Anyone Heard Of Lobos Interstate Services?

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...

Yup just as i had too.. $225 on a flight home, i just spent $2725 on school im currently on unemployment have my car my bike and house payments and that just set me back on one of those bills which really upsets me!! All because of some scammers... i trusted what was told to me by Matt and thats all on me for thinking i could... i have learned a great lesson from this i got another job thank god and made sure to get everything emailed over to me so i have documentation and have fully researched the company from websites to forums as such..

Scott found Lobo's statement entertaining:

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."

This is boilerplate wording used by most corporations and LLCs in their organizational documents. Yes, it means a company can "engage in any lawful act or activity". But if the company had a specific objective, like "organize a truck driver school" in mind, then decided to add "establish a truck sales operation", they would have to go through a lot of legal red tape to add the new activity.

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

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

You see, these are two completely opposite strategies. This is the number one problem right now - you guys are confusing as h*ll about everything. Your message is a mess. You're either really vague, you leave things out completely, or you say two opposite things back to back. These are all huge red flags for people. To say your "marketing is designed to have people call in" means you're being intentionally vague on your website so people will have to call you. You don't want to do that. It looks shady to people, as you're hearing from our members.

Your website and your printed materials should be designed to explain things very clearly to everyone. By the time they call you they should have had access to every detail of the program already. If they haven't done the research on you guys yet then you have the website and printed materials to point them to. Most people like to do their research first and then follow that up with a phone call to clarify a few specifics. So spell out everything clearly on the website and in the printed materials.

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.

Excellent! I believe you when you say you'll explain things to people but they somehow get it confused. There's a ton of information to digest and this stuff can be baffling to people, especially if they're new to the industry. Putting everything in writing and having them sign that paperwork before they ever come out to your place is an outstanding idea.

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...

Spell out everything in writing and have them sign the paperwork before they come out. Then if they have a problem with something that was in those written materials you have every right to make them pay their own way home. But if you fail to disclose important details until people arrive then that's being deceptive.

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.

That is pure gold right there. Read that tens times at least. I can't even find a way to add anything to it. It's just pure gold.

Hey friends at TruckingTruth,

I can give you some solid info on this company, as I am currently in Salt Lake City, UT, having spent the last several days going through orientation with Lobos and being handed a load of bull**** that would hurt any scales.

They are not what they represent themselves to be, and now they have me in a bad spot.

I talked to their recruiter, who said they have jobs as a trainee driver. I have my Class A, but almost no experience. They got me on a Greyhound from Alabama to Utah for orientation. When I got here, they do not want to hire me as a driver - they want to set me up as an Owner/Operator or second choice as an Independent Contractor, start a company in my name (that I would give up all interest in once I part ways with them), and have me sign contracts with not just them, but a leasing agency, a factoring company, and a dispatch company (which just happens to run from the same upstairs office as they do). Several different contracts, all with conflicting terms, and almost no protections whatsoever for me, plus huge financials liabilities built in for me. It's a bait and switch. And if I don't sign, they will not provide a bus ticket back to Alabama for me, which will leave me stranded in near freezing temperature Utah.

I refused the sign the bait and switch contracts, and even offered to split the transportation to get home, but they just said, "We pay to get folks here to drive, but not to get them home." It's the same for drivers that actually do sign the paperwork - the company will pay to get them to the truck, but not to get them home for home time. Drivers do not get to take the truck home.

They also run something they call a school there, which is 2 horrid rigs in a big dirt field with some cones, and usually just students trying to figure out backing skills by themselves. The instructor has only had his CDL for about 6 months, and had no formal driving training himself. He went out in the lot and figured it out, then went to take his CDL test.

They offer student housing, but it's actually a 2 bedroom apartment with up to 11 men staying in it at any time. Bunk beds plus mattresses and air matresses on the floors of the bedrooms and the living room. They spend $200/wk on food for everyone, stocking the place up with ramen, peanut butter, tuna, bologna, cheese, and bread, which could be worse, but it's a limited amount of stuff. I feel bad for the students - they are led to believe things are going to be far better than they actually are when they arrive.

They are lying to people, promising things they are not coming through with, and taking advantage of folks that have few other options. I have photos of much of this, if you would like me to post them, including of the living conditions at the apartment, and of the dirt lot. Also, on their Facebook page, they have even photoshopped a sign with with their logo onto the front of the building. I have a photo of the actual front of the building with a sign of another company in place.

Lobos are completely dishonest, they are trying to take advantage of desperate people, and that really is the lowest type of person to be. I advise anyone to never deal with them.

I have already contacted the State Attorney General's Office and the Labor Commission here in Utah to get them investigated.

If there are any other questions you have about them, I'll answer them if I know the answer. I just want to save anyone else from going across the country on lies, only to be faced with the choice of signing horrible contracts or being stranded.

I can vouch for everything you just said, i just couldn't find the right wording for everything but i went through the exact same 2 months ago.. i hope they get shut down soon and hope you get home soon good luck.

Thanks, Errol. I'll contact them, too.

So, to briefly touch on John's comments. He arrived 2 days ago after having phone conversations with our recruiting staff about the program, about how owner operators work, and how there would be a contract he would need to sign. He was also given the website which has been updated with a lot more information (and I'm working on adding even more before the end of the year). So, let me address some gross exaggerations and untruths.

Apartments: We currently have 3 apartments, two are 3 bedrooms and one is 2 bedrooms. Each apartment has two people per bedroom and 1 person in the main room. So the max we have living in one apartment is 7, not 11.

Food: I've seen the receipts from the shopping trips for the school apartments and while it isn't gourmet 5 course meals, it's not devoid of nutritional value either. There's plenty of non-processed proteins and other non-junk foods.

Travel: It was explained over the phone before John came out that we do not cover return travel. We're not a travel agency, we don't pay for vacation trips to Utah, and that was explained. John was brought out to start a job and he chose to not go through with it and we parted ways. We did provide him with room and board while he was here and we took him to the station when we parted ways. It should really be understood here that we are out a not insignificant amount of money because John chose to not go forward with our job opportunity so it did not benefit us in any way to have him leave.

Contracts: We do require a contract to work with us. These contracts do bind the driver to LIMITED financial responsibility for the truck that they are leasing. Just like if you were to drive as a company driver, you're still going to be responsible for your actions while you're behind the wheel. John was convinced that he would be charged the full price of the truck if anything happened despite our assurances that this wasn't the case. Things like that are why insurance exists. The trucks are insured for cases where something does happen to protect everyone involved from financial liability. Owner-operators are also set up as a LLC which, again, has LIMITED LIABILITY. For whatever reason no amount of conversation would convince him that nobody would be coming after his house and possessions if he got into a wreck in the truck. Regarding multiple contracts, we do have sister companies that operate in the same building that provide leasing services, dispatch services, and billing/accounting services. The whole system is designed to give drivers the benefits of working for a big trucking company, while making the income and having the freedom of an owner-operator. Payments, splitting the profit of the truck, how expenses play into that, etc. were all discussed on the phone.

School Trucks: I'm not certain that I'd call a 2015 automatic Peterbilt a horrid rig... We do have a dirt lot with cones where we have the students do a lot of their practicing and yes, they do have practice time on their own. However they also have plenty of time with the instructor who has had his CDL for more than 6 months.

So, I hope that helps clear up some exaggerations and false information. Unfortunately this kind of thing does happen when some people don't listen to everything and get upset when you don't tell them everything they want to hear.

On a side note, I am looking for more input on our website lobosinterstate.com. I'm wondering if there is anything that is not on there that you guys think we should have or if something isn't clear that could be explained better?

This seems to be a bit of a he-said-she-said situation at this point, so I won't comment on the accusations of either side. However, you asked:

I'm wondering if there is anything that is not on there that you guys think we should have or if something isn't clear that could be explained better?

Something that stuck out to me...do you really allow drivers who've only had their CDLs for six weeks to become trainers? Do you believe that's safe?

Ok Mr. Lobos, I just need to chime in on a couple points here:

1. 7 people is still a LOT of people to cram into a 3 bedroom apartment no matter how you slice it. And I wouldn't necessarily call John's claim of 11 a "gross exaggeration" under these circumstances.

2. You say:

These contracts do bind the driver to LIMITED financial responsibility for the truck that they are leasing. Just like if you were to drive as a company driver, you're still going to be responsible for your actions while you're behind the wheel.

As a company driver who actually totalled a truck, I can unequivocally say that it did not cost me a single dime. The company paid the deductible, gave me another truck to drive and even gave me a significant raise 4 months later.

3. John said the instructor has had his CDL for "about 6 months." You say "more than 6 months." You both sound like you're on the same page to me. What does "more than 6 months" mean anyway? 7 months?

The funny thing is, I've seen a number of people come here with horror stories about your company, but I have yet to see a single verifiable person actually have anything good to say, other than yourself.