Omega Shipping - Avoid like the Plague

Originally Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:02 pm
Re: Omega Shipping

OMEGA SHIPPING – AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!
We asked Omega Shipping (also known as Mayflower - Omega Shipping Co., Inc., Tel#201-520-1546, Fax#201-863-3535, Tollfree#888-739-1066) to ship our belongings from Seattle, WA to Geneva, Switzerland.
They picked up our contents on Sept 25th 07.
The contract stated that estimated shipping time would be 6-8 weeks.
The contract also stated we had to pay 25% deposit at the time of signing, which we did.
We spoke to Omega Shipping at least 6 times prior to shipping to talk about all aspects the process. At no point were they able to give us a delivery date.
When the items were picked up from our apartment in Seattle, we also had to pay an extra $706.75 for pick-up to the local agents.
After we arrived in Switzerland, we telephoned Omega Shipping on 3rd October and asked for an estimated arrival date for our things and what other paperwork they needed from us.
They said they could not give us a date and stated they only needed a copy of our Swiss residency permit.
We assumed at this time that our shipment was already underway.
On 11th October we sent Omega Shipping an email with final details for customs clearance, asking them for delivery ASAP, for a delivery date estimate, and if they required anything else from us to complete the shipment - no response.
We telephoned them again that week, and the agent, Hillary Cammer, said they were still unable to give a date.
We telephoned again on Oct 16, and the agent, Liat, told us she would let us know by the end of the week (Oct 19).
On Oct 17 they sent a final invoice ($6500), which was twice the estimate that we had signed ($3300), even though our shipment was almost exactly the number of items that we had estimated prior to shipping.
The invoice also did not deduct the amount of $706.75 which we had paid on pick-up.
We telephoned again on Oct 19, and were ignored and told they would ring us back immediately. They did not.
We called back 1 1⁄2 hours later and were then told that they do not initiate shipping until they receive FULL PAYMENT, and to top it all that our house contents were still sitting in Seattle!
At no point in the previous few months had they mentioned they needed payment in full before shipping, and they hadn’t even mentioned they were waiting on this despite several emails and phone calls since they did the initial pickup.
At all times they’d given us the impression that our things were ‘in transit’, and they were just awaiting a final date.
On top of this, they had been charging us storage of our goods in Seattle.
Upon close inspection of the contract we signed, the note that they want full payment BEFORE shipping was buried half-way down the fine-print.
Despite calling them ~10 times over several months (May–Oct) and sending several emails enquiring if they needed anything else and asking for a delivery date and shipping ASAP, no one had ever mentioned that full payment was needed before the shipment would initiate.
Thus, they have been in possession of our personal belongings for 25 days. Despite numerous enquiries and them telling us the shipment time would be between 6 – 8 weeks, they have been holding our goods, and have been charging us for storage.
After having our things in their possession for nearly 1 month, they finally admitted that they had not initiated our shipment and claimed that the contract did in fact mention they would hold our goods without full payment.
During the phone conversation, the agent, Liat, argued with me and would not answer my question on where in the contract it said this was the agreement.
She claimed she had emailed the invoice to me on October 1st – I checked all through my inbox and junkmail, and there was no email from them – she was lying.
She then hung up on me even though I was being polite and was asking a direct question.
I rang back (from Switzerland) and spoke with Hillary Cammer.
She was very aggressive on the phone and shouted me down when I tried to explain that we had been given a leaflet of our Rights as Movers by the pickup company in Seattle, and told me that it did not apply and we basically had no rights to complain as we had signed a contract with them.
I then asked to speak with a manager.
They directed me to Boaz Aviani.
Mr. Aviani again claimed I should have known what was in the contract.
When I asked them how they were going to compensate me for their mistake and my repeated attempts failed to get a delivery date, they said they could offer to waive the storage fee they were charging me for holding my goods (which we had not even asked for originally – very generous!).
He asked if he should ‘initiate the shipment’, to which we of course said yes, of course – it was a whole month ago they had picked up our stuff! At the end of the conversation, Mr. Aviani was still unable to offer us an estimated delivery date.
He said he would email us with a date. Mr. Aviani finally got me an estimated delivery date of ‘Nov 25th 2007’.
He said he will only take check or wire transfer as payment, not a credit card or any other payment that may protect us from possibly not receiving any services from them.

I started doing investigations of Omega Shipping, and found numerous other complaints about them.
Given that after one month they had nothing with our shipment, lied to me about it, and then demanded money that was twice the estimate, I decided to cancel with them and go with another company – hopefully this will work out better.
Luckily I could still do this, as all this time my possessions had not moved from the storage depot in Seattle.
Mr Aviani refused to refund my deposit of $800, but I think it’s a better option for me to take that hit than to consign thousands of dollars and my worldly possessions to this bunch of scammers.
To end the story, on October 26th after getting another company to take on my shipment, I had a long phone call with Mr Aviani trying to get my deposit back.
He said that he would’ve been able to deliver my goods “on time” if only I’d have given him the chance.
He even sent me the booking for the shipment he’d made, claiming that proved that he could do it and had been working on my shipment.
Unfortunately, the booking he had made was for a ship leaving the East coast on Oct 25th…. this was on Oct 26th and my things were still awaiting collection in Seattle.
Another example of the lies him and his company will string you - don’t believe a word this guy says. Omega Shipping sucks.