Why are companies believed over the driver?

[SemperFi]

I have been trying to get back on the road for the past 4 months. I have filled out application after application with limited response. Finally, I cornered a recruiter who turned me down over the phone. I asked her why and she proceeded to rattle off several incidents on my DAC. I then sent out an email to every company to which I applied and explained my side (re: TRUTH) of the DAC report. I received zero response. Apparently, and please correct me if I am wrong, but, the company is believed over me, WHY? Why would companies do this?

[mike3fan]

Get a copy of your DAC,and correct any false statements.

[SemperFi]

mike3fan wrote:

Get a copy of your DAC,and correct any false statements.

I am in the process of doing just that. However, what are the chances of these entries being reversed? What is in question is whether an event was preventable (I drove on some grass rather than roll over two illegally parked cars, and had a roll gate close on me while backing through) or as I maintain, not my fault and not preventable. Why am I not believed now?

[Uturn2001]

Are you listing the incidents on your applications? If you are not then right there is 3/4 of the problem.

[Twilight Flyer]

I am in the process of doing just that. However, what are the chances of these entries being reversed?

Slim to none.

What is in question is whether an event was preventable (I drove on some grass rather than roll over two illegally parked cars, and had a roll gate close on me while backing through) or as I maintain, not my fault and not preventable. Why am I not believed now?

Those sound rather minor, so I would be inclined to believe that either the company is saying something different or there is another reason you are being denied.

[SemperFi]

Uturn2001 wrote

Are you listing the incidents on your applications? If you are not then right there is 3/4 of the problem.

Yes I am, AND I am following up with an email, or letter, in the event of a mail-in, that explains my side.

Twilight Flyer wrote:

Those sound rather minor, so I would be inclined to believe that either the company is saying something different or there is another reason you are being denied.

That is what I was told by the ONE recruiter who didn't give me "we don't release that information" or "we have other candidates who are more what we are looking for"

[SemperFi]

Quote:
I am in the process of doing just that. However, what are the chances of these entries being reversed?


Slim to none.

Really, why? No police were called for either incident, no tickets were issued. Safety put their own spin on my DAC after I relayed the facts to them. Why are they allowed to get away with that? Why am I not believed? As far as I know, no insurance claim was ever made for the grass. The roll gate was lifted up on to the rollers by me and the yard manager.

This is killing us. For medical reasons I have not worked for 8 months and I want to get back to driving. My wife and I are about to lose everything we have worked for and all because of misinformation, why does no one believe the driver?

[Uturn2001]

Are you listing the accidents as preventable or non preventable on your applications.

BTW: At many companies if you are moving the truck and hit or run over anything that you are not suppose to then it is a preventable accident/incident.

[SemperFi]

Uturn2001 wrote:

Are you listing the accidents as preventable or non preventable on your applications.

Non-preventable and then I explain with my side

[Twilight Flyer]

This is killing us. For medical reasons I have not worked for 8 months and I want to get back to driving

You might have just answered your own question. I would guess that your medical issues might be serious enough that a company can't work with them. Are they back problems? Cardiac issues? Anything that would exclude you from performing the job?

[Sheepdancer]

Sounds like you got the raw deal and that sucks. However, I think the company side of things need to be explained. Its not that we believe the company over you. Its because no matter what we have to go by what your DAC says. I know that some drivers sometimes get screwed by their DAC and I know sometimes there is wrong information on there. However, like your credit report, if there is something wrong on there, its up to you to fix it. When recruiting, as much as I would like to give exceptions to drivers who sure sound like the have a legitmant gripe. We just cant. If we did, that would open up the door for everyone to make excuses and have legit reasons why their DAC is wrong. About 98% of whats on DAC is right....2% wrong...sorry if it sucks that you are in that 2%.
Although DAC is flawed, its the best thing we have. Until someone comes up with a better way, we have to live with it. Keep in mind though the more accurate better way might be good for companies but much worse for drivers. Imagine if someone came up with a "driver lie detector" test that was 100% accurate. That would be great for companies and it could get rid of DAC....however it would suck to be a driver and have to go through that... revealing every part of your history and life.

[SemperFi]

Twilight Flyer wrote:

You might have just answered your own question. I would guess that your medical issues might be serious enough that a company can't work with them. Are they back problems? Cardiac issues? Anything that would exclude you from performing the job?

None of the above. I had a brain tumor (benign) that was removed in February. They didn't get all of it the first time.The subsequent procedure and radiation procedures lasted all the way through May. I have a professional letter signed by my family physician, neurosurgeon, and endocrinologist, stating that I am fully recovered and ready to rejoin the workforce. I even had a DOT physical in May that I passed.

[Fozzy]

It really doesn't matter what you call these incidents. It matters what the company you worked for calls them and using the industry standard, both you posted were totally preventable. The time off and the nature of the medical problem will also not help much.

[Uturn2001]

You would probably be better off listing these as preventable and then explain your side of things.

Sometimes with companies, it is not so much what happened, but how accurate you match what is on your DAC. They view it as an "honesty" issue.

[SemperFi]

I was told no one wants to hire someone with 3 preventables, PERIOD! These incidents may have been preventable, but not by me. This is just wrong!!

[Fozzy]

I was told no one wants to hire someone with 3 preventables, PERIOD! These incidents may have been preventable, but not by me. This is just wrong!!

You do not get to make the conclusions. A group of drivers usually sits on an accident review board. The standards are explained (sometimes a few times) and then the accidents for the company are reviewed. The standards are pretty simple and this does not instantly mean that you are guilty of anything. You just could have prevented the accident from happening by doing something different. And the vast majority of them could be. It's rare for a driver to get a lot of preventable accidents in a short time. This could mean that a driver is not really being careful enough.

[ddog]

You do not get to make the conclusions. A group of drivers usually sits on an accident review board. The standards are explained (sometimes a few times) and then the accidents for the company are reviewed. The standards are pretty simple and this does not instantly mean that you are guilty of anything. You just could have prevented the accident from happening by doing something different. And the vast majority of them could be. It's rare for a driver to get a lot of preventable accidents in a short time. This could mean that a driver is not really being careful enough.

Yep, sounds like a job that you are going to waste time backing in some places until you do it 500 times and build your learning curve. But if its your vehicle and can't pull up beside car to parallel park, you don't slam it in there. You inch it back and forth until get it in there. Lucky didn't do any real damage though.

[Uturn2001]

I was told no one wants to hire someone with 3 preventables, PERIOD! These incidents may have been preventable, but not by me. This is just wrong!!

Like it or not, it is there bat, their ball, their rules. For somebody going by the login of SemperFi I would think you could understand that concept.

[SemperFi]

PREVENT THESE!

While with ***, I was delivering to a company in suburban Chicago IL. Upon arrival at the dock, I was confronted with the prospect of having to alley dock between two rows of parked cars. The only drawback was that there were two cars parked past the marked off parking area that would force me to do several pull-ups to hit the dock. I attempted to locate the owners of the vehicles but to no avail. I then proceeded to back into the appointed dock. Having to perform the aforementioned pull-ups, I was confronted with another obstacle. Directly in front of me were a curb and an industrial dumpster. Next to the dumpster was a patch of grass with a pine tree on it, near the back. Not having enough room to execute a pull-up because of the dumpster, I made the decision to carefully go over the curb as far as necessary to allow enough room to back in the dock. While performing this maneuver, my steer tire tore a patch of grass approximately 12 in. wide by 12 in long and about 6 inches deep. No one would have known if I had not gone inside to tell the receivers that I had indeed driven on the patch of grass. I informed safety of the incident because that is what I was taught to do. No tickets were issued

3. Again while with ***, while at a delivery point in suburban Atlanta GA. I drove into the receiving area and was given a dock that would necessitate my having to drive through the exit gate and out into the street to allow for a safe backing. While backing up, the exit gate, which was on rollers, partially closed (through no fault of mine) catching my front passenger side bumper. I immediately shut off my truck informed ** of the incident and went into the dock to report what had happened. The maintenance foreman came outside, determined that indeed the gate had rolled partially shut on it's own, absolving me from blame, and he and I proceeded to lift the gate back onto its roller track and all was well. Again, If I had been sneaky and dishonest, no one would have known. No tickets were issued.

Bottom line is this, I reported these incidents to safety exactly as I have written them down. They chose to call them preventable. They were not there. The only conclusion I can draw is they did not believe me. I find that insulting? My question remains why?? We are going to lose everything, including our brand new house it took me and my family nearly a year to build, because a company for whatever reason, chose to dirty up my DAC with a pack of lies! I'm not angry, I'm frustrated because me, my wife, and two kids, are going down the financial tubes because other people have decreed, I can no longer drive a truck.

[Twilight Flyer]

The first one is preventable all the way. The 2nd one is dubious.

Still, truck driving isn't the only job out there. If you are truly in financial trouble, get a non-driving job and get on your feet. Look to driving later on down the line. You act like it's all or nothing when in reality, you simply need to shift your focus.