Cover your dispatcher's butt?

**x475** · 06-15-2010

If you arrive at a pickup/delivery, and the customer says dispatch told him you or the freight was late because...(pick your lie), do you smile and let it go?
Or do you tell the customer that dispatch lied and what the truth is?

**renegade313** · 06-15-2010

..tough call...but without enough of those customers you are unemployed...(as a rddr I can only state a opinion)..personally I`d have a heart to heart with the dispatcher...sadly its been going on for a long time.......and undoubtedly wont stop..

**dblclutch** · 06-15-2010

Dispatcher lie,never heard of that,not in my day.

**Jimmy** · 06-15-2010

I never let any corrupt communication out to a customer. I try to turn every negatitive thing into something positive for the customer.

**ST JAY** · 06-15-2010

I tell the customer the truth and then give them the phone # for customer service.

**222lifer** · 06-16-2010

9 times out of 10 times I will tell the customer the truth. The other 1 is a customer that I don't know if dispatch is lieing or not. I have worked for a couple of "Gems" in the past that had a great way of throwing drivers under the bus. Our current city manager can't complete a sentence without telling a lie. My current dispatcher is a diplomat and very honest. If we screw up he admits it, let's us know what was said, and passes it to the front line (the driver) to smooth over. I am fine with that as most everyone else is also. There is nothing wrong with being human.....Making mistakes is part of that. Lieing does nothing but create doubt, mistrust, and is bad for business.

**ST JAY** · 06-16-2010

My experiance dealing with any of the management team at UPS is that they give out warning letters like crazy, lots for stupid stuff. Why should we cover up their mistakes when they disilpline us for ours.

**222lifer** · 06-17-2010

I am also a firm believer in integrity. A liar has none. Tell the truth....Even though it may be a little uncomfortable at first when confronted by an upset customer as to why their shipment is late....They will understand. Eventually you can build that one mistake into a great business relationship. AKA more freight from them. They see the liars everyday in the form of your competition. Show them something different and they will take notice. Building relationships is what drives this business. I have tried to convince my number crunching supervisors this for over 25 years. I try not to involve them in anything that happens on my route. I just call them when I need something and they can "fetch" it for me.

**taterhead** · 06-22-2010

Originally Posted by x475

If you arrive at a pickup/delivery, and the customer says dispatch told him you or the freight was late because...(pick your lie), do you smile and let it go?
Or do you tell the customer that dispatch lied and what the truth is?

I'm line haul but I think it would matter how it was put to me, i.e. are they really pissed or just jerking my chain. I took a letter to help a dispatcher that i liked , but the screw up was partly my fault, I could have thrown him under the bus , he would have gotten in more trouble than me , but I liked the way he treated people. I might have been wrong but I did what I hoped someone would do for me. Just like has been stated here I think it depends on the person or acc.