Hall of Shame: Whatever Happened to the OM/ONE Levitating Speaker?

Om One Floating

“The Death Star has a sick sound system” – Yahoo

“The gravity defying speaker that floats above the rest” – Maxim

“The OM/ONE is the Criss Angel of Bluetooth speakers” – NBC

The above quotes are posted on the OM/ONE web site highlighting the media accolades that glowed brightly about the campaign that ran using Tilt’s crowdfunding platform. Tilt was utilized to raise over $740,000 on a goal of just $100,00 – over 3000 backers kicked in.  Even this publication covered the successful crowdfunding campaign.  OM/ONE  was 742% Tilted… with the founder of Tilt joining the love-in;James Beshara

“The OM/ONE is one of the coolest products I’ve seen on Tilt. Not only is it a bluetooth speaker with amazing sound quality, but it levitates! Beautiful design with great sound – I can’t wait for mine to arrive!” James Beshara, Co-Founder/CEO Tilt.com

So what has become of the “world’s first levitating speaker”? (I wonder if Beshara has one floating on his desk?)

On August 14th, on the Om Audio Facebook page, the company explained it was going through some “growing pains”.

A quick trip to Amazon shows you can purchase the floating speaker but if you take the 2 seconds to read the reviews you probably will not.  According to Amazon, 128 poor souls took a minute to review Om/One and the reviews top out at 1.5 stars.  Not very encouraging.

Yes, there are a few positive comments.  But most make statements like:

So much disappointment in one package

Garbage

Does not work!

Don’t walk, RUN away  from OM Audio

Comments on Facebook are not exactly complimentary either:

Disaster Thud KaboomI wrote to support@omone.com two times and still no answer. Some of us are early supporters. I bought the OM/ONE in the Indiegogo campaign. As our money helped you to achieve this project, don’t you think we deserve some feedback?? Now I wrote to ____ asking some feedback. Will I have an answer this time?

 

This is pure unadulterated theft. If anybody is starting up a class-action suit I am in. the phony “we care! send us an email” etc. is just a diversion so they can keep selling this paperweight. I did a radio segment with the Wall Street Journal on this and it is to be avoided at all costs. Shame on you OM and “David” – I don’t know if that’s even your name since nothing you guys promised has been true

There are plenty more there (unless they get deleted).

Recently we were contacted by a disgruntled backer.  This individual explained that OM/ONE had emailed them back in mid-July of 2015.  The email stated:

I am excited to announce that your Jet Black OM/ONE has arrived at our partner’s fulfillment facility in Atlanta, GA and is in queue for shipment processing!

We have many orders to process and our team is working as quickly as possible to ship them to your doorstep. By the end of this week we will have fulfilled nearly 70% of all orders.

Due to the volume of orders we have to fulfill, we expect to ship your OM/ONE within the next 4 weeks. We’ll send you an update with tracking information as soon as it’s on the way.

FailWe know you will love the OM/ONE and we cannot wait for you to receive your order. Thank you again for your contribution to our campaign and for all of your patience and support.

It was ostensibly signed by David DeVillez, CEO of OM Audio.  The promised four week delivery time is long gone and, as of today, the floating speaker has never arrived.

The Tilt Happiness team was not able to provide a happy ending either.  Tilt explained they were not responsible for the OM/One team and their actions – which is understandable. But they did clarify;

“We’ve heard enough similar complaints that we will refuse to allow Om/One to run any subsequent campaigns with our platform, but unfortunately we do not have any method available to compensate those who are unhappy with Om/One’s lack of support.”

Crowdfund Insider emailed OM support a few days back.  No response as of yet.

These experiences are disappointing.  While OM Audio may have a good reason for going dark on the people who paid them for a speaker – they sure aren’t making much of an effort to communicate and explain.  The lack of communication is unforgivable. I wonder if the FTC is investigating?

Glowing reviews and cool visuals don’t guarantee a viable product.  In crowdfunding, it is always “buyer beware”.  As for the OM/ONE team – they deserve entry into the Crowdfunding Hall of Shame.  Good luck to the backers.


 

Update: A source has provided some additional information on the OM/One project. Apparently 3,837 shipments have been filled out of 5,143.  The individual stated, “I know that Dave is working hard on fulfilling the rest”.  Of course this still does not excuse his radio silence.  How about some transparency and communication?


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