The following happened to me when I applied to USA Truck out of Van Buren, Arkansas through a multiple application service (The service is not the focus of this complaint). Supposedly, I was going to a 5-day refresher course then on to USA Truck for a new career. No such luck, as it turned out. Details will begin shortly, but let me just warn everyone away from USA Truck in Van Buren, Arkansas. Don't work for them. Don't hire them as a common carrier for your freight. Boycott them until they go belly up and they have to sell their entire stock of tractors, trailers, and buildings, or declare bankruptcy.

My problem is with their recruiting department. If recruiters--the folks on the forefront who talk with potential new drivers--can't be entrusted to keep their word, then neither can the rest of them. They're not even honest or stable with the vendors they use to handle multiple applications. If they can't be trusted within their own vertical markets, in my humble opinion, then they can't be trusted at all!

Detailing this will take a minute or two. So here goes: I fill out one of these online applications that causes the application to be sent to many different trucking companies at once. Granted, this is a time saver, and is convenient for the driver seeking employment so that one doesn't have to apply directly to each and every company. I have no problem with this. I used it. No problem.

Issues arise, however, when I'm told something--like 'you're approved for a 5-day refresher course on such and such a date, ' I give 3 weeks notice at my present job, then have the trucking company back out at the last minute for frivolous reasons.

By frivolous, I mean a sequence of events that went something like this:

1. I apply online (can't remember the site, offhand.)

2. I'm called by a representative from a company that handles the applications for the trucking industry, stating that I need to call the trucking company and give some more detailed information. (No problem at this point, just normal procedures.)

3. I call the trucking company, and they say we're all set for the 5-day refresher course and to call them one week prior to actually going to the refresher-course driving center so they can send the trucking school some health documents.

4. Well, it so happens, at my present job, I have some issues related to illness which cause me to miss a couple of days; they take me off the schedule and I am effectively 'fired.'

5. Since I'm, essentially, going to another job anyway, why not see if I can up the date a bit (There was about a 2 1/2 week wait at that point.) So I call the truck driving school at which I'm going to have the 5-day refresher course, and it so happens they have an opening for a week early.

6. I call the trucking company to see if they can coordinate and accommodate my request. They tell me that they have a limited number of students that they can send at any one time, and have to check on it. (Again, no problem here, a completely acceptable and plausible procedure.)

7. So I wait for a call, don't receive it, and call them back. Well, this is where it gets sticky. I'm told that they can accommodate my request. No problem, except for the fact that I was informed earlier that there would be no cost for the refresher and that the trucking company would pay for it. They state that I will have to pay $150 up front at the school.

I tell them that I'm very short on funds right then, and that's not what I was told. Well, I'm more or less okay with it, if somewhat reluctant--my funds are *that* low!--but I tell them I'll pay the $150.

8. This is where it gets *really* sticky: I'm told to 'wait a minute' at that juncture, at which point I'm put on hold, then, when they come back, I'm told that instead of $150 I'll have to pay $250 and attend a 3-Week Course--a full course. This, even though I attended this very same school in August of 2007 for a 4 WEEK 160 HOUR FULL COURSE, with a 93% overall GPA!

9. So I tell them I can't pay the $250, and that I've already been through the course, have my CDL, and that a 5-day refresher is all I need. I know my own ability, so I don't have a problem with this. Well, at length, they tell me I have to pay the $250 and attend the 3 week full course. I disagree, and state my point again.

10. Conversation breaks down at this point and I ask to speak with the recruiting supervisor. They're not there immediately, so I wait a day. Day after comes, and I contact the recruitment supervisor, who says they'll look over my case, and contact me later.

11. Not hearing from the supervisor for a while, I call them back up. I'm politely told at that time, something to the effect of 'Mr. Brown, we have people who are better qualified than you, and can not hire you at this time.'

12. I ask the supervisor--in very colloquial 'trucker-like' vernacular--to just 'lay our cards on the table' and tell me what the detailed reason is they won't hire me. I'm told, something to the effect of, 'we don't share that kind of information with applicants.'

We trade polite goodbyes, and the call ends.

So, folks, what do you think? Do you see fraud in here? Lying? Dishonesty, to be sure. About the only thing I'm really miffed at myself about is that I didn't get anything in writing first. That will not happen a second time, I'll tell you that!

I was looking forward to a new career with USA Truck, for at least a year. Once situated with a carrier, I do not plan on bouncing from carrier to carrier. I want a solid footing with one company, get my first-year's experience, and perhaps continue with that carrier for a few years.

There won't be any years with USA Truck for me. No Way! No How! Not Ever! USA Truck is on my permanent blacklist!

My own advice: 1. Stay Away from U.S.A. Truck 2. Get any offer of employment in writing and make certain the trucking company will stick to it!