snowbrothers101;1648726 said:
Did you hear that CVS is requiring every local vendor to carry a smart phone and check in via an app on the phone? Failure to do so means no payment. No exceptions. It uses a geo locator so they can pull your coordinates. Serious Big Brother s%%$! They are getting rid of the hard copy work orders. I only have 3 sites but my guys carry blackberries and they say you need an apple or android phone only.
I saw it too... is it an app then? I can only imagine the logistical nightmares in billing/invoicing and office work in the end of the season :/
We have blackberries too, not only that, but even a gps report for the trucks won't suffice... We just had NexTraq install ones on all of our trucks and some of the equipment that is left on site. Mainly due to billing issues and disputes, now that will be nipped in the bud quickly.
Last year, we had Walgreens and Public Storages through SMS Assist... a bunch of them. With multiple trucks and drivers out there, the only real manageable way to keep track of all services without pointing the finger to every employee for "forgetting" or who knows what when it comes down to the end of the season, was to have all drivers text in the store number and time completed, when they're done. One person would then call them all in. In any more major storm, 4-6" max last year, with many trucks out, it was a full time job just to call these in on the fly and manage the spredsheet and quickbooks for accounting. By the time we got to the end of the season, they claimed they paid 100%, and we were 25% off what we billed versus what they paid still.
We had almost 800 services we then later had to go over, THREE times, multiple methods, line item by line item cross referencing checks they paid.
End of season they told us we had 80~ services needing manually signed work orders, we got about ~50 signed of the 80, and then we're still unpaid for 120+ services. Others we had manual signoffs for, they said we never logged into their system... well duh, we have the manual signoff which overrides everything!
Its terrible, although i 100% agree that this day and age, contractors have to be accountable for their crews and trucks for services, its nothing more than extra avenues to allow the mangement companies to not pay, AFTER all the work is completed.
We had one walgreens in WEstampton, NJ, suddenly refuse to email sign off on 15 services end of season. No one at SMS really cared, we spent hours on end proving times of service for the Walgreens to check their video camera footage. Eventually the manager did find our truck on all times stated, and signed off, but then was transfered to another store, and the main manager "released" or fired. We were left with nothing, almost $3k in services performed in Feb/March 2013 that were never paid for one store alone.
Here it is from one vendor.
CVS- As we had communicated earlier, CVS corporate is planning on implementing a GPS based service verification system to report completed snow services. This system will require the driver to be on site with either an iPhone or Android phone to verify the service completion.
Unfortunately, we do not have any additional detailed information at this time. We will be providing you with any updates on this new process as we get the information from CVS.
BTW, we bid a CVS distribution plant last summer, facility on both sides of the street is over 800k sq ft. In the end, they gave it to the ONE bidder lower than us, a local company that has ONE pickup truck and one personal pickup truck like a 2005 F250 Ford. Even the office said we're next on the list to call if anything happens and they can't handle the area. There was a run 1300ft long behind where the trucks park that you'd flat out need a 15 ton Front end loader and a 14-16' box for in any major storm. This year, they renewed contract with the same guy, so they don't really care about who they hire or how the work is, as long as someones insurance covers their lot when its winter time !