Radically bad weight on LTL freight load. How to challenge?

Hi guys,

Here's today's problem:
We just did a tradeshow last month, and sent our usual show crate, out and back. About the size of a coffee table, waist high. Weighs about 550#.
The LTL was handled by the tradeshow's logistics company. Ended up being Yellow.
Crate got there and back just fine. (for once)

BUT!

The BOL on the outbound leg shows a certified weight of 510#. Just what it should be.
The BOL on the return leg shows a "certified' weight of 1087#. More than twice what it actually was.
We sold about half the crap in it at the show, and added nothing. No way does it more than double in weight, coming home empty.
As soon as I saw that on the BOL, I threw it on our crane scale, and got a weight of about 515#. Without touching it, and within about 10 minutes of delivery. So I have a photo of it hanging on our crane scale, with the 515# showing. (there was about 20# of chains holding it up, and it's a crane scale.)

I challenged it with YRC immediately. Took a week and change, but now whoever at YRC handles this, has denied the challenge. I supplied their PRO# for the outbound leg (510#) and the photo of it on our crane scale.
Their comment was that unless we had a some sort of certified weight proving it was 500#, no joy.

This doesn't even pass the giggle test: they weighed it on the outbound at 510#, they *know* it was an out-and-back to a tradeshow. So how on earth does it double in weight coming back from a *woodworking* tradeshow???

The BOL shows it being weighed once, in Chicago. (Show was in Cincinnati.) Now they say it was weighed 3 times and showed 1087 all three times. Bull. It's padlocked shut. Locks were OK, contents undisturbed. Even if somebody had popped it open to bootleg something in, there wasn't *room* in there for much of anything, certainly not another 500# worth of crap. (It's got all the booth junk in it, which doesn't change. The merchandise is aluminum, so selling that doesn't remove much weight.)

At this point, I'm looking for suggestions on how to proceed from here. I have the outbound BOL for a starting weight.
Part of it's on me for letting them unload before I read the whole BOL, so yeah, mea culpa. Meanwhile, what next?

Thanks,
Brian

I had a similar crate shipping fiasco with Yellow Freight - sent a 2400 lb crate of "antique auto frame and body parts". The basic shell and frame of a 1936 Suburban, no motor, no tranny, no tires, no radiator, no seats - just frame, axles and body, all in pieces.

The shipper poked a hole in the end of the crate and "inspected" for damage. Claimed that he saw a crate full of radiators . . . different commodity class and upped the freight bill by roughly 300%

No amount of documentation, photos, subsequent inspections would change the mind of the Yellow Freight representative that changed the Bill of Lading to a shipment of "radiators". Essentially, he lied to me over the phone without any sense that he was in the wrong.

We average over $50k in shipping costs a year via all manner of trucking outfits - not a penny more will ever go to Yellow Freight.

Yeah, I don't think that we have a winning dog in this fight. Yellow Freight is a lot like

Pacific Graft & Extortion (PG&E).

Lee (the saw guy)

I had a sheetmetal coolant tank shipped to me by Yellow Freight. I paid about $100 for the tank and shipping was quoted at $150. I went to their terminal to pick it up. They told me it was classified wrong and they wanted $500 for freight. I told them that they could keep it and started walking away. They settled for $150.

So have any of you filed complaints with the ICC (or whoever oversees this sort of thing?) Even if you can't prove enough for a formal case, I would think that if they hear enough, they might take a look.

Of course, it IS a government agency, but still...

Sounds a bit like the "trade show premium" division got their hands on this. Seems like anything associated with doing a trade show gets an instant 2X -5X markup, in my experience.

I would suggest that maybe a regional account manager for Yellow Freight could be "summoned" to visit. If you have shipped this stuff on multiple occasions, with a recorded history of roughly the same weight, maybe that will carry some punch in a face-to-face meeting. Additionally, if these guys were engaged by the tradeshow management, long-loud complaint should be made to them.

Have they bee paid? I'd not pay pay them if they haven't. They will of course threaten to sue. So have a check for the amount ready if you go to court. Hand the check to their lawyer. He'll cash it, take his share and give them the balance, like 50% of it. You won't actually win but you'll probably feel better about.

Some years ago there was a lumber yard we did work for. We heard they were likely to go bankrupt. So we sent a truck over and loaded up anything we could possibly need as they owed us money. A few months later a lawyer calls to collect for the materials we got, they had gone bankrupt. I told him to come right over and I'd pay the bill. Oh, and bring your checkbook for the job you owe us. He says "You can't do that, it's not legal!" I said "I know, get a lawyer and sue me!" Never heard anymore.

Any chance that charges can be brought against them for "Fraudulent Billing"? If a shop shipped 500 parts and billed for 1000 or more, that is a crime. Why not the same for YF? BTW, YF has always been a arrogant company. Their bad attitude filters down to most of the drivers.

Personally, I would sue them, but that's just me. I love to sue people. I find it to be an extremely efficient way to make money. Never had to sue a freight company, but I would look forward to that event, should it occur, since my experience is that the more stupid the defendant is, the faster and more decisive my victory in court.

How much are we talking here... $200-$300 extra? You've already wasted half that or more fighting the charge. Walk away and make sure to slander Yellow every chance you get.

had it, and not gonna take it any more

there is some wisdom for sure, in the "just walk away" philosophy, especially if fighting could get you hurt, dead, or doin hard time, but fuck these bastards!

first check the terms of the contract, what laws apply to interstate commerce? are there federal laws? can we form an "class" and get some real heavyweight lawyering? how about media? social media? { #yellowscrewedme } we have enough power to fight this if we coordinate a little here. anyone else have a story? anyone a lawyer? this, and the other threads about Fastenal, riggers, etc, etc, as people who make our living moving heavy shit around, its time to put a stop to this! anyone with me here??

I no longer allow yellow freight on the property. Even if I loose a sale.

I shipped a small crate collect. Yellow sent me a bill. When I called they claim I was to pay it. Even though BOL was marked collect they claimed that the copy they had was "marked out with an X and checked shipper pays". After the first bill for several hundred they sent several more bills for smaller amounts for other tack on charges.

I kept calling and talking to new people. Each said it was taken care of. Then another bill would show up marked overdue. Took 6 months to straighten out.

Call the state attorney general.

I have seriously considered calling them from a pay phone (if I can find one) and scheduling a pickup at a nearby empty building. Meet them with my forklift and some heavy POS I want gone. Load it up. Hand them a BOL to a fake address with fake names on both ends, and wave by.

Part of the problem is they give a bonus when the dock workers catch overweight. So it is any easy task to lower the crate onto the scale along with the forks and mast. Maybe throw in a warm body or two. Instant bonus.

As for certified scale, do they expect you to believe that your scale is off by 1/2?

Hi guys,

I'm already working it via the logistics company's freight rep, we'll see what comes of that, but I don't hold a whole lot of hope.
Will also have a chat with the editor of the magazine that organized the show. I don't expect her to be able to do much, but more pressure is always helpful.

I don't know about the money yet. YRC is billing the logistics company, not us, and it's all snarled at the moment.
This is a business decision, not a matter of personal honor, so if it looks like it'll end up costing more to fight it than it's worth, we'll walk away.
I very nearly had to sue someone for libel last year. Ended up not being required, and I'm just as glad. The only real winners in a fight like that are the lawyers, and that's not the point, at least from my point of view.

Will definitely send a letter to the state AG. Anybody got contact info for western region (CA) of the ICC? Don't expect much from either, obviously, but more documentation may help the next poor bastard.

Meanwhile, anybody have any successful strategies for challenging a bad weight?

Thanks,
Brian

Big companies do not realize how much negative publicity they get on forums like this. I remember a few years ago, one long-standing member got badly bilked by a major trucking firm, over a freight class number.. IIRC, it was Thousands of dollars, and he was having the same results you are. I always make a point to steer any shipments away from that company and the other lines under their name. Bad publicity costs companies 10 or even 1000 fold what they get in ill-gotten gains.

Mebfab said:

I no longer allow yellow freight on the property. Even if I loose a sale.

I shipped a small crate collect. Yellow sent me a bill. When I called they claim I was to pay it. Even though BOL was marked collect they claimed that the copy they had was "marked out with an X and checked shipper pays". After the first bill for several hundred they sent several more bills for smaller amounts for other tack on charges.

I kept calling and talking to new people. Each said it was taken care of. Then another bill would show up marked overdue. Took 6 months to straighten out.

Call the state attorney general.

I have seriously considered calling them from a pay phone (if I can find one) and scheduling a pickup at a nearby empty building. Meet them with my forklift and some heavy POS I want gone. Load it up. Hand them a BOL to a fake address with fake names on both ends, and wave by.

Click to expand...

Load them up with old truck tires, they will have to PAY to get rid of them!

wawoodman said:

So have any of you filed complaints with the ICC

Click to expand...

The ICC was terminated in 1995.

Mebfab said:

Part of the problem is they give a bonus when the dock workers catch overweight. So it is any easy task to lower the crate onto the scale along with the forks and mast. Maybe throw in a warm body or two. Instant bonus.

As for certified scale, do they expect you to believe that your scale is off by 1/2?

Click to expand...

You are SO full of shit. Yellow is covered by the Teamsters National Master Freight Agreement, no bonuses there. Every carrier has a Weighing and Inspection program to combat classification and weight fraud. There is plenty enough that they don't have to make any up.

I might point out that Yellow is the Y in YRC which includes Roadway Express and USF. All these carriers are parts of the same network.

Mebfab said:

I no longer allow yellow freight on the property. Even if I loose a sale.

Click to expand...

+1. I swore off Yellow years ago for good reasons. Last one was a dock worker of some sort using a Sunbeam Tiger 4 speed for ballast in the trunk of his car for the months of Jan and Feb circa 1982. (It went missing in Dec., couldn't be found. First sunny day in March a guy pulled up and got it out of his trunk with some folded up paperwork and had me sign for it, It looked like hell all rusty. I asked WTH, he said do you want it or not?) Last year I used them against my better judgement because my broker talked me into what seemed like a simple transaction. I got burned for an extra $400 on a $250 shipment through a reclassification. Never again.

Is there really much $ difference between 550# and 1100# ???

It seems to me that you generally pay the 1000# price for anything up to 1000# and then you pay x% extra for whatever is above that. So in this case - it would seem that your fee would be 10% more.

Not true?
Or are we just talking principals here?


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