I never agreed or asked for. The fact that you didn't even give a chance to fight this charge blows my mind.

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9:30 am EST

FreightCenter Over- charging for Shipping After Product Was Delivered and Damaged

They criminals have to be stopped! After shipping 17 furniture orders from my Etsy Shop using FreightCenter.com, they are now sending me invoices for what they claim are charges for weight above the estimated weight of the quote and they automatic take the charges from my checking account via my debit card without my permission. This is flat out wire fraud and these criminals need to be prosecuted!

For example...I shipped a 2 ft x 4 ft coffee table, which I over-estimated to be 40 lbs, from Wisconsin to Indiana. They quoted me around $270 to deliver to my customer curbside. I agree on the quoted price and they delivered the coffee table. 2 months later they send me an invoice via email claiming the the coffee table was an extra 70 lbs over my estimated weight of 40 lbs. 70 lbs + 40 lbs = 110 lbs. I can guarantee without a bit of doubt that coffee table did not weight anything near 110 lbs. Their fraudulent invoice was for another $216! They withdrew this $216 from my checking account via my debit card without my permission. That is fraud and illegal and someone with more power than me, needs to stop these crooks!

After they have invoiced me several times for several of these FRAUDULENT charges and STOLEN money from me, I researched FreightCenter on the internet and there are 100's of complaints on this company for committing the same illegal activity. They were even sued by the Florida Attorney General.

How does a company commiting this obvious of criminal activity still exist?

Desired outcome: Somebody in a powerful position needs to go after this company for their crimes.

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Is FreightCenter Legit?

FreightCenter earns a trustworthiness rating of 96%

Highly recommended, but caution will not hurt.

Our conclusion: After a detailed review, ComplaintsBoard finds FreightCenter to be a trustworthy company. Although there's a 38% resolution rate for customer complaints, which deserves attention, FreightCenter is known for their high standards and safety. If you're thinking about dealing with FreightCenter, it's wise to check how they handle complaints.

We found clear and detailed contact information for FreightCenter. The company provides a physical address, 5 phone numbers, and 2 emails, as well as 4 social media accounts. This demonstrates a commitment to customer service and transparency, which is a positive sign for building trust with customers.

Freightcenter.com has a valid SSL certificate, which indicates that the website is secure and trustworthy. Look for the padlock icon in the browser and the "https" prefix in the URL to confirm that the website is using SSL.

Freightcenter.com has been deemed safe to visit, as it is protected by a cloud-based cybersecurity solution that uses the Domain Name System (DNS) to help protect networks from online threats.

Freightcenter.com you are considering visiting, which is associated with FreightCenter, is very old. Longevity often suggests that a website has consistently provided valuable content, products, or services over the years and has maintained a stable user base and a sustained online presence. This could be an indication of a very positive reputation.

Several mixed reviews for FreightCenter have been found on various review sites. While some customers have had positive experiences with the company, others have reported issues with their products or customer service. It's important to read and consider a variety of reviews before making a decision to purchase from this website.

FreightCenter website is deemed to be popular and indicating that it receives a high volume of traffic. It is important to be cautious when using a highly trafficked website, as it may be a target for cybercriminals looking to exploit vulnerabilities or steal personal information.

Freightcenter.com appears to have online shopping features, it's important to know that the platform supports an extensive range of payment methods, making it convenient and easy to complete your transaction. The payment procedure on the website is also relatively simple and straightforward, ensuring a smooth and hassle-free experience for buyers.

However ComplaintsBoard has detected that:

  • Despite a high level of trust, our investigation found issues with FreightCenter's service, including poor customer service, lack of accountability, and responsibility to resolve complaints. Customers may face long wait times for responses, receive generic or unhelpful answers or no response at all. Only 38% of 0 complaints were resolved.
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3:19 pm EDT
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FreightCenter fraudulent charge for shipping

We are wholesalers of jewelry. Everything we ship fits in very small boxes so we usually use only UPS and USPS.

The ONLY item we ship using a freight company is one large display that UPS always break into pieces so we decided to pay more and ship it freight.
We always ship just this specific display with the same exact measurements and shipped it many time times before using Freight Center so looking at all our past shipment with them, the same exact shipment, in the same class and the same measurements as in this time we shipped with them.

We received a quote for $250 and shipped the item. After a month we received an extra charge of approximately $250 saying that the item was more than double the weight we gave.
Obviously there was a mistake done and we tried to contact our Rep that was unprofessional. He said he submitted a claim in our name but we didn't hear back from him and he didn't answer our calls.

Only when we received a reminder about our "open balance" from Kim and I called her, she was the first professional and knowledgeable person in the company to actually be nice enough to try to help us solve this issue.
She said that no claim was submitted (like our rep claimed) and she helped us submit a claim.
Unfortunately, even after talking to her, we still didn't get an update or even a response and found out they charged our card without our permission.

Today, 5 month later, we still didn't hear anything back about our claim.
They fraudulently charged us $250 and we have no way to talk to anyone the dispute this charge.
We have been trying to solve this issue from November 2018, as we believed it was a human mistake that could be easily resolved and corrected and we have all the document supporting our claim along with all our past shipment, showing we only use them to ship one kind of shipment.
We also suggested to go back to where they shipped the item to and weigh the display if they don't believe us or our documentation.
We are not asking to get anything but resolving this injustice situation that is so easy to prove wrong.

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11:56 am EST

FreightCenter ltl freight

A horrible company to do business with! Their website gives you a price then once you've agreed to it and create the shipment the price goes up considerably. I was quoted around $235 with insurance then the price went up to $365 without insurance. Agent ended up talking me into $325 with insurance. After delivery I was surprised with an invoice for $265 for a liftgate delivery even though no lift gate was needed. I complained about it and they billed my credit card for it without my permission. I disputed the charge capital one and freightquote resubmitted it. What a shady bunch of crooks.

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8:42 am EDT
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FreightCenter doug walls

This is a complaint against the executives of the FreightCenter minus Stacey Boswell because she is irrelevant and definitely not an executive. I would like to know how one can excel from working in IT to being the COO of the company with no leadership or interpersonal skills. Yes Doug, I am referring to you. I have taken the liberty of attaching a synopsis of who Doug walls claims to be:

DOUG WALLS
Chief Operating Officer
With talent and expertise in both the technical and strategic side of the business world, Doug is known as the go-to guy for the people and departments at FreightCenter. He has more than eight years of IT and networking experience and is an integral part of the successes that the company continues to achieve, especially its web applications development.
A rare breed in Florida, Doug is an actual Tampa Bay native, hailing from the Bradenton area. He earned a BFA from the University of South Florida and holds a detailed resume of various graphic design, web applications, IT, and overall business experience. This versatile level of experience makes it easier to translate the company's business and positioning goals to the staff. Most importantly, Doug possesses an excitement when relating to business and industry.
“We take pride in the easy solutions and processes that we have developed for customers throughout the years. We wanted to make sure the site is user-friendly for all customers, from novices and individuals to large commercial accounts.”

Now, with having read what you just did I would like to advise anyone that is interested in this company that the level of professionalism that is displayed in the attached is not what you get when working at Freightcenter. This company is completely demoralizing and unprofessional. They say whatever they need to in order to get your buy in and then completely drop the ball and look you in your face and lie.

I was brought in as the Customer Service Manager, promised a raise after four months, a bonus and Directorship of Operations. After four months I asked about the raise and the bonuses that were suppose to come in quarterly increments and was told by Doug Walls that the only reason he told me that I would get those things is because he didn’t know what else to tell me. Who does that? What professional man blatantly lies in order to have someone to work for the company? Are you that pathetic that this is what is has to?

Please help me understand how the so called COO Doug Walls has no idea what a Customer Service Manager does because he is so hands off. Does hands off mean clueless? In his case it does because I am still trying to understand figure out how he managed to slither into that position. Outside of the fact that he kisses up to the CEO (obviously in more ways than one). That would explain why you’re getting a divorce because you have your hands full and no time for the things that truly matter.

FreightCenter is a company that I would advise everyone to steer clear of. Some of the employees at this company are so beaten down that they are afraid to speak out in fear of being fired. Doug Walls has something negative to say about everyone but looks down on this whom have a voice and refuses to deal with his juvenile and incredibly unprofessional behavior. The last conversation I had with him I let him know how unprofessional his behavior was with the he said, she said comments. Which by the way, it was always about what someone said and never about my job performance or my team’s performance just about what he heard. What manager brings things to their employees without investigating to see if there is anything factual about what people are saying so I asked: Should I do my job based on the perception of others or should I do my job based on what I know and why you hired me. Unfortunately for me Doug could not answer the question so he needed to get is boyfriend Stacey Boswell involved to help him to complete a thought. Together the two of these highly unintelligent individuals came to the conclusion to terminate me and offer my position to a subordinate that worked for me with no leadership skills. Not to mention this is the same employee that they pulled and questioned prior to the termination. This all started from the fact that I wanted to involve my employees in the interview process which is a great idea because they are the ones working closest with the individuals hired so this method only help to promote a cohesive team. This is just another point that demonstrates that Doug Walls has not leadership or developmental ability. He is completely incapable of walking in the shoes of a true COO or in anyone’s shoes because he walks around the office often with no shoes one. So there you have it nasty and unprofessionally and the employees of the company simply have to deal with it.

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homeintampa
Tampa, US
Jun 09, 2016 10:19 am EDT
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HAHA! This is awesome and entirely correct. Perhaps the reason why he is also now unemployed.

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6:56 am EDT

FreightCenter manipulative, lying pos

I worked for this company. This company will manipulate, lie and steal from employees and customers. I was harassed, bullied, intimidated, talked about and then had my commission, back pay, vacation time and sick time stolen from me. They steal and lie from customers whenever they can get away with it.
Hey Stacey Boswell did you have the big O when you terminated my health insurance, you uneducated, uninteresting, propped up kunt? Do not get a suntan while working for this company or you will be accused by management of being with Stacey Boswell's boyfriend. FreightCenter can only hire ugly women because Stacey Boswell will have you fired for looking at her boyfriend. If you work at FreightCenter do not try to help your customers, they will fire you for that also. Hey Stacey Boswell, there are millions of other women out there so you better get busy. Men do not care what a women does for a living as long as they have a life and are nice people. You are not nice, you are not interesting, you have no education or background in much of anything. You would not make it anywhere else. I met you in your uninteresting office where the phones do not ring. Is that your brainchild stupid? Get a business education. Everyone in a business needs to interact with their coworkers and clients. How could it be possible to sit in an office and not hear one phone ring or see no interaction with customers coworkers on the phone? That is because FreightCenter is in the business to screw people over, and they GET OFF on it. Management will talk about you behind their back, turn on your phones, and generally lie about anything they can get away with. Go F yourselves FrightCenter

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4:31 pm EDT

FreightCenter abusive employer

I went to work for this company only to be abused and treated like a dog. These people will make up rumors about you and talk about you behind your back as if what they are saying is true. Hey Stacey Boswell, I never had anything to do with your boyfriend. But I do know this - you spread rumors about me. I am 51 years old fool. I do not appreciated managers asking me about my business and whose boat was I on over the weekend. I can see why he wants nothing to do with you. You are not an executive, rather a manipulative, childish, conniving piece of crap. Given all of your tactics, you should resign.

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11:20 am EDT

FreightCenter billing adjustments

Do not use freight center for shipping! Every time we use them they try to charge extra for something. We always get a quote (Which they try to say is just an estimate) a month after they delivered our product they charged our card an extra fee for making a phone call to our customer, which we did not request. On the bol it is noted that delivery is between the hours they could deliver. They were told not to keep our card on file and they did anyway, then they charged the extra fee without calling us, so we didn't even know until we received the credit card statement. We disputed the charge and they told the credit card (Discover) that we agreed to their terms and therefore we have to pay it. Call discover again today and disputed again as we did not request they make any phone calls. They are always trying to charge extra no matter what the quote is. Beware of this company! We will never use them again.

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3:41 pm EST

FreightCenter shipping

"This company is a complete sham!... They will quote you a nice price to get your business. When they pickup next thing you know they are calling you with Up-charges. first one being that a new or rookie misquoted the whole transaction and we would be charged the correct amount had it been done right. Once they have your items you are strong-armed into up-charges. What started out as a $195 delivery quote ended being $445. What was also stated was that it would be a 2 business day delivery. it has been 10 days and we still have not received it. Turns out they want another set amount to deliver it on its last journey to our destination. We decided that we had had enough and let us know where it was and we would go and get it ourselves. Turns out the person on the phone did not know where it was at? after an hour she called and informed us that it was in Atlanta, but we could not pick it up because we were not the authorized shipper. The location from which it was picked up at was now all the sudden were in charge of its release to us. They know who to call for the extra money and were happy to receive this from us, but it was not ours to pick up. After several hours and had contacted the location and shipping manager we were finally released to pick up. I am not sure if this was the company I used to send a large order to QVC several years ago but they also strong-armed me midway for more money. This seems to be a running scam as a friend of mine has suffered the same grievances. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY unless you are tolerant of dealing with scammers. Use a well established freight company direct. You may get a higher price but you they will not have a drawer full of excuses blaming other companies for your troubles, as they only took your order and after that it is the shipping companies screwing you! These 5 star people on here have made it obvious that they work for Freightcenter as they or nobody are perfect. Bring it down to a 4 then this should throw the dogs off their tracks. "

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10:35 am EST
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FreightCenter lost destroyed shipment

I Never Received My Shipment (destroyed and refuse to deliver it)
I wanted my late fathers desk shipped to me from nj to fl so we hired freightcenter.com for pickup and shipping. The desk was picked up for packing and shipping and after 1 month of trying to find my desk (calling and calling) I was told that it had been destroyed during the process. I went back and forth to try and get a refund since it never shipped or ever arrived at the destination. After saying I could get a refund they changed there mind and recharged my card $682.59 saying that it was an act of god. I told these scammers that I want my shipment delivered broken or not and they refused. After 6 months I have no desk and no refund and no call back. The internet is full of complaints about this company. Do not use these people. It may be a scam company

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12:13 pm EDT
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FreightCenter double billing

It would appear that I am getting double billed by this company. I arraigned for a shipment from LA to Virginia for a 60 inch TV. They quoted $227 so I paid and they delivered. Two months later they say, I entered the wrong box size and that price has doubled and they want more money. I did not enter wrong numbers other than overestimate the weight by twenty pounds. However, they had entered in the description the wrong height on the box, (like a 60 inch TV would fit in a 18 inch box). Now, two months later they want me to pay double. In doing some research on the net, this appears to be their game, they do it a lot. I would say avoid this bunch (Freightcneter.com) like the plague. I' ll see them in court but this is hassle you don''t need. I saved most of my records and I even sent their rep. a picture of the box ready to be picked up, with a tape measure stretched across it. Strange bunch indeed. Harold in Virginia

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FreightCenter Cares
Trinity, US
Jul 18, 2012 1:45 pm EDT
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We appreciate your feedback and apologize for not exceeding your expectations. We are serious about our promise of quality customer service. Please contact wecare@freightcenter.com or call [protected] and ask for our Solutions department.

Your feedback is being escalated to a supervisor.

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11:43 am EDT
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Featured review
This review was chosen algorithmically as the most valued customer feedback.

LETTER TO FREIGHTCENTER: I am writing about my recent experience with your company. I called to place an order to ship a dining table and 6 chairs from Decatur, GA to Fremont, CA and spoke with an agent, Alex Zizo on June 25, 2012. - His first quote to me was $767.79 (please see attached page no. 1). I accepted reluctantly as the price was so high. - He...

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12:59 am EDT
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FreightCenter shipping service

FreightCenter.com is fantastic upfront while they explain to you what services they provide and how things will progress from pick up until delivery. When they have lulled you into a sense of comfort and compatibility with the job AND have quickly and conveniently taken your funds UPFRONT for services yet to be rendered... things go horribly wrong and the story quickly changes.

They were late picking up my item- it took 4 days from the initiation of the contract until pick-up. They then picked the item up - did NOT package it "on-site" as they said they would. Removed the item NAKED to a "Packaging Facility" which, two weeks later no-one at the company seems to no WHERE this packaging center is, Where my item is or even when or IF it will ever be shipped!

Presently, I am out my item (a very expensive piece of medical equipment) + the $754.00 in shipping fees. BUYER BEWARE! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! 13ef7ae

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8:15 pm EDT
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FreightCenter misrepresentation of quote (freight class options)

What freightcenter has done is almost borderline fraud.

The online quoting system provided us with a quote of approx $200, we tried our best to select the correct freight class. But apparently its incorrect. and they want to charge us about $500

While it is bad that they did not have the correct description to provide the correct freight class, the worst thing is that they DID NOT call me prior to pickup to notify me about the issue. They called me quite a few days after the shipment has been picked up and told me I had no choice but to pay up on it.

The quote system is flawed and cannot be trusted. The people at Freight center cannot be trusted either. As it seems like they deliberately waited till the shipment has been picked up before calling me up. If only they had the decency to call me up prior to pickup, I would not have to write this.

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1:58 pm EDT
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FreightCenter they did okay by me!

After reading the comments here I became quite scared that Freightcenter was going to damage my Honda Goldwing that I had just purchased and shipped from Ohio to Georgia. My bike did not have a scratch on it when I last saw it and I wanted it to arrive the same way. I tracked it using there tracking system and it arrived on a Friday. I thought they would deliver on Saturday only to find out they don't make Saturday deliveries.

I took off from work on Monday in anticipation of delivery only to find out I was scheduled for Tuesday delivery. I went and got it myself instead of having them deliver. I was pleased to see my bike sitting in there warehouse w/ several other bikes. It was on a palate they created that was quite ingenious. Not a scratch was on it. They removed the palate and I rode it home. I give the company a B for delaying delivery, but an A for taking such good care of it.

With all the negative publicity, I thought it was only fair to say some positive. Overall good job!

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11:33 pm EDT
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Featured review
This review was chosen algorithmically as the most valued customer feedback.

June 17th booked a shipment to be picked up in Wilmont, SD on Wednesday 6/22, Trucking company showed up on 6/24 thursday. Freightcenter, then tells me (when I call them on thursday because my customer is pissed) that the carrier only pickes up in that area on Tues and Thursday. Would have been nice if they had tolded me that on 6/17 when I booked the...

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2:23 pm EDT

FreightCenter dishonesty scam

I lost $900 for the shipping, and about $3000 worth of product. I cuation everyone, this company is dishonest, and you may very well get your shipment destroyed.

Review posted by Ken Sullivan on 9/1/2010 2:50:00 PM Rating: 0 stars out of 5

Subject: Destroyed 95% of shipment

Review: I tried to get insurance and was jerked around with a website procedure they demanded I use as it gets them completely off the hook. The game is scandalous; they tell you to ensure the paperwork FROM THEM is used when the items are picked up. The truck driver works for a different company and says “I’ve got all the paperwork filled out just sign here” which costs you approximately 30% more. The person loading my cages has no idea of this and signs the paperwork the truck driver has. When they delivered my cages it was obvious they hot them HARD with a fork lift. They were so badly screwed up I salvaged 2 of 15. I consider it a total loss. And of course the paperwork was not filled out on the website for insurance so I was screwed. I really recommend you NOT use Frieghtcenter.com I wasted $900. TOTAL RIP OFF!

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Happy 420
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Dec 02, 2015 12:51 pm EST

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2015_12_04_Cover_1800 × 2400
U.S. WORLD BUSINESS TECH & SCIENCE CULTURE SPORTS OPINION NEWS FEED THIS WEEK'S EDITION

CULTURE
The Bible: So Misunderstood It's a Sin
BY KURT EICHENWALD / DECEMBER 23, 2014 6:54 AM EST
2014_12_26_Cover_600 x 800
NEWSWEEK

FILED UNDER: Culture, Bible

They wave their Bibles at passersby, screaming their condemnations of homosexuals. They fall on their knees, worshipping at the base of granite monuments to the Ten Commandments while demanding prayer in school. They appeal to God to save America from their political opponents, mostly Democrats. They gather in football stadiums by the thousands to pray for the country’s salvation.

They are God’s frauds, cafeteria Christians who pick and choose which Bible verses they heed with less care than they exercise in selecting side orders for lunch. They are joined by religious rationalizers—fundamentalists who, unable to find Scripture supporting their biases and beliefs, twist phrases and modify translations to prove they are honoring the Bible’s words.

This is no longer a matter of personal or private faith. With politicians, social leaders and even some clergy invoking a book they seem to have never read and whose phrases they don’t understand, America is being besieged by Biblical illiteracy. Climate change is said to be impossible because of promises God made to Noah; Mosaic law from the Old Testament directs American government; creationism should be taught in schools; helping Syrians resist chemical weapons attacks is a sign of the end times—all of these arguments have been advanced by modern evangelical politicians and their brethren, yet none of them are supported in the Scriptures as they were originally written.

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The Bible is not the book many American fundamentalists and political opportunists think it is, or more precisely, what they want it to be. Their lack of knowledge about the Bible is well established. A Pew Research poll in 2010 found that evangelicals ranked only a smidgen higher than atheists in familiarity with the New Testament and Jesus’s teachings. “Americans revere the Bible—but, by and large, they don’t read it, ’’ wrote George Gallup Jr. and Jim Castelli, pollsters and researchers whose work focused on religion in the United States. The Barna Group, a Christian polling firm, found in 2012 that evangelicals accepted the attitudes and beliefs of the Pharisees—religious leaders depicted throughout the New Testament as opposing Christ and his message—more than they accepted the teachings of Jesus.

Newsweek’s exploration here of the Bible’s history and meaning is not intended to advance a particular theology or debate the existence of God. Rather, it is designed to shine a light on a book that has been abused by people who claim to revere it but don’t read it, in the process creating misery for others. When the illiteracy of self-proclaimed Biblical literalists leads parents to banish children from their homes, when it sets neighbor against neighbor, when it engenders hate and condemnation, when it impedes science and undermines intellectual advancement, the topic has become too important for Americans to ignore, whether they are deeply devout or tepidly faithful, believers or atheists.

This examination—based in large part on the works of scores of theologians and scholars, some of which dates back centuries—is a review of the Bible’s history and a recounting of its words. It is only through accepting where the Bible comes from— and who put it together—that anyone can comprehend what history’s most important book says and, just as important, what it does not say.

Moses carries the ten commandment tablets.
KEN WELSH/DESIGNPICS.COM

Playing Telephone with the Word of God

No television preacher has ever read the Bible. Neither has any evangelical politician. Neither has the pope. Neither have I. And neither have you. At best, we’ve all read a bad translation—a translation of translations of translations of hand-copied copies of copies of copies of copies, and on and on, hundreds of times.

About 400 years passed between the writing of the first Christian manuscripts and their compilation into the New Testament. (That’s the same amount of time between the arrival of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower and today.) The first books of the Old Testament were written 1, 000 years before that. In other words, some 1, 500 years passed between the day the first biblical author put stick to clay and when the books that would become the New Testament were chosen. There were no printing presses beforehand or until 1, 000 years later. There were no vacuum-sealed technologies to preserve paper for centuries. Dried clay broke, papyrus and parchment crumbled away, primitive inks faded.

Back then, writings from one era could be passed to the next only by copying them by hand. While there were professional scribes whose lives were dedicated to this grueling work, they did not start copying the letters and testaments about Jesus’s time until centuries after they were written. Prior to that, amateurs handled the job.

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These manuscripts were originally written in Koiné, or “common” Greek, and not all of the amateur copyists spoke the language or were even fully literate. Some copied the script without understanding the words. And Koiné was written in what is known as scriptio continua—meaning no spaces between words and no punctuation. So, a sentence like weshouldgoeatmom could be interpreted as “We should go eat, Mom, ” or “We should go eat Mom.” Sentences can have different meaning depending on where the spaces are placed. For example, godisnowhere could be “God is now here” or “God is nowhere.”

None of this mattered for centuries, because Christians were certain God had guided the hand not only of the original writers but also of all those copyists. But in the past 100 years or so, tens of thousands of manuscripts of the New Testament have been discovered, dating back centuries. And what biblical scholars now know is that later versions of the books differ significantly from earlier ones—in fact, even copies from the same time periods differ from each other. “There are more variations among our manuscripts than there are words in the New Testament, ” says Dr. Bart D. Ehrman, a groundbreaking biblical scholar and professor at the University of North Carolina who has written many books on the New Testament.

Most of those discrepancies are little more than the handwritten equivalent of a typo, but that error was then included by future scribes. There were also minor changes made by literate scribes centuries after the manuscripts were written because of what they decided were flaws in the accounts they were recopying. For example, an early version of Luke 3:16 in the New Testament said, “John answered, saying to all of them.…” The problem was that no one had asked John anything, so a fifth century scribe fixed that by changing the words to “John, knowing what they were thinking, said.…” Today, most modern English Bibles have returned to the correct, yet confusing, “John answered.” Others, such as the New Life Version Bible, use other words that paper over the inconsistency.

But this discussion is about something much more important than whether some scribe in the Middle Ages decided God had not been paying attention while guiding the hand of Luke. Indeed, there are significant differences in copies that touch on far more profound issues. Scribes added whole sections of the New Testament, and removed words and sentences that contradicted emerging orthodox beliefs.

Take one of the most famous tales from the New Testament, which starts in John 7:53. A group of Pharisees and others bring a woman caught committing adultery to Jesus. Under Mosaic Law—the laws of Moses handed down in the Old Testament—she must be stoned to death. The Pharisees ask Jesus whether the woman should be released or killed, hoping to force him to choose between honoring Mosaic Law and his teachings of forgiveness. Jesus replies, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.’’ The group leaves, and Jesus tells the woman to sin no more.

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry gives a closing address at The Response, an event at Reliant Stadium that drew roughly 30, 000 people, in Houston on Aug. 6, 2011. ERIKA RICH/THE DAILY TEXAN/AP

It’s a powerful story, known even by those with just a passing knowledge of the Bible. It was depicted in Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ and is often used to point out the hypocrisy of Christians who denounce what they perceive to be the sins of others. Unfortunately, John didn’t write it. Scribes made it up sometime in the Middle Ages. It does not appear in any of the three other Gospels or in any of the early Greek versions of John. Even if the Gospel of John is an infallible telling of the history of Jesus’s ministry, the event simply never happened. Moreover, according to Ehrman, the writing style for that story is different from the rest of John, and the section includes phrases that do not appear anywhere else in the Bible. Scholars say they are words more commonly used long after that Gospel was written.

For Pentecostal Christians, an important section of the Bible appears in the Gospel of Mark, 16:17-18. These verses say that those who believe in Jesus will speak in tongues and have extraordinary powers, such as the ability to cast out demons, heal the sick and handle snakes. Pentecostal ministers often babble incomprehensible sounds, proclaiming—based in part on these verses in Mark—that the noises they are making show that the Holy Spirit is in them. It’s also a primary justification for the emergence of the Pentecostal snake-handlers.

But once again, the verses came from a creative scribe long after the Gospel of Mark was written. In fact, the earliest versions of Mark stop at 16:8. It’s an awkward ending, with three women who have gone to the tomb where Jesus was laid after the Crucifixion encountering a man who tells them to let the disciples know that the resurrected Jesus will see them in Galilee. The women flee the tomb, and “neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.’’

In early copies of the original Greek writings, that’s it. The 12 verses that follow in modern Bibles—Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene and the Disciples and then ascending to Heaven—are not there. A significant moment that would be hard to forget, one would think.

The same is true for other critical portions of the Bible, such as 1 John 5:7 (“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one”); Luke 22:20 (“Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you”); and Luke 24:51 (“And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven”). These first appeared in manuscripts used by the translators who created the King James Bible, but are not in the Greek copies from hundreds of years earlier.

These are not the only parts of the Bible that appear to have been added much later. There are many, many more—in fact, far more than can be explored without filling up the next several issues of Newsweek.

Hands of poll workers are seen on a Bible as head precinct judge Deloris Reid-Smith reads the voters oath to poll workers before opening the polls at the Grove Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina Nov. 4, 2014.
CHRIS KEANE/REUTERS

Translation Transubstantiation

Then comes the problem of accurate translation. Many words in New Testament Greek don’t have clear English equivalents. Sentence structure, idioms, stylistic differences—all of these are challenges when converting versions of the New Testament books into English. And this can’t be solved with a Berlitz course: Koiné is ancient Greek and not spoken anymore. This is why English translations differ, with many having been revised to reflect the views and guesses of the modern translators.

The gold standard of English Bibles is the King James Version, completed in 1611, but that was not a translation of the original Greek. Instead, a Church of England committee relied primarily on Latin manuscripts translated from Greek. According to Jason David BeDuhn, a professor of religious studies at Northern Arizona University and author of Truth in Translation, it was often very hard for the committee to find the correct English words. The committee sometimes compared Latin translations with the earlier Greek copies, found discrepancies and decided that the Latin version—the later version—was correct and the earlier Greek manuscripts were wrong.

The goal of the translators was to create a Bible that was a gorgeous work that was very accurate in its translation and clear in its meaning, but that didn’t happen. “The King James Bible is a beautiful piece of English literature, ’’ says BeDuhn. “In terms of the other two goals, however, this translation falls short.”

For subsequent English Bibles, those slightly off translations in King James were then often converted into phrases that most closely fitted the preconceptions of even more translators. In other words, religious convictions determined translation choices. For example, προσκυνέω, a Greek word used about 60 times in the New Testament, equates to something along the lines of “to prostrate oneself” as well as “to praise God.” That was translated into Latin as “adoro, ’’ which in the King James Bible became “worship.” But those two words don’t mean precisely the same thing. When the King James Bible was written, “worship” could be used to describe both exhibiting reverence for God and prostrating oneself. While not perfect, it’s a decent translation.

As a result, throughout the King James Bible, people “worship” many things. A slave worships his owner, the assembled of Satan worship an angel, and Roman soldiers mocking Jesus worship him. In each of these instances, the word does not mean “praise God’s glory” or anything like that; instead, it means to bow or prostrate oneself. But English Bibles adopted later—the New International Bible, the New American Standard Bible, the Living Bible and so on—dropped the word worship when it referenced anyone other than God or Jesus. And so each time προσκυνέω appeared in the Greek manuscript regarding Jesus, in these newer Bibles he is worshipped, but when applied to someone else, the exact same word is translated as “bow” or something similar. By translating the same word different ways, these modern Bibles are adding a bit of linguistic support to the idea that the people who knew Jesus understood him to be God.

In other words, with a little translational trickery, a fundamental tenet of Christianity—that Jesus is God—was reinforced in the Bible, even in places where it directly contradicts the rest of the verse.

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David displaying the head of Goliath to the Jews, from the Old Testament, circa 1050 BC. HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY

That kind of manipulation occurs many times. In Philippians, the King James Version translates some words to designate Jesus as “being in the form of God.” The Greek word for form could simply mean Jesus was in the image of God. But the publishers of some Bibles decided to insert their beliefs into translations that had nothing to do with the Greek. The Living Bible, for example, says Jesus “was God”—even though modern translators pretty much just invented the words.

Which raises a big issue for Christians: the Trinity—the belief that Jesus and God are the same and, with the Holy Spirit, are a single entity—is a fundamental, yet deeply confusing, tenet. So where does the clear declaration of God and Jesus as part of a triumvirate appear in the Greek manuscripts?

Nowhere. And in that deception lies a story of mass killings.

Birth of Christ
KEN WELSH/DESIGNPICS.COM

The Sociopath Emperor

Why would God, in conveying his message to the world, speak in whispers and riddles? It seems nonsensical, but the belief that he refused to convey a clear message has led to the slaughter of many thousands of Christians by Christians. In fact, Christians are believed to have massacred more followers of Jesus than any other group or nation.

Those who believed in the Trinity butchered Christians who didn’t. Groups who believed Jesus was two entities—God and man—killed those who thought Jesus was merely flesh and blood. Some felt certain God inspired Old Testament Scriptures, others were convinced they were the product of a different, evil God. Some believed the Crucifixion brought salvation to humankind, others insisted it didn’t, and still others believed Jesus wasn’t crucified.

Indeed, for hundreds of years after the death of Jesus, groups adopted radically conflicting writings about the details of his life and the meaning of his ministry, and murdered those who disagreed. For many centuries, Christianity was first a battle of books and then a battle of blood. The reason, in large part, was that there were no universally accepted manuscripts that set out what it meant to be a Christian, so most sects had their own gospels.

There was the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the Gospel of Simon Peter, the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Barnabas. One sect of Christianity—the Gnostics—believed that the disciple Thomas was not only Jesus’s twin brother but also the founder of churches across Asia. Christianity was in chaos in its early days, with some sects declaring the others heretics. And then, in the early 300s, Emperor Constantine of Rome declared he had become follower of Jesus, ended his empire’s persecution of Christians and set out to reconcile the disputes among the sects. Constantine was a brutal sociopath who murdered his eldest son, decapitated his brother-in-law and killed his wife by boiling her alive, and that was after he proclaimed that he had converted from worshipping the sun god to being a Christian. Yet he also changed the course of Christian history, ultimately influencing which books made it into the New Testament.

By that point, the primary disputes centered on whether Jesus was God—the followers of a priest named Arius said no, that God created Jesus. But the Bishop of Alexander said yes, that Jesus had existed throughout all eternity. The dispute raged on in the streets of Constantinople, with everyone—shopkeepers, bakers and tradesmen—arguing about which view was right. Constantine, in a reflection of his shallow understanding of theology, was annoyed that what he considered a minor dispute was causing such turmoil, and feared that it weaken him politically. So he decided to force an agreement on the question.

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Cody Walsh, 18, (left) and Eric Hoglund, 21 (center) dance and sing during the opening musical act of the non-denominational prayer and fasting event, entitled "The Response" at Reliant Stadium August 6, 2011 in Houston. BRANDON THIBODEAUX/GETTY

Constantine convened a meeting in the lakeside town of Nicaea. Invitations were sent around the world to bishops and leaders of various sects, although not all of them. The group included the educated and the illiterate, zealots and hermits. Constantine arrived wearing jewels and gold on his scarlet robe and pearls on his crown, eager to discuss the true essence of a poor carpenter who had died 300 years before.

Things that are today accepted without much thought were adopted or reinforced at Nicaea. For example, the Old Testament was clear in declaring that God rested on the seventh day, making it the Sabbath. The seventh day of the week is Saturday, the day of Jewish worship and rest. (Jesus himself invoked the holiness of the Jewish Sabbath.) The word Sunday does not appear in the Bible, either as the Sabbath or anything else. But four years before Nicaea, Constantine declared Sunday as a day of rest in honor of the sun god.

At Nicaea, rules were adopted regarding the proper positions for prayer on Sundays—standing, not kneeling; nothing was said of the Jewish Sabbath or Saturday. Many theologians and Christian historians believe that it was at this moment, to satisfy Constantine and his commitment to his empire’s many sun worshippers, that the Holy Sabbath was moved by one day, contradicting the clear words of what ultimately became the Bible. And while the Bible mentioned nothing about the day of Jesus’s birth, the birth of the sun god was celebrated on December 25 in Rome; Christian historians of the 12th century wrote that it was the pagan holiday that led to the designation of that date for Christmas.

The majority of the time at Nicaea was spent debating whether Jesus was a man who was the son of God, as Arius proclaimed, or God himself, as the church hierarchy maintained. The followers of Arius marshaled evidence from the letters of Paul and other Christian writings. In the Gospel of Mark, speaking of the Second Coming, Jesus said, “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he wrote that “there is but one God, the Father…and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ.” In his letter to Timothy, Paul wrote, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

Paul’s writings are consistent in his reference to God as one being and Jesus as his son. Same with the Gospel of Matthew, where Peter tells Jesus that he is the “Son of the living God” and Jesus responds that “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.’’ Jesus even called out to God as his “Father” as he was dying on the cross.

But Constantine sided with those who believed Jesus was both God and man, so a statement of belief, called the Nicene Creed, was composed to proclaim that. Those who refused to sign the statement were banished. Others were slaughtered. After they had returned home and were far from Rome, some who signed the document later sent letters to Constantine saying they had only done so out of fear for their lives.

About 50 years later, in A.D. 381, the Romans held another meeting, this time in Constantinople. There, a new agreement was reached—Jesus wasn’t two, he was now three—Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The Nicene Creed was rewritten, and those who refused to sign the statement were banished, and another wholesale slaughter began, this time of those who rejected the Trinity, a concept that is nowhere in the original Greek manuscripts and is often contradicted by it.

To this day, congregants in Christian churches at Sunday services worldwide recite the Nicene Creed, which serves as affirmation of their belief in the Trinity. It is doubtful many of them know the words they utter are not from the Bible, and were the cause of so much bloodshed. (Some modern Christians attempt to use the Gospel of John to justify the Trinity—even though it doesn’t explicitly mention it—but they are relying on bad translations of the Greek and sentences inserted by scribes.)

To understand how what we call the Bible was made, you must see how the beliefs that became part of Christian orthodoxy were pushed into it by the Holy Roman Empire. By the fifth century, the political and theological councils voted on which of the many Gospels in circulation were to make up the New Testament. With the power of Rome behind them, the practitioners of this proclaimed orthodoxy wiped out other sects and tried to destroy every copy of their Gospels and other writings.

And recall that they were already working from a fundamentally flawed document. Errors and revisions by copyists had been written in by the fifth century, and several books of the New Testament, including some attributed to Paul, are now considered forgeries perpetrated by famous figures in Christianity to bolster their theological arguments. It is small wonder, then, that there are so many contradictions in the New Testament. Some of those contradictions are trivial, but some create huge problems for evangelicals insisting they are living by the word of God.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., stage a protest outside the non-denominational prayer and fasting event, entitled "The Response" at Reliant Stadium, Aug. 6, 2011 in Houston.
BRANDON THIBODEAUX/GETTY

No Three Kings?

To illustrate how even seemingly trivial contradictions can have profound consequences, let’s recount the story of Christmas.

Jesus was born in a house in Bethlehem. His father, Joseph, had been planning to divorce Mary until he dreamed that she’d conceived a child through the Holy Spirit. No wise men showed up for the birth, and no brilliant star shone overhead. Joseph and his family then fled to Egypt, where they remained for years. Later, they returned to Israel, hoping to live in Judea, but that proved problematic, so they settled in a small town called Nazareth.

Not the version you are familiar with? No angel appearing to Mary? Not born in a manger? No one saying there was no room at the inn? No gold, frankincense or myrrh? Fleeing to Egypt? First living in Nazareth when Jesus was a child, not before he was born?

You may not recognize this version, but it is a story of Jesus’s birth found in the Gospels. Two Gospels—Matthew and Luke—tell the story of when Jesus was born, but in quite different ways. Contradictions abound. In creating the familiar Christmas tale, Christians took a little bit of one story, mixed it with a little bit of the other and ignored all of the contradictions in the two. The version recounted above does the same; it uses parts of those stories from the two Gospels that are usually ignored. So there are two blended versions and two Gospel versions. Take your pick.

There are also deep, logical flaws here that should be apparent to anyone giving the Bible a close read. Many Christians read the Old Testament as having several prophecies that the Messiah will be a descendant of David, a towering biblical figure who was the second ruler of the Kingdom of Israel. And both Matthew and Luke offer that proof—both trace Jesus’s lineage to his father Joseph and from there back to David.

Except…Joseph wasn’t Jesus’s father. Jesus is the son of God, remember? Moreover, the genealogies recounted in the two Gospels are different, each identifying different men as Joseph’s father and grandfather. Mary, the mother of Jesus, can be the only parent with a bloodline to David, but neither Gospel makes any mention of that.

The stories in the four Gospels of Jesus’s death and resurrection differ as well. When brought before Pontius Pilate in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus speaks only two words and is never declared innocent. In the Gospel of John, Jesus engages in extended conversations with Pilate, who repeatedly proclaims this Jewish prisoner to be innocent and deserving of release. (The Book of John was the last to be written and came at a time when gentiles in Rome were gaining dramatically more influence over Christianity; that explains why the Romans are largely absolved from responsibility for Jesus’s death and blame instead is pointed toward the Jews. That has been one of the key bases for centuries of anti-Semitism.)

And who went to anoint Jesus in his tomb? In Matthew, it was Mary and another woman named Mary, and an angel met them there. In Mark, it was Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, and a young man met them. In John, it was Mary alone; no one met her. As told in Matthew, the disciples go to Galilee after the Crucifixion and see Jesus ascend to heaven; in Acts, written by Luke, the disciples stay in Jerusalem and see Jesus ascend from there.

Some of the contradictions are conflicts between what evangelicals consider absolute and what Jesus actually said. For example, evangelicals are always talking about family values. But to Jesus, family was an impediment to reaching God. In the Gospel of Matthew, he states, “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”

Then there is what many fundamentalist Christians hold to be the most important of all elements of the Bible: the Second Coming of Christ and the end of the world. What modern evangelicals want to believe cannot be reconciled with the Bible. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus says of the Apocalypse, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be done”—in other words, the people alive in his time would see the end of the world. Paul in 1 Corinthians is even clearer; he states, “The time is short.” He then instructs other Christians, given that the end is coming, to live as if they had no wives, and, if they buy things, to treat them as if they were not their own. Some evangelicals counter these clear words by quoting 2 Peter as saying that, for God, one day is like 1, 000 years.

Two problems: That does nothing to counter what either Jesus or Paul said. And even in ancient times, many Christian leaders proclaimed 2 Peter to be a forgery, an opinion almost universally shared by biblical scholars today.

None of this is meant to demean the Bible, but all of it is fact. Christians angered by these facts should be angry with the Bible, not the messenger.

God Wrestling Dragons

The next time someone tells you the biblical story of Creation is true, ask that person, “Which one?”

Few of the Christian faithful seem to know the Bible contains multiple creation stories. The first appears on Page 1, Genesis 1, so that is the version most people tend to embrace. However, it isn’t hard to find the second version: It’s Genesis 2, which usually starts on the same page. Genesis 1 begins with the words “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”; Genesis 2 starts with “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.”

Careful readers have long known that the two stories contradict each other. Genesis 1 begins with expanses of water that God separates, creating the earth between them. Genesis 2 describes a world without enough water, which is then introduced. Vegetation exists before the sun and the stars in Genesis 1; it’s the other way around in Genesis 2. In Genesis 1, man is created after plants and animals; in Genesis 2, plants and animals come after man. In Genesis 1, Adam and Eve are created together; in Genesis 2, Eve is created out of Adam’s rib.

This is nothing unusual for the Old Testament. In fact, even though many evangelical Christians insist that Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament (including Deuteronomy, which talks about Moses having died and been buried), biblical scholars have concluded that two Jewish sects wrote many of the books. Each prepared its version of Old Testament, and the two were joined together without any attempt to reconcile the many contradictions.

These duplications are known as “doublets.” “In most cases, ” says Richard Elliott Friedman, a biblical scholar at the University of Georgia, “one of the versions of the doublet story would refer to the deity by the divine name Yahweh, and the other version of the story would refer to the deity simply as God.” Once the different narratives appearing in the Bible were divided by the word they used to reference God, other terms and characteristics turned up repeatedly in one or the other group. “This tended to support the hypothesis that someone had taken two different old source documents, cut them up and woven them together” in the first five books of the Old Testament, Friedman says.

The doublets make reading the Old Testament the literary equivalent of a hall of mirrors. Take the Genesis story of Noah and the flood. In Genesis 6, God tells Noah to build an ark and load it with animals, and “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” Then, in Genesis 7, God again tells Noah to load the ark with animals, and “Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.” Under the first set of instructions, Noah was to bring two of every kind of creature onto the ark. But the directions changed the second time, with Noah told to bring seven of every kind of clean animal and two of every kind of unclean animal.

It gets stranger. In Genesis 7:7-12, Noah and his family board the ark, and the flood begins. Then, in the very next verse, Genesis 7:13, Noah and his family board the ark again, and the flood begins a second time. The water flooded the earth for 40 days (Genesis 7:17), or 150 days (Genesis 7:24). But Noah and his family stayed on the ark for a year (Genesis 8:13).

Even well-known stories have contradictory versions. As every child knows, David killed Goliath; it’s right there in 1 Samuel 17:50. But don’t tell those children to read 2 Samuel 21:19 unless you want them to get really confused. There, it says in many versions of the Bible that Elhanan killed Goliath. Other Bibles, though, fixed that to make it coincide with the words in 1 Chronicles, were Elhanan killed the brother of Goliath.

These conflicting accounts are only serious matters because evangelicals insist the Old Testament is a valid means of debunking science. But as these example show, the Bible can’t stop debunking itself.

In fact, the Bible has three creation models, and some experts maintain there are four. In addition to the two in Genesis, there is one referenced in the Books of Isaiah, Psalms and Job. In this version, the world is created in the aftermath of a great battle between God and what theologians say is a dragon in the waters called Rahab. And Rahab is not the only mythical creature that either coexisted with God or was created by him. God plays with a sea monster named Leviathan. Unicorns appear in the King James Bible (although that wasn’t the correct translation of the mythical creature’s Hebrew name). There are fiery serpents and flying serpents and cokatrices—a two-legged dragon with a rooster’s head (that word was later changed to “viper” in some English-language Bibles). And in Exodus, magicians who work for the Pharaoh of Egypt are able to change staffs into snakes and water into blood. In Genesis, the “Sons of God” marry the “daughters of man” and have children; the “sons of God” are angels, as is made clear in the Books of Job and Psalms.

Evangelicals cite Genesis to challenge the science taught in classrooms, but don’t like to talk about those Old Testament books with monsters and magic.

Workers paste a public service announcement over a billboard with an anti-homosexuality message on Bay Street in Staten Island, N.Y., on March 8, 2000. The controversial billboard, with a quotation from the Bible, was paid for by an undisclosed party and was covered over by the billboard company after complaints.
CHRIS HONDROS/GETTY

Sarah Palin Is Sinning Right Now

The declaration in 1 Timothy—as recounted in the Living Bible, the New American Standard Bible, the New International Version Bible and others—could not be more clear: Those who “practice homosexuality” will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the translation there is odd, in part because the word homosexual didn’t even exist until more than 1, 800 years after when 1 Timothy was supposed to have been written. So how did it get into the New Testament? Simple: The editors of these modern Bibles just made it up. Like so many translators and scribes before them, they had a religious conviction, something they wanted to say that wasn’t stated clearly enough in the original for their tastes. And so they manipulated sentences to reinforce their convictions.

The original Bible verse in Koiné used ἀρσενοκοῖται for what has been translated as “homosexual.” For the Latin Bible, it was as masculorum concubitores. The King James Version translated that as “them that defile themselves with mankind.” Perhaps that means men who engage in sex with other men, perhaps not.

The next thing to check here is whether 1 Timothy was based on a forgery. And the answer to that is a resounding yes. In 1807, a German scholar named Friedrich Schleiermacher published a letter observing that 1 Timothy used arguments that clashed with other letters written by Paul. Moreover, 1 Timothy attacks false teachings, but they are not the types of teachings prevalent when Paul was writing—instead, they are more akin to the beliefs of the Gnostics, a sect that did not exist until long after Paul’s death. And at times, whoever wrote this letter uses the same words as Paul but means something completely different by them. Most biblical scholars agree that Paul did not write 1 Timothy.

But suppose for a moment that 1 Timothy was written by Paul, and that “defile themselves” does refer to homosexuality. In that case, evangelical Christians and biblical literalists still have a lot of trouble on their hands. Contrary to what so many fundamentalists believe, outside of the emphasis on the Ten Commandments, sins aren’t ranked. The New Testament doesn’t proclaim homosexuality the most heinous of all sins. No, every sin is equal in its significance to God. In 1 Timothy, Paul, or whoever wrote it, condemns the disobedient, liars and drunks. In other words, for evangelicals who want to use this book of the Bible to condemn homosexuality, most frat boys in America are committing sins on par with being gay. But you rarely hear about parents banishing their kids for getting trashed on Saturday night.

Now let’s talk about how 1 Timothy deals with women. U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota Republican, slammed gay people as bullies last March for opposing legislation that would have allowed Arizona businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples. Well, according to the Bible, Bachmann should shut up and sit down. In fact, every female politician who insists the New Testament is the inerrant word of God needs to resign immediately or admit that she is a hypocrite.

That’s because 1 Timothy is one of the most virulently anti-woman books of the New Testament, something else that sets it apart from other letters by Paul. In the King James Version, it says women must dress modestly, can’t embroider their hair, can’t wear pearls or gold and have to stay silent. Moreover, they can’t hold any position of authority over men and aren’t even allowed to be teachers—meaning, if they truly believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God, women like Bachmann can’t be in politics. In fact, while 1 Timothy has just one parenthetical clause that can be interpreted as being about homosexuality, it contains six verses on the shortcomings of women and the limitations on what they are allowed to do.

Many Christians point to other parts of the New Testament when denouncing homosexuality. Romans, another letter attributed to Paul, is a popular choice. In the King James Bible, it condemns men who lust in their hearts for each other, a translation that holds up pretty well when compared with the earliest Greek versions. And scholars agree that Romans is a real letter written by Paul.

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700 Club co-host Pat Robertson speaks at a press conference, Feb. 3, 1998, at the CBN studio in Virginia Beach, Va., about the impending execution of Karla Faye Tucker, who was put to death later that night in Texas. BILL TIERNAM/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT/AP

In other words, Romans is real Gospel, and what it has to say can’t be questioned by those who call themselves biblical literalists. Which means televangelist Pat Robertson should prepare himself for an eternity in hell. On his television show The 700 Club, Robertson recently went on a tirade about Barack Obam and, as he is wont to do, prayed for help. “God, we need the angels! We need your help!” Robertson said. “We need to do something, to pray to be delivered from this president.”

And with that, Pat Robertson sinned. Because in Romans—so often used to condemn homosexuality—there is a much longer series of verses about how the righteous are supposed to behave toward people in government authority. It shows up in Romans 13:1-2, which in the International Standard Bible says, “The existing authorities have been established by God, so that whoever resists the authorities opposes what God has established, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”

So yes, there is one verse in Romans about homosexuality…and there are eight verses condemning those who criticize the government. In other words, all fundamentalist Christians who decry Obam have sinned as much as they believe gay people have.

It doesn’t end there. In the same section of Romans that is arguably addressing homosexuality, Paul also condemns debating (all of Congress is damned?), being prideful, disobeying parents and deceiving people (yes, all of Congress is damned.) There is no bold print or underlining for the section dealing with homosexuality—Paul treats it as something as sinful as pride or debate.

The story is the same in the last New Testament verse cited by fundamentalists who scorn homosexuals. Again, it is a letter from Paul, called 1 Corinthians. The translation is good, and the experts believe it was written by him. But fundamentalists who rely on this better stay out of court—Paul condemns bringing lawsuits, at least against other Christians. Adultery, being greedy, lying—all of these are declared as sins on par with homosexuality.

Of course, there are plenty of fundamentalist Christians who have no idea where references to homosexuality are in the New Testament, much less what the surrounding verses say. And so they always fall back on Leviticus, the Old Testament book loaded with dos and don’ts. They seem to have the words memorized about it being an abomination for a man to lie with a man as he does with a woman. And every time they make that argument, they demonstrate that they know next to nothing about the New Testament.

A fundamental conflict in the New Testament—arguably the most important one in the Bible—centers on whether the Laws of Moses were supplanted by the crucifixion of Christ. The basic tension there was that Paul led a church in Antioch where he attempted to bring gentiles into Christianity by espousing a liberal interpretation of the requirements to follow the Laws of Moses—circumcision, eating kosher food and other rules spelled out in the Old Testament. Hundreds of miles away, disciples of Jesus and his brother James headed a church in Jerusalem. When they heard about the goings-on in Antioch, a debate ensued: Did gentiles have to become Jews first (like Jesus) and follow Mosaic Law before they could be accepted as Christians?

Some of the original disciples said yes, an opinion that seems to find support in words attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets...” The author of Matthew made it clear that Christians must keep Mosaic Law like the most religious Jews, in order to achieve salvation. But Paul, particularly in Galatians and Romans, says a person’s salvation is won by his or her faith in Christ’s death and resurrection—nothing more. Those who try to follow Mosaic Law, Paul believed, risked losing salvation.

In other words, Orthodox Jews who follow Mosaic Law can use Leviticus to condemn homosexuality without being hypocrites. But fundamentalist Christians must choose: They can either follow Mosaic Law by keeping kosher, being circumcised, never wearing clothes made of two types of thread and the like. Or they can accept that finding salvation in the Resurrection of Christ means that Leviticus is off the table.

Which raises one final problem for fundamentalists eager to condemn homosexuals or anyone else: If they accept the writings of Paul and believe all people are sinners, then salvation is found in belief in Christ and the Resurrection. For everyone. There are no exceptions in the Bible for sins that evangelicals really don’t like.

So apparently, God doesn’t need the help of fundamentalists in determining what should be done in the afterlife with the prideful, the greedy, the debaters or even those homosexuals. Which could well be why Jesus cautioned his followers against judging others while ignoring their own sins. In fact, he had a specific word for people obsessed with the sins of others. He called them hypocrites.

Members of the Pentecostal Church of God, a faith healing sect, surround a woman who has "Got the Spirit" as a man holds a snake above her head in Evarts, Ky. on Aug. 22, 1944.
AP

They Haven’t a Prayer

In August 2011, Texas Governor Rick Perry hosted a massive prayer rally in Houston at what was then known as Reliant Stadium, where the city’s pro-football team plays. Joined by 30, 000 fellow Christians, Perry stepped to a podium, his face projected on a giant screen behind him. He closed his eyes, bowed his head and boomed out a long prayer asking God to make America a better place. His fellow believers stood, kneeled, cried and yelled, “Amen.”

Recently, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced he would be holding his massive prayer rally at a sports arena in Baton Rouge. More than 100, 000 evangelical pastors have been invited.

Jesus would have been horrified. At least, that’s what the Bible says.

It is one of the most incomprehensible contradictions between the behavior of evangelicals and the explicit words of the Bible. Prayer shows—and there is really no other word for these—are held every week. If they are not at sports arenas with Republican presidential hopefuls, they are on Sunday morning television shows at mega-churches holding tens of thousands of the faithful. They raise their arms and sway, crying and pleading in prayer.

But Jesus specifically preached against this at the Sermon on the Mount, the longest piece of teaching by him in the New Testament. Specifically, as recounted in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus spoke of those who made large public displays of their own religiosity. In fact, performance prayer events closely mimic the depictions in early Christian texts of prayer services held by the Pharisees and Sadducees, two of the largest religious movements in Judea during Jesus’s life. And throughout the Gospels, Jesus condemns these groups using heated language, with part of his anger targeted at their public prayer.

While the words in the King James Bible might be a bit confusing because it is not written in modern English, the New Revised Standard Version is a good substitute here. In it, Jesus is quoted as saying “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

But Jesus says much more, specifically cautioning against the kind of public performance prayer that has become all the rage among evangelicals of late. The verse in Matthew continues quoting Jesus, who says, “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.”

Instead, Jesus says the truly righteous should pray alone and in secret, in a room with the door shut. “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you, ’’ Jesus is quoted as saying.

Indeed, in the dozens of discussions in the Bible about prayer, the vast majority focus on God’s ability to know what a person wants. In the New Testament, it is often portrayed as a deeply personal affair, with prayers uttered in prison cells to a God who stays alongside the oppressed.

Moreover, babbling on as Rick Perry and so many like him have about faith and country and the blessings of America runs counter to everything that Jesus says about prayer in the Bible. “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words, ’’ Jesus is quoted as saying in Matthew. “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Because God knows what someone needs without being asked, there is no reason for long, convoluted prayers. Therefore, Jesus says in both Matthew and Luke, people who wish to pray should only say the Lord’s Prayer. Of course, there is the problem that the Lord’s Prayer cited in those two Gospels comes in two versions, so Christians have to choose one or the other.

It seems almost a miracle that those who effortlessly transform Paul’s statement about “them that defile themselves with mankind” into “homosexual” can ignore the clear, simple words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. What’s most amazing is that, unlike so many questions about the Bible, the instructions on how and where to pray are not only not contradicted; they are reinforced time and again.

The closest Jesus came to public prayer in the Bible was when he was feeding thousands with five loaves of bread and two fish. This story is recounted in each of the Gospels, and each time, Jesus is depicted as either giving thanks to God or looking to heaven and blessing the food. But he is also depicted as praying in all four Gospels, and each time, Jesus does so after heading off to be alone.

Some evangelicals have attempted to explain away this contradiction between the words of the Bible in Matthew and modern public prayer performances by saying Jesus condemned only mass prayer, when the people doing it had made that choice just to be seen. But with governors projected on giant, high-definition televisions, with thousands packed into sports stadiums weeping and waving, with thousands more doing their prayers on TV at mega-churches, it’s hard to see what possible reason might exist other than to be seen. God, the Bible makes clear, didn’t need anyone to drive to a football stadium so he could hear them.

Which leads to an obvious question: Why don’t more Christians oppose prayer in school? If these people truly believe that the Bible is the Word of God, then their children should be taught the Lord’s Prayer, brought to their rooms and allowed to pray alone.

That answer doesn’t lend itself to big protests or angry calls for impeaching judges. But it does follow the instructions from the Gospels. And isn’t that supposed to be the point?

Triumph of Faith, by Tiepolo Giambattista, 18th Century
PHOTOSERVICE ELECTA/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/REX

Judge Not

So why study the Bible at all? Since it’s loaded with contradictions and translation errors and wasn’t written by witnesses and includes words added by unknown scribes to inject Church orthodoxy, should it just be abandoned?

No. This examination is not an attack on the Bible or Christianity. Instead, Christians seeking greater understanding of their religion should view it as an attempt to save the Bible from the ignorance, hatred and bias that has been heaped upon it. If Christians truly want to treat the New Testament as the foundation of the religion, they have to know it. Too many of them seem to read John Grisham novels with greater care than they apply to the book they consider to be the most important document in the world.

But the history, complexities and actual words of the Bible can’t be ignored just to line it up with what people want to believe, based simply on what friends and family and ministers tell them. Nowhere in the Gospels or Acts of Epistles or Apocalypses does the New Testament say it is the inerrant word of God. It couldn’t—the people who authored each section had no idea they were composing the Christian Bible, and they were long dead before what they wrote was voted by members of political and theological committees to be the New Testament.

The Bible is a very human book. It was written, assembled, copied and translated by people. That explains the flaws, the contradictions, and the theological disagreements in its pages. Once that is understood, it is possible to find out which parts of the Bible were not in the earliest Greek manuscripts, which are the bad translations, and what one book says in comparison to another, and then try to discern the message for yourself.

And embrace what modern Bible experts know to be the true sections of the New Testament. Jesus said, Don’t judge. He condemned those who pointed out the faults of others while ignoring their own. And he proclaimed, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

That’s a good place to start.

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The Bible: So Misunderstood It's a Sin
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ComplaintsBoard
K
10:57 pm EDT
Resolved
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

FreightCenter dishonesty

When contacted by the review board they said I was never a customer. When I provided documentation the review site reposted my complaint. I lost $900 for the shipping, and about $3000 worth of product. I cuation everyone, this company is dishonest, and you may very well get your shipment destroyed.

Review posted by Ken Sullivan on 9/1/2010 2:50:00 PM Rating: 0 stars out of 5

Subject: Destroyed 95% of shipment
Review: I tried to get insurance and was jerked around with a website procedure they demanded I use as it gets them completely off the hook. The game is scandalous; they tell you to ensure the paperwork FROM THEM is used when the items are picked up. The truck driver works for a different company and says “I’ve got all the paperwork filled out just sign here” which costs you approximately 30% more. The person loading my cages has no idea of this and signs the paperwork the truck driver has. When they delivered my cages it was obvious they hot them HARD with a fork lift. They were so badly screwed up I salvaged 2 of 15. I consider it a total loss. And of course the paperwork was not filled out on the website for insurance so I was screwed. I really recommend you NOT use Frieghtcenter.com I wasted $900. TOTAL RIP OFF! Ken

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steves331
Tigard, US
Jun 06, 2013 8:25 pm EDT

We used FC to ship our late parents antique bedroom furniture. Since we were planning to refinish it, we weren't concerned with superficial damage, but gouges were taken out of two pieces and one night stand was crushed into literally dozens of pieces! After six months, FC sent us a check for $119.02--not even 1/4 of the estimate to repair just that one piece. They told us that it wasn't their fault--it was the fault of the carrier that they had contracted with and that they were not responsible. At this level of accountability, we don't know why they didn't just crush the whole shipment, shovel it into a box and slap some stamps on it--they could have increased their profit margin even more if they just left the truck out of the loop entirely!

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Smiley69
Trinity, US
Jun 22, 2011 1:33 pm EDT

LEARN TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS...IF YOU HAD TOLD THE PERSON SHIPPING YOUR ITEMS TO GIVE THE DRIVER YOUR FORMS THEY WOULD HAVE KNOWN ... WHATS THE DRIVER GOING TO SAY...no? GROW UP AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS OR INACTIONS.

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Smiley69
Trinity, US
Jun 22, 2011 1:30 pm EDT

SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE THE ### FOR NOT INSURING YOUR CRAP.

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Freightcenter-scam
tampa, US
Jun 14, 2011 4:31 pm EDT

Ken,
They are going out of business. They hired some idiot named Ben Cross.

ComplaintsBoard
S
11:03 am EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

FreightCenter billing adjustment

We contracted with The Freight Center to deliver an antique table from Arizona to Texas. They brokered the job to Central Freigh out of Texas. THe table was picked up at a UPS store in Phoenix (commercial location). After the delivery we were billed for a residential pick up. We explained over the phone, in writing and with documentation of proof such as statement from the UPS store owner that the table was picked up from a commercial location and we did not owe them for a residential pick up. We were told by Freight Center that the carrier insisted it was a residential pick up which they paid so they billed us. Despite our proof of comercial pick up the Freight Center billed our credit card that they had on file for the charge. This was six months after the shipment. We made numerous phone calls to both parties explaining their error and again providing documentaton of the commercial pick up. It seemed ludicrous to have to prove what was already on their Bill of Lading. We received no satisfaction from Freight Center. Once we reported them to the BBB their response to the BBB was that they would refund us right away. This company is not trustworthy.

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Al, M
Irma, US
Jul 15, 2014 3:02 pm EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Talk to your SAIA to refute Freight Centers Claim. You should also talk to one of the sales staff at the trucking companies location to get your best price. Freight Center is nothing short of a fraudulent company run by a fellow named Matt Brosious. He lives in a gated community in Trinity Florida. He is 39 years old and he uncovered a flaw in the business model of trucking companies. He leverages prices to trucking companies based on volume. He obtains that volume from people that do not ship frequently. He uses the inexperience of the individual to maximize his profits by fraud.
Your best price will always be obtained at the trucking company but, you will need to talk to someone in the sales office. Do not be off put by the first price. You must always remember, if they quote you the same price as Freight Center, they are still making more money than they would get from freight center for that same shipment. This also protects you from Matt Brosious and his fraudulent business practices.

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Harry sacramento
Sacramento, US
Nov 22, 2011 12:08 am EST

I got a quote from Freight Center and they sent me to SAIA to drop off my package for shipping. I handed the quote to them and they made me get a cashiers check made out to SAIA for about $180. The package was shipped okay. Three months later SAIA goes into collection against me for $800 saying that the Quote number is not theirs and I have to pay them the balance. Freight Center washes their hands off of it saying they never instructed me to ship via SAIA. Now I owe SAIA and Freight Center to the tune of $800 for shipping $150 worth of product. When I call Freight center operator perp he hangs up on me saying he never instructed me to do what I did. I will never use them again and ask that you don't either.

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MrSuperUnhappy
Los Angeles, US
Sep 09, 2011 10:11 pm EDT

DO NOT USES THESE GUYS! Shipped my stuff Monday, promised to get it to me Friday. Come Friday, stuff is not here yet, and they promised to call me back the next week. I kept calling them every day until the following Friday, with promises made every single day, with no one calling me back. It's Friday a week after it's supposed to be here, and it's still not here! They say my stuff is lost. If you don't want this type of headache, DO NOT CALL THESE GUYS!

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Freightcenter-scam
tampa, US
Mar 29, 2011 11:47 pm EDT

If you go into your account that you created and re-run your quote you will see that the rate there is vey different than what they are charging you. they break down your cost per pound typically and that is what they use. Also, as you know, you are getting screwed.

I suggest getting a screen shot of that actual rate you ran, dispute it with your credit card company and tell freightcenter to go eat dirt.

they are stealing from ANYONE who gets a rebill and you can fight it. I did! Don't take their crap and post this information all over the place. I saw on BBB they have a C+ that is almost failing! No wonder they take advantage of us.

Fight back against them and you will see your credit card company will help. Also, I suggest filing a small claims case in your hometown since they are not charging you the right rate. They will have to hire a lawyer or get to your city to go to court. You'll win and if they default, you have a judgement against them.

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Guiltless Giving
La Mesa, US
Oct 13, 2010 11:42 am EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

My 11 year olds company (Guiltless Giving) had yet to use a freight company for shipping and this would be our first experience. The only company that answered their phone on Sunday was Freight Center. Allen answered the phone. He answered every single question I had. He sent me a check list of what I needed to do, ... where to get pallets, plastic wrap, etc. Monday arrives and our order was ready to ship with two crates & 1500 pounds. I emailed Allen our specs, he emailed me 3-4 options on prices, delivery etc. By 3pm there was an 18 wheeler at our door to pick up my 11 year olds first freight shipment! Three days later (one day earlier than expected) the shipment was received by our clients. There was one box that was damaged (items in the box were not damaged) out of 40. Both my son and I would recommend Freight Center. The customer service was first class, the process was made easy, the shipment was early and the damaged box was just that, one box.

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Overview of FreightCenter complaint handling

FreightCenter reviews first appeared on Complaints Board on Nov 13, 2009. The latest review Over charged when opx the freight company only charged the quoted price was posted on Nov 7, 2022. The latest complaint lost destroyed shipment was resolved on Feb 27, 2013. FreightCenter has an average consumer rating of 3 stars from 21 reviews. FreightCenter has resolved 8 complaints.
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    34125 U.S. 19 N, Suite 300, Palm Harbor, Florida, 34684, United States
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