Complaint Review: Three Brothers Moving And Storage

On September 27th, 2007 we contacted Three Brothers Moving and Storage (Po Box 53 Cabin John, MD 20818 1-800-952-6601) about an estimate for a small move of boxes from our apartment in Baltimore to a storage unit in Gaithersburg. We were told a price of $240 for the move, which was later confirmed by an email estimate. $200 was put on a credit card as deposit and the estimate featured a large bold line saying BALANCE DUE: $40. When the movers arrived at our Baltimore apartment (on September 28th, 2007) I was asked to initial a starting time for the move, but nothing about the price of the move was discussed. Two hours later, as the moving truck arrived at our storage unit, a bill was presented to me for an amount of over $1200. At this point my wife, who was at home at the time, initiated a series of negotiations with Rachel Kelley (also known as Rachel Pisani) who indicated that the situation was also unexpected for her saying, I am at a loss. This has never happened before. At the same time, one of the movers (Derrick) at the storage unit indicated to me that if we didnt come to an agreement with Ms. Kelley that they would not be able to unload our belongings, and that our belongings would be taken by the movers to their warehouse. Under the pressure of this situation we negotiated a total price of $896.40 for the move. Ms. Kelley then confirmed Derricks statement, saying that if we hadnt made an agreement, our belongings would have been taken to a warehouse controlled by Three Brothers Moving and Storage.

At the time of our negotiation, we assumed that Ms. Kelley was operating in good faith and that the price misunderstanding was simply a result of a miscommunication. After further reflection and research, however, it has become clear that it was the intent of Three Brothers Moving and Storage to deceive and manipulate us into paying a far higher amount than we would have ever agreed willingly to pay.

First of all, our experience was far from unique. The Better Business Bureau lists 28 complaints against Three Brothers since November 2005. As compiled in the other review sites, there are numerous other complaints online from consumers who experienced almost exactly the same treatment from Three Brothers. In addition, while at the storage unit I heard from Derrick himself (one of the movers), that he had only been working for Three Brothers for 3 days, and that he had already witnessed one other similar misunderstanding. Given this information it is hard to take Ms. Kelleys assertion that this was a unique and unexpected circumstance as anything but completely disingenuous.

Secondly, Three Brothers uses deceptive tactics and pressure to get customers to pay up.
This is a common thread in the nature of the complaints from other customers. Three Brothers lures customers in by offering a deceptively low quote, and then forces them to pay 2-3 times that amount under the threat of not delivering their belongings. According to the Maryland Commercial Law code ( 14-3102), it is a deceptive trade practice for a moving company to threaten to not deliver a consumers belongings. This deception is particularly effective since consumers are often quite tired and stressed exactly at the time when they are moving.

Finally, Three Brothers uses an aggressive customer service strategy when dealing with unsatisfied customers. As detailed in many of the online complaints and in my own further experience below, the customer service staff is unprofessional and completely unyielding.

Because we were unhappy about the pressure that Three Brothers had applied on us, I tried to initiate further negotiations. On October 8, 2007, I called their office at 1-800-952-6601 and tried to speak with Ms. Kelley. I was told she was not in the office. I then proceeded to explain how we had only agreed to the price of $896.40 under duress, at which point I was hastily interrupted and told that no further negotiations or discounts would be possible. I was then greeted by the following monologue about an apology, which I had never asked for:

So you want an apology? I can give you an apology. Im sorry you didnt understand the charges.

When I then asked if Three Brothers was a part of any moving associations (the AMSA, for example) that might have an arbitration procedure my inquiry was curtly dismissed with the response, Yeah. Go ahead! Not surprisingly through a call to the AMSA, I verified that Three Brothers in fact is not a member.

This employees aggressive tone, his automatic and derisive use of an apology I never asked for, and the similar treatment experienced by others makes it clear that Three Brothers has a confrontational script in place for dealing with unsatisfied customers. This is further indication that Three Brothers has an established pattern of deception in its business dealings.

Allen Z
Buffalo Grove, Illinois
U.S.A.