In trucking stuff sometimes breaks – that is just trucking – as they say.
Yet when something happens you have to call for help, and that is where things get interesting and experiences can be good, bad, or even ugly – depending on the service provider company you call.
Recently I have had the need to test out the services of a new to me service provider, I have never used before;
INWOOD TRUCK AND TRAILER REPAIR
Inwood WV
So as things progress I will let you know how they go – and whether you can and should trust this company – or not – should the need ever arise for you too.
Good companies are hard to find – and when I find one that is GOOD I want to share that with you so you can benefit from knowing about them too.
Likewise, BAD companies also exist and have predatory RIP OFF practices – and when I find them I will make sure you know about that too.
That way my friend, you can make better more well-informed decisions of your own on who to use and who to avoid like the plague!
The Jury is Still Out On Inwood Truck and Trailer Repair but Not For Long!
So far I give them about four out of five stars.
My initial impression was great. They were professional and responsive on the phone.
A technician was dispatched and arrived at my location in a timely manner.
His name is Jazz, and he did a good job as far as I could tell onsite.
He was pleasant and professional and immediately connected his computer to the diagnostic port of our 2014 Freightliner Cascadia and showed me his readings.
He initiated a forced regen of the system and after that showed me more readings, and said the pump pressure was too low.
Then he called his company for guidance and they recommended the truck be towed to their shop.
He mentioned they would be taking it to their other location in Hagerstown MD – but would only be charging me a tow bill based on Inwood WV which was about 30 miles away (and a major reason we chose them too).
More on this all later… but for now a little back story.
Upperville Delivery Complete and Problems Setting In
Earlier that day I went to Troy VA to pick up a load going to a customer in Upperville. Upperville is about twenty or so miles from our office and about an equal distance from a drop lot we currently keep our truck at right on the VA/WV line.
Before I made it to the customer the truck dropped the speed to 55 mph and gave me two warning lights. I thought about stopping at a dealership, but I would not have made the delivery on time and we would have had a service failure.
So right or wrong I decided that as long as she was still moving I was continuing on to the customer.
I made it and made the delivery uneventfully – said good by to our customer and went to leave – the truck began to accelerate and then stopped – almost literally coming to a stop as I was pulling out in traffic. The road is a two-lane narrow road in a little town area that has an amazing number of people that travel through it at peak times – and this was peak time on a Friday!
Backing up was not an option – and there was no safe place to pull over as there were trees and ditches on both sides of the road.
So I kept limping along as best as I could.
Eventually, I found a wide enough spot to get all the way off the road – much to the happiness of the long line of cars behind me.
No Tow Trucks Available
First I called my wife and business partner Abbie who was back in our office and expecting me to be there soon. I had to tell her the bad news and predictably she was not happy either.
I told her I would call her back later after I get a tow truck.
Then I proceeded to call all that I knew of in the area – and not one was available. One had just left on a long-distance run and would not be available until the following day – and the others were either tied up (or just not wanting to cross the mountain on a Friday night) or otherwise unavailable.
A couple gave me other recommendations – which I thanked them for and then called. No luck there either.
When I called my wife back she told me about this company – Inwood Truck and Trailer Repair and we decided to give them a call, but by then traffic was dropping to almost nonexistent and I decided to see if I could limp my cripple truck over the mountain and to a safe parking area so we could deal with it the next morning.
That was an unpleasant experience but I eventually made it to a much better location and a place I felt the truck and trailer would be safe for the night.
The next morning I called Inwood Truck and Trailer Repair and told them what had happened and that I was trying to decide if I needed a service call or a tow truck – the person on the other end of the phone thought it might be able to be cleared up with a service call and a computer which his tech would need to stop y the shop and get.
He said he will be there within about 90 minutes or so.
That was when I met Jazz…
It is also where the above story picked up and begins.
Tuesday 12/07/21 1740 Update
Well, another day has come and gone.
No call or updates were received from Inwood Truck and Trailer Repair earlier today – so I called them for an update.
They have my email and my cell phone number.
I called at 1254 (lunchtime) and was told the parts did come in and their technician was installing them now. Then they would run diagnostics and make sure the problem was solved – and he would call me back before the end of the day to let me know if the truck was done or if they needed more time.
Thanks, I said ” I appreciate that” and ended the call.
The end of the day has come and gone and there has been no call (my number is a cell phone and of course it logs all calls) and this appears to be a pattern of behavior with this company – telling a customer they will call and then not doing that.
So another mark against them…
Still, that alone is a relatively minor screwup. The bigger picture still remains to be seen – although the clock is running and time is still ticking away – so far TWO workdays lost.
Two loads were canceled and I will be canceling number three tomorrow most likely.
1806 I called them – AGAIN – and they said that the parts have been installed and just need to run diagnostics and then should be done. I said Ok but you were supposed to have called me…
He said he was sorry, that he just got busy (and forgot about it)… but that he will call me in the morning or I can call him. I told him Ok and I would talk to him in the morning.
So we shall see.
I really am trying hard to give these guys the benefit of the doubt and hope that they are a legit and fair company – as such companies are great resources to have.
Wednesday 12/08/21 Update
Is Inwood Truck and Trailer Repair a Good Company and Resource or are they a BAD Company not worthy of future business?
One way or the other we will soon know.
Total DAYS Elapsed – Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…
5 Days from the date towed until repaired and I could pick it up at 1630 on day five.
They do NOT work weekends except emergency roadside and towing etc. So Working days to complete repair were 3 days until the unit returned to me.
Quality of Repairs
As of now, it appears to be working fine with no issues. However, keep in mind I have only run the truck as a bobtail from Hagerstown back to Stephens City. Just under an hour door to door.
Tomorrow we pick up our first load which is about 41000 lbs of Gatorade so we shall see… and if any issues they will be noted here.
If the quality of their work is good then I will be overall satisfied for the most part and they will retain a 4 star rating from me out of five.
Issues of Concern;
- Prices are HIGH and diagnostic fees seem excessive in number to me
- Communications are ineffective – they do NOT call back when they say they will and that is a problem
- They were specifically told DO NOT Exceed $3000 maximum without additional approval prior to incurring any additional charges – yet they disregarded that instruction (which they had previously acknowledged and said they would call first before any more work/fees) and they jacked in almost another $1000 in fees. That is UNSATISFACTORY. They should have called BEFORE doing that.
- They are too SLOW. In my opinion, repairs should have been completed before close of business Tuesday at the latest and the truck returned to me. The loss of an extra day cost us hundreds of dollars in lost revenue.
Are these things terrible comparatively speaking – no not really?
Do I recommend Inwood Truck and Trailer Repair? Not as a first option – however for emergency RS service they are acceptable yet expensive.
Why? For two reasons – items 1-3 above and there are BETTER OPTIONS in this area that are less expensive – especially for routine service and repairs.
Are they a SCAM? No – not as far as I can tell at this time, but they are overly expensive and I believe tend to pad the bill with excess diagnostics, etc. But they do not appear to me to be a SCAM.
Do I intend to use their services or to recommend Inwood Truck and Trailer Repair again? NOT Decided Yet – So far the quality of the work they did appears to be satisfactory – but need more time to tell for sure.
Followup and Updates
In the coming days and weeks, I will report back here as to whether the repairs hold up and are adequate or not. I will also be crawling under the unit to attempt to confirm that a new DEF pump was actually installed as stated – based on a visual inspection. I will also be writing a much more in-depth overview of the company itself and its owners and managers based on the records available.