Grimes Trucking or as known as No Bull Trucking is full of Bull and Grimmey. It all starts with the recruiter David Stephens. I had responded to a facebook ad that they had posted. David was the recruiter handleling my application. He was very nice and fought hard to get my on. David was very professional and very helpful every step of the way.... This is where the story goes down hill.
They only hire owner operators. Grimes wanted me to have a D.O.T. inspection done on my truck at a local Atlanta truck shop. I had a small chip in my passenger windshield on the lower right hand side which was not a regulation violation. My truck passed inspection.
Next I had to drive my truck to jacksonville for orientation and another inspection done by there mechanic. My truck already passed D.O.T. inspection from a well known facility that they told me to go to. I get jacksonville and there mechanic found discrepencies and they put my truck out of service.
1. they said my windshield does not meet D.O.T regulation. Mind you Mississppi gave me a D.O.T. inspection with that same windsheild and the service shop they sent me to passed also.
To get to the point they will find things wrong with your truck so they can make money off you to offset the cost of hotel stays and food etc.... they make money off drivers that passed inspection but they will put your truck out of service after driving from whatever state you came from. I had to come out of my pocket for the repairs and when I did not have enough to cover the repairs by there mechanic they would deduct the rest from my first settelment.
I became frustrated because Grimes had me stranded in FLorida for 2-3 days after driving down from Atlanta with no real justification of the business process purpose. Their scheme seems to be to make money off of you from day one; such as trailer fees, trumped up 'mechanical work'. Most reputable companies do not handle themselves in this manner. If you have a blown out trailer tire on a company trailer, they will charge you for the tire replacement. They want you to record the DOT number on the old and new tire and you are required to bring the old tire back to them for inspection so they may see if you are at fault for the tire repair. This is when it dawned on me that at every turn-they try to leak your pockets. If they determine you were the cause of the tire blow out, for ANY reason you will be charged.
If the pick-up trailer has any scratches, Grimes conjures up a way to fault the driver financially. As a rip-off, they leave you by the phone every morning waiting for a phone call to get your new route. This leaves no functional time to truly plan your trips ahead of time. Most seasoned drivers know how to calculate their routes and if you get "too many" miles the dispatcher will stop giving you new trips so "all the drivers can have the same miles"-communism wrapped up in bull****.
They claim to have 2 terminals: one in Jacksonville FL and the other in Atlanta GA, but the gag is there is no Atlanta terminal. in actuality it's a rented lot with 4 parking spaces. The dispatchers are rude and not very helpful in emergency situations. Once, I broke down while en route and the dispatchers stop taking my calls! They would not offer any assistance for a tow or to even check to see if I was still alive and SAFE! If you turn down loads, they will blackball you and only offer very low paying trips. Even though they say "no forced dispatch". If you decided not to work the weekend, Grimes will turn off your fuel card. They will leave you stranded, over-the-road without any way to get back home until you take a forced load and get back into their good graces.
They claim to give you 70% of the load but there is no way to verify this when you are never able to see the amount the company is offering. How do I know I am receiving 70%-just because that's what the dispatcher says? If you recover another driver's load that has broken down, they will offer you $100 instead of the fair amount of split load...even after you have driven all day to deliver your loads and then pick up the other driver to deliver his load too.
If you are dispatched out of Florida, after you deliver your load and are ready to pick up new work-they leave you sitting for 24 hours before giving you a new pick up. I have been left sitting many hot and long days in Florida waiting for Grimes to put me to work. I had the available time and miles but they would not give me loads to run.
Grimes says "safety first" as their motto but really what they mean is "be safe with our trailers or we will fine your a**" A driver is only legally allowed to drive for 11 hours but Grimes will find a loop hole in DOT regulation and heavily encourage you to drive 'off duty' which is only supposed to be used in case of an emergency-not for working. They say "No Bull trucking" and you may not be able to see the bull**** but you can definetly smell it.
This is by far the worst company I've ever worked for in my 20+ years of driving. I once knew another driver who had worked for Grimes for 15 years and was preparing to retire and work part time with another company when Grimes cooked their books to keep the driver's escrow and last paycheck.
No Bull Trucking Reviews
Grimes Trucking or as known as No Bull Trucking is full of Bull and Grimmey. It all starts with the recruiter David Stephens. I had responded to a facebook ad that they had posted. David was the recruiter handleling my application. He was very nice and fought hard to get my on. David was very professional and very helpful every step of the way.... This is where the story goes down hill.
They only hire owner operators. Grimes wanted me to have a D.O.T. inspection done on my truck at a local Atlanta truck shop. I had a small chip in my passenger windshield on the lower right hand side which was not a regulation violation. My truck passed inspection.
Next I had to drive my truck to jacksonville for orientation and another inspection done by there mechanic. My truck already passed D.O.T. inspection from a well known facility that they told me to go to. I get jacksonville and there mechanic found discrepencies and they put my truck out of service.
1. they said my windshield does not meet D.O.T regulation. Mind you Mississppi gave me a D.O.T. inspection with that same windsheild and the service shop they sent me to passed also.
To get to the point they will find things wrong with your truck so they can make money off you to offset the cost of hotel stays and food etc.... they make money off drivers that passed inspection but they will put your truck out of service after driving from whatever state you came from. I had to come out of my pocket for the repairs and when I did not have enough to cover the repairs by there mechanic they would deduct the rest from my first settelment.
I became frustrated because Grimes had me stranded in FLorida for 2-3 days after driving down from Atlanta with no real justification of the business process purpose. Their scheme seems to be to make money off of you from day one; such as trailer fees, trumped up 'mechanical work'. Most reputable companies do not handle themselves in this manner. If you have a blown out trailer tire on a company trailer, they will charge you for the tire replacement. They want you to record the DOT number on the old and new tire and you are required to bring the old tire back to them for inspection so they may see if you are at fault for the tire repair. This is when it dawned on me that at every turn-they try to leak your pockets. If they determine you were the cause of the tire blow out, for ANY reason you will be charged.
If the pick-up trailer has any scratches, Grimes conjures up a way to fault the driver financially. As a rip-off, they leave you by the phone every morning waiting for a phone call to get your new route. This leaves no functional time to truly plan your trips ahead of time. Most seasoned drivers know how to calculate their routes and if you get "too many" miles the dispatcher will stop giving you new trips so "all the drivers can have the same miles"-communism wrapped up in bull****.
They claim to have 2 terminals: one in Jacksonville FL and the other in Atlanta GA, but the gag is there is no Atlanta terminal. in actuality it's a rented lot with 4 parking spaces. The dispatchers are rude and not very helpful in emergency situations. Once, I broke down while en route and the dispatchers stop taking my calls! They would not offer any assistance for a tow or to even check to see if I was still alive and SAFE! If you turn down loads, they will blackball you and only offer very low paying trips. Even though they say "no forced dispatch". If you decided not to work the weekend, Grimes will turn off your fuel card. They will leave you stranded, over-the-road without any way to get back home until you take a forced load and get back into their good graces.
They claim to give you 70% of the load but there is no way to verify this when you are never able to see the amount the company is offering. How do I know I am receiving 70%-just because that's what the dispatcher says? If you recover another driver's load that has broken down, they will offer you $100 instead of the fair amount of split load...even after you have driven all day to deliver your loads and then pick up the other driver to deliver his load too.
If you are dispatched out of Florida, after you deliver your load and are ready to pick up new work-they leave you sitting for 24 hours before giving you a new pick up. I have been left sitting many hot and long days in Florida waiting for Grimes to put me to work. I had the available time and miles but they would not give me loads to run.
Grimes says "safety first" as their motto but really what they mean is "be safe with our trailers or we will fine your a**" A driver is only legally allowed to drive for 11 hours but Grimes will find a loop hole in DOT regulation and heavily encourage you to drive 'off duty' which is only supposed to be used in case of an emergency-not for working. They say "No Bull trucking" and you may not be able to see the bull**** but you can definetly smell it.
This is by far the worst company I've ever worked for in my 20+ years of driving. I once knew another driver who had worked for Grimes for 15 years and was preparing to retire and work part time with another company when Grimes cooked their books to keep the driver's escrow and last paycheck.