Caught On Camera: Moving Company Dumps Furniture In Oakland Neighborhood
OAKLAND (KPIX 5) -- A moving company has been caught on camera dumping furniture on an Oakland street and dashing away.
On the video, a van from the Starving Students moving firm was seen pulling up on 26th and Magnolia streets last Saturday. In the video, the mover is seen jumping out of the van, looking around, and then pulling out a large sofa and tossing it onto the sidewalk.
He then tosses out a cabinet and a rug before the van drives away.
Neighbors in the area say people and companies using their neighborhood as a dumping ground is a major problem. This time it was finally captured on a security camera.
"It finally vindicates me to have someone dumb enough to do it right in front of the camera," said area business owner Jon Sarriugarte, who said he called Starving Students and told them to clean up the mess.
The company's movers picked up the furniture and cleaned up the neighborhood this week.
The CEO of the Los Angeles-based company, Chris Carlsson, said it was an isolated incident and both the mover and the truck driver have been fired.
"We're terribly sorry," said Carlsson. "We are as outraged as our neighbors are."
Sarriugarte said he has his doubts. "It makes me wonder is this a one-time incident or is this a pattern," he said. "They going to say what they're going to say to save their company reputation," he said.
A Starving Students branch manager said it's likely a customer paid to have the furniture taken to a landfill, but the movers instead pocketed the money.
"They thought it was a smart thing to try to make a fast buck without the company's knowledge," said branch manager Terrance Newkirk.
The Better Business Bureau reports the Starving Students moving company, whose motto is "We Put Our Heart Into Every Move," has an "C+" rating with the bureau with a total of 126 customer complaints in the last 3 years. The BBB has placed an alert on the business for what it called "a pattern of complaints" about the firm.
Editor's note: The original video report which this article is based on indicated that Starving Students had an "F "rating on 128 complaints to the BBB. The BBB executive who provided that information told KPIX the rating improved on the day of airing and that the F rating was apparently upgraded after some complaints were resolved.
