ripoff report website

by Big-D
(West)

For the past few months I have been considering trucking and researching it in depth. No fewer than 100 hours of my time has been split between this and a couple other sites geared to help new truckers adjust, and help answer Q'S from those considering the business for the first time. I realize there are pros and cons of the job and have decided that I am willing to give it a try; I have no wife or girlfriend, no children, no debt, and good renters in my rental property.
Last night, however, I did a search on google.com for two companies I am considering, and the first search result that came up was from ripoffreport.com.

As I read the complaints posted by former drivers, current drivers, and driver spouses, I felt absolutely deflated about the prospect of driving a truck. Realizing that a disgruntled employee is likely to embellish their horror story, I TRIED to take it with a grain of salt, but there are a lot of legitimate issues which seemed to be common threads in both of these companies. Hoping it was not an industry wide problem,

I looked up a couple more company names on ripoffreport and found very similar problems. I would be more than willing to list the companies names, but didnt know if that would violate this website policy, and thus find my post removed?
Nonetheless, here are some of the issues, in short:

1.)Not being given copies of signed loan agreements
2.)students were eliminated for issues they had disclosed initially on their background questionnaires. This coming AFTER they had a signed agreement to pay back thousands for the training.
3.)While in training, additional physicals given to students, after which several students were disqualified to continue. This despite the fact that they had disclosed their condition before being hired. Again, they owed the several thousand $$ or would face having their credit trashed.
4.)Being forced to sign binding arbitration agreements while still in training
5.)they expect you to drive over weight-or the dispatchers will black ball you and you'll be waiting-unpaid-for days at a time between loads
6.)trainer using your log book to drive illegally
7.)if you fail your physical exam, or a road test, you have to pay your own way home from training
8.)One driver, after deciding to quit his job, asked to be routed back to base to return the truck. His dispatcher instead sent him on a couple of runs in the wrong direction, then another. He reiterated that he wanted to be rerouted home. Dispatch tells him they will "get back to him", and leave him there another 4 hours. He decides to start heading back to the yard, when they contact him to go back to the last drop site where he finds a cop and tow driver ready to evict him from his truck. Right in the middle of rural Missouri. They later sent him a bill for truck recovery fees, and a paycheck for zero$.

I could go on and on, and you've probably seen this site before. I am hoping you can help me understand the CURRENT trainee process, and whether or not its common practice to screw a driver just because they want to leave the company, and then leave an unwarranted ding on their DAC? I realize the value of staying with your first job at least a year, but what if they have screwed you out of absolutely everything and continue making accounting oversights on your paycheck (like another guy stated on the site)? Heres a link to one of the companies with the worst rap sheet on ripoffreport.com
http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?q5=central+refrigerated&Search=Search&q1=ALL&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0&submit2=Search!

Again, I really want to truck, and am hoping someone can help me put all these accusations in perspective. I suppose I am wanting opinions on whether these trucking companies intentionally hire tons of recruits so that they can steal their schooling fees and or trap them into a job where they get screwed - only staying there as a driver in fear of retaliation. If you are a recruiter or company kiss-ass, I will be able to see that in your responses. So please don't anyone come back here and tell me that EVERYTHING on ripoffreport.com is a lie, or that its just a bunch of failed truckers that are lying because they are disgruntled. Any unbiased information will be greatly appreciated. THANK YOU, DAN

PS- A few days ago, after speaking with a couple of recruiters, I felt confident that I would get hired, and jumped the gun - I have already quit my job and was planning on trucking. It was two days later that I found ripoffreport.com