CDL Training At Roadmasters West Memphis, AR

SO, I decided, after consideration of different available options, to pull the trigger and attend Roadmasters CDL program. I am from Kansas and, because Kansas does not recognize training from Oklahoma, they sent me to West Memphis, AR for my training. I have been here for a week and I will outline some of my opinions and some facts about the program and my experiences so far.

First, you have two options to pay for the class. You can pay for cash or you can finance the program. The easiest option, of course, is: pay for the program and for the room, if you are from out of town, in cash. The cash option for the training is around four thousand dollars plus seven hundred and sixty dollars for the room. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to pay cash so I had to finance the room and the room. The finance route will run six thousand nine hundred and ninety five dollars plus seven hundred and sixty dollars for the room. My loan total, with interest charges, came to a little over ten thousand dollars. More on the specifics in a little bit.

Before I chose Roadmasters, I did some research to find whatever negatives I can about this school and quality of training. First, for those that do not know Werner bought Roadmasters. This becomes apparent once you arrive on site. More on this later. I did come across some some complaints registered with the BBB. Most of these complaints claimed that Roadmasters failed to tell people about the down payment required for the loan. This amount could range from four hundred dollars all the way up to twenty five hundred dollars. They try to push a co-signer pretty hard during the interview process.

The first step is to call Roadmasters. You will talk with a recruiter that will ask you some questions. They claim that they work with 17 different carriers and that they are more of a job placement agency that trains potential candidates. The interview you go through with the recruiter is supposed to make sure you are able to be placed. In theory they will not let you attend if you are not able to be placed in a job. (Editorial) Although, based on a conversation I had with the placement person, this may not be the case for cash customers.

After your interview, they will tell you about the loan and how much money you are required to have down. I told my recruiter that I have zero dollars to put down and nobody to act as a co-signer. I had to tell them this a few times. Each time they kept saying that I would owe one thousand for the down payment. Each time I told them I could not pay that. My recruiter finally said that he might be able to get the down payment down to four hundred dollars. Due to the weekend it took a couple of days to hear back from him. He was able to get the down payment to four hundred dollars. I spoke with my parents and I was able to borrow four hundred so everything is good so far. Total money I owed at this point was the four hundred down payment plus some out of pocket expenses when I was to arrive on site. These included licensing fees and a testing packet. These fees totaled one hundred and eighty dollars. (Editorial) Each time I did either speak with him or his boss, my recruiter was sick for about a week during this whole time, neither one could remember which school date I was signed up for. A few times they kept trying to switch me to an earlier date after I already told them I was not able to make that date.

The Monday before I left for class the recruiter called me to finalize and make sure I was still going to class the next week. Remembering the stories I read on the BBB website i made them send me an email stating how much I owed for the down payment. (editorial) I was not going to have any surprises like those people. Although, honestly, at the time I was thinking that maybe the recruiters told them and they just did not remember. I don't think that was the case now

I left Kansas that Sunday before I was supposed to be there. I arrived at the "hotel". The hotel that is contracted with Roadmasters is a Red Roof Inn. Now, the seven hundred and sixty dollars that you finance/pay for the room is for double occupancy. So, you will share a room with a complete stranger. Or, you can pay extra money and get a single room. But, the financed amount for the room does not cover these fees. They will come right out of your pocket.

Now lets talk about the hotel. This will involve a lot of my opinion. First lets address the breakfast. I was told that there would be breakfast at the hotel. What we really get is juice or coffee. There is also a tub of doughnuts. I have not tried them but I hear they are stale. The front overhang of the building was ripped of by a driver and now there is a hole in the roof covered by a blue tarp. I got to my room and 3 out of four lamps in my room were burnt out. The bathroom light and the light over the sink worked. The outlet that the microwave and mini fridge are plugged into was damaged. The plug for the microwave kept falling out of the outlet. At the time I did not see any bugs. But, again I heard from a few of the other students that they had roaches in there rooms. Monday morning I spoke with the front desk lady and informed her of the outlet. After telling them everyday for four days the outlet was finally fixed. FOUR DAYS to fix the outlet. My roommate and I are paying over fifteen hundred dollars for this room for nineteen days and it takes them four days to fix the outlet. Continued

Continued...The fan cover in the bathroom was falling off and I informed them about it. It was fixed in one day. I did see a roach crawling in the shower today. So, I do believe the other people when they complain about bugs. There are twenty people in our class. they are living in the hotel. that is over fifteen hundred dollars per ten rooms. This is done every twenty days all year around. This "hotel" is making a killing off of the students and is not running a very clean hotel. This is absolutely ridiculous.

I will continue this at a later time. It is late and this could take up another ten thousand words...so.....continued later