A CAUTIONARY TALE:
My husband and I hired Osmon Movers for a…read moremove from LA to the Bay Area on 4/1/22. They arrived the week of, as we hired them to assist with packing and loading as well. We purchased additional insurance to protect ourselves from accidental damage but little did we know that we would soon be receiving a ransacked truck with many of our belongings missing or damaged to the tune of over $15,000.
For clarity, our move was a 3-day process. Osmon's team sent 3 employees to pack on Wednesday, 4 employees to load our belongings on Thursday, and they were expected to deliver 4 employees and the 24' truck full of our belongings on Friday morning at 9 am.
On Wednesday, during packing, the foreman demanded that we pay for parking at an $80 fee. They used the boxes we had, and then supplemented a limited amount of packing supplies at a total of over $400. Two items were broken by their employees. We paid in full for the day's work + tips for the employees.
On Thursday, the truck was packed and it was time to pay for the day's work. The foreman requested a 25% tip, stating that this was the standard practice. When my husband declined to fulfill this request (the move was estimated to be $5000 total at this point, and $1000 in tips on top of paying approximately $76/hr/employee was far from what we deemed as reasonable) he became visibly angry. My husband attempted to thank him, and still paid for the day's work and provided over $50 in tips per employee. The foreman turned away from him without a word and gathered his belongings to leave.
As per the website, the standard tip is $4-6/hr/employee. The information provided by the foreman was a blatant lie. At this point, we were beginning to get frustrated by the lack of transparency, professionalism, and honesty displayed but we continued on as normal.
The next morning, we were expected to meet the new moving crew at 9 am at our new apartment. By 9:40, we still had not received contact from anyone on their team. My husband called the foreman from the previous days, and said, "The driver had an emergency and you're not going to get your stuff today. Someone will call you in 30 minutes." He then hung up on us without explanation.
We contacted customer service approximately 3-4 times as they would not provide us with a clear answer as to what had happened to the driver or our belongings. I was kept on hold for over a half-hour, hung up on, and ultimately not contacted until almost 12 noon with any explanation at all. Apparently, their truck was stolen at 7 am, and no one told us until 5 hours later. We were instructed to use our homeowner's insurance because "moving company insurance isn't that good," as per their customer service representative Joan. If we wouldn't have called I really don't know when they would have contacted us.
At 10 pm that night, I get a text from a new number saying that the truck was recovered. Apparently, it was from the owner, who had not contacted us prior and did not introduce himself as the owner. It wasn't until the following day that we were advised that the truck was parked at a hotel in Oakland (which is unbelievably notorious for car theft and break-in) when it was stolen. We were told that it looked like the only thing that was stolen was a TV, which as per the pictures is impossible. (We would soon see that the first 10-12 ft of the truck were completely destroyed.)
We asked for delivery first thing the next morning, and were told that they couldn't do it because they already had something planned for the morning. At this point, I heard no concern for our belongings, our experience, or that this company wanted to right the wrong that happened on their watch. We paid them thousands of dollars to be entrusted with literally all of our belongings - irreplaceable wedding gifts, family heirloom items, furniture, antiques, art, clothing, baby pictures, everything. Of the belongings that were returned, many were destroyed, stained, and haphazardly dumped into mixed boxes.
Once the remainder of our things were unloaded, I was immediately pressed for an inventory of missing items and to sign a new contract. After all of this, the company expected (1) immediate payment, (2) a concrete list of items missing without ample time to inventory the mess they delivered, and (3) to sign a contract stating that I had received a complete and substantial service.
I firmly believe that this was an attempt to further skirt liability as the next time I spoke with the owner, Janysh, he informed me that even though our contract explicitly states that we had additional insurance to cover the items in full, his team failed to file the request with their 3rd party insurance provider. Time and time again, we were made to feel as if our experience and belongings were the last thing on their mind.
They are refusing to cover the $15k in loss/damages, and we are now forced to file a breach of contract lawsuit to recuperate our losses.