Anyone Heard Of Lobos Interstate Services?

I beg to differ your owner even begged me.

And no you have take advantage of ppl with horrible records and newbies who are lazy and do not want to do a lil bit of research.

Now normally we never let anyone post this style of bashing complaints against companies or schools because they are rarely ever valid. People lie all the time to get revenge or to save face. People also tend to have incredibly poor assessments or interpretations of a situation, especially ones they're intimately involved in.

However Lobos, you guys are still a great concern to me. Like this kind of thing:

I'm pretty sure I talked about the paperwork and orientation on the phone; if I didn't mention explicitly that there was a contract you'd have to sign on the phone then I apologize

You have to know that this is completely unacceptable. You absolutely can not bring someone into your program without explaining the details thoroughly beforehand, especially considering the nature of your program. Your website is purposely vague and doesn't explain anything at all about signing contracts, leasing trucks, or anything of that nature. To this very moment even I don't really understand the nature of the contract you're asking people to sign. Your site says:

We want you to get paid like an Owner Operator , making $1,000, $2,000 even $3,000 a Week! but drive like a company driver, not having to worry about all the intricate details involved with owning your own company. We will create and manage it for you so you can sit back and enjoy the road

So you're training them and then what? They're buying the truck from you? They're leasing it from you? How long is the contract and what exactly are the requirements to fulfill it?

After you complete your 60K OTR training we will get you a job with one of our partner companies. You just have to commit to stay with that job for 6 months and your school tuition will be 100% covered. That's a $6,500 value! After you complete the 6 months of driving its entirely up to you whether you want to continue driving or sign on with another company.

You will get a job or you will lease a truck? That's two entirely different things.

I don't even want you guys to explain to me right here and now what you do. I want you to put the details in no uncertain terms on your website and give people every detail they need to know before they even agree to come to your facility. I've said earlier in this thread that I don't necessarily have a problem with your business model. What I have a problem with is your marketing tactics. As long as you're completely honest with people and give them all of the information they need to decide whether or not your program is right for them then I'm cool with that. But I've been in this industry for 22 years and I can't make heads or tails of your program, so obviously a new driver won't be able to either.

As much as I hate it, for now I'm going to leave this conversation up. Until you guys clear up your marketing and recruiting I can't take this down. These are legitimate complaints people have about you guys. At some point I'd love to see your website rebuilt using very clear language and I'd like to see a copy of the contract you're having people sign. If I can clearly understand your program and your marketing then I have no problem with anything you guys are offering. But as of right now I'm kinda baffled by it all.

That's why I answered Tony the way I did. There are certain details in his complaint that do match up with Lobo's published teaching plan, and several elements of ripping people off.

If Matt is a recruiter, and is not sure whether he discussed contracts and leasing with a candidate (or a mark!), Matt is way defficient in his scruples.

That's why I answered Tony the way I did. There are certain details in his complaint that do match up with Lobo's published teaching plan, and several elements of ripping people off.

If Matt is a recruiter, and is not sure whether he discussed contracts and leasing with a candidate (or a mark!), Matt is way defficient in his scruples.

I have a lot of different phone calls every day and the conversation I had with Anthony was sometime in September. I don't recall every word I said to him on that phone call so, yes, it is possible I didn't use the word "contract" specifically. I don't know if you guys have tried to get jobs in other industries but they typically don't say things like "you're going to have to fill out a W4" or "you're going to need to sign a company policy contract" when you talk to them about the job on a phone interview because it's common knowledge that those things have to happen in order to start working. Would you call McDonald's shady because they don't tell their cooks they have to fill out a W4 on the phone?

It's not like we're throwing outrageous terms in the fine print of a contract and secretly putting the page in with other forms for the guys to sign. Everything is explained in great detail in our office before anything is signed. That's why we pay for travel to bring them out to our office if they are not in-state. We want to be able to sit down with them, in-person, to cover every little detail that is going on with our system and what they can expect out on the road. I would LOVE to be able to spend 2 hours with every single person that calls in about our opportunities going through our entire orientation process but, the fact of the matter, is that is just not practical. Like I mentioned in the post from yesterday, we are continually improving our processes to make things better. We're now doing checklists, summaries, etc. all written down and presented before anyone gets on a bus so they can know exactly what to expect. This came about because (and I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me) I will tell someone something explicitly on the phone and they say they were told something entirely different from what I said three days later. So, in order to combat that kind of issue, we're not only going over things on the phone but we're doing the written summary of the phone conversation and having them sign that paper to show that they understand everything.

My goal is to eliminate all confusion out of the recruiting process without spending 2 hours on every potential phone call that comes into the office. I will fully admit that things were confusing when I first started with the company 5 months ago and I thank Brett for bringing some things to my attention as well that I've been able to correct. It's an ongoing process, though, and I'm working on it every day. There are some things that you would think are a given (like the fact that you have to sign a contract and paperwork before taking out a very expensive truck) that I've had to spell out for people before. I'll fully admit that it's been a learning process for me, but I think things are significantly better now than when I started and I will continue to improve things as time goes on.

I'm sorry, but I am not going to address Brett's post as I've already explained a lot of that. I've already explained that our marketing is designed to have people call in so that all questions can be asked and things can be explained and proper expectations can be set. In the past the proper expectations haven't always been set; most drivers get it and understand but there are a few, like Anthony, that don't and that's why we've been improving out processes and sending out a lot of the information in writing before we book people's travel. I know videos are being worked on as well by another person I work with to explain everything in video form as well. I'm sorry our entire orientation process isn't on the website, but, as I've said many many times here, anyone can call us and we'll be happy to explain things and answer any questions.

No what you are doing is not telling people so they get to Utah and when they don't sign they have to pay their own ride home... And that's shady...

No what you are doing is not telling people so they get to Utah and when they don't sign they have to pay their own ride home... And that's shady...

As you just pointed out, WE pay for them to get to our office. WE pay that. It's not in our best interests to mislead people to come out here and then have them not go with us. That costs us money. There is this misconception here that we somehow intentionally "spring" things on people for some kind of laugh. The fact is that most people that come out understand what is going on and they get here with a solid concept of what to expect and they go out and make good money. Some people take some extra consideration and explanation. That is why we've started putting things in written form and we have new drivers and students sign these documents before they come out stating that they understand what has been laid out in the document and that is what they can expect. That holds both of us accountable.

Company just looks like all around like bad news. Website is not clear, Facebook has photo shopped trucks on the cover photo with their CDL class info on the side. Why not put the trucks you use for your CDL school then? Ton of red flags most reputable companies i have researched normally left me with 0 questions after checking their websites. Jobs they had available, benefits, yes any kind of contract that needed to be signed it was all there. I mean at the minimum don't you think potential applicants would want to know where you guys are located? That's not even on there.

Just for "yucks" I visited your website Mr. Lobos...I didn't get very far. Please tell us how it's possible for a trainee to drive 60,000 miles in 10-12 weeks? Or are those two mutually exclusive. If they are not, good grief. Confusing? Never mind...I really don't need an explanation. I will forewarn you all, this is going to be a rant. To continue, in one of your numerous posts you made the below statement:

I have a lot of different phone calls every day and the conversation I had with Anthony was sometime in September. I don't recall every word I said to him on that phone call so, yes, it is possible I didn't use the word "contract" specifically. I don't know if you guys have tried to get jobs in other industries but they typically don't say things like "you're going to have to fill out a W4" or "you're going to need to sign a company policy contract" when you talk to them about the job on a phone interview because it's common knowledge that those things have to happen in order to start working. Would you call McDonald's shady because they don't tell their cooks they have to fill out a W4 on the phone?

Really???? Common knowledge is relative and not a valid defense of what occurred. What is common to me isn't necessarily common to an entry level truck driver void of industry experience and many times, life experience.

Truck driving is my second career because among other things I grew exceedingly weary with this sort of thing and intolerant of situational ethics. I spent the better part of 30 years in the business world so I have developed a keen sense of when someone is winging it or making it up as they go. IMO I think you could be taking advantage of people by either telling them what they want to hear or not telling them specifically what they need to hear or should hear. From one individual to the other there seems to be a general lack of continuity in your organization. Not sure if it's deliberate or lack of process, either way the result is the same.

As referred to in the above claim, mixing the need to fill out a W4 with a so called contract or agreement creates confusion. One has nothing to do with the other, so the comparison although entertaining, is rather flawed. If you are training an entry level driver, by all means you should be totally clear and transparent regarding the need to sign a contract or agreement with back-end financial obligations and/or tenure requirements. Contrary to your point, I know of no company trucking or otherwise, that does not disclose something of that nature during the initial discussion or meeting or interview.

I do not know what your overall business model is but I can tell you that if you want to positively differentiate your company from all the others this forum is seriously interested in, the least you can do is create a consistent, repeatable message establishing synergy between your actual policies, your website and how and what your associates communicate to applicants. The prudent thing to do here is stop defending what happened or didn't happen, stop engaging with the finger pointing, and regroup with your management. Take the needed corrective action and come back to this forum introducing the positive adjustments applied to your process. Offer something tangible, not a bunch of lip service.

If you do that you might stand a chance of restoring some level of credibility. For what it's worth...good luck.

I'm finding this Thread very entertaining. I spent $4 and downloaded Lobos Interstate Services, LLC Certificate of Organization and a recent summary of changes from UTAH state Department of Commerce:

1. Their Certificate of Organization: dtd. May 20, 2014 whose principal Manager at the time was Mike Whipple. I love Article III of their LLC (Company Purposes and Powers) "The Company is organized for the object and purpose to engage in any lawful act or activity for which a limited liability company may be organized under the Act. To accomplish said purpose, the Company shall have all the power enumerated in the Act."

Their purpose is what? "any lawful act"....what does that mean?

2. Maybe the new principal Manager (as of 6/3/15), Garrett Barber, should enlighten us to the companies objectives and purpose of their business model.

3. Interesting how Arrowhead Dispatch Services uses the same registered agent (RSA Registered Agent Corp) as Lobos, there are several documents available for download from UTAH's DOC site.