LATEST RUMOR
What an idea for an article, discussion or what ever.
It seems as evident on some towing forums, that our wonderfully loved ATA (American Towing Alliance) is claiming that they are filing bankruptcy. Well does that surprise anyone at all???
Not really for me, as I have seen them slowly regress into a slow paying, very demanding company which has created a business model for failure.
At first they started out with great ideas and were really on the side of towers, but that fast became a thing of the past as they started working on getting towers to lower prices and then they became the “king of disputing tow bills on accident recoveries”
They taught many of us a new word “ REPLEVIN” which in some cases is a blessing as it allowed the courts to determine if our charges where correct or to high. Several towers where “test cases” where the results were basically split evenly. Some one, while others lost.
But back to the issue at hand, which is the “RUMOR” that they have or are filing bankruptcy.
Now I have heard that they are offering to settle for 15% of the owed balances, which to me is a total sham.
First of all, we did the service as contracted, and yes they took their 10% from us, and then they inflated the invoice amount (bet they did not show the customer the original bill) by another 5 to 6% to the customer.
The customers, generally paid the bills in the next few days or so, but then ATA kept the money and started playing the games that they would cut the check next week or when ever.
Now some bills where I work are over 8 months old, and we call daily and such but are not able to get answers as it seems the “accounts payable” person is always out or the president (CEO) is not in to authorize the bills to be paid.
Is this really a way to run a business?
Well we all know what that answer would be, as we are business men and women who are in this line of work to help others and YES to make a profit. But at what point does making a profit become an issue when you start investing 10 to 20 hours a month trying to collect on old bills in order to pay your own bills.
Yes we did spend money on fuel, insurance and even wages to our drivers who did the calls for ATA. Trucks have to be paid for and all that, so we as business owners have expenses which have to be covered.
Or we will have a snowball effect which can be very damaging to the company. After all if you are “carrying” a large outstanding balance with ATA, your company can be in serious financial danger.
There have been other “motor clubs – road service companies” which have failed in the past, costing many tow companies hundreds if not thousands of dollars in lost revenue. And that was during a fairly healthy financial time.
Today’s financial issues worldwide have made it harder for many companies to take a financial hit in the receivables.
And a lot of trucking companies are just one breakdown or accident away from closing. Yes those same companies might be customers of ours or even ATA, but when they fail we all know that we will not get payments due us.
Now in the recent days (Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009) Arrow Trucking of Tulsa Oklahoma, closed their doors suddenly, and shut off the fuel cards which in effect stranded about 1400 drivers all over the
So if Arrow was one of your customers, how much did you just loose in receivables?
And if I am correct in remembering things, Arrow was also an ATA customer which means that ATA will be left holding some big bills with no payments coming.
Now I am not saying that ATA is wrong in what they have done, but we as towers have provided service to the trucking companies and as such do we have a “lien” against the trucks we provided service for???
Or can we call the trucking companies and send them bills as they are the ones who are ultimately responsible for the payment of the bills. Yes they may have already paid ATA for the services, but the fact we have not been paid might be a shock to them, or they might even be able to put some pressure on ATA to pay us.
Now several towers have mentioned that they will just take and wait to get the next ATA call and then hold the truck until all the outstanding bills are paid. Well in theory that might work but, as to a legal standpoint I can not provide that answer as many of us have different laws which affect all kinds of operations. That answer is best left for your lawyers to deal with.
Other towers are requiring payment via credit card either before running the call, or payment via credit card before the unit is dropped. That is most likely the best method to keep “CURRENT” on all their bills. But to open bill ATA is not an option for many of us anymore.
Past practices and such have ruled that out for many of us.
But for them to claim bankruptcy and offer a settlement to us, is really insulting our intelligence as first of all they have to provide us with some kind of court ordered document, case number or what ever to prove that they are actually filed as per law. And I have not been able to find any records of a filing for them as of yet.
And then for American Towing Alliance to ask us to bill them after they settle for the small amount they are offering is just ridiculous. Do they think that towers are that stupid? Come on now ATA, get your head out of you know where, and if you want to be a business then treat your business partners as equals, not as a wallet you can reach into and steal from when ever you need more money for “GREENS FEES”.
