This is part of the complaint email my partner and I sent A2Z (which has gone unanswered):
"We used your company to move our apartment on 7/2/21. In addition to your company not honoring the arrival time (coming 5 and a half hours late) and going many hours over the estimated amount of time it would take to move us, we are finding quite a bit of damage to our things as we unpack. One bookshelf is completely destroyed (it literally looks like someone put their foot through it), and the backs are ripped off two others [NOTE: we've since found more damage]. The most expensive and extensive damage was to our bed frame. It is missing screws and pegs, several screw holes were ripped to the point that they cannot be repaired, and the integrity of the support of the bed frame is destroyed. It was reassembled totally incorrectly and if we'd slept on it without noticing that, it likely would've collapsed under us. The damage is significant and the bed frame will require replacing (a $250 value).
In addition, part of the base of our TV was snapped off. The couch, which is only a few months old, is now scuffed and pulled in several places; the frame is suddenly very creaky and unstable, and there is a new hole in the bottom. The frame of a large piece of art was snapped, and there are now several scuffs and marks all over the freshly painted walls of our new apartment. (Pictures of the damage are attached). This is quite literally hundreds of dollars worth of damage.
The estimate you gave us was wildly misleading in spite of the fact that we gave you all the information you requested. You never asked for the dimensions of the furniture or the elevator, and you charged us $300 to move the couch upstairs despite never mentioning any additional fees. You expected us to pay immediately, with no time to inspect our property, or we would have been charged even more for you having to stay later. Worse, you threatened to put the couch in the dump if we didn't pay the $300 right then. You gave us no other option.
Additionally, we specifically expressed to you what a financial hardship this charge would be at over 250% of our estimated price tag - yet you failed to inform us of our right to have 30 days to pay any amount exceeding 110% of the provided estimate as per Maryland law (https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/ocp/a_z/moving_storage.html). I find it hard to believe you weren't aware of this law, and it's extremely frustrating that you exploited our vulnerability at midnight on a move day by not informing us of our rights. You took advantage of our exhaustion and inexperience.
Lastly, from a customer service perspective, we want to express that we chose to work with your company because of all your positive 5-star Yelp reviews. There were no significant negative reviews at all when we booked. This leaves us in the position of wondering how we ended up with one star service and hundreds of dollars worth of damage. We are clearly an outlier, which leaves us concerned that our experience may have been because we are an openly gay couple, and that our things were purposefully treated with less care than other customers have obviously received - both of us observed you tossing around boxes labeled "fragile" and moving items very roughly, while our original movers (Darrel and Adrian) seemed far more careful and thorough."
We were told to expect a 4 hr move out of our tiny 1 bedroom apartment, and a price tag of $299-499. I understand moves can be difficult to predict, and would not have been upset if we were charged a couple hundred more than $499. Instead, our move took almost TEN HOURS, and our bill came to a whopping $1,223! That's a 250% mark up from the MAXIMUM end of the price range we were given!
Abdullah blamed the additional cost on all the bags we had. He said that he'd budgeted for our furniture + 40 boxes (for the 4 hours + $499 max w/ 2 movers). We counted our total number of bags, boxes, backpacks, etc: it was 80 (though it is important to note that quite a few of these were bags of throw pillows, etc, & one of our movers carried in 10 bags at once racked up on his arms... so you'll have a hard time convincing me that these added 6 hours to our move. AND the 4 hour/$499 max was based on 2 movers; by 9pm, an extra 2 movers had showed up, so 4 people were working). Also, the initial price was supposed to be inclusive of furniture (table, bed, couch, bookshelves, dresser, etc.) + 40 boxes... so how do just some extra bags add 6 hrs to the move? By Abdullah's math, it should've taken less than 4 hrs w/ 2 movers, but he had FOUR movers in 6 hrs by the end!
We're pursuing legal avenues now since A2Z is ignoring our attempt to contact them.
EDIT: move was within Silver Spring, MD; also A2Z advertises that they take card payments, which is a blatant lie. Told us at nearly 12:30 am after moving that they only take CASH or VENMO. read more