My Horrible Experience With Schneider Training Center In Phoenix AZ, Read Before You Apply

The Good: Application and phone interview process is smooth. I applied online, they contacted me and after a brief interview scheduled me for main interview for next 30 days! I kept calling every 3 hours every day until I got a recruiter who was free so interviewed me 28 days earlier! They cover the air fare including luggage or rental car/private car expenses from home to training center. Hotel was provided for two weeks. It was single occupant room and to be honest nice, clean, with fridge and microwave. Hotel had not that great pool and jacuzzi. Also there was a free washing machine with detergent but dryer was intentionally left broken for past months. There are losts of fast food restaurants, one dollar store, one grocery and one of the biggest/nicest laundromats of Phoenix in walking distance.

The Bad: They gave me hard time for gas reimbursement. Despite not being told in advance, they were asking for departure fill up receipt too. They were thinking that they can prevent gas fee scam by trainees! I explained them multiple times in a five years old language that it doesn't make sense because you really don't know if he filled tank 100% in departure, but they didn't get it and I gave up.

Training was in Phoenix AZ in the first half of July. 115 degrees in shade, muuch more under sun. Despite being picked up from hotel on sharp 5:45am and it was 15 minutes ride to training center, classes started on 6:30am. Later I realized that we are getting paid for that wasted 30 minutes (but probably trainers were getting paid to sit there and have long breakfast).

Hotel was Green Tree Hotel in the most unsafe part of Phoenix AZ. Hotel is mostly contracted to trucking companies so hotel staff were not giving a ... shoot to anything or anyone, very rude and literally treating trainees like less than a human. Homeless people are everywhere and you probably never saw such a big population of young and aggressive looking Homeless people in one place before. They camp under big tree in front of hotel or wandering everywhere. You have to go thru them no matter you want to walk, laundromat, fast food, dollar store, grocery, etc.

I caught them using drug or fainting under drug influence multiple times in hotel parking lot under shade. Reported to front desk and they did nothing.

Hotel parking lot is very unsafe due to homeless people and demographic of majority of guests. They don't have day time security guard and night shift guard stays mostly inside. Rooms are going to be double occupancy soon. Hit and Run in parking lot is very common, heard about at least three cases and guess what, one of them was my own car.

There are very few security cameras and hotel did it's best to make me give up trying to know who hit my car. They made me to wait for cops for 6 hours in the lobby (because they wouldn't call me if I wouldn't be there) while they knew cops are not going to issue police report.

They played game a few days and finally after I engaged Schneider management, they told me that we are going to check cameras. Next day they called me and told me that there is nothing visible in the footage. I asked for proof and they said sorry that is what it is we cannot show you anything. Schneider didn't do anything and now I am going to fix car from my own pocket, a $3,000 repair. This hotel does not even have a corporate phone number to complain.

If something happens you have to deal with front desk which are very rude and unhelpful. I managed to call a couple of phone numbers to supposedly headquarter of this hotel corporation but they were all for reservation. They told me that they don't even have a phone number to headquarter and if there is any problem I have to talk with the front desk and hotel manager. Hotel manager even didn't meet with me after this incident.

Training was literally non-existent other than doing pre-trip inspection and coupling and uncoupling over and over and over. We had to be waiting most of the times understand to observe what others are doing. Trainers were very annoying, rude and unhelpful. I think I did more than 15 couple and ucouple just because he didn't like the way I touched the airline or the way I climbed to the truck we just started learning how to park and driving Street in the last 3 days of the two weeks training.

Before that it was being under 115-120 degrees sun and doing pre-trip pre-trip pre-trip. Our pre-trip inspection was taking almost 25 minutes and they were very serious about it, but their own drivers in the yard we're not doing it at all or they were just walking around the trailer and tractor.

My trainer who I call him here Mr Darr__, was very verbally abusive especially when he was trying to teach me how to park or how to drive in the intersection. He was screaming and bumping on the dashboard or the body of trailer to tell me why I am wrong.

He kept invalidating whatever we learned in the trucking school, telling us they are wrong and we do it differently at Schneider. The second day of our parking training I told him that I was not getting the concept of parking the way he was trying to teach so I watched and learned it in YouTube. He got really mad!

Rest in comment

The Ugly: Our breakfast at hotel was always stone cold bagles from freezer, thumb size cream cheese, one smallest miniature size apple or orange (you need to realook for something that small) and a fruit yogurt that was more like a edible vaseline. Drink choice was world worst coffee in Styrofoam cups!! or cup of semi-synthetic orange juice.

Lunch for the first week was choice of an OK but not big sandwich and a soda. If you're medium or large guy like me, you needed to keep buying stuff for your breakfast and lunch from their self-service snack and deli shop. I spend average $80 per week from my pocket.

Second week lunch was horrible. It was a from Mexican style food truck. Lowest quality of food (undercooked food, not clean looking kitchen), misnaming meals (like grilled chicken sandwich for ground chicken patty) and smallest portion. Trainers absolutely took offense when I expressed my opinion about it.

Their trucks are good but not all of them have refrigerator, microwave or TV. I have been told in the phone interview that I will get a truck with these in the class they told us that only team drivers will get a new or furnished truck.

Also in the phone interview they told me that I am going to get $16 an hour for training but it turned into $15 an hour in the class. By cutting eight to nine dollars a day plus almost an hour of unpaid time being in class, you literally pay for your own daily food and commuting!!

I might forgot lots of other things but I definitely warn zero experience drivers about joining Schneider. As an experienced driver, your experience may be totally different but they treat zero experienced ones really bad and unfair.

If you have to go thru their two-week program, specifically in Phoenix AZ, I suggest you walk away. You are not there with a paid-off CDL in pocked to be abused and pre-trip inspecting tens of times in two weeks. They don't even teach anything related to driving and keep it for 3rd week on road. So if they let you go on week 2 or you leave, you literally learned zero. They are also very strict about having an in-state license according to your choice of home terminal. This unfortunate adventure cost me more than $3500 so far and counting

Dont eat the Brown Acid!

Welcome to Phoenix, it has a very bad homeless issue, still not as bad as Los Angeles, or California......PERIOD.....

AND Junkies wandering all over. Phoenix was a shythole since the mid 70s, we stopped to see old neighbors, on our way to Dallas for Xmas.....Never forget how ghetto it was even way back then lol

So, after all the complaining about Schneider etc, you failed to say if you finished training and are driving with em? Lol

Welcome to Phoenix, it has a very bad homeless issue, still not as bad as Los Angeles, or California......PERIOD.....

AND Junkies wandering all over. Phoenix was a shythole since the mid 70s, we stopped to see old neighbors, on our way to Dallas for Xmas.....Never forget how ghetto it was even way back then lol

So, after all the complaining about Schneider etc, you failed to say if you finished training and are driving with em? Lol

No, instructor was treating me poorly and I was already fed up. Asked him kindly to stop screaming but stay calm and teach me stuff, because it is not fair that I burn under sun and get humiliated and still learn stuff from YouTube. He walked to the manager and reported me as an unsafe driver! Their policy is testing trainee with another instructor to see where is the problem, but they were already picking at my CA new residency and NV license, so they made an excuse and sent me home. Worst Waste of Two Weeks in My Whole Life.

Hmmm Well, I have kept my Calif license since I was 16. Even when living in tri-state area of Ca/Az/Nev. Lived in Az 10 years with it, worked at Ford dealer in Needles, Cal. So test drove cars n trucks on Cali part of I-40 . Only issue I ever had was got stopped by NHP in Laughlin, NV 1 night. Cop said, why do you have Cali license with an Az address??? I explained why, he was a smartass, said "You wouldn't get away with that in Nevada", I said, well officer, I don't live in Nevada, DO I ?? lol

Really I don't get why Schneider would care either way, since once you have your CDL it will be for whatever "home" state you have as a place of residency,??

Hmmm Well, I have kept my Calif license since I was 16. Even when living in tri-state area of Ca/Az/Nev. Lived in Az 10 years with it, worked at Ford dealer in Needles, Cal. So test drove cars n trucks on Cali part of I-40 . Only issue I ever had was got stopped by NHP in Laughlin, NV 1 night. Cop said, why do you have Cali license with an Az address??? I explained why, he was a smartass, said "You wouldn't get away with that in Nevada", I said, well officer, I don't live in Nevada, DO I ?? lol

Really I don't get why Schneider would care either way, since once you have your CDL it will be for whatever "home" state you have as a place of residency,??

They were kind of Our or No Way. I bet they cannot treat experienced drinew hire or not the same way, so they were putting all their ego on zeeo experienced new hires. They can enjoy their high turn over rate... Train new drivers, Make them hate you, Loose them as soon as they find a better or even similar opportunity, rinse and repeat!!

Poor thing

mis-naming meals (like grilled chicken sandwich for ground chicken patty

My favorite complaint of the whole rant!!

mis-naming meals (like grilled chicken sandwich for ground chicken patty

My favorite complaint of the whole rant!!

I wrote it because it was obvious Someone in operation center management level has a deal with that food truck and god knows how much they were billing Schneider for the trash they were serving trainees. You or some people maybe ok to be put under 120 degrees sun for 7 hours a day and fed crap in the name of training, but it doesn't apply everybody. Either someone was billing Schneider and actually were not supposed to be served that, or Schneider really cannot afford a decent man's meal for its trainees abd better to reconsider if they really want/need more employees.