Via iStockphoto / @franizooey TikTok
College HUNKS issued an apology after a woman accused movers of humiliating her elderly mother during a viral moving experience.
Older adults in the U.S. are particularly vulnerable to financial exploitation and some scams.
Data from the Health and Retirement Study, for example, show that 29.1% of older Americans surveyed reported experiencing age-based discrimination from businesses they interacted with.
Recently, TikTok creator Ashleigh Stanczak, who runs the account @femaleapartmentsfrom90smovies and a podcast by the same name, says she witnessed something along those lines happen to her 79-year-old mother.
In a TikTok video that got over 816,600 views, she called out one Austin, Texas-based company in particular: College HUNKS Hauling Junk & Moving.
College HUNKS Moving Company: What Went Wrong?
“This video is for College Hunks Moving Company and College Hunks Moving Company alone, and anyone who would want to use College Hunks,” Stanczak begins.
Using TikTok’s green-screen feature, she puts a photo of one of the alleged movers behind her.
“See this little, this little boy right here with the little bowl haircut?” she says. “It’s adorable. Looks like he should be on a cereal box.”
According to Stanczak, the man was part of a crew moving her mother’s belongings from storage into her apartment that day.
However, she says things got uncomfortable quickly.
Stanczak claims the mover refused to touch a box containing her mother’s pads, despite them being unopened and unused.
“He said, ‘Ew,’ and ‘I’m not gonna touch that,’ and ‘Gross,’” she alleges.
What allegedly happened afterward was even more problematic.
Stanczak says the mover sat in the middle seat of the moving van, laughing and filming her mother as she walked with the help of a walker.
“This is super cool. Super, super cool way to treat a 79-year-old woman who’s disabled,” she says sarcastically.
She also accused another mover of becoming aggressive with her when she asked him to unload something.
According to Stanczak, he started yelling and called her a “dumb fat b—-.”
She claims he also threatened to take her mother’s belongings somewhere else rather than finish delivering them.
“He was gonna take my mom’s stuff there and then take it away,” Stanczak says.
“So yeah, I would maybe not use College Hunks,” she concludes. “I would maybe not use them.”
College HUNKS Responds
College HUNKS later posted a statement from founder and CEO Omar Soliman addressing the incident.
“After personally reviewing a recent client experience in Pittsburgh, it’s clear that the interaction did not meet the standards we expect from our team,” Soliman wrote. “I sincerely apologize, take accountability and have ensured our team is held accountable.”
The company said it issued the customer a full refund after learning about the interaction and offered “several additional hours of complimentary labor” in an effort to make things right.
It also said it was reviewing the situation internally and reevaluating its customer-service training.
However, Stanczak disputes at least part of that account.
“You didn’t offer complimentary anything,” she says in a follow-up video, claiming her family ultimately had to hire another service to finish the job.
There is also an earlier statement circulating on TikTok allegedly posted by College HUNKS.
It reads in part, “Unfortunately, businesses sometimes face claims on social media that don’t tell the full story. This individual’s social media reflects a pattern of complaints with other businesses. While we cannot speak to the circumstances, we believe that broader context is relevant.”
However, it is unclear whether that statement was actually posted by College HUNKS. It no longer appears on the company’s TikTok account, so BroBible could not independently confirm its authenticity.
Stanczak responded to that statement, too.
She questioned what additional context could possibly explain a mover allegedly calling her derogatory names or another allegedly filming and laughing at her elderly mother.
“This just proves there was no authentic, genuine apology,” Stanczak says. “You are not apologetic for what you did.”
Viewers Are Horrified For Her Mother
A lot of viewers couldn’t get past the mover’s alleged reaction to a box of unopened pads.
“Wait why are men so scared of everything,” one commenter wrote.
Another shared a serious allegation about their own experience with the company.
“My mom used college hunks moving to deliver some bedroom furniture she had purchased of FB Marketplace,” they began.
The commenter alleged that a Nintendo Switch game and controllers disappeared during the move, insinuating one of the movers stole it. They said they eventually filed a police report and later learned that some of the movers had allegedly been stealing small valuables from customers for more than a year.
Another viewer was concerned by Stanczak’s claim that a mover filmed her mother.
“A hired mover explicitly taking photos and videos of a vulnerable person moving into a new home? Honestly seems dangerous and has to violate some sort of privacy clause,” they wrote.
“We live in a world where men are more disgusted by unopened pads than treating women like s—,” a fourth commenter wrote.
BroBible has reached out to College HUNKS Hauling Junk & Moving via email and Stanczak via TikTok direct messages for comment and additional information.