Really Got doubly screwed on this cheap freight Prime load
 

Say just noticed that da%m John Deer but a hole in the floor of my tralier loading their tractors. The tractors are still in my trailer (any buyers lol?) Point is I took pictures of the tractors by the hole in my trailer floor....whata you guys think of my chances of suing John Deer and winning on the cost of the tailer floor repair?

If you manage to get money from them I want you as my lawyer! I think you'd have a lot better case if you noticed it and told them while they were loading. Good luck.

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Dam holes there n the tractors are still in my trailer over it......so what kinda case against me you think they can build, anyone in our buiz knows NO shipper will load your trailer with a hole showing daylight. Kinda hard for me to have been the one with the tractors STILL in there, and I have pics to show this.

How did this happen to you?? With all your prep, double checking and then checking again- oh my god Pepe what is going on?? Well to start with did you notify the supervisor of the crew that loaded the trailer after the loading was completed? (You know when you were checking the load before driving off.) I though not.

OK, so now you departed the load up location without checking, but we're not completely screwed yet. Lets approach the situation from the standpoint of finding the damage at the time of unloading. Maybe something like this,

"Hello Mr. Receiver- I am Pepe a hard working owner operator. Can you please unload these wonderful JD tractors from my truck. The truck which I have invested every last dime I own in." (R)="Ok, Mr Pepe will do let me get my crew on it right away."

Cargo is unloaded under the watchful eye of O/O Pepe who now sees the damage after unloading. (Pepe) "Mr. Receiver, oh my gosh look at the damage to my trailer!" (Receiver and crew looking at truck) (P), " Mr Receiver is there any damage to the JD tractors?? No, great this must have happened at the time I was loaded at the factory. I need to make a claim for damages, can you walk me through the process??"

Well if that won't work, call JD ask for the shipping department and contact name and the letter starts out- Dear Sir, During loading on May XX the load crew at your facility damaged by trailer in the following:.......

Hope this helps, make sure you get a repair estimate and remember to include your down time claim (loss of income due to loss of revenue) please include photos..
Good Luck--Bill

Hmmm thks Bill...yeah the only thing I can see in my defense is that with the tractors in there now, its really hard to find the damage since its at the nose of the trailer (hard to get by the tractors to inspect.) I found it here at home when I was inspecting the tractors themselves all the way from back to front since I am only aboout 40 miles from the shipper now on a 2300 mile run.
I only found the damage before I unloaded cuz I wanted to check the freight over since I was almost there :-p
Hmmm wonder if I filed a claim with my Ins. Co if they would go after JD for me?
Yeah I think I am headed for small claims court.

Pepe, Since you are not at the unload point when you get there tomorrow ask to the see the manager or however will sign for the tractors. Ask them to walk you through the claim process and get someones signature acknowledging the damage on the trailer BEFORE YOU UNLOAD. Make sure to get a business card from the guy. You are in a way better position on this since the JD's are still on the truck. You need pictures to show how hard it is to see the damage with the load on and the signature at the drop off for verification of the damage. I would even call JD at the load up point before I let the load come off the truck. Bill

Pepe I forgot to ask, any damage to the tractors??

lol nope...none I see at least.

Say I bumbed my own post to see if someone had a trailer they thought the shipper damaged?......comon steve or G-man...had to happen at least once to you and what did you guys do? :-p Damn when I had a company trailer just called the company....hmmm calling self dont wana hear this complaint!

they`ll probably say you secured the cargo improperly and its your fault.

I've already had a few bumps and scratches but to me it's all part of the deal. I personally think your screwed as far as making a claim. I am definitely not saying it's your fault for not crawling all over the place during loading.

I wouldn't mention this to your insurance company at all. I would bet they would cancel your policy right after they paid your claim.

I would be nice to John Deer and maybe propose some loads in the future but if you go head to head with them, forget it. Small claims court may be the way to go but they will file extensions to the court date until your 70 years old. They have lawyers who work full time and you're like an ant to them and they'll squash you like a grape. They can outlast you waiting, you can't and that will be that. Sorry, this IS what will happen.

You don't have a case, you weren't there during loading and didn't make the claim on the spot. You can't prove those holes were there before.

Forget it and move on.

Yeah small claims is the way I'd go....were not talking major damage here, but enough to make me want to pursue it....probably in the range of 500-to a max of 2000, but I am really bad at trailer flooring estimates
It just needs a professionally done floor board replaced...dont really have much to go on how much.
Well as far as the hole being there before I dont see how they could claim that once they considered it....its obvious eough a hole they NEVER would have loaded a damaged trailer with their tractors. So damage in route....how???????with their tractors in the way?

I don't know how vans are put together but I'm assuming it's the same as my flatbed. If there was a hole in mine I could just replace a section of the board from one cross member underneath to another another short piece of wood.

Pepe, you need to PROVE those holes were not there before. You need to PROVE they did it. Judge Judy would rip you a new one.

I hate it when I have to call myself. I'm always such an a%@hole.

Something that gets overlooked in these situations, you've got to first present your case to them nicely. I'm not saying be a chump, I'm just saying sometimes people are not completely evil. Where guys screw up a lot of times is acting like jerks because they just assume the offending party is going to be a jerk, so it's 'I'll be a jerk before you are a jerk so that you can't jerk me because I'm jerking you first.'

So, you take the pictures. You make sure a manager or somebody sees it before they unload. You see if they will reason with you. What's different about your trailer that you got holes and someone else didn't? They may have seen this before. They may even be prepared to deal with it. I think you've got to give them the opportunity to not be jerks before you become a jerk.

Come on Cam, fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life.

What!? There's another way? :?

what abot jst going through life drunk? forget the fat and stupid. is that ok?

We have one place where we do alot of drop and hook out of with our trailers. day shift is pretty good, park the darn things so close together that you cant walk between them, night shift can hit a parked car 3 streets over and never leave the lot. We let the "little" scrapes and dings go with them but have had 2 trailers with $2000 dollars each worth of damage done by their 3rd shift. Only reason they paid for the damage is because we caught it before the trailer left their lot. Had on switcher driver peel a placard holder off the side of the trailer with my brother standing right there and then tried to tell him "it was that way when we brought it in". They try everything they can to keep from having to pay for any damage to someone elses equipment.

I once had a quart of oil leak on my carpet in the car. I called Penzoil and they sent a guy to verify the carpet had oil on it. They paid me $800 for new carpet without any hassle. They didn't even want to keep the container to see why it leaked.

I asked the guy why they paid for the carpet and he said they want me to keep buying Penzoil. For some big companies it's worth it to keep a customer.

Yeah, it being John Deere, that kind of made me think there may be hope in just talking to them. Other than that, some of the advice about it being the cost of doing business and what not seems pretty sound.

Now, wait a minute, what's the good for nothing lazy az henchman doing? Tell him to break somebody's fingers or something.

I can’t see how it would be JD fault anyway?? I, myself have never seen a trailer floor break that wasn’t already weak to start with! You bought a used trailer and can’t expect every company you load at to be responsible for a weak floor! Not trying to start anything with you Pepe, but your floor was most likely weak to start with. JD will tell you to BLOW!!!
I do feel for you though, just starting out and all…

Pepe, I feel for you too. I think you could be paying for an education on this like ssoutlaw is saying. When you pay a mechanic to look at your equipment before you buy it, he goes over it and tells you what he thinks of everything, including the condition of your wood floor. What's the most he would charge? I believe having an entire new floor put in can run up to $8,000. Not saying anything at all about how well you are doing or anything. I'm sure you'll be good at this as you don't like to spend/waste money where you don't have to. But perhaps you are learning where you can't skimp.

If I was them and you played the lawyer act with me I would point out that it is the DRIVER'S responsibility to secure the load.

Then, depending on how nasty you got with me, I might call the broker and say your trailer damaged my tractor and Prime would not pay you for the load.

No, as mentioned I would be nice and ask them if they can help you out.

We had a forklift operator put a hole in our trailer deck one time and we were compensated BUT that was done BY THEM during loading.....not in transit. Big difference IMO. You sign the BOL, you own it.

Sorry Rank but your wrong on both accounts.


1. The goods were recieved in good order...bill states that.

2. I AM alledgying it was done AT the shipper...when he shot nails into the floor to secure the tractor (I didnt see it cuz up by the nose & tractors blocking access). This was in no way done by the tractors themselves in transit, just the way the shipper shoots nails into my floor with his gun and nails in blocks to secure the tractors.


Yeah I am learning a lesson....I shoulda just took Big up on his offer and sold him the tractors....(hmmmm would have just never posted anything about this) just secret e-mails lol...then claimed the tractors were stolen in transit :evil: :twisted: :evil: :twisted:
Seems doing things the honest way you never make $ tho lol....No good dead goes unpunished.

Sorry I misunderstood then. I understood that the tractors put the hole in the trailer. Not the shipper.

Not trying to be an ass, but the shipper is going to have a good laugh when you tell that story.

Yeah. I'd drop it if I was the Pepster. The hole will just keep getting deeper. Move on Driver.

sounds like a weak floor

check the bolts on the x members

they may look ok from the outside

but are sheared off on the inside

there are special bolts for x members but grade 8 will work

no one is going to pay for your floor

Pepe,
I would just fix it myself and move on with life. Like said here before, just splice the floor between the cross members, bolt it down, and write it off as learning how to repair a wooden trailer floor.
I'm not saying that they didn't do it, but in reality, you should have been up inside while they were putting nails in your floor (ignorance is not an excuse), it is your responsibility to protect your investment.
Sometimes we spend so much time shifting blame to others that we fail to see that's its really our own fault.
Have a good camera with you for the next time, and an incident report printed out for you to take care of it,...when it actually happens.
It seems like a whole lot of bridge burning if you pursue this with a small claim court.

and now a word from Dean Wormer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcoOP25MyAU

A trailer floor that doesn't have existing problems is not going to get a hole punched in it by a nail gun. Oh, and a hole in the floor is not necessarily an issue for a shipper. Depends on the nature of the hole.

I have pulled many trailers that had metal plates not bolted to the floor covering holes and didn't have any problems at shippers.

What the heck are tractors doing in a dry van anyway :shock: What were they secured with?? We have to use from 3 to 4 chains on each tractor on a flat or RGN.....If you had a roll over what keeps the tractor on the trailer and NOT on someone or something??

tootie

couldn't the same be said for every load in a dry van?Thats why they are enclosed.

as long as the load was secured from moving forward,backward and sideways(blocked and braced) it was fine.

I hauled tractors, Cherry pickers in a dry van. No problems.

Pepe, From what I read, the load did not cause the damages, the Nail Gun did not. You bought a used Trailer with a bad floor. It's a repair job you have to deal with. Face it Sh!T happens. Sueing only do you more harm than good. Cost you as much or more to sue than to just fix it and move on.

If your Truck breaks down cause Oil is low? Are you going to Sue the Engine Maker cause the Oil leaked? If a Hose bust are you going to Sue the Hose manufactor cause it worn out and busted? Face it, when your trailer worn out it will need repaired, this includes the flooring of it. Cause a Guy used a Nail gun not going to bust a hole in the floor, least they did it. I hauled a Cherry picker I had to go out and buy wood, and nails to secure it.

OK Pepster- are the tractors unloaded yet?? Did you point out the problem to the receiver of the JD tractors?? We all need an update here compadre, what's goin on??Bill

A classic !!!

LOL...no comment; the damage was more minor then I first thought.

Pepe, you have stated before, you're pretty cheap... :D

could it have been you saw a hole and started seeing dollar signs going out the window?? :shock: :lol: :lol: