Omega Shipping Ripoff and Scam

Originally Posted: Friday, March 23, 2007

After recently having items shipped from France to Overland Park, KS, I must express my extreme distress at the gross negligence and complete disregard for the customer displayed by Omega Shipping.
First Of, After receiving the quote and giving Omega Shipping a 25% deposit based on the quote we were informed it would take approximately 6-8 weeks.
This was around the end September 2006,Then, the French moving company sent movers that spoke no english, even though we were assured that Omega Shipping's agents in France would speak english.
Then the movers refused to take several items that were marked for pickup and took other items that were not marked.
We were told that we would receive a packing list of what the movers did take.

Several months later (in March 2007) we received a scribbled list in French that listed items we had no idea of what they were.
It was around mid March of 2007 that we were informed our shipment was finally ready for delivery.
The attitude of Omega Shipping was simply "Oh well", not even an apology.
They imediately began to demand payment and sent an invoice which did not include the deposit we had paid several months ago (I am not surprised they forgot).
When I called to inquire about some of the charges on the invoice, it took about over a week to get any response from Omega Shipping, but this was the normal operating procedure.

One charge was $475 for packing, this was odd as the moving company in France (Omega Shipping agent) refused to move anything not already packed.
Omega Shipping subsequently reduced the amount by half, but refused to provide proof the charge was valid, as is true with all the charges.
Omega Shipping simply said "pay up or we will place your possesions in long term storage and charge you a 10% storage charge".

Had our possesions not included very personal items, we would have told them to keep it.
I am sure Omega Shipping was aware of the fact that there were irreplacable items in our shipment and used this to their advantage.
Even the $45 they charged for an insurance policy was never disclosed.
When we purchased the policy I was repeatedly told it will be 3% of declared value of goods and nothing more.
When I received the invoice and asked about this additional charge, again it was "Oh well"After we transfered payment to Omega Shipping via wire transfer and informed them we were moving the weekend they wanted to deliver our items and asked if we could we have it delayed for a few days so we would not have to move it again, the response was "not a chance, unless you want to pay a 10% storage charge and a re-delivery fee".

After over a 4 month delay in delivery, Omega Shipping would not even delay delivery of our goods for 3 days!!I am looking for an attorney to scrutinize the invoice and all contract material between Omega Shipping and myself to see if there is any legal recourse I have to obtain a refund of a portion of the money charged by Omega Shipping.
I don't feel I am entitled to all of it, but feel that Omega Shipping did not even come close to fulfilling their end of the contract and that some of the charges may be jacked-up as Omega Shipping refuses to provide proof of the charges.

I would have to say that dealing with Omega Shipping has been the worst business experience of my life, once they got the deposit, it would take a least a week for them to respond to any phone call or email.

Eric Overland Park, KansasU.S.A.