ST. LOUIS — Joseph Song and his wife recently packed up a decade of memories made in St. Louis, but one of their last experiences will be remembered with frustration. The Songs were scrambling for a new moving company after their original choice — All My Sons Moving & Storage — raised the price by $3,000 just days before the move.
"I find it crazy this business practice even goes on," Song said of a last-minute price hike on his cross-country move. "If it's not illegal, it should be."
The move comes at a busy time for the Songs. They have two young kids — including a 1-month old baby — and Joseph graduated from medical residency 48 hours before they were scheduled to move.
To make things easier on themselves, they contracted All My Sons Moving & Storage to handle their relocation to Atlanta. The Songs were quoted $5,000 on a binding estimate dated May 1, and they paid a $1,000 deposit.
Song said he and his wife, Amrita, had been in touch with the company as their moving date approached, and everything seemed to be going well.
The week of the move, Joseph reached out to the consultant to finalize plans then called the office. In that second call, the office staff told Song the price had changed. He would need to pay an extra $3,000.
About an hour later, the consultant texted Song back apparently unaware that Song had spoken with office staff. That consultant told Song the office typically finalizes arrangements 24 hours prior to a move.
"If we hadn't called their office, we'd be finding out about this potentially the night before our move, on a Saturday night, and at that point, we'd really have no options," Song said.
Song is not alone. Five On Your Side aired an investigation into All My Sons last year. Attorneys General in several states have taken action against the company.
In Colorado, the Public Utilities Commission fined All My Sons $118,800 for operating unregistered and performing illegal moves in the state.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the company to refund $100,000 to dissatisfied customers.
More than a decade ago, the state of Washington banned All My Sons from operating in the state entirely, citing “deceptive business practices and numerous violations of state regulations.”
We reached out to All My Sons with information requests at the local and national offices. All My Son's Chris Generale said that Song's experience should not happen; the binding estimate is just that: binding. Federal law prohibits movers from changing a price on a binding estimate if no services are changed.
Generale said they refunded the Song family's deposit and included another monetary offer as a gesture of goodwill, an amount that Song identifies as $500.
The Better Business Bureau mailed a letter of concern to All My Sons May 23 regarding "complaint patterns."
The company wrote to the BBB that "they will implement new customer service procedures."
Joseph Song was able to find another company to move them, but he says this isn't the way they wanted to leave the city they love.
Read the full statement from All My Sons:
"All My Sons Moving & Storage utilizes binding estimates to protect our customers who count on us as their moving company. Binding estimates do not change unless the scope of the move has.
In the case of the Song’s move, our team members did not adhere to this policy. We have apologized to the Song family for this error. Not honoring a binding estimate (given no changes) is not and has never been a guiding principle at All My Sons.
This office, under recent new management and oversight, is working diligently to provide exceptional overall customer satisfaction to the clients we serve in the Greater St Louis community."
More local news:
RELATED: 'I wasn't going to leave him' | Witness talks about helping officer Langsdorf after shooting
Contact reporter Sara Machi on Facebook and Twitter.