Braun Moving & Storage

Total nightmare! We made an International move and it took them 13 hours to finish. Our condo was 90% pre packed before they arrived. Every shoe was boxed, clothing was on hangers to go into wardrobe boxes, folded clothing was packed in totes. No appliances, sofas were wrapped and delivered from the upholster on the day of our move, beds were dismantled. We were promised the shipping container would be loaded and sealed at our door and parking arrangements were made in advance. This did not happen, our belongings were loaded in their trucks and taken to their facility where the empty shipping container sat. They were the last people to handle our belongings until the sealed container arrived at our front door in Europe. The container was not opened in customs, just scanned. The company here upon delivery did not unpack our boxes, we did. Much to our dismay we discovered that personal information and valuables were missing. The boxes we had pre packed and sealed were opened and resealed, the now gaps were filled with THEIR packing material. These were restricted items that we could not bring aboard our flight. Now we are without valuable family heirlooms and our personal information is God only knows where. They have constantly ignored correspondence other than to say that the entire packing crew is no longer employed by them, and the customer service rep is also no longer employed there. We cannot even get billing information! We had to pay extra for being overweight yet the container when it arrived here was far from being full. Trying to track your identity is impossible from Europe as most sites are blocked and COVID 19 has made it impossible to travel. Until we can safely get back to the states we can only tell our story to make everyone aware of this business. For now, we will be filing a complaint with the BBB.

DO NOT USE BRAUN! When we first contacted Braun, Tom Lawler came to our home. He sold us on Braun and provided a detailed estimate. We discussed that we had many items stored in boxes and totes. However these were packed for storage, not moving. He assured us the crew would overpack/repack them for safety as needed. We also discussed us packing non fragile items to lower the cost and that Braun would provide used boxes for this at no cost. Since our move was local they suggested and quoted the job for 3 days, pack on one day and move the items in 2 loads on the next two days. This changed to a two day plan at the last minute. We were assured it would not be a problem. The first day a crew of 3 arrived and packed some in the morning and moved it in the afternoon. I was told it was going slower than planned so the next day a crew of 6 arrived. They worked very fast, obviously rushing to pack everything left that morning and move it in the afternoon. When they arrived after a 2 hr lunch I did a walk through the new house to explain where everything went based on where it came from in the other house. With the revised schedule we had the TV installer there that afternoon and I could not watch them closely. .. When they had so many boxes in our MBR (on the first floor) that we could not get to the bed, they unloaded a number of wardrobe boxes and quickly just hung my wife’s clothes in the closet simply taking the hangers from the box to the closet rod. They were in a hurry to finish that day. After they said all was unloaded, I was given paperwork to sign. When I questioned it I was told that is what they moved and it had to signed for them to finish. This was the first time I saw the inventory, it was written very vaguely, with no way reconcile at that time . I was tired after two long days and signed it. I was not given a copy and was told the office would send it. They did not until I requested it 4 wks later, they did however contact me promptly for an additional $560 for extra boxes they claim to have used. After they left and we started unpacking it became obvious that they simply put things in the easiest places. A majority was on the first floor, garage and basement (easy access thru Bilco door next to driveway). Very little of what we wanted upstairs was there. It became obvious why so much wound up in MBR. We found a number of boxes under packed; such as a medium size box with only a TV remote, power cord, and the small tv base; dishpacks were packed with 2/3 packing paper, etc. We found many instances of sloppy packing, items simply taped together, boxes and totes that were stored and should have been packed properly as promised just taken as is, items disassembled and pieces scattered, etc. Yet we were charged $526 for extra boxes needed. I sent my concerns to Elsa with photos. Her advice was to file an insurance claim. Since we had a $500 deductible we waited awhile until we unpacked more items. This move is into our downsized retirement home so allot of items are remaining stored in boxes we did not unpack. However as the cold weather started and my wife looked for her winter clothes, many items could not be found. We decided to file the claim. In the claim we included two totes of winter clothes we definitely recall having that are missing. We did not claim a number of individual items that we still cannot find and only recall when we go to use / wear them. The response to our claim from Robin Bartolli is very disappointing. When we first submitted the claim she ignored my wife’s missing clothes entirely. Then when I wrote back expressing my concerns she addressed several of the items but only gave a very small token portion of the value of the clothes that are missing. We were told that since there was not any exceptions noted at time of delivery,or carrier unpack items at time of delivery they are not liable. Totes were listed as packed by owner and not listed as missing at time delivery. However they made small settlement in good faith. We did not contract for Braun to unpack. When we purchased the insurance prior to the move we understood that we had 6 mos to file a claim and all damage and missing items was covered. The only exception was for damage to items we packed unless the box showed external damage. None of the claim was for items we packed other than the missing tote of clothes. They are hiding behind the fact that I signed the inventory. I was not given the opportunity to look in the truck to confirm all was unloaded. I did take a quick look when the truck was about to leave and there and was a pile of moving blankets, empty wardrobe boxes, and large sheets of corrugated used to slide boxes down the stairs to load all simply tossed in a pile. Could several boxes have been left there? I have since heard that other moving companies have customers verify. I have written to Mr. Philip D Braun on Jan 20,2020 and not received an answer

I couldn't have been more pleased. They were on time, speedy and careful.

Braun was fantastic. The estimate and scheduling were easy, pleasant and professional. The movers were fantastic. They moved quickly and carefully- everything was perfect. Plus they were really nice guys to work with. I had an outstanding experience and highly recommend them.

Overall, excellent

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