CDL STUDENTS BEWARE!!!

I am a down on his luck disabled Veteran and can only drive automatic transmissions in any vehicle including Tractor Trailers. Been out of work for 9 out of the past 12 months, living on credit cards and have used up the last of my savings to pay December and January's mortgage. I was interested in a local CDL school that I could drive to each day and CDS-CDL sent me a large red, white, and blue folder with tons of information on their school and several community colleges they are located at. I had several email, text, and phone conversations with a Mrs Greene CDL Administrative Support for CDS Tractor Trailer Training at the John Tyler Community College Workforce Alliance on 13101 Jefferson Davis Hwy, Bird Hall/Office B120e, Chester, VA 23831 http://www.cdscdltraining.com/

I stressed at every opportunity that I am only medically cleared to drive automatic transmission in any vehicle including Tractor Trailers, and that the CDS-CDL school MUST have an automatic. Mrs Greene, spoke to the office at Woodford VA as well as her supervisor as well as who is supposed to be the Vice President of CDS-CDL a Mr Chris Dender. Both guaranteed me over and over again when I voiced the importance of their school having an automatic transmission equipped truck to train with and I was assured over and over again they did. As a result, I signed all the paperwork and gave them all the documents they needed from me and given a start date of December 18.

During this time period of two weeks, I on car fuel purchased with my ever declining available credit on my credit card to their Richmond office at John Tyler Community College, and then the week before I was scheduled to start, to their Richmond office of Workforce Innovation, who would be providing me with Financial assistance.

I know the cost of fuel and $11 parking sounds trivial bit it is not, especially when you are on the verge of being homeless.

Suddenly today; after 2 weeks of being assured that the school had automatic transmission equipped trucks to train on, the Friday before Monday when I was to start in 2 days, she left me a voicemail stating " Hi my apologies, turns out we don't have any automatic transmission trucks for you". I called her back and was rudely told she was with a student and could not talk to me. She finally called me back and just like her message, repeated " Hi my apologies, turns out we don't have any automatic transmission trucks for you".

As you can imagine I was not only devastated, but furious!

I asked her point blank, "Why did you tell me they had automatics for 2 weeks, even after I stressed the importance over and over and over? I asked her why she told me she spoke to the school in Woodford VA and they assured her they did as well. Only to NOW tell me 72 hours before start day, "oh sorry they do not"?

Her excuse was "Sorry, turns out they dont have one"... I asked her did you really speak to someone at Woodford who assured you of the availability of the truck? And if so, why did they tell you they did, and now two weeks later they dont. Her answer was "oh sorry they do not".

Needless to say I kept asking specifically why they/she told me one for 2 weeks even after stressing how this needed to be 1000% assured and her saying it was, is now the opposite. She had the VP of CDS-CDL call me and all he did was say "Sorry we made a mistake".

When I asked the VP for his office phone number and address he said his office is HIS CAR.

I won't go into the ugly details of how I felt at this point....I was just being "blown off". Obviously, Mrs Greene was either lied to by the Woodford VA office or she lied to me, or CDS-CDL is so incompetent or desperate for students that they would just lie to people.

I plan on complaining to John Tyler Community College, if I some how survive the weekend. I just want to die...nothing...nothing has worked out for the past year since I unexpectedly lost my job. I am so distraught, I do not know what to do...its all hopeless now. Its like a curse.

I was interested in a local CDL school that I could drive to each day

George, if you read through our recommendations on choosing a private truck driving school, one of the biggest things we stress is to go visit the school in person to see what it's really like and speak with the current students there. That's how you find out the real scoop. If you would have done that right away you would have immediately known that wasn't the school for you.

I don't blame you for being angry about this situation, but what's done is done. And I have to say, you're really blowing this way out of proportion. Choose a different school and move on. Don't make it bigger than it is. You shouldn't be devastated. All hope isn't even close to being lost. You should be somewhat annoyed for about an hour, then forget about it and start looking for another school.

Everyone has setbacks trying to get their trucking career underway. Heck, this isn't even in the top 20 of the stories I've heard just from the people who are current members of this website. We've had tons of people get sent home multiple times from Paid CDL Training Programs, some of them from multiple programs after packing their bags and making the trip out of state.

Just find another school and move on. There are Paid CDL Training Programs that train on automatics also. Have you spoken with any of them?

You can also Apply For Company-Sponsored Training right here on the website and your application will go to a bunch of companies at one time. Then you can speak with them to find out who will offer you an opportunity and see which company suits you best.

Seriously, don't blow this out of proportion. That's not going to help you. Focus on what you have to do to move forward.

Sorry for your frustration. Even with an automatic though truck driving is going to get even more frustrating than this.

If you are missing or unable to use a limb then this job will be limited for you, you are going to need to be able to deal with situations just like you are having now often.

Brett hit the nail on the head. I understand your frustration however your letting your emotions, and situation overwhelm you. I totally get it George, however as Brett said there are tons of other schools. Check them out IN PERSON if possible. Have you considered contacting USA Truck? I'm pretty sure they are one of the companies 100% automatic

I don't know what to do guys, my wife and I have never have been on the verge of being homeless. Never been unemployed for so long. I selected trucking as a career because its a job that cannot be outsourced, like all my previous jobs in my 25 year career field, and because long ago my father and I considered it as a team job/business back in the 70's but never did it. I was about to be approved for financial assistance to pay for the school. Company Sponsored CDL training is not an option unless they have automatics to train on, and I would not even have food money at this point to live on, even if the company/school pays for lodging, never the less travel expenses. I applied for financial assistance to keep the utilities paid, and with such a precarious financial situation I do not even think after what happened with that CDS-CDL school I can even focus on training. I know recruiters lie or exagerate, but this lady was not a recruiter, nor were the people at their training location. It's negligence and incompetence at the worst level and as CDS-CDL lines their pockets with money, they expect people like me at the end of my rope to accept their "oops sorry".... They have no excuse after claiming the Woodford VA training location told her personally they have a truck with an auto, no excuse for assuring me this over and over again. Hopefully, no one will be screwed by CDS-CDL to the point I have.

If you're that close to being homeless, have you applied for assistance through the state, county, or maybe other charities that help veterans in their time of need? A problem you may also face is the amount of time you've been unemployed. Why didn't you to get a job doing something, even if you felt it was below you. I had a job making $18 an hour but when they closed up shop I went and picked up trash at an apartment community for $10 an hour. It sucked making less, but it motivated me to find something new. All that stuffs in the past though, does the VA have any programs to help?

I think someone recently said that CR England was training everyone on automatics.

As far as having enough money to feed yourself during schooling, there are a lot of people in that situation when they get started in trucking. Seriously, how many people do you think decide to become truck drivers because they already have an awesome career making a lot of money? Pretty much zero. Many people turn to trucking as a last resort. So your situation is difficult, but not at all uncommon. Might be time to find a few things lying around the house and put them up for sale.

At times I've lived in a van, in a pickup truck, and in "the milk house" which was an old block milk house on a dairy farm in the 30's which was converted to an apartment. I've had to eat fried spaghetti noodles cuz I couldn't afford any sauce. So I know what you're talking about.

I would start making phone calls and filling out applications like crazy. Talk to all of the Paid CDL Training Programs and see who is willing to give you a shot.

I was thinking about this earlier. What is preventing you from driving a standard transmission? It really doesn't take very much pressure on the clutch to engage it, and it takes very little pressure at all to move the stick. If you have the strength to walk it would seem you have the strength to push in a clutch, which is what I'm assuming is the concern in your situation.

Besides, even if you train in a standard you're going to be driving an automatic once you get on the road. So all you'd have to do is get through the brief training period in a standard and you're in an automatic from that point on. Just something to think about.

This is just the first place you tried. Start blowing up the phones to every compsny that has company sponsored training. Takes five minutes to see if they train on automatics or not. Call every cdl school in the area. You are giving up way too easy. My school lied to me too-just had to adapt and overcome.

Maybe try maverick-they have a school, are veteran friendly, and have an automatic fleet. I don’t know what they train on, but a quick phone call would answer that.

As for paying for school, had two veterans in my school who used the gi bill.

Call all of the Paid CDL Training Programs. Ask if they use automatic shift equipment and explain why you require one.

Don't wait...they won't come to you, make it happen!

I sincerely wish you the best of luck.

If you are homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless, your local VA will assist you. I have helped a few veterans in your position receive tremendous help from the VA to include housing, per diem , clothing, rental vehicle and etc.. it took a little work but desperate times call for desperate measures. Sorry I don't have anything to add on to what others have said in regards to company sponsored training but, it sounds like that is your best bet. Goodluck brother