Roadmasters "bait And Switch."

After much debate and flip-flopping between company CDL or driving school, I decided to do Roadmasters. I met with one of their recruiters and everything seemed good. I was told that there would be no problems for me to get approved. No mention was made of credit checks or income requirements. At the time of the meeting, I had a full time job and if I was given the full details of the process, I could have made my schedule work and be able to show income on my application. Since I was told everything was "good to go", by the recruiter, I put in my two weeks. Now Roadmasters waits until the 2nd week to process the credit application. I don't know too many people that can put in 50 hours a week at Roadmasters and hold a full time job. I thought I had a good plan for bridging my transition into my driving career. I had all my bills covered for a couple months, some tucked away for emergencies, and a safety net coming in September, but they're wanting $1500.00 as a down payment, there's no telling what the overall payoff is going to be. I had planned on doing tuition reimbursement, but I'm not sure Werner's $7500.00 would even cover the cost of school.

I feel like Roadmasters took me for a ride a bit. They didn't blatantly lie, but they were not forthcoming, with vital information, until way too late in the game. Unfortunately, I was enjoying school and thought the instructors were good. Also, I did find that I enjoy driving these trucks, but I feel compelled to explore another option for my training. I'm reverting back to my original plan and I will be in Springfield,MO on Monday, for Orientation at Prime. I know that won't be perfect either, but I'm excited about potential opportunities there.

I'm reverting back to my original plan and I will be in Springfield,MO on Monday, for Orientation at Prime. I know that won't be perfect either, but I'm excited about potential opportunities there.

David,

You will find that the training at Prime will meet your needs and expectations. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Ernie

Prime is awesome ;) insist on doing all the backing n sorry about your experience

Thanks Ernie and Rainy, Call it a lesson learned, but that's in the side mirror. I feel really good about going to Prime and hope to have a long career there. I know they have a great training program and a variety of driving opportunities.

I was initially going to go to a private school, but that changed once I contacted a few recruiters. Swift ended up being able to place me in a local private school that was "Approved" by them & they covered the upfront cost of tuition. Win/Win.

Hope everything works out for you in SpringMo. Keep us updated and...

David, I'm confused. Roadmaster has an excellent reputation, they've been at this for a long time.

It sounds to me like you thought you weren't going to have to pay them anything until you were done, and then you would take your tuition reimbursement from Werner and make some sort of payments with that - am I understanding you correctly? Usually that word reimbursement implies that you have already paid something and now it is being given back to you.

I can't tell for sure what happened here, but it sounds like a little naivety on your part to think you were going to go through the school not even knowing what it cost, hoping they would float you along until you started getting reimbursement checks from your employer. I don't think you got the old "bait an switch," I think you just didn't dig deep enough to realize your responsibility in this endeavor.

Word of caution: Make sure you understand your commitment to Prime before you get started - they will pursue every legal means of getting paid for what they do for you. A contract is just that, an agreement between two parties. Nobody gets into this career for free - their is some form of payment to be made.

Prime is a great way to go, but not if you don't understand what you are getting into.

It sounds to me like you thought you weren't going to have to pay them anything until you were done

I think the OP detailed that they gave him a false sense of security by failing to execute his credit check in a timely fashion.

I've found quite a few institutions like Roadmasters make a sales pitch like "no (or little) money down"to get you in the door & talking to them. The tiny print is where they get ya.

If the OP had a good credit score, they most likely would have floated him until his tuition reimbursement kicked in.

David I don't think there was any "bait and switch" here nor did they mislead you. It's stated very clearly on their website they offer financing for

qualified individuals

. Meaning you need to be credit worthy. Although they did not execute the credit check in a timely fashion, the outcome would have been the same, only you would have known sooner.

You should do fine with Prime...but I suggest like Old School pointed out to clearly understand what you are getting into before you sign anything.

Some suggested reading: Company-Sponsored Training Programs

This may also help you to see how Prime rates on TT review page: Trucking Company Reviews

There are plenty of folks on here driving for Prime happy to check-in with you and tout the merits of being a Prime driver. Good luck to you.

Thanks for the input everyone, I admit that "bait and switch" might be a bit harsh, but the point I was making is that the recruiter "sugar coated" the process. We talked about the tuition and he stated several times, I would be approved and even did a follow up call to confirm my start date. He never asked about the strength of my credit and gave me the impression it didn't matter how bad it was. He even told me not to worry about the tuition payments, because the Companies would cover most, if not all, directly. Most of these big companies say, right on the job post, that they will pay the loan directly. To be clear, I'm not attempting to bash Roadmasters as a School. I was enjoying the training there and thought the instructors were doing well. I just feel they should handle finance way sooner in the process, I filled out an application, for the school, in my first meeting with the recruiter. Why not file a credit application at that time instead of blindsiding people in the second week when the school is only three weeks long. I'm not attempting to get anything for free and I understand the commitment I will be making to Prime. I was actually planning on going there originally, but thought getting my CDL first would help with job options. Now, I'm back to my original plan and I'm fine with that. I'm just ready to get rolling.

Thanks for the input everyone, I admit that "bait and switch" might be a bit harsh, but the point I was making is that the recruiter "sugar coated" the process. We talked about the tuition and he stated several times, I would be approved and even did a follow up call to confirm my start date. He never asked about the strength of my credit and gave me the impression it didn't matter how bad it was. He even told me not to worry about the tuition payments, because the Companies would cover most, if not all, directly. Most of these big companies say, right on the job post, that they will pay the loan directly. To be clear, I'm not attempting to bash Roadmasters as a School.

I find this interesting because these were the exact things that personally turned me away from Roadmaster originally. It is interesting how people think and see things differently.