Kennedy Transportation Networks victims Mississauga Ontario

Leasing Company Response:

I WISH I COULD WRITE MY NAME AND EMAIL HERE:

I have been waiting and watching this site to see if more people respond with concerns and situations regarding Kennedy Transportation Network and their business model. The reason I define Kennedy as a business model is based on the premise that every potential Owner/Operator, leasing company and legitimate trucking firm will all give you the exact same stories and situations. This is accomplished by the extensive time and resources the Owners of Kennedy Transportation and their employees have placed in creating this well thought out and very detailed scam, fraud or theft. Both Mr. St. Gelais' and Mr. Rick Butler are not ethical business people and have assisted in the ruining of many men and women's lives. How they sleep is beyond me, how they have remained in business is a miracle but also part of their thought out plan. If someone speaks out they sue and proof from Harry on this website was the last straw for me. I have met this gentleman and his lawyer recommended that he rescind his comments as the bullies at Kennedy will not quit and will keep him in court spending whatever money he had left to defend their slander suit. I am going to now take the time and detail my experience as a Leasing Company in the hopes that both consumers and leasing companies stay away from the ST. Gelais' and Rick Butler. They will steal your money, they will create fake ID, they will set up fraudulent loans, they will offer leasing companies security deposits that do not exist, they will do everything they can to get the very last penny out of Owner Operators pockets all the while tricking unsuspecting leasing companies with the promise of great business opportunities.

I AM THE LEASING COMPANY WILLING AND ABLE TO START A CLASS ACTION SUIT AGAINST THIS COMPANY AND THEIR OWNERS AND EMPLOYEES.

Here is the TRUE story of my time with Rick Butler, John and Denis St. Gelais and all the manipulative staff members at Kennedy Transportation Network (KTN).

I received a phone call from Rick Butler in November of 2006 to discuss KTN and their need for an alternate leasing source. At this point we indicated that we were not interested in the HD truck market but would entertain a discussion in 90 days. This would give my company enough time to do some background and education on the truck market and the business that KTN will propose. By February of 2007 we decided to test the waters with KTN and completed our first deal. The gentleman and his wife had better than average credit, history in the trucking industry and currently held very steady employment of 15 years at the same company. We completed our rigorous credit evaluation and determined the risk to be minimal based on the GUARANTEED INCOME LETTER written and signed by Mr. John St. Gelais. This lease lasted 6 months and the client received a total of 4 runs in that time. I can only verify what the Owner Operator has stated and showed me on his run sheets upon repossession.

During the 6 months before this deal fell apart I completed 16 more transactions. Too date 9 is performing fine and 8 have been repossessed. We turned the funding tap off in November of 2007 and have been trying to deal with the problem since.

I would like to point out that KTN first guarantee to us was work for the customer, the second is a trust fund that has security payments in reserve, which they do charge the client but will not admit to a leasing company. I have letters of guarantee and proposal from KTN but they will deny they issued the letter. Thirdly, they guarantee the assistance in the remarketing of their former client's trucks after repossession. This is the biggest farce of them all. They refuse to help because of one simple fact: They are not only KTN, they are also Abtech, who build the truck and they are Aberstar, the first and in most cases the only company that will offer work.

So follow the line here: I come in and want to find a job placement. You take my money and perform multiple credit checks and applications until you find a leasing house that will accept my credit score once I have secured a job. KTN, on my behalf, place me with a company they control 100% and conclude the job placement letter with the Leasing Company and sell that same leasing company a truck that a St. Gelais owned company built and over priced. The leasing companies do not hesitate to the over statement of price because there is a healthy down payment, a strong credit bureau and a job placement. Do you see the end result yet? They do not care if you pick up a box for Aberstar, they want the KTN fees and they want the leasing company to purchase the truck. Why would they be motivated to help the leasing company remarket the truck to the next available applicant if they are in the business of selling trucks? Why remarket to a new unsuspecting client a repossessed truck, showing non-confidence in the business model when their true intention is to profit between $10 and 20,000 per truck plus all the admin fees that KTN charges. IT GETS WORSE AND DEEPER.

I asked myself why do some perform and some cannot. Are there some people that try harder than others, some that give up too soon? I take the time and call each and every client of mine (the 16 remaining) and ask them these same questions. They begin crying and screaming how ineffective KTN is and how they felt set up for failure. At this point I invite them all in to my office for one on one interviews. Remember, at this point I am still trying to figure out what I am dealing with and how deep am I.

The night that the 16 were to arrive turned into a circus in my showroom. I ended up interviewing over 40 people that night, asking them to sign credit applications so I can legally re-check their credit. I now realized the second stage of the KTN fraud. On the same day that I would be signing up a client to his/her new lease, two hours later a second leasing company will arrive and sign the same client to one of their leases. Not for the same truck but for multiple trucks. You see, leasing companies will not offer multiple trucks to one client or allow a client to get a second or third truck so as to not over burden the clients ability to pay on truck one. KTN saw this as a weakness in their business plan so they addressed it by asking the clients not to mention the other trucks to the first or second leasing company and by organizing delivery on the same day so the LEIN registrations would not be public knowledge until it was too late. STILL MORE

This is the best part of the whole set up. It has two stages. You call KTN and state the obvious I cannot make any money doing this little work. Rick Butler's idea is to sell you more trucks with new placements so the volume will make you a profit. The client is into the deal so deep they find another whack of money and hire the staff that Rick suggests and rent a warehouse that Mr. St. Gelais knows about. The planted staff is paid wages that double or triple the actual job value but the client's ignorance and the complete trust they place in KTN to help blinds them from this reality. When the ware house plan fails you are able to find these same dispatchers and the like working in the office at KTN again. The final stage of this plan is the famous OFFER. The ST. Gelais team will walk into the board room and offer you an instant success plan. Why don't you buy Aberstar, now you have an instant cash flow business with contracted work? They offer to broker the deal for you, for a fee, and accept a deposit. This deposit will be waived to them the second they make the deal impossible for you to close. I wonder who owns the building the client is suggested to rent. hmmm I wonder?

I have met and interviewed many owner/operators that have been suckered into purchasing 3 to 20 trucks and have lost between $30 and $750,000.00 according the scam level Rick Butler and KTN decide to run on them. I have discussed with many leasing companies their level of involvement and where they are now. The end result is eerily the same. The operators are bankrupt and the leasing companies and banks are losing upwards of $50,000 per truck.

Currently there are, in the neighborhood, of 200 KTN trucks available on the market. I know of two leasing companies that have shut their doors for good and I cannot find one leasing company that will now lease Expedite trucks to anyone unless the business is 20 years established. This is shameful and has ruined a complete segment of the market.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and websites like this will get the word out, heck I found it and can barely use a computer. I want to keep going here and spelling out more of the myth that KTN has created but this letter would go on forever.

Read it and ask questions before getting involved in anything to do with this company and keep trying, if you are one that was affected, to find people that have a similar story. Call your original leasing company to find oout if they are part of the CLASS ACTION SUIT being designed now.

God Bless,

Leasing Company.

I also have had a nightmarish experience after believing Kennedy lies.

I doubted the income guarantees, but what blindsided me was the downside risk. I never would have guessed that there would not be enough work, or that if I was working long and hard (as I am now) that I would still struggle to break even.
They blatently lied saying getting work near my home in Kingston was possible.

I am on my third company, I have run up considerable debt with first two - their business models ensured profit was impossible. I earn a few hundred dollars a week with this third company.

I have met many other people who have dealt with Kennedy - all similarly negative experiences (not one positive).

I wish I had seen a posting like this prior to signing my life away.

One of the most frustrating parts is I like the work, it's just not possible to earn a decent living, no matter how hard you work. One's options are very much limited with straight trucks in comparison to tractors.

The choice people like myself face is to sell our trucks for less than half we paid, or continue on and risk slowly running up more debt. It is a very difficult position that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

I would be very willing to participate in any class action suit or complaints.

Kennedy Transportation Networks are predatory scum, who destroy lives for quick money. I believe that they will certainly face justice, in this life or the next.

I also have had a nightmarish experience after believing Kennedy lies.

I doubted the income guarantees, but what blindsided me was the downside risk. I never would have guessed that there would not be enough work, or that if I was working long and hard (as I am now) that I would still struggle to break even.
They blatently lied saying getting work near my home in Kingston was possible.

I am on my third company, I have run up considerable debt with first two - their business models ensured profit was impossible. I earn a few hundred dollars a week with this third company.

I have met many other people who have dealt with Kennedy - all similarly negative experiences (not one positive).

I wish I had seen a posting like this prior to signing my life away.

One of the most frustrating parts is I like the work, it's just not possible to earn a decent living, no matter how hard you work. One's options are very much limited with straight trucks in comparison to tractors.

The choice people like myself face is to sell our trucks for less than half we paid, or continue on and risk slowly running up more debt. It is a very difficult position that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

I would be very willing to participate in any class action suit or complaints.

Kennedy Transportation Networks are predatory scum, who destroy lives for quick money. I believe that they will certainly face justice, in this life or the next.

I also have had a nightmarish experience after believing Kennedy lies.

I doubted the income guarantees, but what blindsided me was the downside risk. I never would have guessed that there would not be enough work, or that if I was working long and hard (as I am now) that I would still struggle to break even.
They blatently lied saying getting work near my home in Kingston was possible.

I am on my third company, I have run up considerable debt with first two - their business models ensured profit was impossible. I earn a few hundred dollars a week with this third company.

I have met many other people who have dealt with Kennedy - all similarly negative experiences (not one positive).

I wish I had seen a posting like this prior to signing my life away.

One of the most frustrating parts is I like the work, it's just not possible to earn a decent living, no matter how hard you work. One's options are very much limited with straight trucks in comparison to tractors.

The choice people like myself face is to sell our trucks for less than half we paid, or continue on and risk slowly running up more debt. It is a very difficult position that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

I would be very willing to participate in any class action suit or complaints.

Kennedy Transportation Networks are predatory scum, who destroy lives for quick money. I believe that they will certainly face justice, in this life or the next.