WH Transportation

[madaxeman]

I don't recommend working for this company at all. They stole money from my check for toll roads I never used...and never corrected it. They cheated me out of hometime and days off. They left me stranded away from home because they couldn't get freight to get out of there. It happened twice this year. I was stuck in Kansas City for three days for which they paid me a measly $140. I was also stuck in PA for the last weekend I was employed there (for which I didn't receive any layover pay). The safety guy is completely unreasonable and doesn't care about your needs as a driver. He wouldn't give me a three days off to tend to personal mattrs at home (even though I had been out for 11 days and had earned that time off). They would send me to make local deliveries (as an OTR driver) which took all day. For example, I got paid $30 for a delivery that took me 15 hours. I never received a penny for detention time for any delivery over two hours (literally, hundreds of hours which I was never compensated for)! The list of problems goes on and on! They lie to you left and right at orientation. I would definitely look elsewhere if you are considering working for them.

[WOLF RIVER]

How long did you work for WH? Who is the saftey guy you spoke with?

[madaxeman]

How long did you work for WH? Who is the saftey guy you spoke with?

I worked there for almost 18 months. A LOT of people (who have been with the company for a long time) are quitting because of the safety director. There is only one "head of safety" at WH...Dan Garcia. He's pretty much worthless if you need anything. He has to be one of the most ignorant, unprofessional and illogical people I have ever met. He's friends with Virgil who is in charge of the company. They used to work together which is the only reason why Dan is the safety director. The only thing I have really seen him "do" is send out Qualcomm messages four times a week saying "There R storms expected in this area. Get off the RD if U need 2." It's like....THANKS, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS! He refused to give me days off which I needed. He said "we don't have a leave of absence policy. You have to quit if you need the time off and reapply if you want to return to work." I said "Leave of absence? Three days off isn't a leave of absence!" Lori Ott was in charge before he came around about 6 or 7 months ago. She was awesome! She did everything she could to help drivers. She was very professional and actually cared about the drivers. If I needed days off she took care of it. I needed a week off last year and Lori said "no problem". I came back to work a happy camper. This Dan guy has some serious issues! Last time I checked, vacation time and days off is a human resources job (and has nothing to do with safety...let alone, to leave some knucklehead in charge of it).

[pronghornracer]

Who was your dispatcher?

pronghornracer

[truckdriverwh]

i just worked my 2 wk notice out wednesday and ur right about them not being a good company to work for. i talked to dan wed. and he told me they arent hiring anymore van drivers, dont train anymore, and a dispatcher told me they were gettin rid of like 25 more trucks. not a good sign since they already got rid of 300 plus.. they were good to me for the most part while i was there but dan is running the co. into the ground for sure. i always had enough time at home and hometime was never an issue, especially not 3 days! but that was all taken care of by tim, my dispatch. there are quite a few digruntled drivers there and i am speculating wh wont be around do much longer..

[truckdriverwh]

well, i was almost accurate saying wh is going under. they are getting rid of their van division as of 7/31/08. i was wondering why they were preesuring everyone to go to flat bed.. they sent the msg to all their drivers today.

[BigWheels]

well, i was almost accurate saying wh is going under. they are getting rid of their van division as of 7/31/08. i was wondering why they were preesuring everyone to go to flat bed.. they sent the msg to all their drivers today.

You're talking about this company, correct?:

http://www.whtrans.com/

Guess they'll be adjusting their website soon to reflect the changes.

[Jumbo]

I read in the Wausau paper that they are laying off 340 or 380 people in 3 states. A mix of o/o, drivers, maintainence and dispatch. There sure are alot of trucks sitting in their terminal. Most with the decals off of them.

[mowman]

Dan Garcia was totally in over his head. He has absolutely no management skills and relies on intimidation. Hopefully, he lost his job along with the other 340 employees and any future employers find these words here.

Look at the safety record of WH while he was there, talk to anyone that worked with him before you hire him. Talk to former drivers, talk to Lori Ott, Tracey Champagne, anyone in maintenance.

Safety director is a tough job. The objective isn't to make friends, but to produce results. Dan Garcia failed on all accounts.

As far as the rest of the company is concerned, I'm sad to see it go. I had a great experience the year plus I worked there. As with any company, there were issues, but I found - with the notable exception of Dan Garcia - they were all resolved amiably and respectfully. Even when I was wrong - or at blame.

I hope all - with the exception of Dan Garcia - land on their feet and live happy and productive lives.

As for Dan Garcia, perhaps an extended period of unemployment will teach him humility and respect for his fellow human beings.

[Uturn2001]

Just curious as to why the safety director would have anything to say about a driver taking time off at home. Every company I was ever with time off was between the driver and the fleet manager and the only time the safety manager or department came into play in a time off issue was if the driver brought them into it because of being told s/he needed to run in violation of the regs.

[pronghornracer]

Well for one thing, nobody felt comfortable talking to the fleet manager
about anything, without getting their head ripped off.
He's not a driver friendly person.
Another thing, anytime you did have a problem with anything,
it seems like no matter who you talked to, they would just pass the buck;
like everybody was afraid to make a decision, or try to fix the problem.
Or, twist it around and put the problem back on the driver, that way the driver gets blamed.

pronghornracer

[madaxeman]

From what I heard from a friend who worked at WH, too...Virgil sued the brothers who took over the company after their old man (the owner) died because they tried to nullify his contract. Virgil and the old man were friends...but the two brothers hated Virgil...and in lieu of the lawsuit, they kept Virgil on...and Virgil being pissed off at them purposely ran the company into the ground.

I know the lawsuit part is correct...and the other part would not surprise me!

[madaxeman]

I forgot to mention how my safety bonus was nullified and it was my fault that the truck experienced mechanical failure and it wouldn't make it up the side of a mountain. Let me make it a point to state the road was five minutes from my delivery point. It wasn't restricted for trucks or anything. OK. So....WH Maintenance sends out a REGULAR TOW TRUCK...NOT A HEAVY DUTY WRECKER FOR SEMIS. These three rednecks in West Virginia show up and before they did anything, I told them I have 45,000 lbs in the back. There are six - 10' tall rolls of paper that weigh about 7500 lbs each. There are 3 on the front tandems and three on the rear tandems. Keep in mind...I have no cell phone signal nor does anyone because of the rural area so there is nothing I can do except use the qualcomm. They jerk the truck trying to tow it. The retention straps break and the rolls of paper go flying to the back of the trailer to the point that two end up on their edge (15,000 lbs.) on an angle leaning against the doors which were somehow holding these rolls. The doors looked like an arch just waiting to rip off completely and some of the hinges busted.

Then, they decide they are going to winch me up the mountain 50 feet at a time. So....finally, I make it to the shipper after being winched up a mountain for 8 hours. Obviously, the bill was $2000 because of this (and they and maintenance were not very bright).

(Here's me....just imagining what 7500 lb rolls of paper rolling down a mountain could do. Fortunately, I was able to make it to the shipper doing 5 miles per hour without them bailing off the trailer with a D.O.T. police escort and the tow truck following me. D.O.T. didn't even want to let me drive to the shipper but they couldn't find anywhere to drop the trailer so they decided it was best to escort me there.)

After seeing the bill for $2k, there's Dan Garcia sending me a message on the qualcomm saying "call me". I call him and explain exactly what happened. The truck wouldn't make it up the side of the mountain. The retention straps broke when the regular tow truck that maintenance sent out was jerking the truck attempting to tow it. The rolls of paper flew to the back and messed up the doors....etc. The only thing the guy keeps saying I find that hard to believe. Did you downshift? Etc...he kept asking these questions that were irrelevant and made no sense at all. I am thinking to myself...why are you asking me what happened then moreorless telling me I am full of **it repeatedly! Then, after 20 minutes of this, he threatens me..."maybe you need to come sit in my office for a while and think about it." Of course, me sitting in his office never happened because the guy is an idiot who relies on threats (if you can call it that) to achieve nothing.

What a worthless crackhead!