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I decided to pursue a career change by going into the commercial trucking industry. I saw an ad in the local newspaper for Central Refrigerated Service which offer me an opportunity to train for my CDL and would give me a job as a truck driver. It sounded like a great opportunity a one stop chance to get my CDL and get a job.
The Company sent me a ticket to go to Texas (this is where their training facility was located) Upon arriving I realized that there were many trainees and not enough trainers. There were approximately 25 students between two trainers. There was 3 different levels of training amongst the 25 students some were studying for the written test, some were studying for the road test and some students were there to retest for the road test.
Trainers were stretch to the limit of teaching all the students on all these different levels you need to get your CDL class A license. The problem with this is that over 70% of the students were failing and retaking the Motor Vehicle exams over and over which entailed rolling over into the training of the new arrivals. Luckily I did a lot of studying and practicing on my own and with other students and I was able to past my written and road test the first time. All students practiced their road test on a 9 speed tractor pattern as well as take their road test exam.
After passing my exams and receiving my Class A license I was sent back to Conley, Georgia (my home base) for my 3 day orientation. After passing my orientation, I was assigned to a trainer for over the road tractor trailer training for 28 days. My trainer's tractor was W9 Kenworth with a 9 speed pattern. He was a very nice and patient man and taught me everything he knew about over the road trucking. For the entire 28 days I was trained on the 9 speed pattern.
On my 25th day we were in Iowa, I was suppose to head back towards Conley, GA for a my driver's upgrade (which mean I would receive my own tractor) and go solo over the road. But instead of heading back the Company sent me and my trainer back to the west coast region and on my 26th day my trainer was instructed to drop me off in Salt Lake City, Utah for my upgrade. On the 27th day my trainer dropped me off in Utah for the upgrade that would take place the next morning. My trainer gave me an excellent evaluation for my performance in his tractor.
On the 28th day, I started the upgrade by taking test on the computer after passing all my computer test I was ready for the road test on the tractor. My upgrade examiner took me to a tractor for my test to my surprise it was a 10 speed pattern tractor. Out of my 49 days with Central Refrigerated I have never trained nor driven a 10 speed. So I asked my upgrade examiner did they have any 9 speeds that I could take the test on and he said 'No, you should know the 10 speed pattern' and also told me that 'The Company is getting rid of all their 9 speeds and that they were obsolete.' Again, I stressed to him that I have never driven or been in a 10 speed and that I would need a few hours to familiarize myself with this pattern. He told me 'No, take the test' Well it would be no surprise to let you know that I failed this test. By not knowing the new pattern, I grinded the gears.
I went back to the office and they informed me that I had failed my upgrade. When I pleaded with them to give me a chance to practice on the 10 speed pattern. They said 'We don't do that.' This was Friday afternoon and they said I will be retested Monday morning on the same truck. I asked them to let me practice over the weekend on the truck by myself. But they refused and told me that I would have to find a owner operator, if I can and maybe they would show me the 10 speed pattern. I was not allowed to ask a trainer, a student or any employee of Central Refrigerated to help me. Unless it was an owner operator.
By Monday morning I was unable to get anyone to help me with this new pattern. On October 20, 2008 after 49 days with Central Refrigerated, I felt it was a 'No Win' situation and I had no choice but to leave the training facility.
To say the least, I was disappointed with the Company. I believed that with all I had went through with the training in Texas and being able to pass all my test the first time I took them and to get such and excellent review from my over the road trainer that after the 49th day Central was unable to give me 3 hours to practice on the 10 speed pattern.
Being persistent and determine to become truck driver, I decided to go to an independent trucking school to get my Diploma and most of all learn the 10 speed pattern. I paid $2, 560 for this training. Most of the time I sat around because I had already received my Class A license. When it was time for the Driving training I spent 3 hours in a 10 speed and maxed it. My trainer asked me what I was doing here he said you are an excellent driver. I graduated on December 18, 2008 with a 97% average.
Now this is the kicker, I applied for a trucking job and the Company pre-approved me to work for them and then I found out that Central put on my DAC report that I was terminated from training and the Company told me that they couldn't hire me, because I was terminated from training. Which was not true I left them. I never worked for them . I was never upgraded as a company driver.
Now Central wants to charge me $2, 900 for training. Training that never produce me the career that I wanted and wasted 49 days of my life and time with my wife and 5 year old son.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I was a trainer for a similar company for a long time and it sounds like part of the story is being left out. Normally a trucking company won't fail a student driver on a road test for grinding some gears -- especially a new driver. So I would assume they failed you for some other reason. Or maybe they just have too many bodies. The trucking thing is tough right now. There isn't much freight and lots of newbies cramming in because they are desperate for a job. Usually it's the other way around. For whatever it's worth, I also wouldn't call trucking a "career". It's dangerous, unhealthy and doesn't pay very well for most people. My 2 cents..
all this is true central is the worst company i ever worked for they should not even be in buisness if fact they are selling out everyone in utah needs to be tied to a tree and beeten badly we should all call bbb and complain on what this company is up to then let the cards fall in place give it time and they will make them fall on themselves they are all lying ### worthless good fo nothing low down dirty piles of ### and need to be put out o their miserie ### all them ###
they already going under because of ### they pull just wait all of them need to be ### canned like Ray nelson, Cole tompson, Carl Desharo, and that peice of ### security guard they are all pieces of ### the only thing good about central is theyr selling out to swift good riddons to all them at the terminal in utah everyone there thinks they are god
DO NOT WORK FOR CENTRAL OR GO TO THEIR SCHOOL THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF THEN LIE TO YOU ABOUT DOING SO!
If every one here just put the word out, to come to this site an start posting the bad experience's they encounter with CENTRAL . They have to be stopped now .
Yo peterbuilt you must of worked for that guy they fired "Barry", he was the worst .
Coming from a ex driver manager from this company, this is the worst place to find a job driving a truck. Even though some of the management team means well, they get bucked from up above and are told to lie to the drivers to get the loads there. This company has no morals and cares nothing about the employee. As I said before, this a family run foundation and that is who they look after. Stay away from Central and eventually it will go under or taken over by a more proven trucking company.
Who ever decides to join this company, stay out of there . You will lose tons of monies and they will lie on you DAC report .
dam, i was thinking of joining this company because of a driver that me to join, hes been with the company for 8 months and just a couple of months ago, he lease a truck from them. he told me makes good money. but after hearing all these bad things about them, im having second thoughts. thanks guys
central is the worst company i ever worked for they cheated me out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and when i take them to court you all dont have to worry about this company anymore my plan is to get that ### hole place shut down a lot of people will be jobless but its worth it because crooks should not be in business so have no fear i am here
well yesterday i was terminated out of conley, i've been on the road for two months
right out of training and after my upgrade, for 4 service failures that were all due
to either my truck needing servicing or poor scheduling by management, i mean i did the trip planning prior to my mac 11 and on those particular inccidents, i did warn my Driver Manager of the high probability that i would'nt be able to make the delivery on time and he would then response "o.k. get there a.s.a.p." not even once did he warn me that this is any kind of a problem or did he warn that this would reflect on my driving rcord, and could or would led to my termination, i mean come on 2 mths on the road, they should've placed me on probation first and sat me down and explained to me what i was doing wrong and told me the best way to fix the problem, come on all service failures
are not avoidable and when you tell them that you can't do it they want to try to convince you that you can do it rather than except that just maybe you do know what your talking about and when you do tell them that the load will be late they don't take into consideration that first you warned them prior to it actually happening or look at the fact that if the truck is not safe to drive then how are you responsble for equipment failure also they avoid all responsibility for the role that they play in faults and put complete fault on the drivers, my experience with central started off sweet and ended
bitter.
i want get a trucking job but not now knowing that there doesnt seem to be a good way to learn, , , aaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh
As a ex dispatcher for Central, this is the company that teaches dispatchers to LIE. This is by far the worst run trucking company I have ever seen. And if anybody hasn't noticed, everyone in management is related! I would never recommend any driver to start or work for this company.
YO DUDE...AS A FORMER COMPANY DRIVER AND LEASE OPERATOR I CAN FILL YOUR PAIN...I STARTED AT ENGLAND BUT QUIT AFTER I GOT MY CDL AND CAME TO CENTRAL...WHAT WAS SO CRAZY IS THAT THE FIRST WEEK I HAD A TRAINER WHO SMOKED AND I REQUESTED A NON SMOKER, AFTER THAT I GOT A TRAINER WITH A AUTOMATIC TRUCK FOR A MONTH...WELL PROBLEM WAS I COULD BARELY DRIVE THE VOLVO GIVEN TO ME WHICH WAS A 10 SPEED...I TAUGHT MYSELF HOW TO DRIVE IT AND OF COURSE I FLOATED THE GEARS...YOU SHOULD HAVE FLOATED THE GEARS IF U COULDNT DRIVE A 10 SPEED, BESIDES, IF YOU CAN DRIVE A 9 SPEED, YOU CAN DRIVE A 10 SPEED...I DROVE A 10 SPEED FOR 6 MONTHS AND WHEN I BECAME A OWNER OPERATOR I GOT A 13 SPEED AND DIDNT TAKE NO TIME TO LEARN JUST THE SPLIT...EVERYTHING WAS SAME...
I CAN AGREE WITH YOU CENTRAL IS B.S. ON TRAINING, IVE BEEN TO THE DALLAS TERMINAL AND IT SUCKS...YOU DONT HAVE TO PAY FOR THE SCHOOL TRAINING UNLESS YOU GOT YOUR CDL WITH THEM...I HAVENT PAID A DIME TO ENGLAND AND THEY WANT TO SETTLE FOR LESS THAN HALF...THEY WONT GET A DIME BECAUSE I COULD BARELY DRIVE THE TRUCK AND SHIFT GEARS...LOL...
CENTRAL IS BAD DUDE...UNLESS U GET A GOOD DISPATCHER OUT OF SALT LAKE CITY UTAH...THEY WILL DO DUMB CRAP LIKE GIVE U A LOAD BUT NEVER GET A APPT TIME AND HAVE YOU SITTING OVER THE WEEKEND LOOKING STUPID...THEY ALWAYS EVENTUALLY LEAVE U HANGING, NO MATTER HOW GOOD A DRIVER YOU ARE...I GOT TIRED OF THEM MESSING UP MY PAYCHECKS AND THEN TRIED TO GIVE ME 11 HOUR DRIVES SPREAD OVER 3 DAYS...NOTTTT! SO I QUIT...SAD THING IS IF YOU QUIT AS A OWNER OPERATOR AND DONT HAVE SOMEONE TAKE OVER LEASE, THEY WONT REHIRE YOU...ITS COOL BECAUSE THE COMPANY I WORK FOR NOW HAS MORE FREIGHT, MORE TERMINALS, AND A BETTER LEASE PLAN...CENTRAL SUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!
This is why you should research a TON before stepping into a truck. Trucks don't just come standard with one shift pattern, I'm sure you know that. All throughout your career as a trucker, you'll go in between all different kinds of shift patterns, because as a company driver they'll have you switch tractors all the time. You might stay in a single truck for a few months, or a few years. But once you switch, it could be something totally different than what you just got out of. You'll run into 9 speeds, 10 speeds, super 10's, 13 speeds, all the way up to 18 speeds. And right at 10 speeds is where you get into using the hi/lo splitters on the front and sides of the stick. You need to have the mentality of using those machines and get to where you can pick up that stuff on your own. If you're not strong-willed or strong minded, you wont make it, because you'll come to expect everything to be the same. In fact, you should learn to expect everything to be different all of the time. It's not right to blame Central for your short comings at learning to drive them. If you're really cut out for it, you would do tons of research about different tractors and how they're driven. Check out YouTube sometime. There's lots of tutorials there. I'm starting at Central on October 5th.
I don't know about texas, but in West Valley Utah the truck you train on is sometimes and O/O or a L/O and the ones they have in the yard are different from the O/O and L/O depending on whether or not the O/O or L/O leased to own or leased to train recently or if the truck is an older model.
Just off training on an O/O truck and when I did my hire test on road, it (central training t/t) was a different truck in all ways. I just gritted my teeth, smiled and shifted gears. If you ask how many speeds it isn't hard to figure it out.
Hey whatever, yup 2 sides to every story. You said it "TRAINING COMPANY" it sounds like to me they didn't do a good job with centraldoug. An as far as me bad mouthing them NAH, its the freaking truth and I'm not finished yet of what I'll be posting about them. And I have all the proof. Sounds like to me you work for the low life company. Hey check the safe stat scores on them, an now they have electronic logs. Gee I wounder why? Because of all the log violations the been gigged on an it goes on and on. They could careless about there drivers, they fire ya an state next upgrade. Its a revolving door for them an about bucks.
I always say there are two sides to every story! Maybe you should have worked your differences out with Central instead of trying to bad mouth them here.
Truck drivers change jobs, A LOT! Central is a "Training Company" and that is what they are good for. After you get trained and have your experience, move on to another company for more money.
Yo central doug, give it time before you just get up an quit or they fire you to. You are still green horn.
First off the school down at Irving, Texas was run by Paulett Gerhke . She started so much crap with the good instructor (s) that she got fired. That school should of been shut down, because Paulett and Wayman kissing ### to keep there jobs. Now the person who tested you should have let you learn that 10 speed, an also you have the right to ask anyone in the yard for advise as to that. I worked for them just under 2 years and also I was termed by them . I trained for them, was on the load planners fleet an also Kraft. Central is WRONG for what they put on your DAC. Go to DOTJOBHISTORY.COM an pay for the service request your dac report. When you receive it and then post with that of what happened. CRS is a BIG SCAM, also they violate all kinds of laws. I strongly urge that no one goes to that company for employment, I know from first hand they will make up anything to get rid of a driver and a good one to. Carl Desharo is the BIGGEST CROOK LOW LIFE ### OF ALL OF THEM. Most of your trucking companies DO NOT CARE ABOUT THERE DRIVERS. Also I'm adding that the fuel policy they make drivers sign before employment is ###. Like I said earlier, Paulett is a lesbian an she was sleeping with MANY female students from school an Wayman got a woman pregnant that worked down at the Irving yard an he got her fired to cover his ###. (SHE HAD TWINS) . Also I've seen him leaving the motel where the students stay 0400hrs on a sunday mourning.
Fight them back,
John a.k.a. CURLY
well im in my last week of training with truck driving acadamy in modesto ca .. and i have leard so much from them im at the top of my class and when this week is up i head to riverside ca for central and its not there fault that u cant drive a 10 speed its one more gear are u for real god w.e u cant blame this on central its your fault u must not have asked the right questions during ur training